By Meryl Gottlieb| mg986611@ohiou.edu| @buzzlightmeryl
The 65th Primetime Emmy Awards aired Sunday, Sept. 22 and, personally, it was one of the worst awards shows I've ever seen. In the words of Linda Holmes of NPR's culture blog, it was comparable to the Franco/Hathaway Oscars.
In comparison to this summer's flawless Tony Awards, the Emmys were a horrible follow-up. On paper, it was a great formula: Neil Patrick Harris as host plus celebrating TV — what could be better? Yet, the opening act fell flat and that failure was a theme felt throughout the night.
Controversy surrounded the decision to single out Cory Monteith, James Gandolfini, Jean Stapleton, Jonathan Winters and Gary David Goldberg for special attention in addition to the In Memoriam montage of those in the entertainment industry who passed away in the past year. While I can understand wanting to give attention to the people whom most viewers will recognize, weaving these extra segments throughout the show killed the little vibe the show had going for it.
And by little, I mean minuscule.
Carrie Underwood butchered a Beatles tribute, Harris didn't perform a musical number for the opening — an immediate let down — and the programs the awards were honoring were barely shown at all. Not to mention the fact that the winners were barely given enough time to talk before the music began playing. How can you have an award show honoring TV and not actually show the TV let alone allow us to hear from the actors we dedicate time to each week?! As you can tell, I am less than pleased that I gave three hours of my time to this broadcast.
While the night had an overall terrible feeling, there were some fantastic moments that somehow managed to shine. Harris finally sang and danced in the middle of the show — interesting but you should have tried to pull us in from the beginning — the dance number highlighting several of the nominated shows was spectacular and probably my favorite moment of the night, and lastly the hilarious bit the cast of How I Met Your Mother did to poke fun at castmate Harris' frequent hosting gigs. "Excessive hosting disorder" can be treated at "The Ryan Seacrest Center for Excessive Hosting" — this was just absolute brilliance.
Now, let's quickly discuss those winners. I'm mostly disappointed that neither Jessica Lange nor Sarah Paulson won for their work in American Horror Story: Asylum — those were absolutely the hardest for me to take. A critical upset came with Jeff Daniels' win for The Newsroom. I don't even watch any of those dramas and even I knew Bryan Cranston or Kevin Spacey should have won for Breaking Bad or House of Cards, respectively. Further disappointment came when Kerry Washington did not win Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. However, I boycotted that category anyway because Tatiana Maslany was snubbed for a nomination for her absolutely outstanding work in Orphan Black.
Bobby Cannavale and Merritt Wever won in their respective supporting roles in Boardwalk Empire and Nurse Jackie, leading everyone to wonder how they managed to win over the likes of Aaron Paul and that entire pool of nominees for supporting actresses in a comedy. Does anyone even watch either of those shows? And now Wever will forever be known for giving the shortest acceptance speech ever: "Thank you so very much. Um, I gotta go, bye."
A big congratulations to Julia Louis-Dreyfus for her second win for Veep and to Tony Hale for winning for Veep as well, beating out most of the cast of Modern Family. Let's also not forget the hilarious moment when Louis-Dreyfus accepted her award and Hale held her purse on stage and pretended to be her real life personal aide. I will always have a special place in my heart for Buster Bluth.
A pleasant surprise for most came when the tyranny of Modern Family almost came to an end as its cast lost in the Outstanding Supporting Actor and Actress categories. However, it managed to recoup as the show won Outstanding Comedy for the fourth year in a row.
Here is a list of the major nominees and the winners:
Outstanding Drama
Breaking Bad — Winner
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
Homeland
House of Cards
Mad Men
Outstanding Actress in a Drama
Connie Britton, Nashville
Claire Danes, Homeland — Winner
Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey
Vera Farmiga, Bates Motel
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Kerry Washington, Scandal
Robin Wright, House of Cards
Outstanding Actor in a Drama
Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom — Winner
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Damien Lewis, Homeland
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama
Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad — Winner
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones
Christine Baranski, The Good Wife
Morena Baccarin, Homeland
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama
Bobby Cannavale, Boardwalk Empire — Winner
Jonathan Banks, Breaking Bad
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
Jim Carter, Downton Abbey
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama
Margo Martindale, The Americans
Diana Rigg, Game of Thrones
Carrie Preston, The Good Wife — Winner
Linda Cardellini, Mad Men
Jane Fonda, The Newsroom
Joan Cusack, Shameless
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama
Nathan Lane, The Good Wife
Michael J. Fox, The Good Wife
Rupert Friend, Homeland
Robert Morse, Mad Men
Harry Hamlin, Mad Men
Dan Bucatinsky, Scandal — Winner
Outstanding Comedy
30 Rock
The Big Bang Theory
Girls
Louie
Modern Family — Winner
Veep
Outstanding Actress in a Comedy
Laura Dern, Enlightened
Lena Dunham, Girls
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep — Winner
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation
Outstanding Actor in a Comedy
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Jason Bateman, Arrested Development
Louis CK, Louie
Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory — Winner
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy
Mayim Bialik, The BIg Bang Theory
Jane Lynch, Glee
Julie Bowen, Modern Family
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
Merritt Wever, Nurse Jackie — Winner
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock
Anna Chlumsky, Veep
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy
Adam Driver, Girls
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family
Ed O'Neil, Modern Family
Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Bill Hader, Saturday Night Live
Tony Hale, Veep — Winner
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy
Molly Shannon, Enlightened
Dot-Marie Jones, Glee
Melissa Leo, Louie — Winner
Melissa McCarthy, Saturday Night Live
Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live
Elaine Stritch, 30 Rock
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy
Bob Newhart, The Big Bang Theory — Winner
Nathan Lane, Modern Family
Bobby Cannavale, Nurse Jackie
Louis CK, Saturday Night Live
Justin Timberlake, Saturday Night Live
Will Forte, 30 Rock
Outstanding Reality Show Host
Ryan Seacrest, American Idol
Betty White, Betty White's Off their Rockers
Tom Bergeron, Dancing with the Stars
Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, Project Runway — Winner
Cat Deeley, So You Think You Can Dance
Anthony Bourdain, The Taste
Outstanding Reality Show Competition
The Amazing Race
Dancing with the Stars
Project Runway
So You Think You Can Dance
Top Chef
The Voice — Winner
Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series
The Colbert Report — Winner
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Real Time with Bill Maher
Saturday Night Live
Outstanding TV Miniseries or Movie
American Horror Story: Asylum
Behind the Candelabra — Winner
The Bible
Phil Spector
Political Animals
Top of the Lake
Lead Actor in a TV Miniseries or Movie
Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra — Winner
Matt Damon, Behind the Candelabra
Toby Jones, The Girl
Benedict Cumberbatch, Parade's End
Al Pacino, Phil Spector
Lead Actress in a TV Miniseries or Movie
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Asylum
Laura Linney, The Big C: Hereafter — Winner
Helen Mirren, Phil Spector
Sigourney Weaver, Political Animals
Elisabeth Moss, Top of the Lake
Supporting Actress in a TV Miniseries or Movie
Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Asylum
Ellen Burstyn, Political Animals — Winner
Charlotee Rampling, Restless
Alfre Woodard, Steel Magnolias
Imelda Staunton, The Girl
Supporting Actor in a TV Miniseries or Movie
James Cromwell, American Horror Story: Asylum — Winner
Zachary Quinto, American Horror Story: Asylum
Scott Bakula, Behind the Candelabra
John Benjamin Hickey, The Big C: Hereafter
Peter Mullan, Top of the Lake
