The 2013 Emmy awards rewarded a couple of the usual suspects, namely Breaking Bad and Modern Family, but also gave viewers some unexpected surprises. Though several shows had racked up more that a couple handfuls worth of nominations, like Game of Thrones, Behind the Candelabra and Saturday Night Live, the winner were widely distributed with no overwhelming sweeps.
Host Neil Patrick Harris kicked off the evening with an opening bit that included appearances by several previous hosts incuding: Conan O’Brien, Jane Lynch, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon. Nominees from several categories also acted as presenters, and Harris did the job of keeping the show rolling. There were a couple of in the box musical numbers, one a new song by Sir Elton John and another a dance number choreographed by the nominees for the Best Choreography category, that was a tribute to other show nominees.
There were individual tributes to 5 deceased stars at different times in the program, along with the usual slide show listing all the the industry people who passed on during the course of the year since the last Emmy broadcast. All of the memorializing led to comments on social media, Twitter specifically, about the show being “the saddest Emmys ever”. While that is a point of debate, there was definitely an air of melancholy and that didn’t help get it over the moment when things slowed down and started to drag.
Hightlights of the Evening
- Actress Meritt Wever got the nod for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy and gave a speech that was as surprising as her win. It was “Thank you so much, I gotta go, bye.
- Funny gals Tina Fey and Amy Poheler sitting in the front row with 3D glasses to get a “better view” of Neil Patrick Harris’ junk and then crawling onto the stage to make their awards presentation.
- Nathan Fillion and Sarah Silverman’s surprise appearance during the otherwise completely lame “middle of the show” number
Low Points of the Evening
- The previously mentioned “lame middle of the show number”
- Carrie Underwood’s butchered rendition of the classic Beatles’ tune Yesterday
- Spreading the tributes to deceased stars all the way through the show. The tributes themselves were fine, though a bit too abbreviated in most cases to really give the audience much.
The full list of Emmy Winners:
Drama Series: “Breaking Bad” (AMC)
Actor, Drama Series: Jeff Daniels, “The Newsroom (HBO)
Actress, Drama Series: Claire Danes, “Homeland” (Showtime)
Supporting Actor, Drama Series: Bobby Cannavale, “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO)
Supporting Actress, Drama Series: Anna Gunn, “Breaking Bad” (AMC)
Directing, Drama Series: David Fincher, “House of Cards” (Netflix)
Writing, Drama Series: Henry Bromell, “Homeland” (Showtime)
Comedy Series: “Modern Family” (ABC)
Lead Actor, Comedy Series: Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory” (CBS)
Lead Actress, Comedy Series: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep,” (HBO)
Supporting Actor, Comedy Series: Tony Hale, “Veep” (HBO)
Supporting Actress, Comedy Series: Merritt Wever, “Nurse Jackie” (Showtime)
Directing, Comedy Series: Gail Mancuso, “Modern Family” (ABC)
Writing, Comedy Series: Tina Fey and Tracey Wigfield, “30 Rock” (NBC)
Miniseries or Movie: “Behind the Candelabra” (HBO)
Lead Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Michael Douglas, “Behind the Candelabra” (HBO)
Lead Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Laura Linney, “The Big C: Hereafter” (Showtime)
Supporting Actor, Miniseries or Movie: James Cromwell, “American Horror Story: Asylum” (FX)
Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Ellen Burstyn, “Political Animals” (USA)
Directing, Miniseries or Movie: Steven Soderbergh, “Behind the Candelabra” (HBO)
Writing, Miniseries or Movie: Abi Morgan, “The Hour” (BBC America)
Reality-Competition Program: “The Voice” (NBC)
Variety Series: “The Colbert Report” (Comedy Central)
Writing, Variety Series: “The Colbert Report” (Comedy Central)
Directing, Variety Series: Don Roy King, “Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
Choreography: Derek Hough, “Dancing With the Stars” (ABC)
