Everything That Happened at the 2023 Emmy Awards
It wasn’t just you: there was a bit of time travel involved in watching the 2023 Emmys. Honoring television shows released between June 2022 and May 2023, and voted on last August, the ceremony was delayed from its regular September date due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, and aired on Monday, January 15, 2024, right in the thick of the film awards season. (Oscar voters, your ballots are due!!) But there’s never really a wrong time to honor something like Succession or The Bear, and the Emmys did just that, following the Golden Globes and handing both shows near-sweeps of their categories. Meanwhile Beef did pretty well for itself as well, winning the limited series Emmy as well as two acting awards.
The Vanity Fair chronicled every moment of the Emmys, from dispatches from inside the ballroom and the press room to another onstage lipreading moment. In the live blog below you can revisit every moment.
Your Next Binge Is Waiting
Surely there was at least one Emmy winner last night that made you say “Oh wow, I’ve really got to watch that.” We’ve got you covered, with streaming links for all of last night‘s Emmy winners. (Already forgot who won? You may as well revisit our winners list too.)
A Comfortable But Staid Broadcast
It’s pretty nice to see an Emmys broadcast that's comfortable but not necessarily revelatory, especially so soon after the trainwreck of the Golden Globes. Our critic revisits the highs and lows of the Anthony Anderson-hosted evening.
The Eldest Boy!
Spoiler alert: Succession has won the Emmy for best drama series. (And Better Call Saul has ended its run without a single Emmy win, which is a lot more difficult to understand.) For those curious, creator Jesse Armstrong says eldest boy Jeremy Strong isn’t at the Emmys because he’s busy making a movie.
What Was That "Ally McBeal" Dance About?
Hello fellow kids, quick interlude here from Gen X. If you're watching the Emmys and wondering what was the deal with the Calista Flockhart bathroom dance sequence, here's a quick explainer.
All of those people were on the show Ally McBeal, which ran on Fox from 1997 to 2002. The show was about a group of quirky lawyers, and they had a unisex office bathroom. Music was a big part of the show, and one of the recurring bits was when they mood would strike and they would lip-synch and dance along to Barry White's “You're the First, the Last, My Everything.”
The dance they did on the Emmys was a callback to these scenes.
Anyway, carry on…
The First Pancake
It’s appropriate given his character’s place in the Roy family, but terribly unfortunate given Alan Ruck’s wonderful work on Succession that he ends the show as the only Roy sibling without an Emmy of his own. Here, let’s celebrate him by rereading this interview in which Ruck chatted about his experience on the show and what’s in store for him now that it’s over.
One Vote for Nostalgia
The 75th anniversary seems to have prompted the Emmys to spend a lot of time looking backwards, and personally, it’s been charming! I love seeing pictures of baby Jason Bateman and Jodie Foster on their first TV shows. I love seeing the cast of Martin! For a show so obsessed with keeping speeches short it might be an odd use of time, but awards shows should spend more time celebrating their own history.
Roman Empire
Kieran Culkin is the Emmy winner for lead actor in a drama, thanks to the final season of Succession. Somewhere, Roman Roy sits in a bar, sipping a martini and smirking—especially knowing that Culkin told the world, from the stage, that his wife Jazz told him she’d consider having another child if he won tonight.
Oops!
Speaking of the uncertain future of The Daily Show: former correspondent Roy Wood, Jr. has caused a small stir by subtly mouthing “please hire a host” during Trevor Noah’s acceptance speech.
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Beef No More!
Ariana DeBose and Bella Ramsey appeared to make up at the Emmys after a snafu during the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday night. While presenting that night’s best original song in a film award alongside In the Heights star Anthony Ramos, Ramsey joked that DeBose, Ryan Gosling, and Jack Black were “actors that think they are singers.” The camera then cut to an unenthused DeBose, who did not seem to appreciate the punchline. The Oscar winner, who starred alongside Ramos in Broadway’s Hamilton, wrote on her Instagram Story later that night, “No I didn’t find it funny. Lol.”
75 Moments in Television History for 75 Years
Television Academy Chair Frank Scherma came out to celebrate 75 important moments in television history for 75 years of the Emmys. The moments Scherma chose to point out were wide-ranging and somewhat confounding: from Norman Lear's All in the Family to television coverage of 9/11. A montage featured both of those moments as well as scenes from The Sopranos, The Simpsons, and Roots, reminding us that television can look like anything.
Quinta Brunson’s Emotional Night
Backstage in the press room, best actress in a comedy winner Quinta Brunson was asked about her emotional acceptance speech. “I was just surprised in general,” Brunson said about her speech, which came shortly after host Anthony Anderson’s opening tribute to classic TV shows. “I've been emotional the whole night. Honestly, as soon as they started playing The Facts of Life, I was emotional. I don't know what's going on, but I've gotten to meet so many comedic heroes of mine tonight.” She went on to name several nominees in her category, including Rachel Brosnahan, Christina Applegate, and Natasha Lyonne.