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2012 Emmy Awards: winners

The 202 Emmys honour Modern Family, Homeland & Game Change -but Aussies miss out.

The 64th Primetime Emmy Awards are currently underway at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.

This year the big winners were Modern Family and Homeland, as best Comedy and Drama, with the Sarah Palin bio Game Change dominating the Miniseries / Telemovie categories.

Emmys darling Mad Men went home empty handed while critically-acclaimed Breaking Bad picked up one award for actor Aaron Paul.

Aussies Judy Davis and Nicole Kidman both missed out to Jessica Lange and Julieanne Moore, respectively.

Aside from Jon Stewart’s F-bomb the night was well-behaved with host Jimmy Kimmel delivering a pretty safe performance. Even an appearance by Ricky Gervais went without a hitch.

Kimmel kicked things off with some well-received gags, following a video of himself with way too much botox getting smacked down by actresses in the bathroom.

“Tonight is the night we love more than anything else in Hollywood. Ourselves,” he said.

“All of you will be winners tonight but in a  much more literal way most of you will be losers.

“I don’t think President Obama should be watching Homeland for the same reason Charlie Sheen shouldn’t be watching Breaking Bad.”

You should update this page to see the latest winners.

Winners in bold:

SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTOR

Ed O’Neill as Jay Pritchett in “Modern Family”
Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett in “Modern Family”
Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy in “Modern Family”
Eric Stonestreet as Cameron Tucker in “Modern Family”
Max Greenfield as Schmidt in “New Girl”
Bill Hader as various characters in “Saturday Night Live”

“I wouldn’t be standing here without Jesse Tyler Ferguson. There is no Cam without Mitch…..we get the awesome opportunity to play these characters on TV, and show the world and America what a loving couple we can be, just like everybody else,” said Tucker.

WRITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES

Chris McKenna, “Community”
Lena Dunham, “Girls”
Louis C.K., “Louie”
Amy Poehler, “Parks and Recreation”
Michael Schur, “Parks and Recreation”

SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTRESS

Mayim Bialik as Amy Farrah Fowler in “The Big Bang Theory”
Kathryn Joosten as Karen McCluskey in “Desperate Housewives”
Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy in “Modern Family”
Sofia Vergara as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in “Modern Family”
Merritt Wever as Zoey Barkow in “Nurse Jackie”
Kristen Wiig as various characters in “Saturday Night Live”

“My job really amounts to me falling down and making faces while wearing lipstick and nipple covers,” said Bowen.

DIRECTING FOR A COMEDY SERIES

Robert B. Weide, “Curb Your Enthusiasm ”
Lena Dunham, “Girls”
Louis C.K., “Duckling”
Jason Winer, “Modern Family”
Steven Levitan, “Modern Family”
Jake Kasdan, “New Girl”

“I want to thank me for hiring me when no-one else would,” Levitan said.

COMEDY ACTOR

Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper in “The Big Bang Theory”
Larry David as Himself in “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
Don Cheadle as Marty Kaan in “House of Lies”
Louis C.K. as Louie in “Louie”
Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy in “30 Rock”
Jon Cryer as Alan Harper in “Two and a Half Men”

“Something has clearly gone terribly wrong. I’m stunned. I didn’t actually win this. This just did not happen,” said Cryer.

COMEDY ACTRESS

Lena Dunham as Hannah Horvath in “Girls”
Melissa McCarthy as Molly Flynn in “Mike & Molly”
Zooey Deschanel as Jess Day in “New Girl”
Edie Falco as Jackie Peyton in “Nurse Jackie”
Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope in “Parks and Recreation”
Tina Fey as Liz Lemon in “30 Rock”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer in “Veep”

Louis-Dreyfus began reading an acceptance speech for Parks and Recreation before saying, “It’s a bit mystifying because people say this show is a comedy and yet I don’t see anything funny about me being Vice President of the United States.”

