The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in American prime time television programming from June 1, 2016, until May 31, 2017, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was held on Sunday, September 17, 2017, at the Microsoft Theater in Downtown Los Angeles, California, where 27 awards were presented, and was broadcast in the U.S. by CBS. The ceremony was hosted by Stephen Colbert. The 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards were held on September 9 and 10, and was broadcast by FXX on September 16.
The nominations were announced by Anna Chlumsky and Shemar Moore on July 13, 2017. Channelwise, the freshman HBO science fiction western drama Westworld and NBC sketch comedy Saturday Night Live were the most nominated programs, each with 22 nominations.
Host Stephen Colbert opened the ceremony with a song-and-dance number and a monologue that lampooned the state of the world under President Donald Trump, which The New York Times said set an anti-Trump tone for the rest of the event. Many of the further presentations and host commentary continued jokes aimed towards Trump, along with winners' speeches criticizing the President and standing behind diversity in the television field. Sean Spicer, Trump's former White House Press Secretary, made an appearance in which he parodied himself. RuPaul played a living Emmy statue in a comedic interview segment with Colbert during the ceremony.
Original programming streaming television services—Netflix and Hulu—upended traditional broadcast television series in several categories. Netflix series earned a total of 20 Primetime Emmy Awards, following only HBO with 29 and leading NBC with 15. Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale became the first web series to win Outstanding Drama Series. Additionally, streaming television also won their first awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (Elisabeth Moss for The Handmaid's Tale – Hulu), Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (Alexis Bledel for The Handmaid's Tale – Hulu), Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (Bruce Miller for The Handmaid's Tale – Hulu), Outstanding Television Movie (Black Mirror: San Junipero – Netflix) and Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special (Charlie Brooker for Black Mirror: San Junipero – Netflix).
In addition, the night saw several other historic firsts: Donald Glover became the first African-American to win Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for Atlanta. Riz Ahmed, with his win for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for The Night Of, became the first Asian to win that category as well as the first Asian man to win an acting award and first South Asian to win a lead acting award.
Moreover, Ahmed and Dave Chappelle also became the first Muslims to win acting awards, with Ahmed being the first Muslim to win a lead acting award and Chappelle the first to win for a guest role for Saturday Night Live. With Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe winning Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Master of None, Waithe became the first African-American woman to win that award. Finally, Julia Louis-Dreyfus won her record sixth consecutive award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the same category for the same role in a single series as Selina Meyer on Veep; she is now tied with Cloris Leachman for the most wins as a performer.
The awards ceremony drew 11.4 million viewers, on par with the previous awards ceremony, but one of the lowest viewerships for the Primetime Emmy Awards overall. Analysts attribute this to younger audiences preferring to watch clips or summaries than the entire event and to Florida markets being affected by Hurricane Irma.
Winners and nominees
Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡). For simplicity, producers who received nominations for program awards, as well as nominated writers for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series, have been omitted.
