2025 Emmys Recap

Summary

Pop Culture Happy Hour – 2025 Emmys Recap

Date: September 15, 2025
Hosts: Aisha Harris, Linda Holmes, Glenn Weldon
Theme: A lively roundtable breakdown of the 2025 Primetime Emmy Awards – surprises, snubs, trends, standout speeches, and the state of TV, with the Happy Hour team’s signature warmth and humor.

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Main Theme / Purpose

The episode serves as a thorough and spirited recap of the 2025 Emmy Awards, spotlighting major winners, inspiring speeches, notable upsets, and the shifting landscape of television. The team explores why certain shows triumphed, what their victories say about the industry, and isn’t shy about calling out a much-reviled recurring bit from the ceremony's host.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Standout Drama: The Pit (HBO Max)

• Wins: Outstanding Drama Series, Lead Actor (Noah Wyle), Supporting Actress (Catherine Lanasa)
• Why It Mattered:
  • The show’s “throwback” sensibility—with 15 weekly episodes and a familiar TV doctor (Noah Wyle)—felt comforting yet urgent.
  • Linda Holmes celebrated the win, noting the return to tradition:

    “You know, there's been an assumption that a streaming drama should have somewhere between eight and twelve episodes. The Pit had fifteen, and they made it work really well. ...I was delighted to see it win.” (01:58)

  • Glenn Weldon noted the inevitability of the wins due to huge buzz and was happy for Noah Wyle finally getting Emmy recognition:

    “It's his first Emmy after, you know, putting in so much work...” (02:41)

• Industry Vibe: Despite not being network TV, it evoked network glory days.

  “Oh, man, network TV is back, baby.” – Aisha Harris (03:10)

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Comedy Crowned: Studio (Apple TV)

• Wins: Outstanding Comedy Series, Lead Actor (Seth Rogen), Writing & Directing (Rogen & Evan Goldberg/team)
• Panel’s Take:
  • Glenn Weldon rejected the ‘Hollywood loves Hollywood’ cliché, crediting the show’s genuine quality.
  • Seth Rogen’s Lead Actor win was a genuine surprise:

    “I don't think he saw that coming. I don't think a lot of people saw that coming, but, you know, he's got an Emmy. Good for him.” – Glenn Weldon (04:27)

  • Linda Holmes relished comedic dominance:

    “Seeing a genuine comedy series dominating in these categories gave me a lot of pleasure...this made me happy.” (04:45)

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Comedy Snubs & Trends

• The Bear: Completely shut out.

  “Did the Bear get any love at all this year?” – Glenn Weldon (05:25)

  • Consensus: Its genre confusion as “comedy” has likely worn thin.

Notable Individual Winners

• Severance (Apple TV):

  • Wins: Lead Actress (Britt Lower as Helle), Supporting Actor (Tramell Tillman as Milchick)
  • Hosts noted the depth of the performances, lamented minor mishaps (mispronouncing Tillman’s name), and approved the recognition for a challenging season and roles.
  • Linda Holmes:

    “Especially as you referenced Ayesha Tramell Tillman, who...is so enchanting to watch...I love that this performance came through for him.” (07:23)

• Supporting Comedy Actor:

  • Surprise: Jeff Hiller (Somebody Somewhere), besting Harrison Ford (Shrinking).
  • Glenn Weldon:

    “This is one of the few like holy fist pumping moments I had during this broadcast.” (09:38)

• Comedy Actress:

  • Hacks: Jean Smart (Lead), Hannah Einbinder (Supporting)
  • Linda Holmes decried “category fraud” as both are co-leads:

    “Hannah Einbinder being put in supporting so that they don't have to compete with each other is exactly the kind of thing I dislike the most...” (10:58)

  • The hosts agreed the show is repeating itself and needs a new direction or ending:

    “They really have repeated themselves a number of times now.” – Linda Holmes (10:58)

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Heartfelt and Socially Charged Moments

• Stephen Colbert’s Emotional Farewell:
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert won Outstanding Talk Series post-cancellation.
  • His speech was lauded as heartfelt and profound:

    “Sometimes you only truly know how much you love something when you get a sense that you might be losing it. ...I have never loved my country more desperately.” – Stephen Colbert (14:33) “If the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor.” – Stephen Colbert (14:33)

  • The team agreed that Colbert’s win was a feel-good moment, reflecting industry goodwill.

