Succession Dominates Drama Emmys, The Bear Claims Comedy
LOS ANGELES — In a night filled with historic wins and captivating moments, Succession and The Bear emerged as the biggest winners at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards. The two shows centered around squabbling families stole the spotlight, dominating both the acting awards and the top prizes in their respective genres.
Succession, the critically acclaimed HBO series chronicling a dysfunctional media empire, secured its legacy by winning Best Drama Series for its fourth and final season. Additionally, Sarah Snook was recognized as Best Actress in a Drama and Kieran Culkin took home the award for Best Actor in a Drama.
We all put our all into it, and the bar was set so high, Snook expressed during her acceptance speech.
Meanwhile, The Bear, an FX dramedy revolving around a contentious family and a struggling restaurant, claimed the Best Comedy Series award for its first season. The show also triumphed in the acting categories, with Jeremy Allen White winning Best Actor in a Comedy, Ayo Edebiri being awarded Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach taking home Best Supporting Actor. Notably, all three winners were first-time nominees.
This is a show about family and found family and real family, Edebiri remarked while accepting her trophy.
The 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day after a four-month delay due to strikes in Hollywood, featured several groundbreaking victories. Quinta Brunson of Abbot Elementary became the first Black woman in over four decades to win Best Actress in a Comedy. Steven Yeun and Ali Wong of Beef also made history as the first Asian Americans to win in their respective categories, with Yeun taking home Best Actor in a Limited Series and Wong winning Best Actress. Lee Sung, the creator of Beef, won Emmys for writing and directing.
Furthermore, Brunson had also won a writing Emmy for Abbott Elementary, a mockumentary shedding light on a predominantly Black and underfunded grade school in Philadelphia. Isabel Sanford, who won the same award in 1981 for The Jeffersons, was the only previous Black woman to achieve this accolade.
The show Succession triumphed in a total of six categories, including Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for Matthew Macfadyen and Best Writing in a Drama for show creator Jesse Armstrong. The only drama acting category it did not win was Best Supporting Actress, which was awarded for the second time to Jennifer Coolidge of The White Lotus.
With a clean sweep, The Bear took home every award it was nominated for at the Emmys. Combined with its victories at the Creative Arts Emmys, the show secured a total of 10 awards, making it the event’s most celebrated series.
In addition to recognizing outstanding television achievements, the Emmy Awards paid homage to TV history. Cast reunions and tributes to iconic sitcoms, such as Martin, Cheers, and All in The Family, were scattered throughout the ceremony. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s reunion, reminiscent of their Saturday Night Live days, brought joy to the audience.
The evening was filled with powerful and emotional moments. Ayo Edebiri and Quinta Brunson were moved to tears as they accepted their awards, while actress Christina Applegate received a standing ovation for her brave appearance after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
We’ve reached the stage in life where we’ll only present awards sitting down, Fey joked during the show.
As the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards came to a close, it left an indelible mark on television history, celebrating diverse voices and groundbreaking performances.
