Emmy Awards 2011: Recap & Winners!

Every year, the Emmys award the best in television of the past year, the night before the exciting start of TV’s Fall season premieres. I’ll be honest; the Emmys is not exactly my favorite award show. I’m not a big TV watcher. I have a select few shows that I enjoy, and those shows are never get nominated or never win. In my case, the Emmys seem to always leave me disappointed. However, I still make time to watch the award show, because one of those select few shows that I enjoy are award shows.

Jane Lynch (aka Sue Sylvester of Glee) hosted the Emmys and started out with a pre-taped musical number where she traveled in and out of popular TV show sets. It was cute and funny, and it’s always fun to see the nominees work with the host. A little later, Lynch introduced the “Emmytones,” a musical group that consisted of stars: Zachary Levi, Taraji P. Hensen, Joel McHale, Wilmer Valderrama, Colbie Smulders and Kate Flannery. The Emmytones just didn’t work. I like most of those actors, but they couldn’t even save the lamest act of the show.

The night started out with Modern Family on an award spree. It almost seemed that they were going to nab the drama awards too. (I bet that joke was said last night; I don’t remember.) The best moment of the night was during the Best Actress in a Comedy category. Amy Poehler was the first nominee announced, and she immediately walked on stage. For a moment, it was like she was going up there to accept the award as the winner. But as the other nominees were announced, they all walked up on stage and stood next to each other, holding hands, like it was a Miss Universe pageant. It was hilarious and sweet. You can watch them on stage and see who was crowned Miss Emmy 2011/Best Comedic Actress in the video below:

The winners were predictable. Amazing Race, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Mad Men kept their winning sprees. Martin Scorsese won his first Emmy for directing the pilot of Boardwalk Empire. (Yay!) Masterpiece’s Downton Abbey pretty much owned the Miniseries’ categories, with the exception of Kate Winslet’s & Guy Pearce’s acting wins for Mildred Pierce. Another exciting win was Peter Dinklage’s win for his role in Game of Thrones. Overall the show went well. It wasn’t a memorable one, but it wasn’t a disaster either. Here’s to hoping that next year’s show changes it up a little.

Here’s the complete winners’ list of last night’s Emmy Awards:

Outstanding comedy series: Modern Family
Outstanding drama series: Mad Men
Outstanding miniseries or movie: Downton Abbey
Outstanding lead actress, miniseries or movie: Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce
Outstanding supporting actor in a miniseries or movie: Guy Pearce, Mildred Pierce
Outstanding directing for a miniseries, movie or dramatic special: Brian Percival, Downton Abbey
Outstanding lead actor in a miniseries or movie: Barry Pepper, The Kennedys
Outstanding supporting actress, miniseries or movie: Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Outstanding writing for a miniseries or movie: Julian Fellowes, Downton Abbey
Outstanding lead actor, drama: Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights
Outstanding lead actress, drama: Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Outstanding supporting actor, drama: Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Outstanding directing, drama: Martin Scorsese, Boardwalk Empire
Outstanding supporting actress, drama: Margo Martindale, Justified
Outstanding writing, drama series: Jason Katims, Friday Night Lights
Outstanding 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 (host: Justin Timberlake)
Outstanding writing for a variety, music or comedy series: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Outstanding reality competition: The Amazing Race
Outstanding lead actress, comedy: Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly)
Outstanding lead actor, comedy series: Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Outstanding writing for a comedy: Steve Levitan, Jeffrey Richman (“Caught in the Act”), Modern Family
Outstanding director, comedy: Michael Alan Spiller (“Halloween”), Modern Family
Outstanding supporting actor, comedy: Ty Burrell (Modern Family)
Outstanding supporting actress, comedy: Julie Bowen (Modern Family)

Source: EW.com

Gabrielle Bondi

Gabrielle founded The Young Folks in 2010 with Luciana Villalba. Since then, she has served as editor-in-chief and oversees the staff and editorial content on The Young Folks. She recently graduated from Northwestern University and is now working on her master's degree at the Medill School of Journalism.