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Limited Series: Adolescence (Netflix)

• Wins: Lead Actor (Stephen Graham), Supporting Actor (Owen Cooper – youngest winner in category), Supporting Actress (Erin Doherty), Directing & Writing (Limited/Anthology)

• Panel’s Take:

  • Glenn Weldon described it as “powerful and wrenching and sincere and harrowing...this rips out your heart and stomps on it.” (18:10)
  • Linda Holmes emphasized Netflix’s prowess in this category:

    “This is where Netflix lives now, is in this category. ...This is where Netflix is hanging out now more than in drama series.” (18:47)

• The Penguin (Max):

  • Cristin Milioti won for her “chewing the scenery” role.
  • The hosts cheered her win and her “theater kid” Emmy speech:

    “She was bringing theater kid energy. She was saying, I love acting, and, like, I love watching her act, so it works.” – Glenn Weldon (21:01) “I love you, and I love acting so much.” – Cristin Milioti (21:09)

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Ceremony Format & Critique

Nate Bargatze’s Hosting & Recurring Bit

• The Bit: Bargatze tied the length of acceptance speeches to charitable donations — $100k for the Boys & Girls Club, deducted if winners went over time.
• Hosts’ Reaction: Universally panned for being mean-spirited, distracting, and repetitive:
  • Linda Holmes:

    “I actually thought this was quite a mean little, nasty little exercise...They just kind of put a dig in it and it's like, why would you do this?” (23:10) “People who think these shows are too long want you to cut the boring presenter bits and the boring host bits, not the people being honored for their work.” (24:28)

  • Glenn Weldon:

    “That choice locked the entire ceremony into one joke without variation all night long...it was just a waste of everyone’s time.” (25:28)

  • Aisha Harris called it “tasteless given how many...organizations are being gutted and having their funding stripped away...it just felt very icky.” (25:28)

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Diversity & Trends in Winners

• Several openly queer actors took home major awards — recognized by Glenn Weldon:

  “It's been a nice night for queer nominees...” (12:09)

• Both drama and comedy categories went to new shows, not returning juggernauts:

  “It's interesting that in both drama and comedy, the show that won was a new show, not a returning show...I think that's cool.” – Glenn Weldon (06:01)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “Competent people are reassuring and fun to watch.” – Linda Holmes on The Pit (03:42)
• “People will say it's a show about Hollywood. Hollywood loves shows about Hollywood. I don't think that's quite fair. This is actually a really good show.” – Glenn Weldon on Studio (04:27)
• “This rips out your heart and stomps on it.” – Glenn Weldon on Adolescence (18:10)
• “Hannah Einbinder being put in supporting so that they don't have to compete with each other is exactly the kind of thing that I dislike the most...” – Linda Holmes (10:58)
• “If the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor.” – Stephen Colbert (14:33)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• The Pit wins discussed: 01:13–03:19
• Studio and Comedy category: 03:46–06:01
• Trends in Emmy wins: 06:01–06:52
• Severance wins: 06:53–08:45
• Surprise in Comedy Supporting Actor: 08:46–09:49
• Hacks wins & category fraud: 10:24–12:09
• Stephen Colbert’s speech: 13:19–15:22
  • Quote: “Sometimes you only truly know how much you love something when you get a sense that you might be losing it...” (14:33)
• Adolescence and Penguin recap: 17:23–21:09
• Ceremony & Host criticism: 22:08–26:15

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Tone and Final Thoughts

True to Pop Culture Happy Hour’s style, the conversation was forthright, insightful, occasionally snarky, and always infused with a deep appreciation for what TV means culturally. The hosts celebrated surprise wins, pointed out industry patterns, and didn’t shy from sharper criticism of the night’s “mean-spirited” running gag. Their biggest takeaway: While the ceremony format needs work, the Emmys got a lot right in honoring fresh, deserving talent across genres.

