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Streaming titans Amazon and Netflix win big at 2015 Emmys

'Transparent' and 'Orange Is The New Black' stand out.

 

Rae Votta

Streaming

Posted on Sep 21, 2015   Updated on May 27, 2021, 10:56 pm CDT

Netflix and Amazon both marked their territory at the 67th Annual Emmy Awards Sunday, with the streaming titans bringing home five combined, high-profile statues.

It was a banner year for Web-based prestige TV, with 46 nominations between them for shows like Transparent, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, House of Cards, and Orange Is the New Black. Netflix’s 34 nominations led the pack, and Amazon garnered the remaining 12.

In the end, the richly diverse worlds forged by Amazon’s Transparent and Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black planted the largest flags on the night. Oustanding directing in a comedy series, outstanding guest actor in a comedy series, and outstanding lead actor in a comedy series all went to Transparent—with star Jeffrey Tambor and creator Jill Soloway using their acceptance speeches to stump for trans rights. 

“We don’t have a trans tipping point,” Soloway said, “we have a trans civil rights problem.”

Outstanding supporting actress in a drama series went to Orange Is the New Black‘s Uzo Aduba. She won her second Emmy in a row for her role as inmate Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren.

The final stream-centric statue went to House of Cards‘s Reg E. Cathey, who won outstanding guest actor in a drama series.


Transparent, which made history at the Golden Globes by winning best TV series, a first for Amazon, was up for the Emmy on Sunday, facing off against Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. HBO’s Veep would take home the hardware, however.

Netflix’s Lily Tomlin was up for best actress in a comedy series for Grace and Frankie(Julia Louis-Dreyfus would win for Veep).

In the supporting categories, Tituss Burgess was nominated for his role on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, (Tony Hale would set the tone for Veep‘s dominating night with an early win), while Jane Krakowski and Gaby Hoffman were both nominated for supporting actress representing Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Transparent, respectively. (Allison Janney from CBS’s Mom would claim this category.)

In the drama category, Netflix faced off against itself for outstanding series, with Orange Is the New Black and House of Cards both nominated. Both would yield the award to cultural force Game of Thrones.

Prior to Sunday’s event, Transparent, House of Cards, and Virunga took home awards at the Creative Arts Emmys. Transparent won the awards for outstanding main title theme music and outstanding costumes for a contemporary series, while actor Bradley Whitford won for his guest actor appearance in the series.

House of Cards won outstanding music composition for a series and Virunga won outstanding cinematography for nonfiction programming.

Screengrab via Amazon Studios/YouTube

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*First Published: Sep 21, 2015, 12:45 am CDT