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Watchmen win big at Emmies
HBO’s Watchmen was the big winner at the 2020 Emmy Awards, taking home 11 awards, followed by Best Comedy winner Schitt’s Creek with nine, and Best Drama winner Succession and The Mandalorian, both with seven.
HBO was the biggest winner at the 2020 Emmys, taking home 30 awards, just ahead of Netflix’s 21 awards. Content currently available on Showmax took home a 34 awards, including Best Limited Series (Watchmen), Best Drama (Succession), Best TV Movie (Bad Education), Best Animation (Rick & Morty) and Best Children’s Program (We Are The Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest).
Winners from Showmax’s catalogue include:
HBO’s Watchmen was the biggest winner overall at the 2020 Emmys, with 11 wins from its 26 nominations, including Outstanding Limited Series, Lead Actress (Regina King as Sister Night), and Supporting Actor (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Cal Abar, beating out castmates Jovan Adepo as Hooded Justice and Louis Gossett Jr. as William Reeves), not to mention Writing, Casting, Cinematography, Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes, Picture Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Original Dramatic Score.
A sequel to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ iconic DC graphic novel, Watchmen was the best reviewed new TV show of 2019 on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 95% critics rating.
HBO’s Succession was the biggest winner in the Drama category at the 2020 Emmys, taking home seven awards, including Outstanding Drama Series, Lead Actor (Jeremy Strong as Kendall, beating off 2020 Golden Globe winner Brian Cox as his father Logan), Guest Actress (Cherry Jones as Nan Pierce – her second win in the category in two years), Directing, Writing, Casting, and Picture Editing.
In Succession, four very rich siblings behave very badly as they try to win their father’s approval – and control of his company, a global media and entertainment empire. In Season 2, the Roys meet their liberal counterparts as Logan attempts to orchestrate his biggest acquisition yet.
HBO’s Bad Education was named Outstanding TV Movie at the 2020 Emmys, beating off the likes of El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs The Reverend.
Based on true story, Bad Education follows Frank Tassone (Hugh Jackman, who was up for Best Actor for the role) and Pam Gluckin (Oscar winner Allison Janney), whose reign over a prestigious school district is threatened by the single largest public school embezzlement scheme in America’s history, which was uncovered by a student journalist.
At the 2020 Emmys, Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty was named Best Animated Program for The Vat of Acid Episode, beating off the final season of BoJack Horseman, as well as Big Mouth, Bob’s Burgers, and The Simpsons. This is Rick & Morty’s second Best Animated Program Emmy.
Rick Sanchez is a sociopathic genius scientist who lives with his daughter Beth’s family, constantly bringing her, his son-in-law Jerry, granddaughter Summer, and inherently timid grandson Morty on insanely dangerous adventures across the multiverse.
We Are The Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Fest
HBO’s We Are The Dream: The Kids Of The Oakland MLK Fest was the joint winner of Outstanding Children’s Program with Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, beating the likes of Star Wars Resistance.
Executive produced by Oscar winner Mahershali Ali (Moonlight, Ramy), the 58-minute documentary follows the 40th annual Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest, a public speaking competition where children perform poetry and speeches inspired by the legacy of Dr Martin Luther King Jr and the American Civil Rights Movement.
In HBO’s Euphoria, 24-year-old Zendaya made history at the 2020 Emmys as the youngest Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama winner ever as 17-year-old Rue, who returns home from rehab with no plans to stay clean, and falls for the new girl in town, Jules (played by trans superstar Hunter Schafer).
“She’s younger than Baby Yoda and she already has an Emmy,” quipped host Jimmy Kimmel after Zendaya beat out Jennifer Aniston, Olivia Colman, Sandra Oh, Laura Linney and Jodie Comer, who set the record last year when she won for Killing Eve at age 26.
Euphoria also won 2020 Emmys for Original Music and Lyrics for All For Us by Labrinth, as well as Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic).
Three-time Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight, Avengers) won his first acting Emmy: Best Actor in a Limited Series for his dual role in HBO’s I Know This Much is True, beating off the likes of Hugh Jackman in Bad Education and Jeremy Irons in Watchmen.
Based on the Wally Lamb bestseller about how you don’t just give up on the people you love, I Know this Much is True follows the parallel lives of identical twin brothers Dominick Birdsey and his brother Thomas, a paranoid schizophrenic – both played by Mark, who lost 20 pounds to play Dominic, then gained that back and put another 20 pounds on to play Thomas
Adult Swim’s Primal won three Outstanding Achievement In Animation Awards at the 2020 Emmys, for storyboard artist Genndy Tartakovsky, art director Scott Wills, and character designer Stephen DeStefano.
From the creator behind the Emmy-winning series Samurai Jack, Genndy Tartakovsky, Primal follows a caveman at the dawn of evolution and a dinosaur on the brink of extinction. The two creatures, one on the way out and one on the way in, become each other’s only hope of survival in a treacherous world.
Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale won Best Production Design from its 10 Emmy nominations this year, beating out Big Little Lies, Killing Eve, The Morning Show, Ozark and Succession.
Season 1 was based on Margaret Atwood’s classic novel of the same name, which won the first Arthur C. Clarke Award for its depiction of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly the United States, which has returned to ‘traditional values,’ with women treated as property of the state.
2020 Emmy nominees on Showmax include A Black Lady Sketch Show, Ballers, Big Little Lies, Little Fires Everywhere, McMillion$, Ramy, Robot Chicken, The Outsider, The Plot Against America, Silicon Valley, We’re Here, Westworld, and What We Do In The Shadows. Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Curb Your Enthusiasm are coming to Showmax on 1 January 2021
