Emmys 2018 Live Updates: Rachel Brosnahan and Bill Hader Win Comedy Awards

Although both are favorites, they have their vulnerabilities. The most recent episode of "Thrones" was aired 13 months ago, which may have prompted Emmy voters to remember what happened in their seventh season. And many "Handmaid's" proponents – who propelled the series into a red-hung cultural landmark – had mixed feelings about the second season finale.

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The plausible challengers for the best drama statuette are "The Americans," FX's show about Russian spies and Netflix's study of Queen Elizabeth, "The Crown."

[Stream these 10 Emmy nominated shows you may not have seen.]

The FX drama, which ended its six season season in May, won only two Emmys, but it has long been a critical favorite. And Emmy voters are known to come out of their love, as they did for "The Sopranos" and "Breaking Bad."

"The Crown", meanwhile, won the award for Best Distribution in a play at Creative Arts Emmys a week ago, an occasional indicator; Four of the top eight drama winners also won the best cast. Because the series will bring new members every two or three years, it is also a last chance for voters Emmy to recognize the staging of the show with Claire Foy, who will cede the role of the queen to Olivia. mid-1960s.

Lorne Michaels and the effect "S.N.L."

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Lorne Michaels, the 73-year-old impresario behind "Saturday Night Live" and NBC's late-night lineup, produced the series for the second time, having overseen the broadcast in 1988, when star of "Dynasty" John Forsythe was the host.

NBC hoped that the hosts, Colin Jost and Michael Che, the mainstays of Weekend Update on "S.N.L.", would help reverse the trend of falling prices.

In addition to hosting Mr. Jost and Mr. Che, Mr. Michaels recruited a number of current and former members of the "NL" distribution. The show began with a live musical parody about how Hollywood's diversity issues are all historical. "Yeah, we solved it!" Exclaimed Kenan Thompson, who was joined on the scene with Kate McKinnon, RuPaul and Andy Samberg, among others.

In a certain way, it is surprising to see the "S.N.L." based in New York at the center of the Emmys concerns. The Academy of Television, the main organization behind these awards, has watched the show in disproportionate fashion for most of its 43-year history.

But that has changed, with "S.N.L." having won nearly half of its 61 Emmys in the past five years. Last year, she won the best Emmy variety sketch, the first time she had won a grand prize since 1993.

Although many critics have estimated that SNL had a dead year in the past season, it continues to score: after the Creative Arts Emmys last weekend, it is tied with "Game of Thrones" with seven victories. These include Tiffany Haddish for best guest actress in a comedy and Don Roy King for directing.

New winners in comedy

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Amazon's 'Wonderful Mrs Maisel', about a comedian in the 1950s in New York, made a huge start, winning four awards.

Rachel Brosnahan won best actress in an Emmy comedy, the first new winner in this category in seven years. (With HBO's "Veep" sidelined this year, Julia Louis-Dreyfus paused during her Emmy run.) Series creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, won two Emmys, one for directing and one for writing. And Alex Borenstein, who plays Ms. Maisel's manager, won for the best supporting actress.

The triumph of "Mrs. Maisel" was a blow to "Atlanta," FX's avant-garde comedy, which was snubbed. Donald Glover, the star actor of the series, won the award for best actor in a comedy last year. This time, he lost to Bill Hader, who plays a man trying to become an actor, in "Barry".

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In another win for "Barry," Henry Winkler, 72, won his first Emmy for acting as a well-meaning, but cheerful, acting coach. Mr. Winkler, who achieved network fame in the 1970s playing Fonzie on ABC sitcom Happy Days, had been nominated five times before. Before thanking his colleagues and members of his family, he noted that he had written his acceptance speech "43 years ago".

During the late-night battle, John Oliver's weekly HBO program, "Last Week Tonight," appears poised for the best category of varietal conferences for the third year in a row. But Emmys host last year, Stephen Colbert, host of The Late Show on CBS, continues to climb the odds, giving him the potential to overthrow his former colleague at Comedy Central.

Expect #MeToo to play a big role

Last year, many TV stars including Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, Louis C.K and Mark Halperin were deported after being charged with sexual misconduct. Earlier this month, the #MeToo movement reached the corporate side of the business, when several charges of sexual misconduct led to the removal of CBS president and CEO, Leslie Moonves.

Will the winners refer to it in their acceptance speeches? The Tonight Emmys show is the first to air since the first investigative article on the charges against Harvey Weinstein was published in the New York Times last October, which means it represents the first opportunity for the television industry.

Mr. Che introduced himself by welcoming "the many talented Hollywood people who have not yet been captured".

Mr. Trump's invocations have never been far from the lips of Emmy's hosts and winners during the last two broadcasts. ABC's Jimmy Kimmel, at the 2016 edition of the show, called Mark Burnett, the prolific reality TV producer who produced Mr. Trump in "The Apprentice," saying he would be the man to blame if Mr. Trump won. And last year at Emmys, at almost every turn, Mr. Colbert and several of the winners criticized the president.

Does a general feeling of fatigue Trump mean less time dedicated to the policy on the series? Will Mr. Michaels, who has directed many "Saturday Night Live" episodes with Trump skits in the last two television seasons, ensure that Mr. Che and Mr. Jost minimize their comments?

Netflix against HBO

It's the battle of bragging rights.

At Creative Arts Emmys last weekend, HBO placed 17 Emmys on the scoreboard. Netflix was just behind, with 16. The leaders of both companies will be reluctant to monitor the outcome of a competition that might be of more interest to the television industry than to viewers.

Since 2002, HBO has won the most emmys of all networks. But, a sign that the jewel of the cable may not dominate the ceremony much longer, Netflix beat Emmy's first seven competitors at the start of the year.

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Twenty-six awards will be presented at the ceremony on Monday, a total slightly higher than the number of Oscar and Golden Globe categories. This past weekend, Creative Arts Emmys presented gold statuettes to the winners in nearly 100 categories.

But the sheer size of the Emmys is a reflection of the current state of television, now that streaming companies like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu are taking longer to watch viewers and question the industry's old business model. By the end of the year, there will have been more than 500 scripted shows produced by US-based broadcast networks, cable channels and streaming services, which will set a new record.

As a result, the Emmy campaign has become more intense. Events "brought to your attention" – round tables where voters have access to celebrities, canapés and alcohol – have filled the schedules of the more than 23,000 members of the Academy of Television before the 70th edition of the show . Last year, there were 61 Academy sanctioned events in Los Angeles and New York during Emmy's campaign season. This year, this number has climbed to 116, according to a spokesman for the academy.

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