“If it’s gonna be only a few shows shoveling all of the awards into their bags, at least they’re new shows. ...I loved Succession, but I’m glad that period’s over.” – Linda Holmes (26:15)

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Engaging, comprehensive, and delightfully opinionated, this episode captures both the spirit of the 2025 Emmys and what makes TV—and talking about TV—so much fun.

Transcript

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[Aisha Harris]

So, hey, before we start the show, if Pop Culture Happy Hour has ever helped you explain Barbenheimer, survive a Marvel phase, or helped you make sense of the Emmy winners and losers, do us a favor and leave a five star review. Just channel your inner culture critic and let us know why you love the show. Thanks so much. Last night was a lovely night for the folks who worked on the studio, the Pit and Adolescence. These series won big at the Primetime Emmy Awards. It was also an evening packed with a couple of surprise wins, a show of undeniable goodwill towards Stephen Colbert, and a tedious recurring bit led by host Nate Bargetzi. I'm Aisha Harris. It's 12:40am and don't worry, the boys and girls girls club definitely won't be penalized if we run on too long. Recapping the Emmys here on Pop Culture Happy Hour. Joining me are my fellow co host Linda Holmes. Hello, Linda.

[Linda Holmes]

Hello, Aisha.

[Aisha Harris]

Hello. And Glenn Weldon. Hey, Glenn.

[Glenn Weldon]

Hey, pal.

[Aisha Harris]

Well, this was a busy night, so let's get right to it. First off, we have one of our favorites. I think we've talked about this on the show, the Pit. This is the HBO Max hospital show that followed Noah Wylie and other doctors and nurses over the course of one long shift in a Pittsburgh emergency room. This show won outstanding drama series, lead actor in a drama series for Noah Wiley and supporting actress for Catherine Lanasa. She plays the charge nurse, Dana Evans. Linda, I know this is one of your favorite shows of the year. How do we feel about some of these wins?

[Linda Holmes]

Oh, I was delighted. You know, I think there are multiple good shows in that category. You, you know, obviously Severance had been nominated, which is a show I admire a lot. The Last of Us had been nominated, which is a show I think has a lot going for it.

[Aisha Harris]

There were a lot of good shows.

[Linda Holmes]

In there, but this was my favorite. You know, this was my favorite of the year. It was the one that moved me the most. I also think it's interesting that it's a little bit of a throwback, both because Noah Wylie is such a familiar TV doctor and because it has more episodes. You know, there's been an assumption that, you know, a streaming drama or a prestige drama should have some somewhere between eight and 12 episodes. The Pit had 15, which I thought they made work really? Well. They also ran it weekly as opposed to binge drop, so in some ways, it really was a throwback. I was delighted to see it win. I love. Especially love Catherine Lanasa. Delighted for her. Just all good feelings about that one.

[Glenn Weldon]

Yeah. And I don't watch this show, but I saw this coming because the buzz around the show has just been so tremendous. And I'm happy for Noah Wylie. It's his first Emmy after, you know, putting in so much work over the.

[Guest or Interviewee (e.g., Eric Glass)]

To anybody who's going on shift tonight or coming off shift tonight, thank you for being in that job. This is for you.

[Linda Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Weldon]

And it. You know, it wasn't a surprise. None of the major categories in terms of who won, like best drama, best comedy, best limited series or anthology series, they were all the favorites, but I just kind of rolled over them and let this happen.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah. Yeah. As soon as I saw the Pit was kind of dominating the night for its categories, I was like, oh, man, network TV is back, baby.

[Linda Holmes]

Yeah. Kind of true.

[Aisha Harris]

Obviously, it's not network tv, but as Linda said, it feels like a throwback to the days of CBS and ABC kind of dominating this awards ceremony. So I was very happy to see this. I was late to the Pit, but once I locked into it, it's so good. I agree with you, Linda, so much. And it's just a really nice, weirdly comforting watch, despite it being also very, very stressful.

[Linda Holmes]

Well, they're very competent. Competent people are reassuring and fun to watch.