Programs + Veep (HBO) Atlanta (FX) Black-ish (ABC) Master of None (Netflix) Modern Family (ABC) Silicon Valley (HBO) Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix) The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu) Better Call Saul (AMC) The Crown (Netflix) House of Cards (Netflix) Stranger Things (Netflix) This Is Us (NBC) Westworld (HBO) Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS) Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC) The Late Late Show with James Corden (CBS) The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS) Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) Saturday Night Live (NBC) Billy on the Street (truTV) Documentary Now! (IFC) Drunk History (Comedy Central) Portlandia (IFC) Tracey Ullman's Show (HBO) Big Little Lies (HBO) Fargo (FX) Feud: Bette and Joan (FX) Genius (Nat Geo) The Night Of (HBO) Black Mirror: San Junipero (Netflix) Dolly Parton's Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love (NBC) The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (HBO) Sherlock: The Lying Detective (PBS) The Wizard of Lies (HBO) The Voice (NBC) The Amazing Race (CBS) American Ninja Warrior (NBC) Project Runway (Lifetime) RuPaul's Drag Race (VH1) Top Chef (Bravo)
Acting Lead + Donald Glover – Atlanta as Earnest "Earn" Marks (FX) Anthony Anderson – Black-ish as Andre "Dre" Johnson Sr. (ABC) Aziz Ansari – Master of None as Dev Shah (Netflix) Zach Galifianakis – Baskets as Chip Baskets and Dale Baskets (FX) William H. Macy – Shameless as Frank Gallagher (Showtime) Jeffrey Tambor – Transparent as Maura Pfefferman (Amazon) Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Veep as Selina Meyer (HBO) Pamela Adlon – Better Things as Sam Fox (FX) Jane Fonda – Grace and Frankie as Grace Hanson (Netflix) Allison Janney – Mom as Bonnie Plunkett (CBS) Ellie Kemper – Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt as Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix) Tracee Ellis Ross – Black-ish as Dr. Rainbow "Bow" Johnson (ABC) Lily Tomlin – Grace and Frankie as Frankie Bergstein (Netflix) Sterling K. Brown – This Is Us as Randall Pearson (NBC) Anthony Hopkins – Westworld as Dr. Robert Ford (HBO) Bob Odenkirk – Better Call Saul as Jimmy McGill (AMC) Matthew Rhys – The Americans as Philip Jennings (FX) Liev Schreiber – Ray Donovan as Ray Donovan (Showtime) Kevin Spacey – House of Cards as President Frank Underwood (Netflix) Milo Ventimiglia – This Is Us as Jack Pearson (NBC) Elisabeth Moss – The Handmaid's Tale as June Osborne / Offred (Hulu) Viola Davis – How to Get Away with Murder as Annalise Keating (ABC) Claire Foy – The Crown as Queen Elizabeth II (Netflix) Keri Russell – The Americans as Elizabeth Jennings (FX) Evan Rachel Wood – Westworld as Dolores Abernathy (HBO) Robin Wright – House of Cards as Claire Underwood (Netflix) Riz Ahmed – The Night Of as Nasir "Naz" Khan (HBO) Benedict Cumberbatch – Sherlock: The Lying Detective as Sherlock Holmes (PBS) Robert De Niro – The Wizard of Lies as Bernie Madoff (HBO) Ewan McGregor – Fargo as Ray Stussy and Emmit Stussy (FX) Geoffrey Rush – Genius as Albert Einstein (Nat Geo) John Turturro – The Night Of as John Stone (HBO) Nicole Kidman – Big Little Lies as Celeste Wright (HBO) Carrie Coon – Fargo as Gloria Burgle (FX) Felicity Huffman – American Crime as Jeanette Hesby (ABC) Jessica Lange – Feud: Bette and Joan as Joan Crawford (FX) Susan Sarandon – Feud: Bette and Joan as Bette Davis (FX) Reese Witherspoon – Big Little Lies as Madeline Martha Mackenzie (HBO)