REALITY-COMPETITION PROGRAM

“The Amazing Race” (CBS)
“Dancing With the Stars” (ABC)
“Project Runway” (Lifetime)
“So You Think You Can Dance” (Fox)
“Top Chef” (Bravo)
“The Voice” (NBC)

HOST FOR A REALITY OR REALITY-COMPETITION PROGRAM

Phil Keoghan, “The Amazing Race”
Ryan Seacrest, “American Idol”
Betty White, “Betty White’s Off Their Rockers”
Tom Bergeron, “Dancing With the Stars”
Cat Deeley, “So You Think You Can Dance”

Presenter Seth Macfarlane began his speech off microphone, before having to walk to another mike. But was it just a gag?

How is Jeff Probst not in this category?

SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTOR

Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman in “Breaking Bad”  
Giancarlo Esposito as Gustavo ‘Gus’ Fring in “Breaking Bad”
Brendan Coyle as John Bates in “Downton Abbey”
Jim Carter as Mr. Carson in “Downton Abbey”
Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister in “Game of Thrones”

“Vince Gilligan and the rest of the writers, thankyou so much for not killing me off. That was the plan!” said Paul.

Jimmy Kimmel asked Tracy Morgan to lay on the stage and then asked the audience to tweet “OMG Tracey Morgan just fainted on stage, quit turn onto ABC now!”  Morgan continued to lay there through the next awards. Nice prank (and yes I tweeted it heh, heh).

WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES

Julian Fellowes, “Downton Abbey”
Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon & Gideon Raff, “Homeland”
Semi Chellas & Matthew Weiner, “Mad Men”
Andre Jacquemetton & Maria Jacquemetton, “Mad Men”
Erin Levy & Matthew Weiner, “Mad Men”

SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTRESS

Anna Gunn as Skyler White in “Breaking Bad”
Maggie Smith as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham in “Downton Abbey”
Joanne Froggatt as Anna in “Downton Abbey”
Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma in “The Good Wife”
Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart in “The Good Wife”
Christina Hendricks as Joan Holloway Harris in “Mad Men”

DIRECTING FOR A DRAMA SERIES

Tim Van Patten, “Boardwalk Empire”
Vince Gilligan, “Breaking Bad”
Brian Percival, “Downton Abbey”
Michael Cuesta, “Homeland”
Phil Abraham, “Mad Men”

Aww, Maggie was a no show.

DRAMA ACTOR

Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson in “Boardwalk Empire”
Bryan Cranston as Walter White in “Breaking Bad”
Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan in “Dexter”
Hugh Bonneville as Robert, Earl of Grantham in “Downton Abbey”
Damian Lewis as Nicholas Brody in “Homeland”
Jon Hamm as Don Draper in “Mad Men”

First upset of the night? He beat Cranston and Hamm, who has never won.

“I’m one of those pesky Brits, apologies,” Lewis said. “I don’t really believe in judging art, but I thought I’d show up just in case. Turned out alright.”

DRAMA ACTRESS

Glenn Close as Patty Hewes in “Damages”
Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley in “Downton Abbey”
Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick in “The Good Wife”
Kathy Bates as Harriet Korn in “Harry’s Law”
Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison in “Homeland”
Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson in “Mad Men”

Well that was a shoe-in. I had it emboldened before it was even announced.

A pregnant Danes thanked Lewis “who did the magic trick of turning a villain into someone so human,” and Mandy Patinkin “one of the most beautiful generous, loving, imaginative actors I have ever come across.”

WRITING FOR A VARIETY SPECIAL

“84th Annual Academy Awards,” Jon Macks, Dave Boone & Carol Leifer, with Tim Carvell, Jeff Cesario, Billy Crystal, Ed Driscoll, Billy Martin, Ben Schwartz, Marc Shaiman, Eric Stangel, Justin Stangel, David Steinberg, Mason Steinberg & Colleen Werthmann
“Betty White’s 90th Birthday: A Tribute to America’s Golden Girl,” Jon Macks, Steve Ridgeway, Mason Steinberg & Brad Lachman
“The Kennedy Center Honors,” George Stevens, Michael M. Stevens, Sara Lukinson & Lewis Friedman
“Louis C.K. Live at the Beacon Theatre,” Louis C.K.
“65th Annual Tony Awards,” Dave Boone with Paul Greenberg

Presenter Aziz Ansara makes an amusing speech pretending to be British, which has been one of the night’s running gags. “People take you more seriously if they think you’re British.” Cut to shot of Nicole and Keith. What the?

