Saturday, January 20, 2024

Barack Obama among diverse winners in front of the camera and microphone at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards


I told my readers "I'm not done with diversity among winners at the Emmy Awards. I'm planning on examining diversity in acting, hosting, and voice acting at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards next in the series." That didn't quite happen, as Colbert, Meyers, and Kimmel return from the Emmys to take closer looks at the Iowa Caucus was the next in the series, but I'm making up for it today by revisiting the entries examining the categories producing diverse winners beginning with Barack Obama defends his Emmy against Hollywood all-stars narrating nature and science documentaries.
Obama won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator last year, so when he's defending it now that he's been nominated again for this category. Like last year, he's contending against stiff competition in Mahershala Ali for "Chimp Empire," Angela Bassett for "Good Night Oppy," Morgan Freeman for "Our Universe," and Pedro Pascal for "Patagonia"...

That written, the experts at Gold Derby currently have Obama as the favorite, followed by Bassett, Freeman, Ali, and Pascal. That's about the order I see and the order in which I'd root for the nominees. Besides, who am I to argue against the experts?
And Obama repeated as Outstanding Narrator. Congratulations! To celebrate, I'm sharing The Seeker's Barack Obama's Journey from U.S. President to Emmy-Winning Hollywood Star.


I found this surprisingly well-written and the only sign that an actual human likely didn't narrate it was the pause after the D in "Dwight D. Eisenhower." A person would have realized that was not the end of a sentence, while the program read it as such.

Follow over the jump for the other diverse winners in front of the camera and microphone.


I resume with a category I covered in HBO dramas and 'SNL' split the nominees for Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series at the 2023 Emmy Awards that I blew completely.
Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series
Nathalie Emmanuel – Die Hart 2: Die Harter as Jordan King (The Roku Channel)
Jasmine Guy – Chronicles of Jessica Wu as Barbara Baldwin (Prime Video)
Paula Pell – Die Hart 2: Die Harter as Cynthia (The Roku Channel)
The Twitter image above shows that The Roku Channel is promoting Nathalie Emmanuel, who is a prior nominee. I didn't see a graphic for Paula Pell, even though she's a previous winner for her writing and a prior nominee for acting, so that tells me who The Roku Channel thinks has the better chance of winning. Also, Jasmine Guy isn't even even playing the title character of Chronicles of Jessica Wu. I'm going to pick Emmanuel to win this category.
And I was wrong. Jasmine Guy won, despite Roku running a campaign on Twitter while Amazon Prime Video didn't. Congratulations! I'm belatedly celebrating Guy's victory by embedding Dish Nation's Creative Arts Emmy Winners Jasmine Guy & Keke Palmer Make History!

Creative Arts Emmy winners Jasmine Guy and Keke Palmer make history!

The 75th annual Creative Arts Emmys kicked off this weekend with some major wins. Jasmine Guy, best known for her role as Whitley Gilbert in the '90s sitcom 'A Different World' won her first Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for Chronicles Of Jessica Wu. Keke Palmer also made history as the first woman in 15 years to snag the Best Game Show Host Emmy.

Some of the other winners were Storm Reid for 'The Last of Us' star, Robin Thede for 'A Black Lady Sketch Show,' Jay Z for directing Rihanna's Super Bowl halftime show, Barack Obama for Outstanding Narrator for 'Working: What We Do All Day,' and many more!
If my interests in covering entertainment in general and awards shows in particular weren't speculative fiction and depictions of politics and government in general, I'd have put this video first, since its decription covers today's topic so well.


Next, a winner I already mentioned in The '2023 Emmys Celebrates Diversity With Most Winning Actors of Color' for the week of MLK Day, but covered in 'Queer Eye' leads structured reality shows at the Emmys - again and again in A late celebration of RuPaul's birthday with the Emmy nominations for 'Drag Race'.
Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program
Karamo Brown, Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Bobby Berk, and Jonathan Van Ness - Queer Eye (Netflix)
Nicole Byer - Nailed It! (Netflix)
Padma Lakshmi - Top Chef (Bravo)
Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph - Baking It (Peacock)
RuPaul - RuPaul's Drag Race (MTV)
RuPaul has won this award every year since 2016 and I expect will again. So do the experts at Gold Derby; five experts pick RuPaul, while one thinks Padma Lakshmi will win. Sorry, Fab Five, just be happy to be nominated.
RuPaul also repeated as Reality Host at the Gold Derby Awards, adding even more confidence in my prediction.
No surprise, RuPaul won. I couldn't find video of RuPaul winning Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program, so watch Reality Competition Program: 75th Emmy Awards from the Television Academy instead.

