Watching Sunday nights Emmy Awards was a roller coaster. At times, it was exhilarating, with a string of history-making and surprising wins, especially the unexpected dominance of Fleabag over presumed front-runner Veep in the comedy categories. Yet it was also stomach-turning, with a series of questionable and downright embarrassing moments to fill the hostless ceremony, far less successful than the similarly hostless Oscars earlier this year .

The dissonance between the Emmy awards and the show itself perhaps reflects TVs broader existential crisis. So many of the nights wins felt like they were embracing the future of television, honoring diverse performers and creators, and heralding shows that swing for the fences and reinvent the form. But the awards ceremony itself, overstuffed with worn-out bits and interminable montages, was a formulaic relic of the past.

The biggest narrative of the night was the series of surprise wins for Phoebe Waller-Bridges Fleabag. Veep, a perennial Emmy favorite, failed to receive what had been expected to be a coronation after the end of its seven-season run.

But it was Fleabag that prevailed. In addition to its anticipated win for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, it took home several surprise trophies, including Outstanding Comedy Series.

Based on Waller-Bridges one-woman play, the Amazon Prime and BBC sitcom is a seamless blend of tragedy and comedy, punctuated by Waller-Bridges signature fourth-wall breaks. Told from an unabashedly feminist perspective, the show dares to make jokes about otherwise taboo topics like miscarriages, while also serving as a powerful meditation on grief, loneliness and uncertainty. Fleabag is among a number of inventive comedies, many of them created by women and people of color, that infuse their creators singular vision.