2012 64th Primetime Emmy Awards Recap

Last week the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards were held, and despite my best efforts at predicting which shows and actors would take home a golden statue for their outstanding achievement in television, there were many surprising wins. Which was good, it added a much needed entertainment factor to the often long and dry affairs awards ceremonies tend to be. While many of my predictions were wrong, and even fewer were those I actually wanted to win, looking at the winners, it's good to see that the quality of television and acting was so good among all the nominees. Majority of the time I didn't mind that I had guessed incorrectly, or if my favourite show or actor lost, because it was easy to see the excellent quality of majority of the nominees. Overall, out of the ten categories I made predictions on, I only correctly guessed four, and there were only two categories in which a nominee I wanted to win actually won.

As for the ceremony itself, I always find it fun seeing television world collide when stars come together to do skits for events like this, but while the opening was fun, it could have been better. Jimmy Kimmell did fine as the host, and he most definitely has a touch of pompousness about him that really is necessary for hosts of shows like this to have. I couldn't help but feel a lot of the time though that Kimmell was given lines because he was the host and they had to give them to him. Having him introduce presenters with a usually not all that amusing one-liner just seems like a waste of time, and it goes on to cement my idea that perhaps award ceremonies shouldn't have hosts, or if they do, several of them, so that so producing the event don't feel as thigh they have to throw the host an unnecessary line because he hasn't been on screen in the last five minutes. I really could have done with more skits, and the only really funny one worth mentioning was Modern Family's candid look behind-the-scenes hilariously depicting how Aubrey Anderson-Emmons (who plays Lily on the show) terrorises her older cast members and makes work a living hell for them all.

I quite enjoyed the shorts of nominees being asked questions like how do you overcome writers block? (for outstanding writing for a drama series nominees) and several others similar to it. I wish that insight into the creative people behind the shows is fascinating and all the nominees should have been given the chance to answer questions like that (plus some of the answers were quite funny). As for the speeches, there were none to memorable, other than Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Amy Poehler's obviously planned yet still amusing speech mix up.

And it seems the producers were extremely erratic in deciding who long people would get to speak. The writers of Homeland, Alex Gansa,  Howard Gordon & Gideon Raff, were cut very short, while Julie Bowen of Modern Family was allowed to prattle on for a while. Here's a list of the major winners (again, not all of them, only the main ones which I know a bit about) and my thoughts on the outcomes (winners are highlighted in bold).

Outstanding Drama Series:
Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
Breaking Bad (AMC)
Downton Abbey (PBS)
Mad Men (AMC)
Homeland (Showtime)
Game of Thrones (HBO)

This is what I'm talking about. Other than Mad Men (which I tried to watch and think is incredibly overrated) and Game of Thrones (no where near anywhere as good as the other shows in this category), I would have been okay seeing any of these dramas win. Nice to have some fresh blood take the win after Mad Men's three consecutive years.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series:
Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson, Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan, Dexter (Showtime)
Bryan Cranston as Walter White, Breaking Bad (AMC)
Hugh Bonneville as Robert Crawley, Downton Abbey (PBS)
Jon Hamm as Don Draper, Mad Men (AMC)
Damian Lewis as Nicholas Brody, Homeland (Showtime)

The exact same thing can be said about this category, Damian Lewis got credit where credits due. If an actor can make American audiences sympathise with a terrorist, you know he's doing something right.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series:
Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick, The Good Wife (CBS)
Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley, Downton Abbey (PBS)
Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson, Mad Men (AMC)
Kathy Bates as Harriet Korn, Harry's Law (NBC)
Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison, Homeland (Showtime)
Glenn Close as Patty Hewes, Damages (DirecTV)

Most deserving win of the night, it would have been a crime if Danes hadn't of won.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series:
Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman, Breaking Bad (AMC)
Giancarlo Esposito as Gustavo 'Gus' Fring, Breaking Bad (AMC)
Brendan Coyle as John Bates, Downton Abbey (PBS)
Jim Carter as Mr. Carson, Downton Abbey (PBS)
Jared Harris as Lane Pryce, Mad Men (AMC)
Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, Game Of Thrones (HBO)

I still would have liked Giancarlo Esposito to win, but it's nice to see something good happen to 'Jesse' for once.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series:
Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma, The Good Wife (CBS)
Anna Gunn as Skyler White, Breaking Bad (PBS)
Maggie Smith as Dowager Countess of Grantham/ Violet, Downton Abbey (PBS)
Joanne Froggatt as Anna, Downton Abbey (PBS)
Christina Hendricks as Joan Holloway Harris, Mad Men (AMC)
Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart, The Good Wife (CBS)

I like Maggie Smith as much as the next guy, but I think her prudish character/ performance of Downton Abbey is a bit overrated, although I haven't seen all of the nominees in action, so who am I to say she didn't deserve it?

Outstanding Comedy Series:
Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
Girls (HBO)
30 Rock (NBC)
Veep (HBO)
Modern Family (ABC)
The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

Modern Family a solid comedy, so I have no qualms with it's win, even though I prefer to watch 30 Rock and The Big Bang Theory. Nice to see two new female-centric comedies in the mix, I might need to check them out.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series:
Larry David as Himself, Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
Jon Cryer as Alan Harper, Two And A Half Men (CBS)
Louis C.K. as Louie, Louie (FX)
Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
Don Cheadle as Marty Kaan, House Of Lies (Showtime)
Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock (NBC)

This one was a surprise. I'd say most of the other actors in this category were more deserving of the award, but it's nice to see Cryer get some praise after having to play second-fiddle to Charlie Sheen on a mediocre show for eight seasons.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series:
Zooey Deschanel as Jess Day, New Girl (FOX)
Lena Dunham as Hannah Horvath, Girls (HBO)
Edie Falco as Jackie Peyton, Nurse Jackie (Showtime)
Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, Parks And Recreation (NBC)
Tina Fey as Liz Lemon, 30 Rock (NBC)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer, Veep (HBO)
Melissa McCarthy as Molly Flynn, Mike & Molly (CBS)

Again, the talent of all these nominees speaks for itself, it could have easily gone to anyone.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series:
Ed O'Neill as Jay Pritchett, Modern Family (ABC)
Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett, Modern Family (ABC)
Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy, Modern Family (ABC)
Eric Stonestreet as Cameron Tucker, Modern Family (ABC)
Bill Hader as Various Characters, Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Max Greenfield as Schmidt, New Girl (FOX)

If a Modern Family actor had to win this (and I mean, who am I kidding, one of them had to, look at those odds), I wanted it to be Stonestreet, he plays a gay man so well. I really cannot wait to see Max Greenfield really show the rest of the world what he's made of, he's performance of Schmidt on New Girl is must see.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series:
Mayim Bialik as Amy Farrah Fowler, The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
Merritt Wever as Zoey Barkow, Nurse Jackie (Showtime)
Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy, Modern Family (ABC)
Kristen Wiig as various characters, Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Sofia Vergara as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, Modern Family (ANC)
Kathryn Joosten as Karen McCluskey, Desperate Housewives (ABC)

Again, could have gone to anyone, although I wish it had been Vergara over Bowen.

Thanks for reading. What was your favourite/ least favourite part of the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards? Happy with the winners? Let me know in the comments.