“I’d like to thank all the people who were at the theatre laughing at my jokes,” said an oh so serious Louis CK.

Presenter Ricky Gervais said, “So much better than the Golden Globes.

“You’re all wishing you could be there. At least you could have a drink.

“They’ve flown me over for the big one, “Directing for a Variety Special.”

DIRECTING FOR A VARIETY SPECIAL

Don Mischer, “84th Annual Academy Awards”
Louis J. Horvitz, “The 54th Annual Grammy Awards”
Louis C.K, “Louis C.K. Live at the Beacon Theatre”
Alan Skog, “New York City Ballet George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker (Live From Lincoln Center)”
Glenn Weiss, “65th Annual Tony Awards”

Oh look Glenn is now directing the Emmys. He accepts from the control room. That’s either dedication or TV masturbation, I can’t decide.

WRITING FOR A VARIETY SERIES

“The Colbert Report,” Barry Julien (head writer), Stephen Colbert, Tom Purcell, Richard Dahm, Michael Brumm, Rob Dubbin, Opus Moreschi, Peter Gwinn, Jay Katsir, Frank Lesser, Glenn Eichler, Meredith Scardino, Max Werner, Eric Drysdale, Scott Sherman, Dan Guterman & Paul Dinello
“The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” Tim Carvell (head writer), Rory Albanese, Kevin Bleyer, Rich Blomquist, Steve Bodow, Wyatt Cenac, Hallie Haglund, JR Havlan, Elliott Kalan, Dan McCoy, Jo Miller, John Oliver, Zhubin Parang, Daniel Radosh, Jason Ross, & Jon Stewart
“Portlandia,” Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein, Jonathan Krisel & Karey Dornetto
“Real Time With Bill Maher,” Adam Felber, Matt Gunn, Brian Jacobsmeyer, Jay Jaroch, Chris Kelly, Mike Larsen, Bill Maher, Billy Martin & Scott Carter
“Saturday Night Live,” James Anderson, Alex Baze, Jessica Conrad, James Downey, Shelly Gossman, Steve Higgins, Zach Kanin, Chris Kelly, Colin Jost, Erik Kenward, Rob Klein, Seth Meyers, Lorne Michaels, John Mulaney, Christine Nangle, Michael Patrick O’Brien, Paula Pell, Marika Sawyer, Sarah Schneider, Pete Schultz, John Solomon, Kent Sublette, Bryan Tucker & Emily Spivey

So many writers on stage, Jon. “Years from now when the earth is just a  burning husk and aliens visit they will find a box of these and they will know, just how predictable these f***in things can be.”

And there’s the F bomb!

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE

Frances Conroy as Moira in “American Horror Story”
Jessica Lange as Constance Langdon in “American Horror Story”
Sarah Paulson as Nicolle Wallace “Game Change”
Mare Winningham as Sally McCoy in “Hatfields & McCoys”
Judy Davis as Jill Tankard in “Page Eight”

Saw that one coming, but alas Judy Davis misses out.

“It’s been a wild ride. I got a call out of the blue from Ryan Murphy, a man I’d never met who made me, I have to admit, more promises than any man I’d ever met before. And they all came to pass,” said Lange.

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE

Denis O’Hare as Larry Harvey in “American Horror Story”
Ed Harris as John McCain in “Game Change”
Tom Berenger as Jim Vance in “Hatfields & McCoys”
David Strathairn as John Dos Passos in “Hemingway & Gellhorn”
Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson in “Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia”

Ron Howard introduced the In Memoriam section, paying tribute to Andy Griffiths. The Emmys remembered Marvin Hamlisch, Davy Jones, Richard Dawson, Sherman Hemsley, Phyllis Diller, Celeste Holm, Michael Clarke Duncan, James Farentino, Chad Everett, Robert Hegyes, Ron Palillo, Steve Jobs, Gil Cates, Whitney Houston, Ben Gazzara, Donna Summer, Tony Scott, Kathryn Joosten, William Windon, Mike Wallace, Ernest Borgnine, Harry Morgan and Dick Clark.

