Emmys 2011 In Review: 7 Things We Liked And 3 We Didn't

The 2011 Emmy Awards wrapped up tonight with Modern Family coming out on top, winning numerous awards, including a second award for Outstanding Comedy series. Meanwhile, Mad Men continued the tradition of winning the Outstanding Drama award for itself, beating out newcomers Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, as well as Friday Night Lights, among others.

The night wasn’t exactly bursting with exciting moments, grand speeches or unexpected snafu’s, with the exception of the teleprompter failing to work when Gwyneth Paltrow was on stage to present, but there were some great moments, and some not-so-great ones worth noting.

Highlights

The Opening song

Celebrating everything that’s so great about TV, host Jane Lynch bounced from set to set, checking in with some of popular shows. There were other mash-ups involved in this, one of which included Breaking Bad bad-boy Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) stopping in at Dunder Mifflin to exchange some words (and illegal substances) with Creed.

Jane Lynch

Proving once again that she’s able to adapt her style and sense of humor to fit just about any occasion, Lynch had a number of great jokes, plus she looked fantastic. She carried the spirit of the night with her wit, not crossing any boundaries, but delivering laughs and keeping the show moving along.

Outstanding Actress in a Comedy

In an amusing change of pace, for the Actress in a Comedy Award, when each female nominee’s name was read off, the actress rushed to the stage to stand there and wait as though this were a beauty pageant. The bit ended with Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly) winning the Emmy and being treated to a crown and roses, in addition to her statue. As funny as the set-up was, it was actually really sweet to see McCarthy hugging her fellow nominees before accepting her award.

A Lonely Island medley...

Anything that puts Michael Bolton on stage dressed as a pirate is winning in my book. The Lonely Island medley included the popular singing group (often featured on Saturday Night Live) performing three of their hits (“3-Way,” “I Just Had Sex” and “Jack Sparrow”) Guest performers included Maya Rudolph, Ed Helms and John Stamos.

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts... Can’t Lose!

Ok, Friday Night Lights didn’t win everything it was nominated for. It missed the award for Outstanding Drama, and unfortunately, Connie Britton didn’t take Lead Actress in a Drama series, which was a shame, but the drama series did win for Best Writing (Jason Katims) and Kyle Chandler took the award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series.

The Battle of the Jimmies

Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel wrestled to the stage-floor as part of their pre-presenting bit. Jury’s still out on who the superior late night Jimmy is.

Charlie Sheen

Sheen appeared on stage, not to participate in some bit, or as a joke, but to express good will toward Two and a Half Men in its new season. Between this and his recent appearance on Leno last week, he appears to have landed back on earth (and just in time for his Comedy Central Roast).

Low-lights

In Memoriam

The Canadian Tenors sounded great, but between wondering who they were and the camera cutting away from the list of the deceased to focus on the singers, it was easy to get distracted by everything but the intended focus of the segment. It made the whole thing feel more like a performance and less like a tribute to dearly departed. ?

Mad Men beating Game of Thrones, Friday Night Lights and Boardwalk Empire

As much as I love Mad Men and look forward to the AMC drama’s return, its win this year should have been predictable (looking at previous years), however, with two excellent new drama series (Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones) and one fantastic series that was looking at its last shot at an Emmy (Friday Night Lights), I really expected one of those three to beat out Mad Men this year.

Steve Carell missing his last shot for an Emmy for The Office

This is assuming he never wins for a guest-starring role at some point later down the line. Carell has been nominated for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series every year since 2006 for his role in The Office and he’s never won. This was his year. His last episode as Michael Scott last season was Emmy-worthy in itself, not to mention seasons of making us laugh in the role.

The Winners

DRAMA

Outstanding Drama Series

Boardwalk Empire

?Dexter

?Friday Night Lights

?Game of Thrones

?The Good Wife

?Mad Men

Lead Actor, Drama

Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire

Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights

Michael C. Hall, Dexter

John Hamm, Mad Men

Hugh Laurie, House

Timothy Olyphant, Justified

Lead Actress, Drama

Kathy Bates, Harry's Law

Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights

Mireille Enos, The Killing

Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU

Julianna Marguiles, The Good Wife

Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men

Supporting Actress, Drama

Kelly McDonald, Boardwalk Empire

Christina Hendricks, Mad Men

Michelle Forbes, The Killing

Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife

Margo Martindale, Justified

Christine Baranski, The Good Wife

Supporting Actor, Drama

John Slattery, Mad Men

Andre Braugher, Men of a Certain Age

Walton Goggins, Justified

Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones

Josh Charles, The Good Wife

Alan Cumming, The Good Wife

COMEDY

Outstanding Comedy Series

The Big Bang Theory

Glee

Modern Family

The Office

Parks & Recreation

30 Rock

Lead Actress, Comedy

Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie

Tina Fey, 30 Rock

Laura Linney, The Big C

Melissa McCarthy, Mike & Molly

Martha Plimpton, Raising Hope

Amy Poehler, Parks & Recreation

Lead Actor, Comedy

Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock

Louis CK, Louie

Steve Carell, The Office

Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory

Matt LeBlanc, Episodes

Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Supporting Actress, Comedy

Jane Lynch, Glee

Betty White, Hot in Cleveland

Julie Bowen, Modern Family

Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live

Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock

Sofia Vergara, Modern Family

Supporting Actor, Comedy

Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men

Chris Colfer, Glee

Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family

Ed O'Neill, Modern Family

Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

Ty Burrell, Modern Family

MINI-SERIES, MOVIE, REALITY TV ETC.

Oustanding Reality Competition Program

So You Think You Can Dance

The Amazing Race

Project Runway

American Idol

Dancing With the Stars

Top Chef

Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series

The Colbert Report

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Saturday Night Live

Conan

Real Time with Bill Maher

The Daily Show

Outstanding Mini-series or Movie

Mildred Pierce

Downton Abbey

The Kennedys

Cinema Verite

Too Big to Fail

The Pillars of the Earth

Lead Actress, Mini-series or Movie

Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce

Elizabeth McGovern, Downton Abbey

Diane Lane, Cinema Verite

Taraji P. Henson, Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story

Jean Marsh, Upstairs Downstairs

Lead Actor, Mini-series or Movie

Greg Kinnear, The Kennedys

Barry Pepper, The Kennedys

Edgar Ramirez, Carlos

William Hurt, Too Big To Fail

Idris Elba, Luther

Laurence Fishburne, Thurgood

Supporting Actor, Mini-series or Movie

Guy Pearce, Mildred Pierce

Brian F. O'Byrne, Mildred Pierce

Tom Wilkinson, The Kennedys

Paul Giamatti, Too Big to Fail

James Woods, Too Big to Fail

Supporting Actress, Mini-series or Movie

Evan Rachel Wood, Mildred Pierce

Melissa Leo, Mildred Pierce

Mare Winningham, Mildred Pierce

Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey

Eileen Atkins, Upstairs Downstairs

Kelly West
Assistant Managing Editor

Kelly joined CinemaBlend as a freelance TV news writer in 2006 and went on to serve as the site’s TV Editor before moving over to other roles on the site. At present, she’s an Assistant Managing Editor who spends much of her time brainstorming and editing feature content on the site. She an expert in all things Harry Potter, books from a variety of genres (sci-fi, mystery, horror, YA, drama, romance -- anything with a great story and interesting characters.), watching Big Brother, frequently rewatching The Office, listening to Taylor Swift, and playing The Sims.