Three shows dominated the 75th Emmy Awards: The Bear, Beef and Succession.

There were no surprises when it came to the winners. Anthony Anderson did a solid job hosting and the whole event was full of nostalgia as iconic shows such as Cheers and Martin brought out the stars and sets. The cast  of other long-running shows of the past and still continuing to the present also reunited on stage like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Grey’s Anatomy, The Sopranos, All in the Family and SNL’s Weekend Update with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

But the big favorite — at least for me — was the Ally McBeal reunion. I grew up in the ’90s and remember watching the show on a television. Stars Calista Flockhart, Greg German, Gil Bellows and Peter MacNicol danced on stage reminiscent of the show’s quirky, out-of-the-blue dance numbers before Flockhart presented the award for Best Drama Actor.

The Emmys and its unique eligibility period

Emmy logo and trophy on stage with lights

Traditionally, Emmys are held in September. However, with the SAG-AFTRA strikes, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences decided to postpone the ceremony to January this year.

The Emmys are different from other television (or streaming) award-giving bodies in that its eligibility period is from June 1 to May 31 of any given year. So the nominees this year are from shows that aired from June 1, 2022 to May 31, 2023.

On to the winners… and the non-winners.

Succession and The Bear win big

 

Unsurprisingly, Succession won Best Drama. The show’s final season delivered the promise of the entire show so it’s only fitting that it gets the Emmy after that sendoff.

Succession’s other wins were in the Best Actor, Actress and Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. The show had half of the Best Actor nominations, but it was Kieran Culkin who prevailed. Culkin’s on a roll these awards season. He recently won the Critics Choice Award for the same category. A few days before that, he got the Golden Globe statuette as well.

The same goes for Sarah Snook who won Best Actress in a Drama Series. Not a big surprise especially with how her character Shiv navigated the rollercoaster that Succession put her through from her father’s death to deciding to leave the alliance with her siblings.

While he will always be Mr. Darcy to me, Matthew McFadyen‘s win for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series was a battle between the show and The White Lotus. The other HBO series had six nominees under the category vs. Succession’s two. I’m sure it’s not my bias for Pride and Prejudice, but I truly believe McFadyen’s Tom deserved this win — even though I still don’t think he should’ve been made CEO. Like co-stars Culkin and Snook, he’s also three-for-three in this awards season.

Succession’s drama acting awards was broken by Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. This one went to Jennifer Coolidge who I think deserved the win. Yes, she won the award the year before but for the Limited Series Anthology Series or Movie. I’m not sure what’s going on with the category changes, but I’m not complaining.

Coolidge beat four of her White Lotus co-stars. The category was heavily stacked towards the show. It was the only one that had multiple nominees in the same category. Even more impressive for Coolidge to win, standing out against her fellow nominees AND co-stars.

The Bear won big — as it did in the Globes and Critics Choice — as well with Best Comedy Series. Its award streak for their category included Best Actor in a Comedy Series for Jeremy Allen White. Chef, indeed.

Quinta Bronson broke The Bear’s streak by winning the Best Actor in a Comedy Series. This is not meant to be shade at all, but I didn’t think there’s anyone on the list who could’ve beaten her.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach won Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. The actor sang Love Story on the way to picking up two out of three trophies so far this awards season.

Ayo Edebiri gave The Bear its first win of the night for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. For the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, Edebiri was nominated under the Best Actress category. She won both. So that proves her mettle as both lead AND support.

Beef was definitely beefy at the Emmys with five wins: Best Limited Series, Movie or Anthology, Best Actor and Best Actress in a Limited Series, Movie or Anthology, Best Writer for a Limited Series, Movie or Anthology for the pilot episode and Best Director for Limited Series, Movie or Anthology for the final episode both won by Lee Sung Jin.

Ali Wong and Steven Yeun have made raging at each other award-winning as they both won Best Actor and Best Actress in a Limited Series, Movie or Anthology. The pair continued their winning streak from both the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards.

Paul Walter Hauser definitely deserved the win for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series, Movie or Anthology. He was truly menacing as Larry in Blackbird.

Niecy Nash-Betts‘ switch from comedy to drama paid off in the form of a Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series, Movie or Anthology.

Like I mentioned at the start, no surprises here. Congratulations to the winners!

See the full list of the winners here.