Seth Meyers set the tone for the 66th Emmy awards early on in the night. In his first joke, in fact.
“MTV aired the Video Music Awards last night,” the host joked, but that’s almost how the night turned out. “That’s right, MTV still has an award for music videos even though they no longer show music videos, that’s like network TV holding an awards show and giving all the trophies to cable and Netflix.”
While cable television went home with the most trophies, broadcast snuck in and took a few categories while Netflix’s original content was shut out in the primetime division.
Bryan Cranston took home his third Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a drama series for his role as Walter White in “Breaking Bad.” The gritty crime drama following a cancer stricken chemistry teacher selling crystal meth with a former student took home a total of five awards.
“Breaking Bad” stars Aaron Paul and Anna Gunn swept the awards for supporting actor and actress in a drama series, and the show won its second consecutive Emmy in the outstanding drama series category.
With “Breaking Bad’s” win in this category, cable network AMC has won six of the last seven awards for outstanding drama, a first for any network.
Juliana Margulies took best actress in a drama for her role as litigator Alicia Florrick in CBS’ “The Good Wife.”
Broadcast television also scored wins in the comedy category. “Modern Family” won its fifth consecutive best comedy award, and Jim Parsons won outstanding actor in a comedy series for his role as Sheldon Cooper in “The Big Band Theory,” his fourth win.
Cable took back the reigns as HBO’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus picked up her third consecutive best actress in a comedy Emmy for her role as vice president in “Veep.”
HBO led the show in total nominations with 99 awards up for grabs. However, Netflix had a strong showing with 31 nominations, respectfully.
While Netflix shows “House of Cards” and “Orange is the New Black” left the Primetime Emmy’s empty handed, the online media streaming and mail order DVD company took home seven Creative Arts Emmys. “House of Cards” won outstanding sound mixing for a one hour comedy or drama series, and Uzo Aduba took outstanding guest actress in a comedy series for her performance in “Orange is the New Black.”
This year’s award show was the first installment since 1976 to be aired on a Monday. The show was moved to an earlier date to avoid conflicts with football, according to the New York Times.
The Emmys highlighted the best of the best in television’s past year. Meyers stated that many are calling the current period a new golden age for television.
The line between quality television and film is blurring, and if these statements hold true, the future of TV is bright and looks to get brighter.
