Upsets, Awkwardness, and Predictability at the Emmys

Last Sunday, the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards opened with the cast of “Glee,” Joel McHale, Tina Fey, John Hamm, Kate Gosselin, Randy Jackson and host Jimmy Fallon all singing and dancing to a version of “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen. It was a great way to open the show and grabbed the audience’s attention. Here’s a rundown of the big winners and losers of the show.

Much to the dismay of its rabid fans, in its final season, “LOST” was completely shut out and left without a single award.

The cast and crew of “Modern Family,” however, were on a roll. Not only did they perform a great comedy sketch early in the show, featuring George Clooney and Stewie from “Family Guy,” the new series won six out of the fourteen awards for which it was nominated, the most for a television series this year. Some of these included Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

In fact, “Modern Family” ended up stealing the limelight from “Glee,” which only won four of the nineteen awards it was nominated for, proving that too much hype may not be a good thing.

There were a few upsets when it came to the awards. “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” won the award for Outstanding Variety, Musical, or Comedy Series for the eighth consecutive year, besting the short-lived “Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.”

For the first time in its eight-year history, “The Amazing Race” did not win the award for Best Reality Competition. Instead, “Top Chef” took home the award to the surprise of many. “Mad Men” won for Outstanding Drama Series, beating out the final season of “LOST” as well as “True Blood.”

Among actors and actresses, Jim Parsons of “The Big Bang Theory” took home the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, Jane Lynch of “Glee” took home the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, Bryan Cranston, of “Breaking Bad” took home Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, and Edie Falco took home Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for “Nurse Jackie.”

Bucky Gunts won for Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Special for the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Olympic Games, and whose odd name was the inspiration for a few jokes throughout the night.

“Temple Grandin,” an HBO movie about autistic animal researcher and autism advocate, Temple Grandin, won seven awards, including Outstanding Television Movie. Grandin herself was in attendance and was often seen cheering when the movie won awards.

Host Jimmy Fallon’s numerous attempts at singing throughout the night, except for the opening number, were awkward and more annoying than funny. Almost as awkward as Fallon though, was the order of awards.

The awards were given out for comedies, then dramas, then miniseries/tv movies. For someone whose only interested in one of those, like comedy, having to sit through two hours of random awards waiting for Best Comedy Series to be presented is not fun. They should have mixed up the order to keep things fresh and hold the viewer’s attention.

Despite some upsets, the Emmys were, as usual, somewhat predictable and merely showed what the critics think we should be watching.