'Saturday Night Live' wins big on political satire with nine Emmy Awards

I have one more Emmy winner to examine, "Saturday Night Live," which tied for most Emmy nominations with 22, 24 counting its web series and interactive program.  Stay tuned.

Thus I concluded 'Last Week Tonight With John Oliver' examines corporate consolidation after winning four Emmy Awards, so it's time to report on the final Emmy-winning program about politics.  I begin with an overview of the theme of the night, Emmy awards 2017: Political satire wins the night from Al Jazeera English, which features Saturday Night Live.

The EMMY Awards are all about television entertainment.

This year the spotlight was on political satire.

From dramas to comedies, US politics played a major role.

Al Jazeera's Katia Lopez-Hodoyan reports.

While the video mentions "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Veep," its main emphasis was on the comedy acting awards that SNL won.  I expected three of them, beginning with Melissa McCarthy winning Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.  Earlier this month, I wrote "I'd say either McCarthy or Wiig will win, probably McCarthy.  She made an outstanding Sean Spicer."  She did and she won.  Next was Kate McKinnon earning a second statuette for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.  My prediction was "I expect that Kate McKinnon, who won last year, will repeat."  She did.  My final prediction was "I suspect Alec Baldwin might win [Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series] based on his Trump impersonations," which I foreshadowed last month by writing "He can earn his Emmy for portraying Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live" instead for "Match Game"; I'm glad that Emmy for host of a reality competition show went to RuPaul Charles.

The comedy acting award that took me by surprise was Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, which went to Dave Chappelle.  Wochit Entertainment has the story in Dave Chappelle Wins Emmy For Hosting SNL.

Dave Chappelle has officially won an Emmy Award for his hosting of Saturday Night Live in the fall of 2016. The episode aired on November 12, 2016. During Chappelle's Saturday Night Live episode, the comedian and former star of Chappelle's Show took aim at the Presidential election which had taken place in the weeks leading up to the episode. He did, however, manage to squeeze in a hilarious and unforgettable sketch which parodied The Walking Dead's iconic Season 6 finale and Season 7 premiere, which introduced the villainous Negan character portrayed by Jeffrey Dean Morgan on the AMC series.

I thought the statuette might go to a host of SNL, just not him.

Hugh Laurie is my choice for the best actor of the bunch, but I wouldn't put it past the Emmy voters to pick either Lin-Manuel Miranda or Tom Hanks.  I might have more to say about them and SNL next week.

Between the two, I would say that Hanks has better name recognition and a more memorable performance on SNL, but the voters might think Miranda might send a stronger message to the country.  Yes, it's that kind of year.

I was right that it has been that kind of year, as selecting Dave Chappelle sent an even stronger message.  While it came as a surprise to me, it was also well deserved, as well as being another victory for diversity.

The final award the show won on the final night of the Emmy Awards was Outstanding Variety Sketch Series, which opens ET Canada's 2017 Emmy Awards 'SNL' Highlights: Alec Baldwin, Melissa McCarthy, Ben Affleck's Appearance.

Highlights from the 2017 Emmy Awards including Ben Affleck making an appearance to support girlfriend Lindsay Shookus, a surprise appearance by Sean Spicer and more wins for “SNL”.

I expected SNL winning this category.

I'd say "Saturday Night Live" is favored because of its number of nominations (22, tied with "Westworld"), number of previous nominations (2), and the general zeitgeist.  The two shows with the best but still slim chance of upsetting SNL are "Drunk History" and "Portlandia," the only other shows also nominated all three times the category has been offered.  Of the two, "Drunk History" has four nominations and "Portlandia" has three.  As for the rest, the next best bet is "Tracy Ullman's Show."  Other than that, this should be the beginning of the second part of an SNL near-sweep.

It was a near-sweep on the final night of the Emmys, as SNL won four of the five categories in which it was nominated, winning Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series, which I predicted, while losing only to "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver" in Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series.  Congratulations!

SNL won three more awards at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards the week before, Outstanding Make-up for a Multi-Camera Series or Special (Non-Prosthetic), Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Nonfiction, Reality, or Reality-Competition Series, and Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Series.  I predicted the first two (turning Alec Baldwin into Trump alone deserved the first) and thought the third could happen because of a sweep.  Nine out of twenty-two or twenty-four, depending on the web series counting, isn't really a sweep, but it was enough to make SNL the most awarded program at the Emmys.  One last time, congratulations!

Now my series on the 2017 Primetime Emmy Awards is complete.  It's time to move on to the News and Documentary Emmys, which will be awarded October 5th.  Stay tuned!