In this video grab captured on Sept 20, 2020 courtesy of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and ABC Entertainment, Annie Murphy, from left, Catherine O'Hara, Noah Reid, Sarah Levy, Karen Robinson, Eugene Levy and Daniel Levy accept the award for outstanding comedy series for "Schitt's Creek" during the 72nd Emmy Awards broadcast. (PHOTO / THE TELEVISION ACADEMY AND ABC ENTERTAINMENT VIA AP)

The Emmy Awards aired as a live, virtual ceremony on Sunday, bringing Hollywood television stars together, distantly, through a giant would-be Zoom call with host Jimmy Kimmel.

The ceremony, which was forced to make major changes due to the coronavirus pandemic, aired on ABC without the typical celebrity audience or red carpet. Just a few live presenters, including Jennifer Aniston and an alpaca, appeared in the same space as Kimmel.

Quirky comedy Schitt's Creek, media family saga Succession, and dystopian drama Watchmen dominated the Emmy Awards

Producers sent camera kits and microphones to all the nominees, scattered in 125 places around the world, who chose how and where they wanted to be seen.

Nominees were streamed from inside their homes with friends and family members, or at small gatherings, seated a safe distance apart from their castmates.

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“You know how hard it is to try to get your parents to FaceTime?” Kimmel joked as he kicked off the show against a backdrop showing livestreams from the 100 award nominees. “Multiply that by a lot.”

As Kimmel cracked jokes during his opening monologue, cameras cut to scenes of celebrities laughing in the audience during previous Emmy ceremonies.

“Of course we don’t have an audience,” Kimmel said, contrasting the stripped-down Emmy’s to the in-person “Make America Great Again” campaign events of President Donald Trump. “This isn’t a MAGA rally, it’s the Emmys.”

In this video grab captured on Sept 20, 2020 courtesy of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and ABC Entertainment, Jimmy Kimmel, right, speaks with actresses, from left, Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox during the 72nd Emmy Awards broadcast. (PHOTO / THE TELEVISION ACADEMY AND ABC ENTERTAINMENT VIA AP)

The cameras showed Kimmel inside an empty Staples Center arena with a few cardboard cutouts of TV stars, similar to the ones being used to fill empty seats at Major League Baseball games.

AT&T Inc's HBO network triumphed with 30 wins, including best drama Succession and dystopian drama Watchmen, while Apple Inc took home its first award for the iPhone maker's dive into streaming television.

It is the third consecutive year that HBO has taken home the award's biggest prize, with smash series Game of Thrones dominating the category in the previous two years.

Schitt's Creek, a sleeper hit on the small Pop TV network about a wealthy family that is forced to live in a rundown motel, won a total of nine Emmys

Netflix Inc, which headed into the ceremony with a record 160 nominations, finished second with 21 honors. The Pop cable network, owned by ViacomCBS Inc, took the top comedy prize for offbeat series Schitt's Creek, which swept comedy categories to collect nine awards overall, including acting awards for Canadian stars Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Daniel Levy and Annie Murphy.

Eugene Levy won the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series award while O'Hara was awarded Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

Daniel Levy took home the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, while Annie Murphy won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Dan Levy also won Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series with Andrew Cividino.

With live feeds directly to the nominees, presenters in black-tuxedo hazmat suits handed the awards to the winners. The show also used prerecorded profiles of essential workers, including a high school teacher and a nurse, to present several awards.

Some of the nominees donned formal attire, including the cast of the winning comedy series Schitt’s Creek, who appeared together at an event space in Toronto. Tables were spaced apart, and many of the gathering’s attendees wore black masks.

The winners of Schitt's Creek, a sleeper hit on the small Pop TV network about a wealthy family that is forced to live in a rundown motel, got their trophies delivered to them in a restaurant-style setup in Ontario, Canada, by a person dressed in a custom hazmat suit, designed to resemble a tuxedo.

In this video grab captured on Sept 20, 2020 courtesy of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and ABC Entertainment, Regina King accepts the award for outstanding lead actress in a limited series or movie for "Watchmen" during the 72nd Emmy Awards broadcast. (PHOTO / THE TELEVISION ACADEMY AND ABC ENTERTAINMENT VIA AP)

Other nominees were casually lounging at home, including actress Regina King, who won the Emmy for best actress in a limited series for her role in HBO’s Watchmen. 

Watchmen, infused with racial themes, was named best limited series, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II took best supporting actor. Watchmen also won for writing.

“This is so freaking weird,” King said as she accepted her award sitting in an armchair while wearing a pink suit and a black T-shirt emblazoned with the face of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman killed by police in her Louisville, Kentucky, home earlier this year.

In an interview after winning her award, King said she had been more nervous accepting the award at home.

“I like the real awards better,” King said. “Not that these are fake; I don’t know what to call it.”

This handout picture released courtesy of Image Group LA / American Broadcasting Companies, Inc / ABC shows shows host Jimmy Kimmel in front of a wall of nominees watching remotely at the Staples Center during the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony held virtually on Sept 20, 2020. (PHOTO / IMAGE GROUP LA / AMERICAN BROADCASTING COMPANIES, INC / ABC / AFP)

Watchmen creator Damon Lindelof dedicated the Emmy to the victims and survivors of the 1921 massacre of the Black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which partly inspired the series.

HBO's Succession, the wickedly juicy tale of a fractious media family, won a total of seven awards. It dominated the drama categories with four trophies, including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series. 

Succession creator Jesse Armstrong won the award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, while Andrij Parekh won the prize for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for directing the "Hunting" episode of Succession. Jeremy Strong won best actor for his role as a downtrodden son.

In this video grab captured on Sept 20, 2020 courtesy of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and ABC Entertainment, Zendaya accepts the award for outstanding lead actress in a drama series for "Euphoria" during the 72nd Emmy Awards broadcast. (PHOTO / THE TELEVISION ACADEMY AND ABC ENTERTAINMENT VIA AP)

The biggest shock of the night came when former Disney Channel actress Zendaya, 24, was named best drama actress for playing a teen drug addict in HBO's Euphoria, beating presumed favorites Laura Linney (Ozark) and Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show).

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver was named best variety talk series for the fifth successive year, and the British comedian accepted wearing a red Liverpool soccer shirt in honor of his favorite British team.

Billy Crudup won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Apple TV+ series The Morning Show, while Julia Garner nabbed Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role in Netflix's show Ozark.

In this video grab captured on Sept 20, 2020, courtesy of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and ABC Entertainment, Reese Witherspoon, left, and Kerry Washington, right, speak during the 72nd Emmy Awards broadcast. (PHOTO / THE TELEVISION ACADEMY AND ABC ENTERTAINMENT VIA AP)