[Aisha Harris]

Exactly. Exactly. Well, let's move on to the comedy category, and the big winner of many of those categories for Comedy Studio. This was, of course, Apple TV's funny satire starring Seth Rogen as a Hollywood studio head desperately trying to do a job he's afraid of failing at. This won outstanding comedy series, lead actor in a comedy series for Seth Rogen. Seth Rogen also won in directing and writing, along with his partner Evan Goldberg, and an entire writing team. This is, again, one of my favorite. This is a rare year, I feel like, when the Emmys got a lot of the things that I was happy to see. But I'm curious how you guys felt about the studio kind of taking home a lot of.

[Glenn Weldon]

Yeah, I mean, I was happy with this, too. You know, people will say it's a show about Hollywood. Hollywood loves shows about Hollywood. I don't think that's quite fair. This is actually a really good show. I think what was surprising was lead actor in a comedy series for Seth Rogen. I don't think he saw that coming. I don't think a lot of people saw that coming, but, you know, he's got an Emmy. Good for him.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah.

[Linda Holmes]

Yeah. This is also one that I really like. It's one that really made me laugh. I'm delighted to see. I mean, it's nothing against the Bear. I am an admirer of the Bear, but. But seeing a genuine comedy series dominating in these categories gave me a lot of pleasure, especially since it's accompanied by hacks and so forth. This made me happy. I think the studio. The episodes are a little bit up and down, but a lot of them are genuinely awesome.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah. One of the best episodes of the season was, of course, the Golden Globes one. And I felt like there's a lot of Golden Globes energy kind of percolating.

[Glenn Weldon]

We'll get to that.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah, we'll get to that. We'll get to that.

[Glenn Weldon]

It is notable that the Bear get any love at all this year?

[Linda Holmes]

Nope.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah.

[Linda Holmes]

One of the things that I wonder about is it is now such a standard, hackneyed joke that the Bear competes as a comedy and isn't a comedy. I've seen it in so many places.

[Aisha Harris]

Right.

[Linda Holmes]

I wonder if people have actually gotten to the point where they're like, okay, this is enough of this.

[Aisha Harris]

Maybe, or it's just that half of Hollywood was in the studio. So, again, I love the studio, but you can't discount the fact that, like, that show is also stacked with cameos and cameos who I imagine are voting for Emmys this year, so. No, that's fair.

[Linda Holmes]

That's fair.

[Glenn Weldon]

It's interesting that in both drama and comedy, the show that won was a new show, not a returning show. Both those shows won for their first season. We all remember when there was a juggernauts, there was succession. Mad Men, Game of Thrones, Modern Family, Veep, year after year after year. But then last year, Shogun took home drama. That was the first season of that anyway. And, you know, I think it's interesting. It's kind of what you would expect to see just as a purely numbers game. You know, there's more streaming services, more shows. You know, everybody talks about the era of too much tv, but we all know that's not the whole story, because, of course, a lot of us are looking to see how the industry will or will not roll with things like the pandemic and the strikes and a lot of mergers and cost cutting. You hear that nothing's getting greenlit. You know, the studios are pulling back. So given those kind of headwinds, I think it's Nice that new shows, the few new shows that do manage to actually make it into the world have a chance to get recognized like this. I think that's cool.

[Linda Holmes]

Yeah, I agree.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah, I think that's a great point. As far as other wins, specifically in the drama Catego, you had Severance, which is the Apple TV series about employees of a sinister corporation called Lumen who have undergone a process that separates their work life from their home life. From that show. We had Brit Lauer winning for lead actress. She plays Helle. And then I was so happy to see this Tramell Tillman, who won for supporting actor. He plays, of course, Mr. Milchick. I was happy about this. How did we feel about this?

[Linda Holmes]

Yeah, I was happy about this too. You know, this season of Severance, I didn't click into as much as the first, but I admire these performances tremendously, especially as you referenced Ayesha Tramell Tillman, who, you know, also was in the Impossible movie this summer. He's just having a really good run and he's so enchanting to watch and he did such interesting things and they asked him to do such interesting things. I love that this performance came through for him. I wish Jason Bateman, who announced him as the winner, had known how to pronounce his name. That bugs the heck out of. Especially since he was the front runner in a lot of people's minds. But it's a great performance. Listen, I'm happy about these. I'm happy about these. And good for Brit Lauer. That's a hard part.

