Last night was Super Tuesday on TV. It marked the return of “NCIS,” “The Conners,” “Empire,” and “This is Us.” Not all of it was successful.

“NCIS” came back strong with Cote de Pablo as Ziva, who herself returned after 6 seasons away. The show scored 12 million viewers, remaining a powerhouse. But the numbers last night were no higher than last season, and didn’t equal the highest from last season. So Ziva was good, but not super.

NBC’s “This is Us,” a confusing melodrama, garnered over 7 million fans. No one understood it, but I’m sure they wept. The show is still in the game.

But things were pretty bad for two other shows. “The Conners,” the replacement for “Roseanne,” grabbed just 5.67 million, down from its highs last season. I’m sure ABC was hoping for a 6 at least. They really pumped the birth of a Conner grandchild, but the audience brought no baby gifts.

“Empire” came back without Jussie Smollett. The audience is gone. Last night’s rating was the lowest ever: Only 3.35 million cared about Cookie and company. Not good. Last season the lowest number was 3.731 million. It’s time let “Empire” sleep with the fishes. And that’s what Fox will do. Smollett’s scandal last spring resolved with his character AWOL. The audience knows what happened and they told the network what they thought. “Empire” was beaten by ABC’s new “Emergence,” a seeming rip off of “Stranger Things” and two dozen other even stranger things.

HBO won a total of 34 Emmy Awards last night (and over the last two weeks), they’re still the king of the hill despite efforts by Netflix and Amazon and none by their old rival, Showtime.

The cable giant threw a pageant worthy of royals at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles right now. I ran into Sophie Turner, aka Sansa Stark of “Game of Thrones,” amid the madness of more than a thousand guests including casts from her show, “Veep,” “Chernobyl,” “Sharp Objects,” “Succession,” and “Barry.”

Now that her character’s been ruling the north for some months, I asked her — cheekily — how it’s going. “It’s going great,” she said, with a big smiles. “The dragons are gone, it’s pretty calm. Everyone’s getting along!” Turner was without a date, she said, because newish husband Joe Jonas was just flying in that evening from the rock-pop world. There was much cheering around her in the “GoT” area, with best supporting actor winner Peter Dinklage sans epaulets and just in a T shirt accepting compliments and drinking Champagne with show creators DB Weiss and David Benioff.  When I observed to Benioff that everything had worked out like it was supposed to, he said, “It almost didn’t. For a minute there, I was scared!”

There indeed had been a lot of surprises among the winners. “Veep” and Julia Louis Dreyfus were supposed to have won, but were beaten by It girl of the night Phoebe Waller Bridges, and “Fleabag.” Was JLD disappointed? “Oh, I don’t care!” Julia said. “I love Fleabag. What can you do? We’ve won a lot of awards!”

In the swirl of actors, writers, and directors I chatted with some of the best talent in Hollywood including Vera Farmiga, Jared Harris, Patricia Clarkson, Henry Winkler, Dule Hill, and “Succession” showrunner and Emmy winner Jesse Armstrong. Just to show you where HBO goes now that “GoT” and “Veep” are gone, “Succession” is about to breakout big time. Next September, watch, that show will be all the rage, sweeping the awards (along with more “Barry,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Big Little Lies,” and so on).

Have you ever seen Oscar winner and entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow on TV? Well, maybe once, on “Glee.” Oscar winner and movie star Michael Douglas? Yes, on “The Streets of San Francisco” in 1969. But they gave the two biggest awards of the night on the Emmys last night at the end of the show. And that was just one of the reasons viewers had tuned out in droves in third, grueling hour of the 2019 Emmy Awards on Fox.

The ratings last night were the lowest ever. Just 6 million people watched from 8 to 10pm, and then 400K left for the last hour. Just 5.4 million stayed to see which shows won Best Comedy and Best Drama.

Meanwhile, 17 million watched football.

The drop from last year’s 10 million viewers was 23%. And the 2018 numbers were already an 11% fall off.

The show had no host, no live orchestra, and no celebration of the thing it was awarding: television.

