Mad Men, 30 Rock win Emmys
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Comedy series 30 Rock and advertising drama Mad Men have won television's highest honours for a second year on a night where old favourites triumphed over a handful of new faces.
But both shows failed to live up their promise going into the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards.
NBC's satirical 30 Rock, which had a leading 22 nominations, came away with just five, including best actor for Alec Baldwin. But the show's creator Tina Fey, who won last year, lost out this time to Australian Toni Collette in the best comic actress race.
"Phew! That was a nail-biter," said Fey, accepting the best comedy award for 30 Rock. "Thanks for keeping us on the air even though we are more expensive than a talk show."
Mad Men, the similarly low-rated but acclaimed drama set in the 1960s, won just three of the 16 Emmys for which it had been nominated, including best writing. Last year the AMC show made history by becoming the first series from a cable network other than HBO to win the Emmy for best drama.
"I may be the only person in the room with complete creative freedom. That's why the show is so good," said Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner, who won the Emmy for best writing for a drama series.
Glenn Close repeated her win for best dramatic actress for her role as a ruthless lawyer in Damages on the FX cable channel. Accepting her award, Close called it "the character of my lifetime".
Bryan Cranston, who plays a chemistry teacher who turns to drug dealing to pay for his medical bills in Breaking Bad on AMC, was also a repeat as best actor in a drama.
Despite expanding the number of nominees this year in a bid to acknowledge the range of offerings on more than 120 network and cable channels available to American viewers, upstarts like Fox's irreverent cartoon series Family Guy and HBO's polygamy drama Big Love went home empty-handed.
And there were no surprises in the reality competition show category. Amazing Race, won for a 7th straight year, beating rivals American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Top Chef and Project Runway.
'PUT DOWN THE REMOTE'
Host Neil Patrick Harris, star of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, kicked off the live telecast with a comic song and dance routine called Put down the Remote that urged viewers to resist the urge to switch channels or go online.
"I see legends galore, Lange, Barrymore," Harris sang to Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore, later adding, "But like next season on Idol I'm not seeing Paula Abdul". Meanwhile, the camera panned to an empty seat at the Nokia Theatre.
Last year's Emmy telecast attracted the smallest audience in the awards show's history, with just 12.2 million viewers.
In a bid to give viewers a bigger voice in a ceremony that mostly rewards shows with modest audiences rather than popular favorites, the Academy asked viewers to vote online during the telecast for the "breakthrough moment of the year".
The award was won for a scene from the vampire series True Blood on HBO.
Kristin Chenoweth won best supporting comic actress for Pushing Daisies, a show cancelled earlier this year by ABC.
"I'm unemployed now, so I'd like to be on Mad Men, Chenoweth joked, adding "Thank you so much to the Academy for recognising a show that's no longer on the air."
HBO's Grey Gardens - about the eccentric relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy - won six Emmys, including best TV movie. But the BBC production of Charles Dickens tale Little Dorritt, aired on PBS, did better with seven Emmys, including outstanding miniseries.
RED CARPET ACTION
A lot of hot fashion trends made their way to the Emmy Awards amid the limousine gridlock, but there were few knockout looks as stars mostly played it safe - a tradition these days.
The heat in Los Angeles was certainly a factor, with many of TV's top actresses opting for updos for their hair.
A very pregnant Heidi Klum certainly kept her cool in a black, formfitting strapless Marchesa gown with a mermaid hemline.
"I wanted something simple because I'm so big," she said. Her jewellery was anything but, though: oversized dangling earrings and a huge cocktail ring.
Marchesa actually had a trifecta of successes. Other than Klum, escorted by husband Seal, the label put Sandra Oh in a gleaming gold strapless gown with rope belt, and Olivia Wilde in a ripped-from-the-runway, embroidered tulle gown that created the illusion of being a one-shoulder number, but it was just one of several strategically placed sheer panels.
Others wearing one-shoulder gowns included Elisabeth Moss in a bronze design with a heavily embellished neckline and Sigourney Weaver in a red David Meister. Hayden Panettiere was a retro glamour girl in a red draped J Mendel and matched her bright red lips.
Ricky Gervais joked that he wished he was wearing a toga, but instead turned up wearing a retro Rat-packer suit by Ted Baker with oversized black lapels.
Leighton Meester contrasted her red lips with a white V-neck gown with knotted fabric on the shoulder. It was a more high-fashion look likely to cause some "do or don't" debate than the usual sparkly or sexy gowns armchair critics are used to.
Blake Lively, however, surely left more than a few watchers speechless - and smiling - with her bright-red, plunging-V Versace gown.
