Five things to look out for at the 2020 Emmys, the pandemic's first grand awards gala

• The 12 series you should see, according to the 2020 Emmys

And the Emmy is for ... a man who is at home in slippers and looks at us through a screen.

Making this interesting and fun is the challenge facing the first grand awards gala of the pandemic this Sunday.

The 72nd edition of the Emmy Awards promised, in another life, a duel of great television productions that today are essential to keep up with the global cultural conversation, such as

or

.

But any artistic achievement will be, at least during the gala, overshadowed by the gala itself.

Not spectacular, but strange.

These are some of the keys to some Emmy who aspire to invent the prizes of confinement.

Awards by teleconference

Offices, cinemas and bars began to close.

The productions in progress were stopped.

But the date of the Emmys was never in question.

They would be held on September 20, at 5 p.m. in Los Angeles.

Jimmy Kimmel would present them on a stage at the Staples Center.

And so far normality.

There are no red carpets or parties, which is an economic catastrophe for entire sectors of this city that live off the finery, such as caterers or limousines.

All the nominees are at home.

What the producers have done is send them home a small portable television studio so that they can connect, listen to the award and react live.

According to the Academy, there are 138 people, in 114 different locations, in 10 countries.

The producers have put the bandage on before the injury.

"It's just not going to work right all the time," executive producer Ian Stewart told reporters.

"You have to accept it."

An extraordinary statement for a Hollywood producer.

In addition, it will be strictly direct.

“There are 130 live signals coming in.

It's like having 130 games at once, ”Stewart said.

During this week the so-called Creative Arts Emmys were awarded, which reward dozens of minor and technical categories.

Winners have submitted prerecorded speeches.

It will not be so.

The commitment to the live show to squeeze out some emotion is total.

Nominees who are in Europe or Asia will have to stay up if they don't want the world to see them snoring while being awarded an award.

Perhaps the best example so far of such a successful multiple connection was the Democratic Convention on August 17.

The political convention, however, just had to not look bad.

The Emmys are bound to be a landmark show.

The best

meeting in

the world.

Cycle change

In this crazy packaging, the Emmys will serve to start a new cycle in the drama category.

The decade of

, the most awarded series in history, is over.

It was already on its way out last year, but the television industry decided to give one last tribute to a series that has broken the seams of what is possible on the small screen.

Now the drama category is ready to name a successor (yes, it is intended).

The second season of

HBO's

faces the third of

(Netflix), with 18 nominations each.

Both have also seen the work of all their main actors recognized.

From behind, they hope to surprise

and

.

In comedy, the change of cycle already began last year when Hurricane

swept through what was to be

last gala

.

Two series are measured this Sunday at the Comedy Emmys:

and

.

Strong new actors

Just five years ago, the Emmys were surprised by the first nominations for Netflix or the first grand prize for Hulu.

This year, Disney +, Apple TV + and Quibi also enter with nominations.

It is the kingdom of platforms.

Disney's also enters with nothing less than a nomination for the drama series of the year, for the phenomenon of

(and 19 nominations in total).

Apple's has 18 nominations, five of them for actors in its flagship launch series,

.

Can Netflix finally reign?

Netflix is ​​already the largest television and film studio in history, at least by volume.

It has been nominated for an Oscar for best picture twice.

It has won the foreign film.

Nobody produces more.

And yet, never has a production of his won one of the three great fiction Emmys: best drama, best comedy or best miniseries of the year.

He always loses against HBO, and when he is not, against the third party in contention.

This year, Netflix has broken the all-time record for nominations, with 160. The hopes of closing that pending account lie with

and

(drama);

and

(comedy);

and

(miniseries).

None have it easy.

The most diverse group of nominees

The attention is usually placed on the Oscars, but the reality is that the great television series are curiously very white, even in these times of so much production.

An analysis by the Los Angeles Times found that between 2015 and 2019, 82% of Emmy nominees were white, including three-quarters of actors and 90% of directors and screenwriters.

This year, that has changed, thanks to HBO.

The miniseries

, starring a black woman, is the most nominated show of the year.

In total, there are 38 nominated black actors this year, double the number last year.