Tina Fey, Martha Plimpton, Melissa McCarthy, Amy Poehler, Edie Falco, Laura Linney
On the whole, it was a bunch of fun, with Jane Lynch (Glee‘s Sue Sylvester) hosting and doing a pretty good job. The opening number was pretty funny, the song OK, but the dancers at the end seemed a whole lot tacked on. Lynch did best when she was improvising her lines for sure. There were a bunch of great pre-taped set pieces and montages… something the producers of the 2012 Logie Awards could learn a lot from. A. LOT.
The faux fight and subsquent “speech” from the Jimmy’s (Kimmel & Fallon) was pretty funny, as was the nominees of Outstanding Actress in a Comedy award all storming the stage as they were named. I particularly loved the winner (Melissa McCarthy) being presented with not only her Emmy Award but also a tiara and flowers as if it were a beauty pageant. Charlie Sheen wishing luck to the cast & crew for the new series of Two and a Half Men was combination of the silliest and smartest television ever (Sheen ensuring he publicly kow tows to ensure if there was ever a chance he appeared on the sitcom again, he’s in a position to get it). Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer together on stage, however was almost car-crash awkward.
Yes, that's Michael Bolton.
Guy Pearce and Kate Winselt winning for Mildred Pierce was great for both – Winslet visibly excited, surely sending shivers through the designer of her dress as her decolletage threatened to release itself at any moment. The 2011 fashion trend was certainly brining breasts back and, with that in mind, thank God for Christina Hendricks.
Modern Family won all five awards it had nominations in, certainly owning the year accordingly. Completely deserved it too, as the show is one of the funniest, laugh-out-loud shows on the box at the moment. The world seemed to collapse for Jim Parson’s win for Big Bang Theory – clearly he has a lot of fans. Downton Abbey won three of the four it was nominated for (again, rightfully so), while Mad Men scored only one, and possibly the most important one – Most Outstanding Drama. Apart from Martin Scorsese’s win for Boardwalk Empire, it didn’t feature in any other awards which is a real shame.
The only real clunky part to the whole show – and I am being picky – was the use of the Leonard Cohen song “Hallelujah” over the “In Memoriam” segment. A touching song, sure, but not at all suitable for segment about those that have passed on over the year. A lovely inclusion was that of Andy Whitfield who passed only last week.
It was a fun three hours. It could have been well worse. Jane Lynch wasn’t bad, but didn’t necessarily stand out. The pre-taped comedy parts were delicious, and set a very high standard. Well done everyone…
The winners in each category are listed below:
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series
Glee – Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester
Hot In Cleveland – Betty White as Elka Ostrosky
Modern Family – Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy
Modern Family – Sofia Vergara as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett
Saturday Night Live – Kristen Wiig as various characters
30 Rock – Jane Krakowski as Jenna Maroney
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series
Glee – Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel
Modern Family – Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett
Modern Family – Ed O’Neill as Jay Pritchett
Modern Family – Eric Stonestreet as Cameron Tucker
Modern Family – Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy
Two And A Half Men – Jon Cryer as Alan Harper
Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series
Modern Family – Michael Spiller
Modern Family – Gail Mancuso
30 Rock – Beth McCarthy-Miller
Modern Family – Steve Levitan
How I Met Your Mother – Pamela Fryman
Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series
Episodes – David Crane, Jeffrey Klarik
The Office – Greg Daniels
Modern Family – Steve Levitan, Jeffrey Richman
Louie – Louis C.K.
