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It was a night full of surprises at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards last night, starting with its viewership and demo rating. The three-hour telecast attracted 17.3 million viewers and a 4.3 demo rating, the show’s largest audience since 2005 and its best rating since 2006.
How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris surprised the audience with his danceless opening monologue, unlike his past Tony openings (though he did fill his song-and-dance quota later in the show). Instead, he started the show off with some statistics – and a Paula Deen joke, of course.
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The results, though, were the most surprising (aside from Breaking Bad and Modern Family taking home the big prizes). Many of the wins in the acting categories were shockers, namely Jeff Daniels winning the Best Actor in a Drama over Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad. Another Breaking Bad actor, Aaron Paul, was unexpectedly beat out – this time by Boardwalk Empire’s Bobby Cannavale for the Best Supporting Actor in a Drama award.
Many expected Jessica Lange or Elizabeth Moss to earn the award for Lead Actress in a Mini-Series/ TV Movie, so it came to be somewhat of a shock when Laura Linney was called up to stage (and didn’t come up, as she wasn’t in attendance) for her performance in The Big C: Hereafter.
As for the big awards, The Voice won Best Reality Television Show over the perpetually winning The Amazing Race. In a similar situation, The Colbert Report finally beat The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for Best Variety Series. Colbert also took the Emmy for Best Writing For A Variety Series.
Modern Family took the Best Comedy award, but was beat out by Veep’s Tony Hale for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Fittingly, Tony Hale’s co-star, Julia Louis-Dreyfus took home the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
It was also a big night for Homeland, Breaking Bad, and Behind the Candelabra, as they all received several awards. Read Time Entertainment’s recount of last night’s telecast here.