The biggest problem with the Emmys was that almost nothing on broadcast television– you know, the free stuff that millions watch — was acknowledged. The Emmys have become the Cable Ace Awards. Everyone who wins comes from cable or internet platforms– you’ve got to pay for it. Even serious actors on network shows– say Linda Hunt on “NCIS” — are ignored. Or really serious stars, like Paul Giamatti and Damien Lewis, from Showtime’s “Billions.”

The big winner for the night was Phoebe Waller-Bridges and her comedy, “Fleabag.” There is no measurable audience for “Fleabag.” No one knows how many people watch it, other than Emmy voters who receive screeners and Amazon subscribers. So if the Emmys are counting on ratings from those groups, good luck.

Then there’s the whole no host thing. The show seemed driven by artificial intelligence. Often, nominees’ names were read by an eerie voiceover, and the voice was neither warm nor witty. Where was the humanity? Even worse, Fox didn’t cough up money for a live orchestra in the Microsoft Theater. The music was all canned, and there were weird choices of disco and other songs that had absolutely nothing to do with the shows or winners. When the “Game of Thrones” theme music was played while two presenters — Anthony Anderson and Randall Park– ambled on stage, even they questioned what the heck was going on.

Why do the Emmys have no presenters or a host from the 90s– the decade most fetishized in nostalgia now? Why is there no one from the rerun shows so loved, and coveted by syndicators, to anchor the proceedings? I love Michael Douglas, and I know he’s on Netflix’s “Kominsky Method,” but TV fans want to see Mark Harmon, or Jerry Seinfeld, or even Carol Burnett, hand out the final statues. And with all the press going on this week, why didn’t they have a “Friends” 25th anniversary tribute? I’m sure Gunther is available.

The Emmy awards were totally nuts this year. Fleabag won Best Comedy for Amazon Studios and swept the comedy awards. Veep in its last season was snubbed.

In drama, Games Of Thrones did win best show for its final season. Peyer Dinklage won best supporting actor. HBO and Amazon were the big winners. Broadcast TV got very little save for Saturday Night Live.

The Emmys, first of all, are not the Oscars. There isn’t much buzz in Hollywood over Emmy weekend, just a low hum. The Television Academy hosts a party for nominees on Friday night but they don’t allow press inside, so whatcha gonna do? It’s their prerogative.

The networks are likewise scared of press, so NBC also keeps press out of their Saturday night event. Showtime — with few nominees– had a similar party. But their event was in a multi-purpose space where real A listers ate and drink apart from the Showtime guests. So I ran into the triple A director/producer Ridley Scott, plus actors Armie Hammer and Ben Whishaw, and had great chats with them.

Everyone is pointed toward HBO’s big gala tonight with the expectation that the cabler with gobble up prizes for “Game of Thrones,” “Veep,” and “Chernobyl” in the multitudes.

The big events on Saturday were the Creative Coalition’s Emmy luncheon at Ocean Prime, followed by BAFTA’s annual tea poolside at the Beverly Hilton.

The CC’s Robin Bronk really pulled off a hit at their luncheon honoring Patricia Arquette, Henry Winkler, Anthony Carrigan, Terry Crews, and Bethenny Frankel. Four of the five were incredibly articulate and moving. I do wish Crews, however, would stop talking about his sexual peccadilloes and past infringements he brought to his marriage. There’s no such thing as being circumspect, especially in Hollywood.

Patty Arquette continues to be a gem of gems. She fights all the good fights, raises a family, and managed two Emmy nominations this season following her Oscar win for “Boyhood.” If she could give lessons in being a person, everyone in showbiz would be required to take them. And her dates for lunch were pretty impressive, too– artist boyfriend Eric White and actor brother David Arquette.

Over at BAFTA, the stars turned out despite the crushing heat. The lucky ones came after 4pm, when the sun began to dim! Emmy nominee Jared Harris, Ava Duvernary, Gina Rodrigues, Sandra Oh, the great Glynn Turman, Marie Kondo, plus Rachel Brosnahan– Mrs. Maisel herself– and Stellan Skarsgard were on hand. BAFTA is so important even Ted Sarandos, who runs Netflix, scoped out the scene. After all, next year, “The Crown” will be up for new awards.