WRITING FOR A MINISERIES, MOVIE OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL

Danny Strong, “Game Change”
Ted Mann, Ronald Parker & Bill Kerby, “Hatfields & McCoys”
Abi Morgan, “The Hour”
Neil Cross, “Luther”
Steven Moffat, “Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia”

LEAD ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE

Connie Britton as Vivien Harmon in “American Horror Story”
Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin in “Game Change”
Nicole Kidman as Martha Gellhorn in “Hemingway & Gellhorn”
Ashley Judd as Rebecca Winstone in “Missing”
Emma Thompson as She in “The Song of Lunch”

Sorry Nicole, this was another no-brainer.

“Wow, I feel so validated because Sarah Palin gave me a big thumbs down!” said Moore.

DIRECTING FOR A MINISERIES, MOVIE OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL

Jay Roach, “Game Change”
Kevin Reynolds, “Hatfields & McCoys”
Philip Kaufman, “Hemingway & Gellhorn”
Sam Miller, “Luther”
Paul McGuigan, “Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia”

LEAD ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE

Woody Harrelson as Steve Schmidt in “Game Change”
Kevin Costner as ‘Devil’ Anse Hatfield in “Hatfields & McCoys”
Bill Paxton as Randall McCoy in “Hatfields & McCoys”
Clive Owen as Ernest Hemingway in “Hemingway & Gellhorn”
Idris Elba as John Luther in “Luther”
Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes in “Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia”

Costner’s first Emmy. Guess his films haven’t exactly been on fire. He likens the award to an Olympic trophy. Riiiiight.

MINISERIES OR TV MOVIE

“American Horror Story”
“Game Change”
“Hatfields & McCoys”
“Hemingway & Gellhorn”
“Luther”
“Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia”

Producer Tom Hanks makes a speedy acceptance speech. “We’d like to thank our founding fathers for the democratic process that they came up with.” And thanks to the Greeks?

DRAMA SERIES

“Boardwalk Empire”
“Breaking Bad”
“Downton Abbey”
“Game of Thrones”
“Homeland”
“Mad Men”

Mad Men finally loses? It was the toughest category of the night.

Producer Alex Gansa said, “I want to thank Showtime for winning its first Best Series Emmy ever.”

Presenter Michael J. Fox gets a standing ovation. The only one I can remember all night.

COMEDY SERIES

“The Big Bang Theory”
“Curb Your Enthusiasm”
“Girls”
“Modern Family”
“30 Rock”
“Veep”

Modern Family was always going to win this. Producer Steve Levitan said, “We are so grateful and feel so lucky. Not only to have jobs in these challenging times but to have jobs that we love with people that we love.”

Even after winning the Comedy gone Levitan’s speech is wound up, so that the show can finish on time. On time.

This post updates.

23 Responses

  1. @Carta

    The option is simple. They need a fast tracked on demand service.

    Like how ABC has been doing with Doctor Who.

    A big part of why people download is flexibility.

  2. I think Australian TV networks are in a bind over Fast Tracking, simply because during our non-ratings period from late November to early February, the US shows are still being shown weekly (for the most part). They can fast-track to a certain point, and then they have to take the shows off the air (no network wants to “waste” shows during the non-ratings period). So, what’s better – wait five months so that they can show the entire season virtually uninterrupted, or show two months of episodes, then two months of repeats, then pick up where they left off in November sometime in February of the next year…? Either way, people who really want to are going to access the episodes online.

  3. Must admit I found some moments absolutely hilarious.

    And it was fantastic to see the Oscar-less Julianne Moore win a coveted award.

    And being validated because Sarah Palin gave her the thumbs down? Priceless.

    Even the wonderful Julia Louis Dreyfuss who plays a Palin-like VP in Veep had a little dig at the former VP candidate. Delicious.

    Ten now has two of the Emmy winning shows – Homeland and Modern Family. They are fast tracking Homeland but destroying MF by endless repeats.

    Fast track MF please Ten. .. and Glee… and Good Wife.

  4. @Mac – yes The Newsroom aired after the season cut off, but will undoubtedly be a front runner expecially in the writing and lead actor categories.

    Jon Cryer was the biggest surprise for me, but then last year Melissa McCarthy’s win over Laura Linney, Edie Falco,Toni Collette and Amy Poehler was bizarre. Also thought Cranston would win.

