Hit or Miss? The 75th Emmys Awards Were All Hits, No Misses

The 75th Emmy Awards took place on Monday night, and boy, were they a relief.

After a long delay due to the strikes, the Emmys celebrated the TV shows that aired between 2022 to 2023. The Bear finally got its turn and it undoubtedly swept across all the Comedy categories. It already took home four wins from the Creative Arts Emmys, and gained six more wins last night. Netflix's Beef came in second, taking home 8 awards.

A lot of history was made, as well, with Ayo Edebiri and Quinta Brunson's wins marking the first time two Black women won in the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories in the same year.

The ceremony was produced by Jesse Collins Entertainment and hosted by Anthony Anderson. The actor, who is also comedian at his core, nailed this hosting gig, and had a much better reception than Jo Koy at the Golden Globes. But some people are upset about the Television Academy choosing Anderson as host due to a Daily Beast report detailing his history of misconduct, so that might be one of the few flaws in yesterday's telecast.

Still, the show was a success, so to the people behind the award show, we have absolutely zero notes, except maybe, please do this again next year and give some lessons to the other shows in the meantime. We rounded up some of the most compelling and exciting moments of the night, and determined which ones were a hit and which ones were a miss. Read below for more.

Hit or Miss? Hit it out of the park.

42 years is a long time. Quinta Brunson took home the Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series category, which is now her first acting Emmy. That alone is a big deal for the Abbott Elementary creator, but the win symbolizes something so much bigger than that. Upon her win, a stat began to circulate that Brunson was the first Black woman to win in this category in 42 years. No Black woman has won in the category since1981. That Emmy went to Isabel Sanford, for playing Louise Jefferson in The Jeffersons. Brunson deserved the win, there’s no doubt about it, so that aspect of it is a hit. 

The win marked a huge miss for the Television Academy, though, as there have been plenty of opportunities for the award to go to another equally deserving Black woman. I can’t help but let my mind wander to all the years Issa Rae and Insecure went largely ignored by the Academy. It’s a tragedy. Tracee Ellis Ross’ role as Rainbow Johnson in black-ish got their attention just enough to be consecutively nominated in the category six damn times but didn’t win any of those years. She could have also taken a trophy home for Girlfriends, but she wasn’t even nominated for that role. Those are just two of the incredibly talented Black actors that have been snubbed by the Emmys, and I hope that we don’t go another four decades before we see another Black woman be honored in this category. 

Hit or Miss? Big hit. 

Ayo Edebiri has had a record-breaking streak for her career, winning a Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice Award, and now an Emmy in a little over a week. It’s rare to bag three major awards in general, let alone in 10 days and do it as effortlessly as she has, but we genuinely can’t think of anyone more deserving. While accepting her Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, Ayo kept it short and sweet, thanking her parents for supporting her career. “Thank you guys so much for loving me and letting me feel beautiful and Black and proud of all of that…[It’s] probably not like a dream to immigrate to this country and have your child be like ‘I wanna do improv’ but you’re real ones.”  

Ayo’s win last night comes as not just a monumental launchpad for her own career, but one for the Emmys itself with it being the first time in the award show’s history that two Black women, Ayo and Quinta, won for Best Lead and Best Supporting Actress in the same year. The two friends were seen hugging it out backstage, with Ayo hilariously cheering, “Bitch what the fuck?!” 

Hit or Miss? An absolute hit.

The Bear team did not come to play in its first Emmys. The hit FX series won in the Best Comedy for its first season, Jeremy Allen White won for Best Actor, Ayo Edebiri won for Supporting Actress, Ebon Moss-Bachrach won for Supporting Actor, and Christopher Storer won for Best Directing and Writing. Since the ceremony was delayed due to the strike, this year was solely focused on Season 1 of The Bear. That means the cast and creators will surely be back on the Emmys stage to be awarded for their phenomenal second season at the next ceremony.

Hit or Miss? Hit. 

Out of its 13 nominations, Netflix and A24’s Beef took home a whopping eight Emmys. The team won three during the Creative Arts Emmys and five more last night. The show absolutely bodied the Limited Anthology Series or Movie category, winning both its Outstanding Writing and Directing awards as well as a slew of accolades for its lead actors. Steven Yeun and Ali Wong respectively won the Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress in a Limited Anthology Series, keeping their Golden Globe sweep from last week alive and well. Considering that Beef was without a doubt one of the biggest breakout shows of last year, its numerous awards come as no surprise. 

Hit or Miss? Huge hit. 

Following her stunning performance in Dahmer–Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Niecy Nash-Betts took home the Emmy award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Anthology Series or Movie. The actress had previously been nominated for an Emmy four times, including a Best Lead Actress nod in 2019 for her role in When They See Us and twice for her role in Getting On. Last night, Nash-Betts finally won her first Emmy and delivered an absolutely moving speech, taking the time to thank herself and consolidating her win as one for all women of color.

“You know who I want to thank? I want to thank me—for believing in me and doing what they said I could not do. And I want to say to myself in front of all these beautiful people, ‘Go on girl with your bad self. You did that,’” Nash-Betts said. “I accept this award on behalf of every Black and Brown woman who has gone unheard yet overpoliced. Like Glenda Cleveland. Like Sandra Bland. Like Breonna Taylor. As an artist, my job is to speak truth to power, and baby, I’ma do it ‘til the day I die. Mama, I won!” 

Hit or Miss? HIT!

The bits honoring classic and beloved shows was a hug hit. In between categories, the Emmys took us back to replica sets of some of our favorite shows. The cast of Martin reunited (also reminding us that they did not win any Emmys in their iconic run), the cast of Cheers was present, Carol Burnett was hilarious, and we went back to Dr. Melfi's office for The Sopranos, featuring an appearance Lorraine Bracco and Michael Imperioli.

In my opionion, since the HBO show celebrated its 25th anniversary last week, it deserved a much bigger tribute. Still, sending viewers back to unforgettable moments in TV was an incredible idea that inspired a deep sense of appreciation from fans.

Hit or Miss? A miss.

As it goes with these award shows, there is always someone who will be left out and disappointed—and this year, and in previous years, that someone was Better Call Saul and its devoted fans. The show came to an end in 2022 and in its six-season run, it lost every single one of its 53 Emmy nominations. Yikes! That means the spin-off television series of Breaking Bad has made history for the most losses in Emmy's history. Fans of the show lamented that they will never see the show's stars Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn take home an award. You win some, you lose some—but in BCS' case, they lost them all.

Hit or Miss? A surprising hit. 

While last night’s Emmys were comparatively tame to award shows of seasons past, there were some wild moments between a few costars that had the Internet talking. The first major kiss of the night came from Succession’s Kieran Culkin who gave a quick peck to his on-screen dad Brian Cox (aka Logan Roy) while walking up to the stage to accept his major (!!!) Emmy win for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. The kiss confirmed what we all knew to be true—Roman Roy was in fact, always the favorite son. 

One-upping them were The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Matty Matheson who kissed on stage (for a good minute) while accepting the award for Best Comedy Series. While Twitter timelines everywhere began screaming, no person was as shocked as Ayo Edebiri who stood absolutely gobsmacked in the background. The audience cheered. We cheered. Three cheers for the cast of The Bear as always.