‘Squid Game,’ ‘Succession,’ ‘Ted Lasso’ vie for Emmy Awards

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Emmy Awards host Kenan Thompson and the ceremony’s producers are promising a feel-good occasion — a phrase not relevant to a number of of the highest nominated reveals.

The finest drama contenders embody the violently dystopian “Squid Game,” bleak office satire “Severance” and “Succession,” a couple of highly effective and cutthroat household. Even comedy nominee “Ted Lasso,” the defending champ, took a storytelling darkish flip.

But after a number of pandemic-constrained awards seasons, Monday’s 74th Primetime Emmy Awards (airing 8 p.m. EDT on NBC, streaming on Peacock) might be massive and festive, government producers Reginald Hudlin and Ian Stewart stated.

They’re truly taking a web page from final 12 months’s scaled-down ceremony and its club-style desk seating for nominees.

“They had a ball. They had a party. They celebrated themselves,” Stewart stated, recalling a remark made by actor Sophia Bush on the night’s finish: “Oh, my God, I actually had fun at the Emmys.”

The tables might be again and once more reserved for nominees — and their “significants,” Stewart stated — however there might be some 3,000 different visitors seated historically within the quickly reconfigured 7,000-seat Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles.

“When the nominees are having a great time that translates on screen,” Hudlin stated, citing the “passionate, touching” speeches delivered by winners.

Thompson, the veteran “Saturday Night Live” solid member taking his first flip as Emmys host, stated he desires to benefit from the ceremony and ensure others do.

“This should be a night of appreciating artistry and creativity and removing the stress of it all out. I get it — it sucks to lose, and everybody’s picking outfits and trying to do the red carpet thing,” Thompson stated. “But at the same time, it’s an awesome thing to be in the room on Emmys night, and I don’t want that to get lost in the stress.”

He doesn’t anticipate something mirroring the Will Smith-Chris Rock confrontation that solid a shadow over the Oscars earlier this 12 months, Thompson stated.

Although HBO’s “Succession,” which gained one of the best drama sequence award in 2020, and “Ted Lasso” from Apple TV+ are thought-about the frontrunners for high sequence honors, there’s potential for surprises. Netflix’s “Squid Game,” a worldwide sensation, can be the primary non-English language drama sequence to win an Emmy.

On the comedy facet, ABC’s acclaimed newcomer “Abbott Elementary” may turn into the primary broadcast present to win one of the best comedy award for the reason that community’s “Modern Family” in 2014. It’s additionally among the many few contenders this 12 months, together with “Squid Game,” to area a considerable variety of nominees of coloration.

At the Emmy artistic arts ceremonies held earlier this month, the mockumentary-style present about educators in an underfunded Philadelphia college, gained the trophy for excellent comedy sequence casting. “Succession” gained the drama sequence casting award.

“The Crown,” final 12 months’s massive winner, wasn’t within the working this time as a result of it sat out the Emmys eligibility interval. The dramatized account of Queen Elizabeth’s reign and household life will return for its fifth season in November, as Britain mourns the lack of its longest-serving monarch who died Thursday at age 96.

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