"She was a total goddess," said her makeup artist Kristofer Buckle. He explained that he went with all honey colors for her face so it would not compete with the traffic-stopping dress.
Sandra Oh of Grey's Anatomy thrilled bleacher fans as she walked the carpet in a long gold gown with rhinestones, and cheers also went up for Tony Shalhoub, Omar Epps, Bob Newhart and Christina Hendricks.
But spare a thought for poor old Kim Kardashian, whose dress broke, forcing the reality TV star to scramble an emergency tailer to sew her back up.
"My zipper on my gown just all popped & broke on my way 2 Emmy's," Kardashian wrote on social networking site Twitter. "My stylist is meeting me there but I'm FREAKING OUT!!!"
True Blood star Stephen Moyer arrived without his fiance, Kiwi actress Anna Paquin, in sight.
Moyer said he knew he had fallen in loved with Paquin after shooting on the first season of the hit HBO show had ended and he "missed her".
Key Emmy winners:
Best Drama Series
Big Love
Breaking Bad
Damages
Dexter
House
Lost
Winner: Mad Men
Best Lead Actress, Drama
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer
Winner: Glenn Close, Damages
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace
Best Lead Actor, Drama
Winner: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Hugh Laurie, House
Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Simon Baker, The Mentalist
Best Supporting Actress, Drama
Rose Byrne, Damages
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy
Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy
Dianne Wiest, In Treatment
Hope Davis, In Treatment
Winner: Cherry Jones, 24
Best Supporting Actor, Drama
William Shatner, Boston Legal
Christian Clemenson, Boston Legal
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
William Hurt, Damages
Winner: Michael Emerson, Lost
John Slattery, Mad Men
Best Comedy Series
Entourage
Family Guy
Flight of the Conchords
How I Met Your Mother
The Office
Winner: 30 Rock
Weeds
Best Lead Actress, Comedy
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures Of Old Christine
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Program
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Winner: Toni Collette, United States of Tara
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds
Best Lead Actor, Comedy
Jemaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords
Tony Shalhoub, Monk
Steve Carell, The Office
Winner: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Charlie Sheen, Two And A Half Men
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Best Supporting Actress, Comedy
Winner: Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies
Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live
Kristin Wiig, Saturday Night Live
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds
Best Supporting Actor, Comedy
Kevin Dillon, Entourage
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
Rainn Wilson, The Office
Tracy Morgan, 30 Rock
Jack McBrayer, 30 Rock
Winner: Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men
* With Reuters, AP and Stuff.co.nz
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Neil Patrick Harris Should have won best Supporting actor, as Two And A Half Men Sucks
@milluymolly you're missing heaps! Quite frankly, you're an idiot if you think that of True Blood & Anna Paquin, its an awesome highly-rated show & Anna could easily have been nominated as best actress Same-old narrow-mindedness more like it @11 - right on @16 - welcome to the world of mass-media, they decide what is worth mentioning not you!
The really compelling TV viewing these days come from Showtime or HBO. I have complete series' for a number of shows this year and last. For me True Blood should have had nominations in acting and writing categories. Anna Paquin is simply an amazing actress. Brian Cranston equally so in Breaking Bad. Not surprised at all that Toni Collette got a gong for the United States of Tara; another truly original program. Madmen is of the hightest calibre and thoroughly deserved it's awards.
reading this report you'd never guess that the BBC's Little Dorrit won more awards than Mad Men or 30 Rock. Perhaps its stars don't wear fancy frocks or feature in trashy gossip magazines. Stuff - this level of "journalism" is a disgrace.
How could ANYTHING from two and a half men beat out the brilliance of neil patrick harris in himym?!?! He's legen....wait for it...i hope you're not lactose-intolerant...dary!!!
It disappointing that Flight of the Conchords has missed out twice already for 2008 and 2009. Good on Prime TV to provide highlight but TVNZ has make an excuse to refused to broadcast the special presentation like Acadmey Awards and BAFTA.
What am I missing............ why on earth would anyone with any intelligence vote for anything associated with that ridiculous program True Blood. I cannot believe that Anna Paquin won a Golden Globe for her acting!!! hell the way she speaks is enough to give you a headache. I guess same old same old------ sex sells !!!!
Shouldn't we be focussing on talent not just looks?
If you want hot chicks go and watch some playboy or something.
Emmy's should be about talent, definately
I reckon Anna Paquin should have been nominated for best actress, she's amazing in True Blood! Also the dude who plays Walter on Fringe should have been nominated, he plays a doddery mad scientist who's lost his marbles oh so well. At least Jon Stewart won, I love the Daily Show :)
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I saw an episode of Mad Men while on holiday in Aussie a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. Does anyone know if it's being screened on any NZ Channel - or likely to be?