The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards

Summer is over, school is back in session, and that could mean only one thing. TV is back and what better way to get things started than the Emmy Awards.

Before I get to the winners, let me talk a little about the host and skits. Jane Lynch, Glee, was a fine host. I thought she had some good moments and there were a few times when I thought she was hilarious.

I did love that New Jersey skit she did where she explained that she would get Jersey onto every channel on TV.

Another great skit was the one where many characters from TV went to the Office. The best part was when Jesse from Breaking Bad showed up to deliver crystal meth to Creed.

Lynch’s opening skit was a song dedicated to TV and how great it is. I thought it was pretty good and a decent way to start, but it wasn’t really that funny.

As far as the performances went, there was only one by Lonely Island, the band from Saturday Night Live. They did three of their big songs, but at one point, they were doing them all at once, so I felt that it was all over the place.

They are a pretty funny group and their songs are funny, but that performance was just ok. As far as the awards are concerned, the night was broken into four segments.

There was comedy, reality/variety, miniseries/movie, and drama. Although that seems easy enough to follow, the night was very disorganized.

They began with the comedy portion and did everything except best comedy series. Modern Family swept all the awards they were in and they deserve it. I especially want to point out their win for outstanding writing for a comedy.

Steven Levitan and Jeffrey Richman won for the episode, Caught in the Act, which I think is the best episode of the series.

Julie Bowen won for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy, Ty Burrell won for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy, and Michael Spiller won for outstanding directing for a comedy for the episode, Halloween.

Those were the first four awards of the night and Modern Family had taken home each one of them. The last one they were up for was outstanding comedy series, which was the last award of the night, and surprise, surprise, they won.

I do think that Modern Family is the best comedy on TV and until some show can definitively take it over, then it can take home all the awards it can get.

However, the other two awards in the comedy category did not feature a Modern Family actor and the winners were quite surprising to me.

For outstanding actress in a comedy series, Melissa McCarthy won for Mike and Molly, while outstanding actor in a comedy series went to Jim Parsons from the Big Bang Theory.

I do watch both of those shows, but I could not disagree with those choices more. Steve Carell and Amy Poehler were both outstanding this last year and they easily deserved it more.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Sheldon is still the best part about the Big Bang Theory, but for Steve to not win on his last year, which was arguably his best performance wise, was wrong.

Something to mention is Charlie Sheen giving the award for lead actor in a comedy. He wished Two and a Half Men nothing but the best and he seemed kind of sincere, so that was one of the highlights of the night.

Anyway, the next segment was reality/variety, where The Amazing Race and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart were the big winners.

I don’t have much to say about this segment because I don’t watch any of the variety and American Idol has become stale to me.

Drama followed and this is where my favorite winners came from. Martin Scorsese won for outstanding directing for the pilot of Boardwalk Empire.

Juliana Margulies earned a much-deserved Emmy for her exceptional work on the Good Wife, but my happiest moments were from Friday Night Lights.

This show has been so underrated for so long and on its last season, the Emmys finally decided to give it some due. Jason Katims won for outstanding writing for the series finale, Always, and my favorite moment of the night was when Kyle Chandler won for outstanding actor in a drama.

Along with Connie Britton, those two have been phenomenal on the show since the start, and I am very glad that he won.

Of course, Mad Men went home with yet another best drama series award and the other two awards went to Margo Martindale for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series for her work in Justified and Peter Dinklage won for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series for his work in Game of Thrones.

This is where things became odd to me. They gave away every award in the drama category except best drama. They left best drama and best comedy for last. However, before those two, they went into the miniseries/movie category.

Again, I do not watch those, so I don’t have much to say. Downtown Abbey won many of them, however, the most notable winner was Kate Winslet for Mildred Pierce for outstanding lead actress in a miniseries or movie.

The whole miniseries/movie segment was so out of order and disorganized it felt as if it was at random.

They went from outstanding writing, to outstanding supporting actress, to outstanding lead actor, to outstanding directing, to outstanding supporting actor, to outstanding lead actress, to finally, outstanding miniseries or movie.

It was weird getting the lead actor up before the supporting actor. It is usually always the other way around. Everything just seemed odd and out of place.

I will not grade this because it is an awards program, but I must say that it was a decent show. The comedy was pretty good, the winners were good, even if many were predictable, and I thought that the way they arranged the winners was a little odd.

Anyway, I was pleased with Modern Family and Friday Night Lights finally getting some hard-earned praise. I will now list off the winners of each award in the order they were given.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy: Julie Bowen, Modern Family

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy: Ty Burell, Modern Family

Outstanding Directing for a Comedy: Michael Spiller, Modern Family – Halloween

Outstanding Writing for a Comedy: Steve Levitan & Jeffrey Richman, Modern Family – Caught in the Act

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy: Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy: Melissa McCarthy, Mike & Molly

Outstanding Reality Competition Program: The Amazing Race

Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series: Don Roy King, Saturday Night Live

Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series: Jason Katims, Friday Night Lights – Always

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Margo Martindale, Justified

Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series: Martin Scorsese, Boardwalk Empire – Pilot

Outstanding Supporting Actor for a Drama Series: Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Juliana Margulies, The Good Wife

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights

Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special: Julian Fellows, Downtown Abbey

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie: Maggie Smith, Downtown Abbey

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie: Barry Pepper, The Kennedys

Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special: Brian Percival, Downtown Abbey

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie: Guy Pearce, Mildred Pierce

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie: Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce

Outstanding Miniseries or Movie: Downtown Abbey

Outstanding Drama Series: Mad Men

Outstanding Comedy Series: Modern Family