Well, despite going a woeful 9 for 17 in my Emmy predictions tonight, I did at least get the top two winners right, and I couldn't be more thrilled that Breaking Bad finally got that deserved Best Drama award. However, in my defense it was a HUGE night for upsets, which is highly, highly unusual for the Emmys, who almost always favor repeat winners. Let's take a look at all the surprise victories:
Supporting Acting:
This is where I really bombed out in nearly every category. Aside from Anna Gunn, who walked away with her well deserved first Best Supporting Actress Emmy, everyone else was a shocker, from Merritt Wever and Tony Hale to Bobby Cannavale. I have no explanation for Merritt Wever's upset win after all these years, but hey, she did give the very best acceptance speech of the night ("I gotta go, bye!"). My theory is that Arrested Development probably helped Tony Hale in his victory (he had a fantastic episode on AD this year), but it's also evidence that they really do love Veep, and I'm starting to think that will eventually be the alternative to Modern Family's crown at some point. As for Bobby Cannavale, I did think there was an outside chance for him and I'm kicking myself now for not at least putting him in the Dark Horse position instead of Peter Dinklage. It was a very baity role, and I have to remember how much they like theatrics. I actually fared pretty well in the Movie/Mini categories, thanks to Behind the Candelabra's expected dominance, but Laura Linney and Ellen Burstyn I did not see coming. I forgot that Laura Linney is absolutely beloved by Emmy voters (she's actually 4 for 5 in Emmy noms now) and Ellen Burstyn matches well with James Cromwell for their tendency to award veteran names here. Silly me for predicting based on the performances over the name recognition.
Lead Acting and Variety:
Colbert! Aside from Breaking Bad, this was my very favorite win of the night, and it won for writing too! I adore The Colbert Report deeply and had this as my "should win", so I just wanted to stand up and cheer. But I do hope now that The Daily Show's streak has finally been broken, they might actually spread the wealth more in this category from now on- there's more than one variety show that deserves recognition out there, you know. And Jeff Daniels seemed to be the biggest shock of the night for everyone watching, but I had an inkling that he and Kevin Spacey were the dark horses because of their movie star status, but again, I went with Spacey for my outside chance pick. Crap. And then there was The Voice, picking up Best Reality/Competition program on popularity after American Idol could never win that prize for the same reason, even though it was the highest rated show on television for years. Forgive me for thinking if anything was going to beat The Amazing Race, it wasn't going to be that. I'll remember that in the future too.
The Show:
Man, as for the show itself, I thought it was pretty bad this year. Neil Patrick Harris was not in top form like he was at the Tonys (most of his bits fell pretty flat) and the whole thing was very weirdly put together, with sad and moving tributes to select people who died right after someone had just won. That jarring tone made for some very awkward transitions all night, and served to present, as Modern Family creator Steven Levitan put it, "the saddest Emmys ever." Plus, they played off every single winner this year after about 10 seconds, apparently so they could make room for random musical numbers from Elton John and Carrie Underwood, that only vaguely had something to do with celebrating TV. The only person not played off was choreography winner Derek Hough, who got to accept his award right after one of those out of place dance tributes. Here's hoping they do better next year.