[Aisha Harris]

Agree, it's a hard part.

[Glenn Weldon]

But speaking of frontrunners, I mean, in that category, Kathy Bates for lead actress in a drama was up for Matlock. She was considered the frontrunner. She's one of two white haired movie stars who didn't get their first Emmy this time. But we'll talk about it.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah, yeah, I will say Tramell Tillman as Milchick. He might be the least inscrutable character on that show, which he's the only part of that season of season two that I really understood what was happening. And I still don't know what was happening. Severin, Season two, but totally scrutable.

[Linda Holmes]

Yeah, agreed.

[Aisha Harris]

There's also quite a surprise. I think a pleasant surprise. And actually, Glenn, you've already alluded to this, but in the supporting actor category for comedy, you had Jeff Hiller winning for somebody somewhere. This is the HBO series where Bridget Everett returns to her hometown in Kansas and rediscovers herself and her love of singing. And Hiller plays Her friend Joel. This was so delightful. I'm not sure how many people had him pegged because Harrison Ford was also in this category for shrinking.

[Linda Holmes]

Harrison Ford is the other white haired movie star, iconic actor.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah, I know. It would have been really nice to see Harrison Ford win this. He is, you know, in the veteran lifetime achievement award era of his and it would have been nice to see him and he's so good in shrinking. But also Jeff Hiller, for a series that I think has been slept on so much and we talked about it a lot, it was really nice to see him there.

[Glenn Weldon]

It's great to be able to say the Emmy winning somebody somewhere and so great to be able to say the Emmy winning Jeff Hiller. I mean like this is one of the few like holy fist pumping moments I had during this broadcast.

[Linda Holmes]

Yeah, listen, I love Harrison Ford and shrinking and I love shrinking in general. I think it's a little bit, a little bit of an under rewarded show maybe. And I love everybody in that cast, including, I mean, justice for Ted McGinley, man. But there's no way to be sad that it was Jeff Hiller. I mean he's so good. If you haven't listened to his interview with our friend Sam Sanders, you gotta go seek that out. So even though Harrison Ford like Kathy Bates did not pull down the victory, I'm incredibly excited for Jeff Hiller.

[Aisha Harris]

Agree. Well, as far as other wins go for the big awards in comedy, you had Hacks, which follows the relationship of a legendary standup comic and the young writer she hires to freshen up her act. They're played by Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder. That one airs on HBO Max. And they both picked up acting awards in the comedy categories tonight. Jean Smart for lead actress and Hannah Einbinder for supporting. I was a little meh on this most recent season. I think you were as well, Linda. But yeah, I mean this also didn't seem like that much of a surprise.

[Linda Holmes]

Yeah, I mean, listen, my thing with this show is they really have repeated themselves a number of times now. I think they need to find a new direction or it's time to sort of come in for a landing. And they did. Hannah Einbinder did refer to wrapping up the show after next season on the red carpet tonight. But my only real beef with this one is this is another case of profound category fraud. These are co leads. They both belong in the lead category. Hannah Einbinder being put in supporting so that they don't have to compete with each other is exactly the kind of thing that I dislike the most because there are actual supporting actors like Kathryn Hahn in the studio or Janelle James in Abbott elementary, people like that who are working with less screen time and their task is different. It's one of the reasons why those two categories exist. That's the only real beef I have with that. She does not belong in this category. If anything, she's perhaps a bit more of a lead than Jean Smart. That's the only thing I don't like about it. Like I said, the show is repeating itself, but it's also been a really great show. So I don't begrudge them this, you know.

[Glenn Weldon]

Yeah. And it's, you know, it's been a nice night for queer nominees. Tramell Tillman, supporting actor in a drama for Severance. Jeff Hiller for supporting actor actor in a comedy for Somebody Somewhere. And this, Hannah Einbinder, supporting actress in a comedy for Hacks. Also, just before we leave, Alan Cumming accepted for the reality competition Traitors. He also won reality Host last week. Last year when Traitors won, it wasn't a glitch. Clearly the reign of RuPaul's Drag Race is over. The queen is dead. Long live the queen.