    Dick Clark’s place in the In Memorian felt strangely neglectful, after getting Ron Howard to wax lyrical over Andy Griffith – Clark’s imprint on TV culture in America i would have thought warranted his own intro.

  5. Reallly happy about the love for Homeland and Game Change (and I admit i loved seeing Danny Strong, writer of the Game Change script, win as he starred on Gilmore Girls my favourite show hehe). Modern Family though, really? In my opinion Parks and Rec is the best comedy on TV and Modern Family did not have its best season. Wish also there was some love for Mad Men’s actors who are all exceptional. And I would have been so happy for Mad Men to win that fifth consecutive best drama award, but Homeland deserved it also.

  6. Happy with Homeland winning along with Danes and Lewis. But really wanted Michael C. Hall to win, amazing he hasn’t won one from Dexter or Six Feet Under.

    The comedy is the same crap every year and with the funniest show of the year in Cougar town not even being shown in the year’ montage, that says it all.

  7. Funny you mention that they wound up the show so they could finish on time. Eleven has it starting late, and finishing 14 minutes overtime. How come the US network can air it live and make it finish on time, but Ten can’t edit it to start and finish on time? Our tv networks suck.

  8. @Dayman – if it makes any diff, I highly recommend checking out Homeland. I certainly wouldn’t say that it is definitely better than Breaking Bad, but I would also not say that BB is better than HL.

    Both are stunning studies of essentially good people doing bad for “good” reasons, both have great writing with gritty, but not repellent, scripts, and detailed, complex, flawed characters with fantastic lead actors and a very solid supporting cast.

  9. The show needs more love for Game of Thrones. I guess maybe I should check out Homeland. There is no way in hell though it is better than Breaking Bad.

    Also with Comedies. Great to see Louis win some. However in general a lot of great comedy still gets snubbed. How can It’s Always Sunny have never gotten any recognition? There’s also a bunch of great Drama shows which get ignored. Community got a writing nod. Which is great even if they didn’t win. However it definitely should have won for directing by now. Also VEEP is only decent at best. It’s not bad, but it’s the sort of show people elevate because of subject matter and who’s in it. I wanted to like it, it was amusing but in the end.. blerrrg.

    After the recent and brilliant three parter of the recent season of Louis. He has to be a shoe in for next year.

    Spartacus:Vengence should have got a nod for directing. Some of the stuff in that recent season was amazing and unlike anything we’ve seen on TV before. Modern Family is good and mainstream so I won’t complain there. Although I wish voters rotated on who they voted for each year from the cast. John Cryer winning is probably more to do with him taking over the lead role from Sheen. Bryan Cranston is by far doing the acting on TV. It’s good Aaron Paul won. However Giancarlo Esposito so deserved some recognition as Gus Fring.

    Kimmel was a good host. I hope someone puts his late night show on tv here again.

  10. The Emmys judges got it fairly right in my opinion.

    Hey Ten, might be a good time to announce when you plan on airing the new seasons of Homeland, Modern Family & American Horror Story, don’t you think?

    Their useless PR department didn’t tweet once during the telecast, unbelievable.

  11. This reminds me of one of the award shows last year hosted by Jane Lynch. On return from the commercial break she welcomes the audience back with “And welcome back to the Modern Family Awards”.

  12. Great to see Modern Family and Homeland win a lot of awards. They deserve it so much. Jon Cryer winning was a shock. Was not expecting him to win. Also surprised that Tom Bergeron won best host. Seacrest was robbed again. He is the best host out there, love him or hate him.

    Anyway was a pretty good awards ceremony and there were not too many surprises for me.

  13. Cranston was robbed. I guess been consistantly great for 4 seasons (season 5 counts for next year) loses its shine (unless youre the Daily Show which again is so well deserved). Lewis would have been my 3rd choice (behind Cranston and Hamm. Danes was spot on though

  14. I was only able to predict Claire Danes as winner in the Drama acting categories! I though Esposito and Cranston, and Hendricks had it. Although I agree that Lewis and Paul both delivered amazing performances (they were my second choice) and I have not watched DA so cannot comment on Smith.

    Breaking Bad for Best Drama is my #1 choice and prediction 🙂

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