30 Rock – Matt Hubbard
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series
The Big Bang Theory • Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper
The Big Bang Theory • Johnny Galecki as Leonard Hofstadter
Episodes • Matt LeBlanc as Matt LeBlanc
Louie • Louis C.K. as Louie
The Office • Steve Carell as Michael Scott
30 Rock • Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy
Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series
The Big C – Laura Linney as Cathy Jamison
Mike & Molly – Melissa McCarthy as Molly Flynn
Nurse Jackie – Edie Falco as Jackie Peyton
Parks And Recreation – Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope
Raising Hope – Martha Plimpton as Virginia Chance
30 Rock – Tina Fey as Liz Lemon
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
The Amazing Race
American Idol
Dancing With The Stars
Project Runway
So You Think You Can Dance
Top Chef
Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music Or Comedy Series
The Colbert Report
Conan
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon
Saturday Night Live
Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music Or Comedy Series
The Colbert Report – James Hoskinson
Late Show With David Letterman – Jerry Foley
Saturday Night Live – Don Roy King
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart – Chuck O’Neil
American Idol – Gregg Gelfand
Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series
The Colbert Report
Conan
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon
Real Time With Bill Maher
Saturday Night Live
Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series
Mad Men – Matthew Weiner
Mad Men – Andre Jacquemetton, Maria Jacquemetton
Friday Night Lights – Jason Katims
The Killing – Veena Sud
Game Of Thrones – David Benioff, D.B. Weiss
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series
Boardwalk Empire – Kelly Macdonald as Margaret Schroeder
The Good Wife – Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma
The Good Wife – Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart
Justified – Margo Martindale as Mags Bennett
The Killing – Michelle Forbes as Mitch Larsen
Mad Men – Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris
Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series
Boardwalk Empire – Martin Scorsese
Boardwalk Empire – Jeremy Podeswa
The Borgias – Neil Jordan
The Killing – Patty Jenkins
Game Of Thrones – Tim Van Patten
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series
Game Of Thrones – Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister
The Good Wife – Josh Charles as Will Gardner
The Good Wife – Alan Cumming as Eli Gold
Justified – Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder
Mad Men – John Slattery as Roger Sterling
Men Of A Certain Age – Andre Braugher as Owen
Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series
Friday Night Lights – Connie Britton as Tami Taylor
The Good Wife – Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick
Harry’s Law – Kathy Bates as Harriet “Harry” Korn
The Killing – Mireille Enos as Sarah Linden
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
Mad Men – Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
Boardwalk Empire – Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson
Dexter – Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan
Friday Night Lights – Kyle Chandler as Coach Eric Taylor
House – Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House
Justified – Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens
Mad Men – Jon Hamm as Don Draper
Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special
Mildred Pierce – Todd Haynes, Jon Raymond
Downton Abbey – Julian Fellowes
Sherlock – Steven Moffat
Too Big To Fail – Peter Gould
Upstairs Downstairs – Heidi Thomas
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Downton Abbey – Maggie Smith as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham
Mildred Pierce – Evan Rachel Wood as Veda Pierce
Mildred Pierce – Melissa Leo as Lucy Gessler
Mildred Pierce – Mare Winningham as Ida
Upstairs Downstairs – Eileen Atkins as Lady Maud Holland
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Carlos – Edgar Ramirez as Carlos
The Kennedys – Greg Kinnear as John F. Kennedy
The Kennedys – Barry Pepper as Bobby Kennedy
Luther – Idris Elba as John Luther
Thurgood – Laurence Fishburne as Thurgood Marshall
Too Big To Fail – William Hurt as Henry ‘Hank’ Paulson
Outstanding Directing In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Curtis Hanson – Too Big To Fail
Todd Haynes – Mildred Pierce
Barry Percival – Downton Abbey
Cinema Verite – Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Carlos – Olivier Assayas
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie
The Kennedys – Tom Wilkinson as Joe Kennedy
Mildred Pierce – Guy Pearce as Monty Beragon
Mildred Pierce – Brian F. O’Byrne as Bert Pierce
Too Big To Fail – Paul Giamatti as Ben Bernanke
Too Big To Fail – James Woods as Richard Fuld
Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Cinema Verite – Diane Lane as Patricia Loud
Downton Abbey – Elizabeth McGovern as Cora, Countess of Grantham
Mildred Pierce – Kate Winslet as Mildred Pierce
Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story – Taraji P. Henson as Tiffany Rubin
Upstairs Downstairs – Jean Marsh as Rose Buck
Outstanding Miniseries Or Movie
Cinema Verite
Downton Abbey
The Kennedys
Mildred Pierce
The Pillars Of The Earth
Too Big To Fail
Outstanding Drama Series
Boardwalk Empire
Dexter
Friday Night Lights
Game Of Thrones
The Good Wife
Mad Men
Outstanding Comedy Series
The Big Bang Theory
Glee
Modern Family
The Office
Parks And Recreation
30 Rock
For those that did miss the show, and every update on every news service since, you can see the 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards on Eleven this Friday night at 9:30pm. (What the hell are Channel 10 thinking?…)