Emmys finally arrive for a changed Hollywood, as ‘Succession’ and ‘Last of Us’ vie for top awards

LOS ANGELES (news agencies) — The time has finally come for a most unusual Emmys.

The 75th Primetime Emmy Awards are arriving four months past their due date on Monday night at the Peacock Theater, coming after a year of historic Hollywood turbulence in an industry whose upheavals are evident everywhere.

Strikes by both actors and writers, seismic shifts toward streaming, and the dismantling of the traditional TV calendar mean the envelopes opened during the Fox telecast hosted by Anthony Anderson on Martin Luther King Jr. Day will display winners that were decided months ago. for shows that in some cases were completed years ago — and have a fraction of the audience they had a few decades ago.

But for actors and others taking part in the ceremony, norms just aren’t a thing anymore in this business.

“Since the pandemic it’s been really strange, you shoot something, then sometimes it’s another couple years until you see it, and a while longer until something like this,” actor Nick Offerman told media last week after winning an early Emmy for “ The Last of Us,” a show that is among Monday night’s top nominees along with “Succession,” “Ted Lasso” and “The Bear.”

The Emmys will provide some respite and celebration after the strike and the troubles that spurred it, and with its 75th edition, will attempt to provide links to its past and to TV history. It will include a series of cast reunions and scene recreations from beloved shows including “Cheers,” “Game of Thrones,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Martin.”

The nominations themselves provide one big link to Emmys past — the continuation of the decades-long dominance of HBO, which this year has the three most nominated shows with “Succession,” “The White Lotus” and “The Last of Us.”

“Succession,” the drama about a dysfunctional family of one-percenters, led with 27 nominations for its final season, including best drama and three in the best lead actor category for Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin.

Cox, who arrived on the red carpet wearing a gray tuxedo jacket with wife Nicole Ansari Cox at his side, said he had to miss last week’s Golden Globes, where several of his co-stars won, and is delighted to be at the Emmys because he “wanted to say goodbye to everyone and this is a wonderful way to do it.”

Cox said his cast mates are as wonderful in real life as they are terrible on the show.

“My TV family is a bunch of idiots,” he told media.

Culkin, who played one of those idiots and is considered by many the favorite for best actor, told the news agencies he still hasn’t seen the epic finale that aired way back in May.

“I’m sure if I talked to a therapist, you could probably come up with a lot of reasons why I haven’t seen it,” he said.

“Abbott Elementary” creator and star Quinta Brunson could become the first Black woman in more than four decades to win best actress in a comedy series.

Before the show she said it was an honor to be standing on the red carpet with so many accomplished Black actors on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, including her cast mate Sheryl Lee Ralph, who could be a repeat winner of best supporting actress in a comedy.

“This is a dream come true ya’all,” Brunson said. “I already feel like I won tonight.”

Anderson has been tasked with hosting at a time when emceeing awards shows is hardly a coveted job, especially after comic Jo Koy was widely roasted for his Golden Globes performance last weekend.

But Anderson said he’s actually coming in relaxed and relieved, because for the first time in nearly a decade, he’s not a nominee. He never won an Emmy despite 11 nominations as a producer and actor for his former show, “black-ish.”

“All the pressure is off of me now,” Anderson, now the host of Fox’s “We Are Family,” said during ceremony preparations. “I don’t have to sit there and wonder, am I going to win? Am I going to get it? What time are they going to get to this category? I just get to come up here and be myself.”

The Emmys will air live on Fox starting at 8 p.m. Eastern, and available to stream starting Tuesday on Hulu.