62nd Primetime Emmy Awards Recap & Winners

 

The 62nd Primetime Emmys have come and gone, and once again the show offered laughs, star power and the occasional stretches of boredom.
In this post-Emmys post, we’ll take a look back at the celebration of TV’s most beloved shows, miniseries and specials, with a specific focus on who won, what the ratings were, and how the show went in general. Consider this your one-stop haven for any and all things that have to do with the 2010 Emmys.
First, lets talk about how the show went. When discussing the high and low points of any awards show, the first thing that people usually zero in on is the host. The 2009 Emmys were famously hosted by the witty and dapper  Neil Patrick Harris, who actually managed to elevate the proceedings and return the Emmys to glory.
This year brought us Late Night host Jimmy Fallon as our MC, and anyone who has been following Fallon since his SNL days knows that the comedian is practically notorious for his hit or miss hijinks. Well, according to the general consensus, Fallon was more hit than miss during his tenure as Emmys host, and his opening number – a glee club rendition of “Born To Run” with some humorous celebrity cameos – was certainly an impressive way to kick off the proceedings.
The mock musical – featuring cast members from Glee, Jon Hamm from Mad Men, Jorge Garcia from Lost, Tina Fey, Betty White and others  -  set the kind of light and spectacular tone you hope for in an awards show, and proved there are still ways to present comedy that is both non-controversial and  actually appealing to a mass audience. Fallon’s opening monologue (especially his first joke, a jab at the whole Conan/Leno fallout) further exhibited that the demands of hosting Late Night have polished Fallon into a much better performer than he once was.
Though Fallon did an admirable job, some pacing issues with the show have been noted by many who watched. Award shows still haven’t improved on their current format, it seems: exciting second-tier awards upfront, boring stuff filling the middle, big guns at the end. I’d like to think there’s a better way to do it, but maybe we’ll save that discussion for the comments section.
As for ratings: the 62nd Primetime Emmys posted ratings that basically equaled last year’s numbers, 13.5 million viewers as opposed to last year’s score of 13.47. Though the ratings were about equal, the 62nd Emmys does deserve a little bit more distinction, in my opinion, since the broadcast hopped from CBS to NBC this year.
Though some may argue that people look for the Emmys every year and will watch them no matter which network broadcasts the show, I still think it’s impressive that a network switch didn’t cost the 62nd Primetime Emmys viewers (and I’m sure NBC was happy to get 13.5 million people watching anything on their network ).
Without Further ado we’ll get to the 62nd Primetime Emmy Award Winners list. After the list we’ll discuss the how we feel about who won (and who didn’t).

62nd Primetime Emmy Award Winners

COMEDY

OUTSTANDING COMEDY
Modern Family
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory)
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie)
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family)
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Jane Lynch (Glee)
OUSTANDING GUEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Betty White (SNL)
OUSTANDING GUEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Neil Patrick Harris (Glee)
OUTSTANDING DIRECTION IN A COMEDY
Ryan Murphy (Glee)
OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A COMEDY
Christopher Lloyd and Stephen Levitan (Modern Family)

DRAMA

OUTSTANDING DRAMA
Mad Men
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer)
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife)
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad)
OUTSTANDING WRITING IN A DRAMA
Erin Levy and Matthew Weiner (Mad Men)
OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA
John Lithgow (Dexter)
OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Ann Margaret (Law & Order: SVU)
OUTSTANDING DIRECTION IN A DRAMA
Steve Shill (Dexter)

VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY

OUTSTANDING VARIETY, MUSIC, OR COMEDY SERIES
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
OUTSTANDING DIRECTION IN A VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SPECIAL
Bucky Gunts (The Winter Olympics)
OUTSTANDING WRITING IN A VARIETY SHOW
Dave Boone and Paul Greenberg (The 2010 Tony Awards)

TV MOVIE, MINISERIES OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL

TV MOVIE
Temple Grandin (HBO)
MINISERIES
The Pacific (HBO)
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A TV MOVIE, MINISERIES OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
Al Pacino (You Don’t Know Jack)
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A TV MOVIE, MINISERIES OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
Claire Danes (Temple Gradin)
OUTSTANDING DIRECTION IN A TV MOVIE, MINISERIES OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
Mick Jackson (Temple Grandin)
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A SUPORTING ROLE IN A TV MOVIE, MINISERIES OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
David Strathairn (Temple Grandin)
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A SUPORTING ROLE IN A TV MOVIE, MINISERIES OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
Julia Ormand (Temple Grandin)
OUTSTANDING WRITING IN A TV MOVIE, MINISERIES OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
Adam Mazer (You Don’t know Jack)
OUTSTANDING REALITY SHOW COMPETITION
Top Chef