Surprises, Not Sweeps, at the Emmys

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By EDWARD WYATT Published: September 20, 2009

LOS ANGELES — A funny thing happened on the way to the Emmys. The expected coronation of “30 Rock” and “Mad Men” as the winners of every category under the sun did not quite come to pass.

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Host Neil Patrick HarrisNeil Patrick Harris speaks onstage during the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards held at the Nokia Theatre on Sunday in Los Angeles, California. More Photos »

Emmy Awards

Complete coverage of the 2009 Emmy nominations and awards, including a list of winners, slide shows and other multimedia features.

Multimedia Slide Show Red Carpet at the 2009 Emmy Awards Related 2009 Emmy Award Nominees and Winners (September 17, 2009) ArtsBeat: Live Blog: 'Mad Men' and '30 Rock' Repeat (September 20, 2009) Blog ArtsBeat

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Toni ColletteToni Collette received the award for best actress in a comedy series at the Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday. More Photos >

Those two shows did win the two biggest awards on Sunday night at the 61st annual Primetime Emmy Awards. “30 Rock,” which led all shows with 22 nominations, was named best comedy for the third straight year. Tina Fey, the creator of the series, which focuses on the backstage action at a late-night comedy series much like “Saturday Night Live,” thanked the executives of NBC for keeping the show on the air despite its relatively low viewership — and “even though we are so much more expensive than a talk show.”

AMC’s “Mad Men,” which garnered 16 nominations, won best drama for the second straight year. Matthew Weiner, the show’s creator, acknowledged that such a repeat victory was not easy. “We worked very hard to not have it stink the second year,” he said.

While those two series also had nominees in almost every category, most of the other awards were spread among shows that are lesser known, long popular but often critically unloved, and in one case, no longer alive.

Toni Collette, who portrays a woman with multiple personalities on Showtime’s “United States of Tara,” won the Emmy for best actress in a comedy. Kristin Chenoweth, who played Olive Snook in ABC’s “Pushing Daisies,” which was canceled after its second season, won best supporting actress in a comedy. And Jon Cryer, who plays the perennially unlucky-at-love Alan Harper on CBS’s “Two and a Half Men,” the perennially unlucky-at-the-Emmys series, won the award for best supporting actor in a comedy.

“I used to think that awards were just shallow tokens of momentary popularity,” said Mr. Cryer, who was nominated for the supporting actor award for the fourth time. “But now I realize they are the only true measure of one’s worth as a human being.”

In drama, Glenn Close won her second straight Emmy for best actress for her role in “Damages,” the FX drama, and Bryan CranstonBryan Cranston similarly repeated as best actor for “Breaking Bad.” Michael Emerson won the award for best supporting actor for his turn as Benjamin Linus in ABC’s “Lost,” while Cherry Jones won for best supporting actress for her role as the president of the United States on Fox’s “24.”

Interviewed on the red carpet before the show, Ms. Jones said that although she did not expect to win, it would be particularly nice to take home a statue because there is a feeling on the set that this coming season, which begins in January, might be the last for “24.” Upon winning, Ms. Jones promised her colleagues to place the Emmy on the catering table on the set of the show on Monday.

“30 Rock” and “Mad Men” did win a few other statues. Alec Baldwin won the Emmy for best actor in a comedy for the second consecutive year for “30 Rock,” and Matt Hubbard took home the award for writing for a comedy series for the episode “Reunion” — although in that category, at least, “30 Rock” had a leg up. It had garnered four of the five nominations for the award.

“Mad Men” similarly dominated the nominations in the writing category for a drama series, and Kater Gordon and Mr. Weiner won the Emmy for the show, for the episode “Meditations in an Emergency.”

Mr. Weiner attributed the success of his show to the lack of interference from the businessmen who finance it. (AMC, a cable channel, only recently began scheduling original series.) “I may be the only person in this room who has complete creative freedom,” he said in accepting the award.

Other awards were doled out according to a well-worn script. HBO racked up Emmys in its usual category of dominance, the mini-series or movie. Jessica Lange won best actress in the category, her first Emmy, for her role in “Grey Gardens,” the tale of an eccentric mother and daughter who inhabited a ramshackle home on Long Island. Brendan Gleeson won the award for best actor in a mini-series or movie for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in “Into the Storm.” Shohreh Aghdashloo won the Emmy for best supporting actress in a mini-series or movie for HBO’s “House of Saddam.” And Ken Howard won the supporting actor award for “Grey Gardens,” afterward thanking, among others, Jeannie Epper, the donor of his kidney, who also is a television stuntwoman.

PBS took home three Emmys for “Little Dorrit,” including best mini-series. The program, an import from the BBC, also won for directing and writing in a mini-series. Andrew Davies won the writing award, and Dearbhla Walsh won the prize for directing.

Among reality shows, Jeff ProbstJeff Probst of CBS’s “Survivor” won the award for best reality host for the second straight year, and “The Amazing Race,” also on CBS, won the award for best reality competition show for the seventh consecutive year — every year that the award has existed. “Upsets at every turn,” ad-libbed Neil Patrick Harris, the show’s host, himself a loser in the best supporting actor in a comedy category.

“American Idol,” which has lost the award to “The Amazing Race” for so many years, did win one long-awaited Emmy. Bruce Gowers took home the statue for outstanding director for a variety series. In the press room afterward, Mr. Gowers said he was looking forward to the arrival of Ellen DeGeneres as a judge on the show.

“I think there will be a lot more fun on the show than ever before,” he said. “We look forward to the unexpected, because Ellen is always doing the unexpected.”

“The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” won two big awards in its category, for outstanding variety, music or comedy series and for outstanding writing in the genre.

Mr. Harris might have lost the Emmy for best supporting actor for his role on “How I Met Your Mother,” but he won kudos during the broadcast for his hosting acumen. Mr. Probst, who was part of the five-person team of reality hosts who oversaw last year’s show, to disastrous results, gave a heartfelt thanks to Mr. Harris for, he hoped, making people forget about his own earlier effort.

Jon StewartJon Stewart added his praise, saying: “We’ve been to a lot of these, and they usually” well, are not that good, to paraphrase.

It was clear there was something different from the beginning on this Emmys telecast, which took place, as deadpanned by Julia Louis-Dreyfus in introducing one award, in “the last official year of broadcast television.”

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