TV excellence rewarded with Emmys, despite TV excellence being lesser than movie excellence
Last night’s 66th Primetime Emmy Awards proceeded with such efficiency—too bad the whole “speed things up by giving all the drama awards to Breaking Bad” strategy will never work again—that it was difficult for any trends or themes to emerge. Nonetheless, there was a certain “throwback” atmosphere to the event, what with a censored Robin Williams punchline, the Clark Gable mustache that Bryan Cranston planted on one-time Seinfeld cohort Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Sofia Vergara standing on a rotating pedestal of vintage objectification while host Seth Meyers composed a silent “Really?” monologue in his head. And well before Gwen Stefani’s Adele Dazeem callback, there was that grandest of TV traditions: A raging, cinema-derived inferiority complex. Meyers concluded his opening monologue with a run of jokes heralding TV over “that high-maintenance diva, movies,” a brief preview of an awards ceremony in which television’s artistic bona fides were constantly (and in no way insecurely) touted while no awards were given to movie stars. (Memo to TV: You’re winning right now. Not that this is a fight to be won. But you’ve got True Detective and Mad Men and Orange Is The New Black and The Good Wife and Louie and Parks And Rec and Review and Broad City and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver—quit it with the self-deprecation already.)
With marquee names like Matthew McConaughey, Julia Roberts, and Kevin Spacey going home empty handed, the big winners of the night included Godzilla supporting player Bryan Cranston, Ghost Ship’s own Julianna Margulies, and voice of a cartoon dog Ty Burrell. (As part of the ongoing critical reassessment of Pootie Tang, that film’s writer and director Louis C.K. took home the honors for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series). Accepting the award for Outstanding Miniseries, Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley thanked the big-shot filmmakers who inspired his lowly TV show, before noting, as any reverent boob-tube serf should, that the Coen Brothers “don’t watch the Emmys”.
There are plenty more throwbacks to be found in the list of winners below, including Allison Janney’s second Emmy win of the year and a delightful reminder of the last four times Modern Family forced a sappy, speechifying ending onto the end of its Emmy night.
Outstanding Drama Series
Breaking Bad
Outstanding Comedy Series
Modern Family
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad