‘Hacks’ has last laugh at the awards
Comedy series win over ‘The Bear’ was among the few surprises.
HOSTS Dan and Eugene Levy immediately addressed the one thing that was on everyone’s minds Sunday night at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards.
“I know some of you might be expecting us to make a joke about whether ‘The Bear’ is really a comedy ... but in the true spirit of ‘The Bear,’ we will not be making any jokes,” Eugene Levy said during the opening monologue.
And wouldn’t you know, enough Emmy voters agreed with the general vibe that, “Yes, ‘The Bear’ is terrific ... but it’s not really a comedy,” that they gave the evening’s final prize, comedy series, to “Hacks,” a show that contains, you know, actual jokes and humor and whatnot. (It has plenty of drama too, but it’s not as emotionally exhausting as what you witness in “The Bear.”)
Befitting the Canadian hosts’ land of origin, it was a perfectly nice show, mostly unsurprising (at least until that ending) but not without its share of moments. Let’s run them down.
EMMY FOR BEST TIMING
“The Bear” drops its new seasons in June, putting it in a weird place for the Emmys. All the Emmys it won Sunday night came for its second season, which premiered 15 months ago. But Television Academy members also were watching the new season when they were voting for the winners and saw Liza Colón-Zayas deliver her heartbreaking turn in “The Bear’s” stellar flashback episode “Napkins,” which showed how Tina landed her job at the Beef sandwich shop. Colón-Zayas had a moment in Season 2 as well during Tina’s moving karaoke performance of Freddy Fender’s “Before the Next Teardrop Falls.” But it sure didn’t hurt to have that bonus episode in voters’ minds.