Reaching for Canadian connection at the Emmys

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This article was published 22/09/2017 (3234 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Amid all the acceptance-speech dissection and red-carpet fashion reaction that followed last Sunday’s broadcast of the 69th Emmy Awards, there was another post-show postscript that felt, at once, as forced as the oft-repeated “What are you wearing?” query and as quaint as an old Hinterland Who’s Who video.

I’m referring, of course, to the inevitable north-of-the-border tradition that might best be described as “Let’s find something — anything — that connects Canada to this awards show.” It happens on Emmy night, just as it does after the Oscars, Tonys, Grammys, Golden Globes, People’s Choice Awards, ESPYs, Teen Choice Awards, VMAs, CMAs, and any other showbizzy spectacle that involves famous people handing trophies to other famous people.

After this year’s Emmy’s, Canada’s entertainment “news” programs were quick to fall all over themselves describing how Canada had just had a big Emmy night.

The Handmaid’s Tale, a TV-drama adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s like-titled 1985 novel, took home eight awards, including the Emmys for best drama series, best actress and best writing.

Huge night for Canada, that — despite the fact the series was produced for a U.S. streaming service, Hulu (it aired on Bravo in Canada), adapted for TV by an American (Emmy winner Bruce Miller), directed by Americans (including Emmy winner Reed Morano) and had a principally American cast (led by Emmy winner Elisabeth Moss and supporting/guest Emmy recipients Ann Dowd and Alexis Bledel).

The fact the source material was written by a Canadian (Atwood also had a producer credit on the TV series) and was shot in southern Ontario was enough to prompt this country’s celebrity-gushing class to view The Handmaid’s Tale’s Emmy success as a north-of-the-border triumph.

The same attitude kicked in when the HBO miniseries Big Little Lies grabbed a handful of Emmys. The series, based on an Australian book, starred Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley and Laura Dern (Kidman, an Aussie, and Dern, an American, received acting awards for their efforts).

Not much Canadian about it, other than where it was shot (Montreal), but the fact director Jean-Marc Vallée won an Emmy, Big Little Lies became another of the awards show’s claims to Canadian fame.

The “let’s make it about us” sentiment extended its reach — or, let’s say stretched — into the comedy realm, as well, when the Emmys heaped praise and hardware on Saturday Night Live for its outstanding Trump-fuelled season. SNL won nine trophies in all, including outstanding sketch variety series and performance awards for cast regular Kate McKinnon and frequent-guest presidential-parody specialist Alec Baldwin.

SNL’s Emmy glory became Canada’s Emmy glory, because executive producer Lorne Michaels was born north of the border. No matter that the series creator has lived and worked in the U.S. for more than 40 years.

Big night for SNL? Big night for Canada.

It’s all so… predictable. And it’s unnecessary, because Canadian television has a lot to celebrate without grabbing onto thin wisps of American TV awards credit.

Never mind grasping for a Canuck connection to Saturday Night Live; watch a few episodes of Baroness von Sketch Show or Kim’s Convenience or Letterkenny or Schitt’s Creek, and you’ll know Canadian comedy is doing just fine.

On the drama side, tune into the last season of Bravo’s 19-2, or a first-season instalment of CTV’s Cardinal, or set the DVR for next weekend’s première of The Disappearance (also CTV), or smirk along with an episode of Global’s Private Eyes.

What you’ll see is that Canada has a lot of big nights on TV. They just don’t happen during American awards shows.

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @BradOswald