[Aisha Harris]

Mm, yes. Long live the queen. Well, a couple of other wins that happened. We have Dan Gilroy winning for writing for a drama series for Andor Glenn, your beloved Andor any.

[Glenn Weldon]

That was my second fist pump moment of the evening. That was a big surprise. And the fact that it kind of squeaked in there, I'm very happy for it. It deserves more Emmys. Deserves more love, but I'll take this.

[Aisha Harris]

And also, Slow Horses won for directing for a drama series. I have not watched Slow Horses. I hear it's good. Good for them.

[Linda Holmes]

It's a very, very well regarded show that I have not personally kept up with that much, but I'm happy for all of my Slow Horses loving friends. It's good for everything not to be won by one show. So all of these that spread the wealth even a little bit are a good thing.

[Aisha Harris]

You're here. And then one of the sort of more heartwarming moments of the night went to Stephen Colbert. His talk show, the Late show with Stephen Colbert won outstanding talk series. And this is, you know, of course, coming on the heels of the announcement in July that CBS is canceling the Late show with Stephen Colbert. And as soon as he was announced, you could hear the crowd just like even before he was announced, you could hear the crowd like roaring and very excited as if it was like predestined and it kind of was because Emmy voting closed weeks after that announcement was made. So this feels like maybe the most in the bag win that could have happened tonight, perhaps.

[Glenn Weldon]

No, I agree.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah.

[Linda Holmes]

I mean, except for the fact that he's been nominated a bunch of times and never won. So that is the one way in which perhaps at some point you do become not a favorite to win. But I think in these circumstances, it was not surprising at all. And his speech was very, you know, it was what you would expect from him. It had a sense of sadness, but also it was heartening and it was joyful and he was grateful. And it's sort of exactly what you expect to hear from that guy. Kind of every time he gets up and talks about how he goes about life.

[Guest or Interviewee (e.g., Eric Glass)]

I realized that in some ways, we were doing a late night comedy show about loss, and that's related to love. Because sometimes you only truly know how much you love something when you get a sense that you might be losing it. And 10 years later, in September of 2025, my friends, I have never loved my country more desperately. God bless America. Stay strong, be brave, and if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah. It was one of the nights of the moment that sort of at least alluded to everything that's happening outside of the Emmys. And I thought that was a very profound way to end his speech and clearly shows just how much he is beloved by Hollywood, if not by other outside forces.

[Linda Holmes]

Yeah, I think he'll find a job.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah, I think. Yes, I think he'll be fine. Well, we're gonna take a short break, and when we come back, we're gonna talk about wins for adolescents and our issues with the telecasts. We had some, so don't go away.

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[Guest or Interviewee (e.g., Eric Glass)]

This is Eric Glass on this American Life.

[Aisha Harris]

We like stories that surprise you. For instance, imagine finding a new hobby and realizing to do this hobby right.

[Linda Holmes]

According to the ways of the masters.

[Guest or Interviewee (e.g., Eric Glass)]

There'S a pretty good chance that you're.

[Linda Holmes]

Gonna have to bend the law to.

[Guest or Interviewee (e.g., Eric Glass)]

Get the materials that you need, if not break it.

[Linda Holmes]

Yeah. To break international laws.

[Guest or Interviewee (e.g., Eric Glass)]

Your life stories, really good ones.

[Aisha Harris]

This American Life. All right. Welcome back. Let's kick this off with Adolescence, which is the Netflix series that tells the story of a 13 year old boy who is accused of murdering a teenage girl at his school. Owen Cooper plays the boy and Stephen Graham plays his father. This won quite a few awards, including outlimited or anthology series supporting actor for Owen Cooper. He actually became the youngest winner in this category. Lead actor for Stephen Graham, supporting actress for Aaron Dougherty, and directing for a limited anthology series or movie, as well as writing for a limited anthology series or movie. This is one of those shows where I read the logline and despite everyone saying how much they loved it, I was like, I need to protect my piece. I don't have to watch it for the show. So I'm not going to. But Glenn, you've watched it, correct?

