And the Emmy goes to...

ABC presented the 72nd Emmys on Sunday, Sept. 20. The annual awards show by the Academy of Television Arts & Science didn’t fail to excite. Although COVID-19 forced stars to stay at home for the first time in its 72 years of airing, the show’s hosts did as much as they could with what the situation presented.  Cardboard cutouts made up the audience, along with a campy laugh track and obviously-recorded crowd sounds. Celebrities participated from their homes, joining through video calls that were only slightly less laggy than my online lectures. The awards themselves were presented at the winner’s homes by interns in hazmat suits.

Despite the struggles, there were some monumental moments in this year’s awards. Zendaya became the youngest person to win “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama” for her role in HBO’s “Euphoria”and also became the second Black woman to win this award, following Viola Davis in 2015 for her role in ABC’s “How to Get Away With Murder.” In Zendaya’s  acceptance speech, she thanked the cast and crew of the show and added, “I know this feels like a really weird time to be celebrating, but I just wanna say that there is hope.”

The big winner of the night was “Schitt’s Creek,” a breakout Canadian comedy on Netflix. The show and its actors completely swept the comedy category by winning all seven of the major awards. “Schitt’s Creek” also won more Emmys for a single season than any other show since Amazon Prime’s“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,'' with a total of nine at the end of the night. Lastly, Dan Levy, lead actor, writer, director and producer for the show, became the first person ever to win four Emmys in a single night.

Other winners included HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” for “Outstanding Variety Talk Series,” Mark Ruffalo for “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie”  in HBO’s “I Know This Much is True” and Disney+’s “The Mandalorian” for seven categories including “Outstanding Special Visual Effects” and “Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series.”

In what has been one of the toughest years of our lives, the Emmys did produce some positive notes despite its unusual format. This year, 35 out of the 102 nominees were Black, the most the Emmys have ever seen. Shows like “Schitt’s Creek” and “Succession,” which dive into topics such as the LGBTQ+ community and wealth gaps, won big this year. Despite the Emmys being produced differently then they have been in years past, they shone a light on the good that is still happening, which is what the world desperately needs right now.