The 65th Primetime Emmy's, which aired on Monday, began as any television awards ceremony should, with host Neil Patrick Harris attempting to binge watch an entire season's worth of television, which funny and disorientating results. Throughout the night, Harris, if nothing else, was an enthusiastic host. Often presenters are forced to deliver line after line of bad jokes, and while for Harris it was no different, he seemed to generally enjoy himself, giggling at the bland jokes, like when he had to 'pause' American Horror Story: Asylum on his contact lenses to stop from screaming. I found it a little disappointing that Harris had his opening interrupted by previous host to give him advice on doing the gig, despite the fact he has done it before, although it cultivated in a hilarious performance by Kevin Spacey donna the persona of Frank Underwood from his series House of Cards.
The extremely funny Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who always have great chemistry, presented the first award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series which went to Merritt Wever for her portrayal of Zoey Barkow on Nurse Jackie. A surprising win, but an even more memorable speech. Short, but not so much sweet. At least it saved some valuable running time for the show.
The Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series category was pre-empted with a pre-recorded segment in which the writers were asked, 'Who's your favourite cast member to write for?'. Proving that she totally deserved the award, Tina Fey (who also won the award with Tracy Wigfield for their writing on the series finale of 30 Rock), started her recording by thanking the 2009 People's Choice Awards, before releasing it was a recording for the Emmy's and bluntly stating: 'That's going to get cut for time, I'm not doing that.'
The Deschanel sisters cleverly introduced the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series my noting the diversity of the category, slyly highlighting the presence of three Modern Family actors who all play fathers. In another surprising win for a supporting actor, none of those Modern Family cast members won this year, bur rather the award went to Tony Hale for his portrayal of Gary Walsh on Veep. It was heart-warming to see Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the female lead of Veep, look so happy for her co-stars achievement as he accepted the award.
She went on to win, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her portrayal of Selina Meyer on Veep for the second year in a row, and was equally as humbling with her acceptance speech.
Meliss Leo, who won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in Louie went on to announce the winner of Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series, which went to Gale Mancuso for Modern Family, and the voiceover thought it important to tell the audience that this was only the second time a woman had won this award.
Elton John performed a tribute performance for Liberace, a song he wrote titled 'Home Again', and while he made no effort to hide reading straight from the teleprompter during his introduction, the performance of the hauntingly nostalgic tune was solid.
Matt Damon and Michael Douglas, stars of the Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra, presented the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Mini-Series/ Movie to Laura Linney for her swansong as Cathy Jamison on The Big C: Hereafter.
Harris, along with his How I Met Your Mother co-stars did a skit as a public service announcement for, EHD - 'Excessive Hosting Disorder', which Harris, having now hosted several award shows, must be rehabilitated in The Ryan Seacrest Center for Excessive Hosting.
Connie Britton and Blair Underwood honoured to the recently passed Henry Bromell for the Homeland episode "Q&A", which was a most deserving win, and his widow Sarah accepted the award. They also gave Anna Gunn the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of Skyler White on Breaking Bad, and again, it was a most deserving win.
Mindy Katling and Stephen Amell awkwardly presented the Outstanding Reality/ Competition Program to The Voice, breaking The Amazing's Race's winning streak.
Kerry Washington honoured Bobby Cannavale for his one season portrayal of Gyp Rosetti on Boardwalk Empire (who's dating Australia's own Rose Bryne apparently).
Dylan McDermott and Julianna Margulies presented the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, which surprisingly went to first-time nominee Jeff Daniels for his portrayal of Will McAvoy on The Newsroom.
Six-time Grammy Award winner Carrie Underwood then performed a tribute to the historic events of fifty years ago, 1963, The Beatles 'Yesterday'. It's a great song, but unfortunately I don't think it was the best fit for Underwood's naturally more upbeat twang.
Jimmy Fallon, unhilarously struggling with a moving microphone, honoured Claire Danes with her second win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Carries Mathison on Homeland.
Outstanding Guest Actor and Actress in a Drama Series, Dan Bucatinsky and Carrie Preston presented Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series to David Fincher for House of Cards.
Jim Parsons and Bob Newhart, who got a standing ovation, honoured The Colbert Report (which also won Outstanding Variety Series as well) with the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series, which is a welcome change from the usual winner Jon Stewart, although I wish his speech would have been as funny as his show usually his. Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series went to Don Roy King for his work on Saturday Night Live.
Harris and the nominees for Outstanding Choreography then performed a dance routine highlighting and using the music from some of the awards most prominent featuring shows, which was a fascinating celebration of both dance and television combined. Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum, winners of the Outstanding Reality Host for Project Runway, then presented the Emmy to Derek Hough for his work on Dancing With The Stars.
Anna Faris and Allison Janney (of which Janney is either really tall or Faris really really short) announced the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries or Movie, which went to Abu Morgan for The Hour, and the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie which went to James Cromwell for his role as Dr. Arthur Arden / Hans Grüper on American Horror Story: Asylum.
Andre Braugher and Mark Harlin presented Steven Soderbergh with the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries or Movie for his work on Behind The Candelabra, which also picked up Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for Michael Douglas's (who gave a short but hilarious speech) portrayal of Liberace, and Outstanding Miniseries or Movie.
Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie went to Ellen Burstyn for her portrayal as Margaret Barrish Worthington on Political Animals.
To present the final two awards Will Ferrell (and his kids because of his inability to find good child care) took to the stage, honouring Modern Family with the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, and Breaking Bad for Outstanding Drama Series. Great to finally see Breaking Bad getting the allocades it deserves.
Overall, the show was nothing spectacular, and could have really done with more skits. But that would mean more time, and until the organisers of shows like this realise the less presenters the more smooth-flowing the show feels, there will likely never me more time allocated to do this. As I said at the beginning Harris was a fine host yet again, I'm not sure about some of the gay jokes made at his expense though, although they were funny, and he seemed to enjoy them too, so I guess that makes it okay? The most interesting moments of the evening though were the many surprise winners, many first-timers, which always makes for refreshing viewing. Because of this I only managed to correctly predict 6 winners for the 15 categories I made predictions on. Anyway, here what I thought were the best/ worst parts of the evening.
Best Speech Award: Michael Douglas (provided some playful banter with co-star Matt Damon who was sitting in the audience).
Worst Speech Award: Gale Mancuso (Said her and her kids were going to listen to Blurred Lines and not Poker Face in the car on the way home. Umm, what?).
Most Deserving Award: Claire Danes (for Outstanding Leas Actress in a Drama Series).
Biggest Upset Award: Jeff Daniels (Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, which could have gone to many other deserving nominees, like Bryan Cranston or last year's winner Damien Lewis).
Funniest Moment Award: For those that have seen House of Cards, Spacey's bit was hilarious, but otherwise it would be Nathan Fillion and Sarah Silverman's cameo in 'The Number in the Middle of the Show'.
Worst Moment Award: Jimmy Fallon tries to introduced nominees with a moving microphone.
Did everyone else enjoy the show? What was your favourite/ most memorable part of the night?
