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Hulu made television history on Sunday night at the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards by becoming the first streaming service to win best drama series with “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
The dystopian drama, based on the best-selling novel by Margaret Atwood, took home five Emmys, including one for star Elisabeth Moss who won the lead actress in a drama series award.
It was a strong signal to Amazon and Netflix that Hulu is a serious contender in the race for premium streaming content.
Congratulations to the #HandmaidsTale for winning Best Drama Series, the first streaming drama to ever win! #Emmys2017 pic.twitter.com/qH4iRY2zUO
— hulu (@hulu) September 18, 2017
Hulu received 18 nominations, and 13 for “The Handmaid’s Tale.” The show beat out “Westworld (HBO), “Better Call Saul” (AMC), “The Crown” (Netflix), “House of Cards” (Netflix), “Stranger Things” (Netflix), and “This Is Us” (NBC).
Ann Dowd won supporting actress in a drama series; Reed Morano won for directing for a drama series; and Bruce Miller won the Emmy for writing for a drama series.
Netflix, which scored an impressive 92 nominations this year, had high hopes — from the supernatural newcomer “Stranger Things” to the mainstay “House of Cards.”
Here are the winners who took the stage for that service on Sunday night:
- John Lithgow, supporting actor in a drama series, “The Crown.”
- Lena Waithe, Aziz Ansari, writing for a comedy series, “Master of None.”
- Charlie Booker, writing for a limited series or movie, “Black Mirror.”
- Television movie, “Black Mirror: San Junipero.”
Meanwhile Amazon, which received 16 total nominations, pinned much of its hopes on the seven nominations for its series “Transparent.”
Actor Jeffrey Tambor, who stars as Maura Pfefferman on the show, lost for the first time in three years in the lead actor in a comedy series category. Donald Glover of the FX series “Atlanta” won the award.
Kathryn Hahn (@transparent_tv is here! She's nominated in the category of Supporting Actress in a Comedy, her first Emmy nomination! #Emmys pic.twitter.com/TtOaX8mNeA
— Television Academy (@TelevisionAcad) September 17, 2017
HBO had a strong showing thanks to “Big Little Lies,” which won for best limited series, as well as best actress (Nicole Kidman), actor (Alexander Skarsgard), supporting actress (Laura Dern) and directing (Jean-Marc Vallée) in that category.
“Veep” and its star Julia Louis-Dreyfus also had another strong showing for HBO, winning best comedy series and best actress in a comedy series.
Emmys host Stephen Colbert gave a shout out to Amazon and company and the success of streaming against the traditional broadcast TV giants.
“There have never been more platforms to get your TV than you have right now,” Colbert said. “You have broadcast, you have cable, you have Amazon. You have YouTube, Hulu, voodoo, Netflix, Vitamix. You have Vimeo, you have Twitch, you have Crackle, crunchle, Bumble, twerk, gorp, flurp, Uber Eyeball. And DintyMooreStew.com.”
On a night with plenty of political jabs, mainly aimed at President Donald Trump, Colbert got in his shots.
“These days, everybody loves streaming video. Just ask Ted Cruz,” Colbert said, in reference to the Texas senator’s Twitter account and the “like” last week of a porn clip. “Netlfix alone raked in 92 Emmy nominations this year. And may I remind you, five years ago their hottest show was a scratched DVD of ‘Finding Nemo.’ Now we’ve got amazing shows like ‘Stranger Things.'”
The most viral moment of of the night, perhaps, belonged to former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who made a brief appearance on stage to mock his own past defense of Trump’s inauguration attendance.
“This will be the largest audience to witness the Emmys, period — both in person and around the world,” Spicer said, as cameras cut to shocked audience members, including actress Melissa McCarthy, who famously portrayed Spicer on “Saturday Night Live.”
Speaking of “SNL” and viral moments, Alec Baldwin was awarded with best supporting actor in a comedy series for his recurring role as Trump. The actor got in a dig at the president, who never won an Emmy during his years as a reality TV star.
“I suppose I should say at long last, ‘Mr. President, here is your Emmy,'” Baldwin said.
Emmy wins by network
HBO 29
Netflix 20
NBC 15
Hulu 10 (!)
ABC 7
FX 6
Fox 5
Adult Swim 4
CBS 4
A&E 3
VH1 3
Amazon/BBCA/NatGeo/ESPN 2— TV MoJoe (@TVMoJoe) September 18, 2017