The Primetime Emmy Awards

The long-awaited 66th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards was full of surprises from start to finish. There was much talk about new Emmy Awards host, Seth Meyers taking the reigns, but why? Hosting runs through his veins. He had big shoes to fill, yes, but he made it through.

Seth opened with the standard monologue. When one of his first jokes hit the floor he said, “jokes are like nominees, they can’t all be winners.” He also joked about the awards beginning held on a Monday; apparently not the best day for an awards show. He said he asked Tina and Amy for help preparing for the show and basically got crickets.

He congratulated HBO for receiving 99 nominations, and said, “not to be outdone, NBC is also a network.”

“HBO is like the kid you grew up with that’s doing better than expected.”

He next mentioned Netflix success, saying streaming became huge this year with 31 Emmy nominations for Netflix. And Game of Thrones received 19 Emmy nominations but has the worst job security ever.

The first presenter was Amy Poehler who came up and gave Seth a high five after he introduced her as Beyoncé. She announced the nominees for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy, and the Emmy Award went to Ty Burrell for Modern Family. “I should probably thank my wife because she’s super pretty.” He kept the audience laughing throughout his acceptance speech.

Zooey Deschanel and Allison Williams were the next presenters for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series, and the Emmy Award went to Louis C.K.

Jimmy Kimmel was up next and gave Matthew McConaughey a hard time about being nominated for a TV award, saying he’s a movie star. He did finally announce the nominees for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, and the Emmy award went to Allison Janney for Mom. She thanked Chuck Lorre and said it was an honor to work for him.

A pregnant Hayden Panettiere was losing her voice but announced that Jimmy Fallon and Uzo Aduba had both won Emmys before the broadcast, and then announced the nominees for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series. The Emmy Award went to Gail Mancuso for Modern Family. She rambled on a bit but did remember to thank her husband before they started to play her off.

Billy On the Street, Billy Eichner came on with Seth and they introduced a piece of the two of them on the street asking people questions and gave them a dollar if they answered their question right. One man called Seth Meyers, Seth MacFarlane. Ouch! Another man gave Seth money, and they called a woman a lesbian and she wasn’t. Good job.

The next presenters were Bryan Cranston and Julia Louis-Dreyfus announcing the nominees for Lead Actor in a Comedy, and the Emmy went to Jim Parsons for The Big Bang Theory. His fourth win.

Seth introduced Jimmy Fallon who came out to present the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, and the Emmy went to Julia Louis-Dreyfus for Veep. Her third win. Bryan Cranston mugged her on the way to the stage and planted a huge kiss on Julia, but when she finally made it to the podium, she thanked HBO for being the best place she has ever worked.

The Amazing Race won for Outstanding reality competition.

Seth followed with an audience skit set-up similar to the audience questions segment used in Saturday Night Live monologues. It was OK. Watch the rerun to see this.

Allison Jenney along with Octavia Spencer introduced the nominees for Outstanding Writing in a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special. The Emmy went to Steven Moffat for Sherlock.

They also announced that Kathy Bates won for American Horror Story: Coven. She had the look of complete shock on her face. She was truly surprised, but she pulled it together and got through her acceptance speech.

Seth then welcomed Stephen Colbert who went on about having an imaginary friend before he presented the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie, and the Emmy went to Martin Freeman, Sherlock His Last Vow. Colbert accepted the award on his behalf.

The next award was for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special, and the Emmy went to Colin Bucksey for Fargo.

Seth brought Amy back to help him introduce Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. Woody stole Matthew’s line, “alright, alright, alright.” They announced the nominees for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie, and the Emmy went to Benedict Cumberbatch for Sherlock Holmes. Cumberbatch was not there, so they accepted the award on his behalf.

Next up was Jessica Lange who won for American Horror Story, and she was “profoundly” surprised to win.

Seth pulled out Andy Samberg to help him introduce a segment with Weird Al Yankovic doing what they called a revamp of modern theme songs. This fell a bit flat unless you love Weird Al.

Fargo won for Outstanding TV Miniseries.

The Normal Heart won for Outstanding Television Movie.

Ricky Gervais stopped by to announce that Sarah Silverman won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Variety Special for the HBO Comedy Special Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles. She literally ran up the stairs to get it, and said: “this didn’t even occur to me.” She joked her way through the rest of her acceptance speech in true Sarah fashion.

Key and Peele of Comedy Central talked over each other to introduce the Emmy accountants. The poor Emmy accountants get all dressed up just to wave for three seconds.

The director in the hot-seat calling the shots for the evenings broadcast, Glenn Weiss won the Emmy while directing the show. He took the Emmy for Variety Special Directing for the Tony Awards, and ended his acceptance speech by saying, “cue announcer, take 8.”

Gwen Stefani and Adam Levine announced The Colbert Report won for Variety Special. Stephen Colbert tried to accept his award, but Jimmy Fallon came up and said he wanted to see the envelope and proceeded to give the acceptance speech for Stephen. Stephen began whispering his speech in Jimmy’s ear. Stephen feeds him a four letter word, and Jimmy repeated it.

Lucy Liu announced the nominees for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, and the Emmy went to Erin Paul for Breaking Bad. His third win.

He started his acceptance speech by saying he wanted to throw up, but he got through it in one piece.

Sara Bareilles sang the song Smile beautifully for the In Memoriam tribute, and Billy Crystal spoke in honor of Robin Williams and shared a clip.

Debra Messing and Jim Parsons were up next announcing Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series, and the Emmy went to Cary Fukunaga for True Detective. They also announced Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, and the Emmy went to Anna Gunn for Breaking Bad.

Katherine Heigl’s introduction leads to Joe Morton announcing Outstanding Writer for a Drama Series and the Emmy went to Moira Walley-Beckett for Breaking Bad.

Viola Davis announced the nominees for Lead Actress in a Drama Series, and the Emmy went to Julianna Margulies for The Good Wife. Her third win.

Julia Roberts announced the nominees for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series, and the Emmy went to Bryan Cranston for Breaking Bad. His fourth win. Bryan got a little emotional, but recovered enough to crack a few jokes, including “Anna Gunn I love you, especially those scenes in bed.” Breaking Bad cleaned up.

Jay Leno came through to announce the nominees for Outstanding Comedy Series. The Emmy went to Modern Family. The show has a total of 67 Emmy nominations since it began, and this is its fifth consecutive Emmy win.

Hallie Berry was tapped to announce the nominees for Outstanding Drama Series, and the Emmy went to Breaking Bad. Yup, they cleaned up this year!

And that was it. No big production to take the show out.

Congratulations to all the night’s winners!

See you next year.

Tanya Hart

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