I sat down last night at 8 p.m. to watch what I liked to call The Boring and Predictable Emmys. The Emmys are sort of an enigma: plenty of people who are quite worthy and buzzed-about are snubbed every year, people who should win never do, and you can probably guess with about 90 percent accuracy how the night will go down. For three hours last night, The 2013 Emmys Awards decided to laugh in the face of predictability. At some points, it got so unpredictable that the predictable winners started to seem unpredictable. It was a weird night. But all that’s been said about the show is that it was somber in tone. Look passed the messy in memoriam segments, and focus on the winners.
To illustrate what I mean, take a look at my fantasy ballot. I changed a few more predicted winners after I wrote that on a printed sheet I used to play Fantasy Emmys (for example, I changed Louis C.K. for Jim Parsons last-minute, and turned out to be right). Those predicted winners are nothing short but safe bets, but last night was full of wild cards.
Merritt Weaver opened the show with a hilarious and left-field win. (It was also a deserved win. Though I have only seen small snippets of her Nurse Jackie work, she’s great in New Girl and Tiny Furniture.) First of all: no one from Modern Family won? That is completely shocking. I was 100 percent sure it was Julie Bowen’s. Even Julie Bowen thought it was Julie Bowen’s; did you see how she dressed? That’s a winning dress.
Then came supporting actor in a comedy, and… Tony Hale!? Tony Hale wins! It’s undeniable: Hale deserves the award for his fantastic work in Arrested Development as well as Veep. And if you saw his bit with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, then you know how hilarious he can be. So, yes, he deserves it, but no one expected a win.
By the time JLD’s category came up, I was so ready for Amy Poehler to win that I was even shocked when the very obvious choice Louis-Dreyfus won. I mean, I probably would have felt more feels if Poehler won, but I was still in a state of shock and whiplash from the previous two wins. Also, I was still reeling from Wever’s most splendidly perfect speech.
The night went on like that: A shocking Bobby Cannavale here, a safe Claire Danes there, a not-so-surprising-but-still-kind-of-surprising Anna Gunn here, a predicted Jim Parsons there.
It’s not every year that an awards ceremony gets me actually anxious and has me yell practically every time one of those envelopes is opened. So, sure, maybe the producers got caught up in a lot of mourning, and maybe we still think some people got robbed, but it’s overshadowing the fact that we’ve been waiting for these kind of unpredictable Emmys for so long, and last night, they finally came. I mean, even The Voice beat The Amazing Race.
Congratulations to the winners!
Full List of Winners:
Comedy Series: Modern Family
Lead Actor in a Comedy: Jim Parsons
Lead Actress in a Comedy: Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Supporting Actor in a Comedy: Tony Hale
Supporting Actress in a Comedy: Merritt Wever
Directing: Gail Mancuso, Modern Family
Writing: Tina Fey & Tracy Wigfield, 30 Rock
Drama Series: Breaking Bad
Lead Actor in a Drama: Jeff Daniels
Lead Actress in a Drama: Claire Danes
Supporting Actor in a Drama: Bobby Cannavale
Supporting Actress in a Drama: Anna Gunn
Directing: David Fincher, House of Cards
Writing: Henry Bromell, Homeland
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Michael loves TV. You can find him at home, where he spends all of his time watching TV with his best friends couch and cable access.