[2] The ceremony was originally to be held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead hosted from the Staples Center, while winners gave speeches remotely from their homes or other locations.

Other winning programs include Euphoria, I Know This Much Is True, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, The Morning Show, Mrs. America, Ozark, RuPaul's Drag Race, and Unorthodox.

Including Creative Arts Emmys, Watchmen led all programs with 11 wins and 26 nominations, while HBO took home 30 awards to lead all networks.

The nominations for the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards were announced on July 28, 2020, by host Leslie Jones and presenters Laverne Cox, Josh Gad, and Tatiana Maslany.

[3] Watchmen led all programs with 26 total nominations between the main ceremony and the 72nd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, followed by The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel with 20 and Ozark and Succession with 18 each.

[8][9] Combined with its two Creative Arts Emmys, the show became the most awarded comedy in a single year with nine wins, breaking The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel's record of eight from 2018 and 2019.

Additionally, the annual Governors Ball was cancelled for the first time in its history, with the Television Academy making a $1 million donation to the Actors Fund's COVID-19 efforts in its place.

[55] While Kimmel presented the ceremony from the Staples Center, no in-person festivities (such as a red carpet or audience) at the venue took place.

[58] To maintain a high-quality presentation, the use of video-conferencing was avoided, with producers sending "professional" cameras to each nominee's location, as well as an operator, if they so chose.

[56] Staples Center was chosen as the venue to ensure that appropriate social distancing could be practiced among crew members, and because it could support the infrastructure needed for the large number of remote feeds that would be used (estimated to be around 140).

Kimmel's opening monologue featured a laugh track and footage of audience reactions from past Emmy ceremonies.

[72][73] Time's Judy Berman called the ceremony "one of the most enjoyable awards shows in recent memory" thanks not to one major decision but instead due to the many details that succeeded.

[74] Linda Holmes of NPR also noted that the broadcast "wasn't just watchable; it was ... pretty good", with the remote setup providing a level of intimacy and unpredictability missing from other awards shows.

[76] Mike Hale of The New York Times was more critical of the ceremony, remarking that the Emmys "continued [their] trend of feeling out of tune with the way most of us watch TV".

He added that the remote appearances and pretaped portions evoked nostalgia for "the hothouse atmosphere and occasional breakdowns" of live ceremonies, with spontaneity replaced by "stage-managed banality".

[77] Hank Stuever, writing for The Washington Post, found that the ceremony "more than met the challenge that the pandemic handed it" but failed to inspire any permanent ideas for changes to the awards show format.

Several cast members and affiliates of the FX drama Pose, which is set in New York City's LGBT ballroom scene, criticized the Television Academy for excluding its many transgender stars from the acting categories.

[88] John Leguizamo boycotted the Emmys because of its lack of Latino nominees, remarking, "If you don't have Latin people, there's no reason for me to see it.

"[89] Before the nominations were announced, Porter suggested that his Pose co-star Mj Rodriguez, who is transgender and Afro-Latina, was not receiving recognition because the Television Academy's members "don't know how to adjudicate the performance" and so simply exclude it.

[93][94] Before the In Memoriam montage, Kimmel paid tribute to United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died two days before the ceremony.