The Emmy Awards after party game still belongs to HBO, but Netflix took a shot last night, too.
HBO still turns the soaring heights of the Pacific Design Center into the party of parties, stuffed with Emmy-clutching stars and miscellaneous people of interest like former Obama speechwriter and podcast star Jon Favreau, for instance.
Most of the “Game of Thrones” crowd came over from the Emmys, while winner Peter Dinklage had a tete-a-tete with HBO president Richard Plepler. Evan Rachel Wood of “Westworld” literally danced through the room while George RR Martin, the man who gave us “GoT,” grumpily took selfies with enraptured fans.
Certainly the center of attention was “Barry” star Henry Winkler, who won his first Emmy ever after 43 years in the business and superstardom as Fonzie on “Happy Days.” He hugged and kissed nearly everyone in the room. His on stage acceptance speech was so clever –like younger award winners, he told his sons they could “go to sleep now.” They are 38 and 35 years old. “My son said Dad, why’d you do that?” Winkler told me. “I said, I wrote it 42 years ago!”
I asked Stacey Winkler where she was going to put the golden statue, which has a lot of pointy ends. “On the dining room table, we can break the fast with it and put bagels on the end,” she said. Tomorrow is Yom Kippur.
I chatted with David Benioff, co-EP of “GoT” and winner of the Emmy last night for drama. His 2nd cousin, Marc Benioff, billionaire owner of SalesForce, has just bought Time Magazine. They share a great grandfather but don’t really know each other, coming from different coasts. “I met him at 43,” David said. But maybe this guarantees the last season of “GoT” a Time cover.
At the Netflix party, set up handsomely in the Neuehouse on Sunset Blvd., we waited and waited for Claire Foy and “The Crown” gang. Alas, they didn’t show, while the party filled up to frightening capacities. Still, I was happy to see a great acting couple, Rosemarie DeWitt and Ron Livingston, as well as producer Dana Brunetti, who escaped the Kevin Spacey scandals and will now produce ‘the’ movie about the cave bound school soccer players in Thailand. RuPaul made the rounds, as did Dave Chapelle, and the great Ernie Hudson of “Ghostbusters” fame.
Netflix gave HBO a run for its money last night, tying them in wins. But HBO was lacking “Veep,” which would have put them over, and “Big Little Lies,” which will also be back next season. Yes, next time HBO comes at the Emmys with Meryl Streep. So, kudos to Netflix but the game is hot. (And whatever happened to Showtime?)