The Team from RuPaul’s Drag Race accepts the Emmy for Reality Competition Program at the 75th Emmy Awards.
I second RuPaul's emotion.


I did better with the winners from 'Jeopardy!' leads game show nominees at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Outstanding Host for a Game Show
Mayim Bialik – Jeopardy! (ABC / Syndicated)
Steve Harvey – Family Feud (ABC / Syndicated)
Ken Jennings – Jeopardy! (ABC / Syndicated)
Keke Palmer – Password (NBC)
Pat Sajak – Wheel of Fortune (Syndicated)
On the other hand, electorates do matter for this category. The Daytime Emmy Awards voters didn't even nominate Mayim Bialik, Ken Jennings, and Keke Palmer last year, instead nominating Wayne Brady for Let's Make a Deal, Leah Remini for People Puzzler and Pat Sajak twice, once for Wheel of Fortune and again for Celebrity Wheel of Fortune. The only returning nominee is Steve Harvey, who won last year. He's not favored this year. Instead, I'm agreeing with the experts at Gold Derby, three of whom forecast Mayim Bialik while the fourth chose Ken Jennings to win. The odds tie Jennings with Emmy winner Keke Palmer for second, which is why I'm featuring her promotional Twitter image here.
That turned out to be a wise choice, since Palmer won. I also called Jeopardy! winning Outstanding Game Show. It did, so congratulations to both Palmer and Jeopardy!

I conclude with the winners of three categories I examined in 'Succession' vs. 'The Last of Us' split drama guest acting nominees at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards plus Gold Derby predictions.

Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance
Julie Andrews – Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story: "Honeymoon Bliss" as Lady Whistledown (Netflix)
Alex Borstein – Family Guy: "A Bottle Episode" as Lois Griffin (Fox)
Mel Brooks – History of the World, Part II: "VIII" as Narrator (Hulu)
Maya Rudolph – Big Mouth: "Asexual Healing" as Connie the Hormone Monstress (Netflix)
Wanda Sykes – Crank Yankers: "Wanda Sykes, JB Smoove & Adam Carolla" as Gladys Murphy (Comedy Central)
Ali Wong – Tuca & Bertie: "Fledging Day" as Bertie (Adult Swim)
Maya Rudolph is a two-time winner in this category and would be my choice even without the input of Gold Derby, where both the editors and experts have her as their first choice...

Good luck to Rudolph on winning a fifth Emmy and here's to seeing her play Vice President Harris during election season this year!
Called her win! Now for the second half of the prediction coming true, although that might not happen for several months, maybe even this September or October when Saturday Night Live starts its next season.

I'm being a good environmentalist by recycling from 'Ted Lasso' leads comedies in nominations, but 'The Bear' may win more Emmy Awards.

Sam Richardson won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance in Ted Lasso, one of two the show won. I'll have more on his win for MLK Day.
It's the Saturday of MLK Day week, but I'm finally getting around to giving Richardson the recognition I promised. Watch the Television Academy's 75th Emmys Performers Nominee Celebration: Sam Richardson.

Emmys correspondent Albert [Lawrence] speaks with Sam Richardson at the 75th Emmys Performers Nominee Celebration.
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. I remember his character from Veep fondly and am looking forward to seeing him in seasons 2 and 3 of Ted Lasso. It's enough to forgive myself and the experts and editors at Gold Derby, only one of whom picked Richardson to win with a plurality picking Jon Bernthal. Next year, as he was better in Season 2 of The Bear.

I'm also recycling for the final winner I'm covering today from 'Succession' leads drama series nominees, followed by 'The Last of Us' and 'The White Lotus', where I wrote "I'm...returning to Storm Reid's win on MLK Day." Well, that was the plan. Better late than never!


Like Richardson, only one editor thought Reid would win, while a majority picked Harriet Walter to walk off the stage with the trophy, and like Richardson, Reid won. Watch Storm Reid (Riley) wins the Emmy for The Last Of Us! Long Version Acceptance Speech from Dark Dreams.



Congratulations! Also, enjoy this video while it lasts. I have a feeling I might have to replace it when it gets taken down.

In sum, seven of the ten performer winners at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards were people of color. Added to the five of twelve acting winners at the Primetime Emmy Awards, that's twelve out of twenty-two actors, hosts, and voice talents. Wow! Quite the win for diversity!

That's it for today's entertainment coverage. Stay tuned for highlights of Saturday Night Live's first show of the new year, when I plan on covering its Emmy Awards as well as the one Emmy won by A Black Lady Sketch Show.

Previous posts about the 2023 Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards
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