[Glenn Weldon]

Yeah. And I was out here in these streets saying the Penguin is the best limited series around and it's gonna a show set in Gotham City is gonna win an Emmy. And then adolescence dropped it. I was like, oh, it's over. Because this is so powerful and wrenching and sincere and harrowing that a show like the Penguin, which people think is a superhero show, it's not. It is a genre show, it's a crime show. It's just not gonna compete with something like this. This rips out your heart and stomps on it. So, yeah, I am glad to see. We'll talk about it later that there's some Penguin representation. But I think this is incredibly deserved.

[Linda Holmes]

I was not surprised to see it absolutely clean up at the Emmys. This is where Netflix lives now, is in this category. You know, they won in this category for Beef. They won in this category for Baby Reindeer. They won in this category for the Queen's Gambit. This is where Netflix is hanging out now more than in drama series. So, you know, this was not a surprise.

[Aisha Harris]

Well, speaking of the Penguin, as we've already mentioned, we must, of course mention that Cristin Milioti won for the Penguin. She plays Sophia Fausto, the daughter of a Gotham mob boss with some scores to settle in the Batman spinoff series. As you said, Glenn, this is not a superhero show. It is a genre exercise, which is why I loved it, because it wasn't a superhero show. And I was very happy to see Kristen Milioti win for this. You know, when we talked about this months ago, I was like, oh, Colin Farrell, shoo. In sadly, all that makeup. Sorry, Colin. But Kristen, yay.

[Glenn Weldon]

I mean, this was almost as big a swing for her. I mean, she was chewing through the scenery, but, man, she was having such fun. And I remember seeing her back in the day on Broadway and once thinking, this person is gonna be big. And I was right.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah.

[Linda Holmes]

You know, you guys are both penguin people. I'm not a Penguin person.

[Aisha Harris]

I'm a penguin person, I guess.

[Linda Holmes]

Yes. But I am a Cristin Milioti person. And for me, this of characters that she's already managed to bring to life. Not just this and not just sort of How I Met yout Mother, which is where I think a lot of people saw her if they hadn't seen her on Broadway.

[Aisha Harris]

Oh, God, I always forget about that.

[Linda Holmes]

But, you know, she was in Palm Springs. She's been wonderful in a couple episodes of Black Mirror. She was in a really great, weird show called Made for Love.

[Aisha Harris]

Sure.

[Linda Holmes]

I actually interviewed her once for the show Bullseye. And one of the things we talked about is she has a kind of a fondness for these kind of, like, emotionally grubby women in a great way. It's hard to kind of put your finger on, but she's such an interesting actor, and I am so happy for her to be, you know, in this, and I just want to see her in lots and lots of things. And. So glad she won an Emmy.

[Glenn Weldon]

Yeah. One of the better speeches of the night. Right? I mean, she was bringing theater kid energy. She was saying, I love acting, and, like, I love watching her act, so it works.

[Linda Holmes]

I love you, and I love acting so much.

[Glenn Weldon]

Yeah.

[Aisha Harris]

Well, that was a high. And then there was the rest of the telecast. So let's talk a little bit about how the show itself played out. We had Nate Bargetzi, who is the comedian, as the host. And I've seen Nate Bargetzi's standup. I think he's quite funny. He's kind of as middle of the road as you can get for a comedian in these times. And I don't mean that as like a slight or a dig. I just think he's very kind of like, straight shooter, not too lewd, whatever. Family man guy, sort of. That sort of guy. And so he has this bit that he does, and he starts it off at the beginning of the show or into the early moments of the show after doing a very weird. Linda, I think you wondered, what year was the sketch written? It was a sketch.

[Linda Holmes]

Oh, my gosh.

[Aisha Harris]

Where he's playing.

[Linda Holmes]

It was a little sketch where he played Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of television. And it just was full of jokes about TV that, to me, were at least 10 years old.

[Guest or Interviewee (e.g., Eric Glass)]

I dreamed that one day there will be a channel for every interest. The Travel Channel for travel. The Food Network for food. In the History Channel for history. No aliens.

