Emmys Snubs and Surprises: ‘The Bear’ Wins Everything, ‘Ted Lasso’ Wins Nothing and ‘Better Call Saul’ Sets Record for Most Losses Ever

The long-delayed Emmy Awards for the 2022-2023 TV season had to overcome the challenge of seeming like a complete afterthought — and for the most part it succeeded.

The ceremony for the 75th Emmys was designed as a tribute to the medium, and featured reunions from shows such as “All in the Family,” “The Sopranos,” “Martin” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” the last of which featured the beloved, departed cast members Katherine Heigl and Justin Chambers, alongside OG stars Ellen Pompeo, Chandra Wilson and James Pickens Jr. Among the evening’s highlights were Jennifer Coolidge thanking “all the evil gays,” Niecy Nash-Betts thanking herself and “every Black and Brown woman who have gone unheard, yet overpoliced,” and a moving, hilarious appearance by nominee Christina Applegate as the show’s first presenter. And HBO’s “Succession” took its final victory lap after the Jesse Armstrong-created series ended in May of last year, including well-deserved wins for stars Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin, who both switched to the lead acting categories for the show’s final season.

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What the show didn’t have a great deal of was shocking surprises or upsets, but there were still some unexpected wins throughout the night. Here they are!

“Better Call Saul” Ended Forever as the Most Snubbed Series of All Time

We’re picturing Jimmy McGill now, yelling “Zero for 53?!” Yes, Jimmy/Saul, you did not win a single Emmy. Not for Bob Odenkirk, who was nominated six times for drama lead actor for his iconic, fan-favorite character from “Breaking Bad,” around whom the AMC prequel was based. Not Rhea Seehorn for her exceptional, nuanced portrayal of Kim Wexler, Jimmy’s friend and partner, and then wife. Not for the show’s superlative writing, nor its directing, nor for any of the supporting cast (Jonathan Banks, Giancarlo Esposito). And not the show itself, which was nominated seven times since its 2015 premiere. What’s the opposite of Jimmy’s flip, chilling “S’all good, man!” — as spoken to a freaked out Kim at the end of Season 4 of “Better Call Saul”? This show being completely, utterly, you-cannot-ever-take-this-back-TV-Academy-members blanked.

“Ted Lasso” Is Shut Out

For its first two seasons, “Ted Lasso” was an Emmy juggernaut, winning back-to-back awards for comedy series, lead actor (Jason Sudeikis) and supporting actor (Brett Goldstein), as well as single trophies for supporting actress (for Hannah Waddingham, in 2021) and director (for MJ Delaney, in 2022). Often, the Emmys pick a show they love and stick with it for several years (e.g. “Veep,” “Modern Family,” “30 Rock”). But the third — and, likely, final — season of “Ted Lasso” was far less well received by critics, audiences, and, it seems, Emmy voters, and it was totally shut out this year. (The show did at least take home two Creative Arts Emmys, for Sam Richardson for guest actor in a comedy, and for original music and lyrics.)

“The Bear” Wins All The Emmys

In place of “Ted Lasso,” FX’s restaurant dramedy “The Bear” not only won best comedy for its freshman season, it won practically everything else: actor (Jeremy Allen White), supporting actress (Ayo Edebiri) and actor (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), directing and writing (both to Christopher Storer). It’s all the more remarkable considering these awards are ostensibly for a season that first streamed on Hulu all the way back in June 2022. Given that “The Bear” just won the Golden Globe and Critics Choice awards for best comedy for its second season, its fair to say that Carmy and Co. will be on the menu again for the 2023-2024 Emmys in September.

“Last Week Tonight” Beats “Saturday Night Live” in First Head-to-Head Matchup

After a rule tweak that feels like it was announced 1,000 years ago — but was actually changed in December 2022 — the Television Academy’s first winner in the new Scripted Variety Series category was John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight.” So instead of “Saturday Night Live” beating “A Black Lady Sketch Show” as it has in plain-old variety category in recent years, it lost to the topical HBO show, which has destroyed all comers in the variety talk category since 2016. Let’s assume that the rules could very well be adjusted again, since there doesn’t seem to be a perfect solution here, and “SNL’s” Lorne Michaels surely isn’t pleased about this development. (“Last Week Tonight” also won for Writing for a variety series later in the program.)

Trevor Noah Wins for His Final Season of “The Daily Show”

With Oliver banished from the variety talk category, it was a relatively open field, but the smart money was on Stephen Colbert taking home the Emmy for “The Late Show.” Instead, “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” won for Noah’s final season hosting the series (his final episode was in December 2022, yet another example of how ancient this year’s Emmys felt). When Jon Stewart was the host of “The Daily Show,” it won almost every Emmy it could in this category — save for when “The Colbert Report” won instead. All of which is to say, sorry to all the people with variety shows who weren’t at one point involved with “The Daily Show,” because you’re never winning an Emmy.

A Very Welcome Thank-You Crawl!

After a winner would take the Emmys stage and talk for a bit, a very unobtrusive graphic would appear with their official, pre-submitted thank yous. The innovation appears to have been invented at the 2016 Academy Awards by producer David Hill, and removes the anxiety of winners’ forgetting to namecheck their co-workers, representation, loved ones and — most importantly! — the heads of the studios behind their shows. Their speeches, then, could actually function as speeches, instead of a series of stammers. Seriously, why doesn’t every award show do this? So much better!

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