Supporting + Alec Baldwin – Saturday Night Live as Donald Trump (NBC) Louie Anderson – Baskets as Christine Baskets (FX) Tituss Burgess – Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt as Titus Andromedon (Netflix) Ty Burrell – Modern Family as Phil Dunphy (ABC) Tony Hale – Veep as Gary Walsh (HBO) Matt Walsh – Veep as Mike McLintock (HBO) Kate McKinnon – Saturday Night Live as various characters (NBC) Vanessa Bayer – Saturday Night Live as various characters (NBC) Anna Chlumsky – Veep as Amy Brookheimer (HBO) Kathryn Hahn – Transparent as Raquel Fein (Amazon) Leslie Jones – Saturday Night Live as various characters (NBC) Judith Light – Transparent as Shelly Pfefferman (Amazon) John Lithgow – The Crown as Winston Churchill (Netflix) Jonathan Banks – Better Call Saul as Mike Ehrmantraut (AMC) David Harbour – Stranger Things as Jim Hopper (Netflix) Ron Cephas Jones – This Is Us as William H. Hill (NBC) Michael Kelly – House of Cards as Doug Stamper (Netflix) Mandy Patinkin – Homeland as Saul Berenson (Showtime) Jeffrey Wright – Westworld as Bernard Lowe (HBO) Ann Dowd – The Handmaid's Tale as Aunt Lydia (Hulu) Uzo Aduba – Orange Is the New Black as Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren (Netflix) Millie Bobby Brown – Stranger Things as Jane "Eleven" Ives (Netflix) Chrissy Metz – This Is Us as Kate Pearson (NBC) Thandie Newton – Westworld as Maeve Millay (HBO) Samira Wiley – The Handmaid's Tale as Moira (Hulu) Alexander Skarsgård – Big Little Lies as Perry Wright (HBO) Bill Camp – The Night Of as Dennis Box (HBO) Alfred Molina – Feud: Bette and Joan as Robert Aldrich (FX) David Thewlis – Fargo as V. M. Varga (FX) Stanley Tucci – Feud: Bette and Joan as Jack L. Warner (FX) Michael K. Williams – The Night Of as Freddy Knight (HBO) Laura Dern – Big Little Lies as Renata Klein (HBO) Judy Davis – Feud: Bette and Joan as Hedda Hopper (FX) Jackie Hoffman – Feud: Bette and Joan as Mamacita (FX) Regina King – American Crime as Kimara Walters (ABC) Michelle Pfeiffer – The Wizard of Lies as Ruth Madoff (HBO) Shailene Woodley – Big Little Lies as Jane Chapman (HBO)
Directing + Atlanta: "B.A.N." – Donald Glover (FX) Silicon Valley: "Intellectual Property" – Jamie Babbit (HBO) Silicon Valley: "Server Error" – Mike Judge (HBO) Veep: "Blurb" – Morgan Sackett (HBO) Veep: "Groundbreaking" – David Mandel (HBO) Veep: "Justice" – Dale Stern (HBO) The Handmaid's Tale: "Offred" – Reed Morano (Hulu) Better Call Saul: "Witness" – Vince Gilligan (AMC) The Crown: "Hyde Park Corner" – Stephen Daldry (Netflix) The Handmaid's Tale: "The Bridge" – Kate Dennis (Hulu) Homeland: "America First" – Lesli Linka Glatter (Showtime) Stranger Things: "Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers" – The Duffer Brothers (Netflix) Westworld: "The Bicameral Mind" – Jonathan Nolan (HBO) Saturday Night Live: "Host: Jimmy Fallon" – Don Roy King (NBC) Drunk History: "Hamilton" – Jeremy Konner and Derek Waters (Comedy Central) Jimmy Kimmel Live!: "The (RED) Show" – Andy Fisher (ABC) Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: "Multi-Level Marketing" – Paul Pennolino (HBO) The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: "Episode 0179" – Jim Hoskinson (CBS) Big Little Lies – Jean-Marc Vallée (HBO) Fargo: "The Law of Vacant Places" – Noah Hawley (FX) Feud: Bette and Joan: "And the Winner Is... (The Oscars of 1963)" – Ryan Murphy (FX) Genius: "Einstein: Chapter One" – Ron Howard (Nat Geo) The Night Of: "The Art of War" – James Marsh (HBO) The Night Of: "The Beach" – Steven Zaillian (HBO)
Writing + Master of None: "Thanksgiving" – Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe (Netflix) Atlanta: "B.A.N." – Donald Glover (FX) Atlanta: "Streets on Lock" – Stephen Glover (FX) Silicon Valley: "Success Failure" – Alec Berg (HBO) Veep: "Georgia" – Billy Kimball (HBO) Veep: "Groundbreaking" – David Mandel (HBO) The Handmaid's Tale: "Offred" – Bruce Miller (Hulu) The Americans: "The Soviet Division" – Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg (FX) Better Call Saul: "Chicanery" – Gordon Smith (AMC) The Crown: "Assassins" – Peter Morgan (Netflix) Stranger Things: "Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers" – The Duffer Brothers (Netflix) Westworld: "The Bicameral Mind" – Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan (HBO) Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS) Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC) The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS) Saturday Night Live (NBC) Black Mirror: San Junipero – Charlie Brooker (Netflix) Big Little Lies – David E. Kelley (HBO) Fargo: "The Law of Vacant Places" – Noah Hawley (FX)