The battle between standard cable and streaming continued on last night at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards. HBO’s Game of Thrones came in with a record-breaking 32 nominations for its final season and was expected to sweep its competition throughout the night. However, Netflix and Amazon, which weren’t too far behind, continued to hold their own and walked away with some big wins for When They See Us and Fleabag.
Top favorite Jharrel Jerome won for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Limited Series Or Movie for his role as Korey Wise in Netflix’s When They See Us. Jason Bateman surprisingly came out with the upper hand over Game of Thrones in the Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series category for his direction of Ozark’s “Reparation” episode. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch also garnered the streaming giant a trophy for Outstanding Television Movie.
Fleabag won big for Amazon lastnight. The series took home Outstanding Comedy Series making it the second year in a row Amazon won the prestigious award. (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel took the prize last year). Phoebe Waller-Bridge also won in the Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series category for her role as the title character. The series also won awards for Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel also held its own with Alex Borstein winning the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series for her portrayal of Susie Myerson; while Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series went to Tony Shalhoub for his role as Abe Weissman. Amazon also took the Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Series, Movie Or Dramatic Special for Ben Whishaw’s appearance as Norman Scott on A Very English Scandal.
Not completely shut out of the mix was Hulu, which took home the trophy for Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Limited Series for Patricia Arquette’s role as Dee Dee Blanchard in The Act.