The Emmys, from Sheldon to Draper

The Emmy Awards - or at least the Primetime Emmy Awards, last night (Prime, 9.30pm) - have taken some criticism in recent years. Aaron Barnhart, a TV critic for the Kansas City Star newspaper, wrote in July that the awards simply aren't relevant anymore, since the same shows win year after year due to the laziness of the voters.

The joke's on him though: of the 10 major categories - two for shows, eight for acting - a staggering eight awards were won by first-time winners and five winners were first-time nominees. Even more amazing, all the nominated shows had aired in New Zealand already!

Not only that, but the Emmy ceremony itself was pretty entertaining - especially the Glee-inspired opening number featuring host Jimmy Fallon and a stack of celebs (including Jorge Garcia, Tina Fey, Randy Jackson, Jon Hamm and Jane Lynch) performing Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run. A skit involving the cast of Modern Family and a musical tribute to 24, Lost and Law & Order provided a few laughs as well. Overall, it was a decent night of viewing.

By the way, Stuff featured plenty of Emmy Award coverage in the Entertainment section yesterday; click here for the full list of nominations, here for the full list of winners, and here for more information on the awards ceremony itself.

To celebrate the pinnacle of American television success, let's check out some winners and losers from last night's show:

WINNER: Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory)
Parsons - who plays Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory - probably deserved to win last year as well, but 2010 has finally been the year of Sheldon: his show increased its US ratings from  an average of 10 million in Series 2 to around 14 million in Series 3, and his catchphrase ("Bazinga") has taken off as well. To be honest, I would have been genuinely upset if Alec Baldwin had won this award for the third straight year. At least Parsons deserved his award, unlike ...

LOSERS: Edie Falco / Nurse Jackie
Edie took out the award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for Nurse Jackie, and her show was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series ... umm, can someone please explain to me how Nurse Jackie even qualifies as a comedy series? OK, I'll admit, Jackie had a few laughs. But let's be honest: it was a drama with a few comedy elements, not a comedy with a few drama elements. By that logic, maybe Fringe should've been nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series? I mean, it has a few laughs each week, and Walter Bishop cracks a decent one-liner from time to time, right? Look, in no way was Nurse Jackie anywhere near the same level of hilarity as the likes of The Big Bang Theory (which it beat to a nomination, by the way) or fellow nominees 30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiasm, or even eventual winner ...

WINNER: Modern Family
... whose win is especially worth celebrating since it beat out the hot favourite ...

LOSER: Glee
You could almost make the same argument: does it really qualify as a comedy? Glee, which managed two wins from eight nominations, doesn't strike me as being a typical comedy show - though it is a damn sight funnier than Nurse Jackie and therefore much more worthy of nomination. The problem is, if Glee (or Nurse Jackie) had won the award for Outstanding Drama Series, we probably could have kissed the 30-minute comedy goodbye. Why would networks bother if drama-comedy shows are taking out all the awards? They wouldn't, which makes Modern Family's victory particularly sweet. It's a victory for the people. Viva la sitcom!

WINNER: Top Chef
I liked Top Chef winning the Outstanding Reality Competition Program award since a) it's one of the few truly great reality shows, b) I like food, and c) The Amazing Race has won for seven years straight. Thanks for giving someone else a turn, Phil Keoghan.

WINNER: Bryan Cranston / Aaron Paul
The stars of Breaking Bad took home gongs for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series respectively, and it's hard to argue that they weren't the best actors in their categories. Cranston beat out stiff competition from Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Michael C. Hall (Dexter), and even Matthew Fox (Lost), who many thought would get an Emmy as a way of saying "hey, thanks for everything, we'll miss you". Aaron Paul did just as well, defying the odds to beat Terry O'Quinn, Michael Emerson (both past winners for Lost) and John Slattery (who has missed out three years running for Mad Men), and giving the most heartfelt acceptance speech to boot. It's just a shame that their show ...

LOSER: Breaking Bad
... seems to be stuck in the shadow of network rival and three-time Outstanding Drama Series winner ...

WINNER: Mad Men
Both Mad Men and Breaking Bad are produced by American cable channel AMC, and - for the second year running - Mad Men beat its network sibling to the Outstanding Drama Series award. If you've ever watched Mad Men, you'll know why: it is arguably the best show on TV - it's well written, superbly acted, and the attention to detail in every scene is just remarkable. I guess I just feel a bit sorry for Breaking Bad, since Mad Men keeps hogging all the major awards. Share the spoils, Draper! However, the cast and crew of both shows should feel better about this year's Emmy Awards than the team behind ...

LOSER: Lost
For all the hype that it would somehow take out a few awards for sentimental reasons, Lost's final tally is less than flattering: zero wins, seven nominations. Look, I'm the biggest Lost fan I know, and even I have to admit that the final season didn't hit the target it had set for itself - producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse talked the ending up so much that they were bound to fall short (I was so convinced that the finale would suck that I even wrote an article, printed in a local magazine, in which I tried to figure out if the series finale would've sucked regardless of the writing; the answer was yes). The sad truth is that Lost was actually lucky to be nominated for Outstanding Drama Series at all. That said, I did think that Matthew Fox and Terry O'Quinn were deserving of some kind of recognition for their performances in the final season, as they both stepped up their game for the show's final run. Alas, it was just not to be.

So - what did you think of this years' Emmy results? Is Nurse Jackie a comedy show? Should Breaking Bad have beaten Mad Men for Outstanding Drama Series? Should Lost have won something, anything?

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