[Linda Holmes]

Terrible skit.

[Aisha Harris]

Terrible, terrible skit. Well, who knew it could only get. Go downhill from there. Because after that, he kind of opens the show proper with a running gag about the Boys and Girls Club, where he says, I'm gonna donate 100k to this charity, but if y' all winners go over a certain allotted time of your speeches, you're gonna deduct the money, and if you go under, then it'll add back to the pot. Oh, boy. And then it just kept going and going. They had to acknowledge that they might be going over or that they were going under. And it was just a very big distraction.

[Linda Holmes]

You know, sometimes when you watch professional sports, somebody will point out nobody is at the game to watch the ref or the umpire. And a good thing to remember is that you may be the host. You're absolutely supposed to be charming and lovely and everything, or funny, and you're supposed to make jokes. But it's not actually supposed to bring the focus back to you all the time, especially when people are in the middle of being acknowledged for their work. I thought this idea. I'm gonna try to kind of keep my anger from getting the best of me. But I actually thought this was quite a mean little, nasty little exercise. And I think when you look at an actor like Katherine Lanassa, who has been acting for a long, long, long time, and here's her big moment, and she doesn't go over by very much, but at some Point they stick the little ticker that shows the money going down. As she's finishing and as she's beaming and sort of waving and it's such a joyful moment. They just kind of put a dig in it and it's like, why would you do this? And I also think people who think these shows are too long want you to cut the boring presenter bits and the boring host bits, not the people being honored for their work.

[Glenn Weldon]

The other thing kind of hovering over this is everyone knew it was a bit. Everyone knew that the kids were gonna get the money. And then at the end of the night they did get more money. It's 350,000 dol. That's great. But that's not even the problem. The problem is that that choice locked the entire ceremony into one joke without variation all night long. It gave him one and only one thing to do. And he did it over and over again. And every time we came back to him, we knew what he was going to do. And then we also remembered that it was just a bit. So it was just a waste of everyone's time. And that's. To comment about people going on too long and wasting time by being yourself. An enormous time suck is just really frustrating. I don't think necessarily that the problem was him because some people are going to be saying, oh, you need a high energy cheerleader for an awards show. That's never been true. Kimmel DeGeneres, Steve Martin, Letterman, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler. Droll dry can do it. Droll dry can sell it. The problem was this bit which was just bad joke economy.

[Aisha Harris]

The other thing I will add is that it just felt like tasteless given how many like, organizations and institutions are being gutted and having their funding stripped away. And to have this like, bit where you're dangling, quote, unquote, dangling a carrot in front of the boys and girls club as like a joke, like, hey, we're rich people, we're gonna take your money away or we're gonna give it to you. Like, it just felt very icky. I mean, I don't wanna end on a sour note. So I just wanna say again that I'm very happy that, you know, we saw some surprise wins, some fun wins. We saw some. Despite all of the chaos with this recurring bit, we did get some really nice speeches. And so absolutely, overall it was a show.

[Linda Holmes]

If it's gonna be only a few shows shoveling all of the awards into their bags, at least they're new shows. At least it's not everything going as we referred to earlier. At least it's not everything going to the same stuff that's been winning for years. I loved Succession, but I'm glad that period's over. I loved Veep. I'm glad that period's over. If you're gonna get a lot of wins and it's gonna be a show where you see the same people on stage, at least have it be people that you haven't seen a thousand times before.

[Aisha Harris]

Hear, hear. Well, we want to know what you think about this year's Emmy Awards. Find [e-mail] PCHH that brings us to the end of our show. Linda Holmes, Glenn Weldon, thanks so much for being here. I know it's very late, but it's always a pleasure doing this with you all.

[Glenn Weldon]

Of course. Thank you.

[Linda Holmes]

Absolutely. Thank you.

[Aisha Harris]

This episode was produced by Liz Metzger and Mike Katzeff and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. It's also very late for them. Thank you so much to you all. And hello. Kamin provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from npr. I'm Aisha Harris, and we'll see you all next time.

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