The Emmys tried something new this year. It went horribly wrong.

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The Emmys have officially entered their Hunger Games era.

I mean, fair — no one likes an acceptance speech that drags on like a weird voicemail from your long-lost aunt. But this year, instead of the usual "wrap it up" music, the Emmys producers tried something new. Something exciting. Something they no doubt thought was a little bit edgy.

You see, winners were given just 45 seconds to speak while accepting their awards. For every second they went over, $1,000 would be deducted from a $100,000 donation to the Boys & Girls Club of America. As a bonus, $1,000 would also be added for every second the recipient saved.

In essence, every extra second a winner spent talking meant less money going to charity. A literal countdown of money being siphoned away from children if the actors dared to gush too long.

The Boys & Girls Club of America live donation counter has to be the most DIABOLICAL move in a live award show.. 🫠 #Emmys pic.twitter.com/fXuz6NxpyS

— Sammie Jaimez (@SammieJaimez) September 15, 2025

It was pitched as an incentive to keep things snappy, but in reality? It came across as a form of emotional blackmail. And it didn't even work. 

After watching the show, 2025 was really not the year to attempt to "clamp down" on speeches. Some of the night's biggest winners weren't just rattling off a list of managers and agents and stylists; they were actually making history.

We had Owen Cooper, the youngest-ever male winner of any acting Emmy, taking home Best Supporting Actor in a Limited/Anthology Series award for Adolescence. Tramell Tillman won the Best Supporting Actor in a Drama award, making him the first Black actor to do so. 

There were also long-overdue and fan-favourite first-time wins: Noah Wyle for The Pitt, Cristin Milioti for The Penguin, Hacks star Hannah Einbinder and Severance's Britt Lower.

These are once-in-a-career moments, the kind you actually want to hear people talk about. Instead, winners were forced to spend precious seconds nervously acknowledging the giant ticking clock hanging over them. 

You could feel it, and it made for anxiety-inducing watching. Instead of basking in the joy of recognition, they were half-apologising to kids for stealing their lunch money. Literally. 

The whole bit was tied together by host Nate Bargatze, who leaned heavily (and I mean, heavily) on jokes about the ever-shrinking charity pot. Every intro, every transition, every awkward beat was filled with yet another riff about the money. 

"And now for something new… kidding, it's another charity joke." Image: Getty.

At first, it was fine. But by joke number twelve, I (and I presume, a lot of people watching) was begging Nate to give us literally anything else. A knock-knock joke. A tight five about oat milk. A presentation on why plane boarding should be back-to-front. Anything. 

Award shows live and die by pacing, and this year's Emmys leaned far too into gimmick over substance. And adding to the chaos? Endless presenter skits and reunions. 

While I will admit that the Everybody Loves Raymond reunion was cute and nostalgic, it was also about 700 years too long. Did we need that? Or would we have preferred Colman Domingo being allowed to finish a sentence without stressing about whether his speech was personally defunding after-school programs?

I have a note for the producers: the acceptance speeches are actually one part of the night we care about. No one is tuning in, really, for the filler celebrity banter. Cut the Raymond reunion. Trim a skit. Maybe Nate doesn't need to squeeze in fifteen versions of the same punchline. 

Maybe — and this might seem radical — just give the winners their damn moment. 

The ultimate insult came in the show's closing moments, where it was revealed this "charity punishment" wasn't even… real. At the end of the night, it was confirmed that the show would be donating the full $100,000 anyway, with Nate Bargatze throwing in $250,000 of his own cold, hard cash. 

Thank goodness someone realised the optics of "actor talks too long, robs children" wasn't exactly Emmy-worthy. But what was the point of putting actors through the wringer? 

What us television fans wanted was to see first-time winners cry, laugh, thank their mums and maybe even endearingly stumble over their words. Perhaps drop an f-bomb. That's the magic of live TV. It's why we tune in. 

This year, the Emmys wanted to be clever, they wanted to be groundbreaking. Instead, they made one of television's most joyous nights feel three hours of secondhand embarrassment with a countdown clock and bad banter.

Next year, can I please advise that we go back to basics? Play a tune if someone starts to go a bit rogue. Trim the endless presenter bits. And for the love of all that is holy, let the winners — especially the history-making ones — have their two minutes in peace.

Feature image: Getty.