The 71st Emmy Awards

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Mandatory Credit: Photo by Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock (9046769n) A Emmy award statuettes are seen during the 2017 Governors Ball Press Preview at The Los Angeles Convention Center on in Los Angeles, Calif 2017 Governors Ball Press Preview, Los Angeles, USA – 07 Sep 2017

Brendan Guillen, Reporter

The 71st Annual Emmy Awards were held on September 22nd, 2019 in Los Angeles, California, and had a slew of surprises.

The Emmys are meant to celebrate innovations in daytime television programming. The categories are formed from the major genres in television entertainment: drama, comedy, and reality series. This year’s Emmys were the first to be held without a host since 1989. Instead, Homer Simpson made a guest appearance and was promptly cut off–or rather, crushed– by a falling piano before he was fully introduced.

Despite the controversy surrounding its final season, HBO’s “Game of Thrones” received the award for Outstanding Drama Series. The show now sits with previous winners such as “The West Wing,” “L.A. Law,” “Mad Men,” and “Hill Street Blues.” It won 12 Emmy’s for its final season and had 32 total nominations, the most of any television drama to date.

Fleabag, a show written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, won Outstanding Comedy Series. The show ended its two season run on a high note, scoring Amazon an Emmy. Phoebe Waller-Bridge herself received two awards, one for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and another for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. Jodie Comer won the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category for her performance in the show “Killing Eve”.

Despite the 2019 Emmys’ uniqueness, with it being host-less and having several memorable moments, this year marked the lowest viewership since records began in 1990. An estimated 6.9 million people tuned in, compared to 11.3 million in 2016 and 10.17 million in 2018. This is thought to be a result of the lack of a show host, which generally adds power and charisma to the ceremony. The decision to not have a host follows the success of the 2019 Oscar Awards, which according to FOX Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier, was a factor in the planning of the Emmys.