Emmy Awards 2011 Live Blog
Tonight, the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards will be broadcast live from Los Angeles. The red carpet countdown will air beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET (4:00 p.m. PT) and the actual awards ceremony will begin at 8:00 p.m. ET (5:00 p.m. PT). Glee's Jane Lynch will be acting as the host of tonight's Emmys.
The presenter list for the ceremony will include a wide variety of actors and actresses from across television. A sampling of expected presenters include: Will Arnett, Zooey Deschanel, Ashton Kutcher, Julianna Margulies, Amy Poehler, Sofia Vergara, Don Cheadle, Kaley Cuoco, Rob Lowe, Melissa McCarthy, Lea Michele, and Ian Somerhalder.
New shows like Game of Thrones joined the nominees list that is still staffed with some old favorites like Mad Men, The Big Bang Theory, Glee and The Good Wife. For a full list of nominees, click here. If you would like a printable sheet of nominees, you can download one at the official Emmys website.
We'll be live blogging the awards ceremony for you. We're also giving our readers an opportunity to win DVDs. For full contest details, click here.
Come join us at 8:00 p.m. ET for our live blog. To read live updates, refresh this page.
8:00 - Host Jane Lynch joins Leonard Nimoy for a pre-recorded opening. Then she breaks into an opening number about the joys of television. Jeremy Piven jumps in to dance for a moment before remembering Entourage isn't on TV anymore. Then Jane visits the sets of various TV shows, including Grey's Anatomy and The Big Bang Theory. The cast of Mad Men pops up for a moment to address the differences between the 1960s and 2011.
8:05 - Of course, Lynch dons the patented Sue Sylvester to pontificate about TV before Lynch throws a slushe on her alter ego. Then Lynch heads onto stage, surrounded by a multitude of dancers to finish out her opening number.
8:10 - Lynch calls out Steve Carrell, Jon Hamm and Betty White in the audience during her opening monologue (with a Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes joke thrown in for good measure), then she introduces the EmmyTones (including Joel McHale and Zachary Levi) who will be introducing big categories through song.
8:12 - The first award up is in the comedy categories. Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel are up as the first presenters and get into a fight onstage over whether Fallon wrote a speech in anticipation of winning the Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series award. Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy is the first award to be presented. The winner is...Julie Bowen, Modern Family. This is her second nomination and first win. Bowen is rocking some serious cleavage in her silver dress, which features a very low "v".
8:18 - Julianna Margulies is up next to present Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy. The winner is...Ty Burrell, Modern Family. This is his second nomination and first win. Modern Family is doing very well already.
8:26 - Ricky Gervais appears in a pre-recoreded video and makes a joke about how he's not allowed anywhere near an awards ceremony after the last Golden Globes (frankly, I thought he did a hilarious job hosting that). He's got an amusing schtick going where it looks like they edited out anything offensive he might say. Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series is up next. Lynch announces the winner....Michael Allen Spiller, Modern Family. This is his first nomination and win.
8:30 - Zooey Deschanel and Will Arnett appear on stage to present the award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. The winners are...Steven Levitan and Jeffrey Richman, Modern Family. Apparently the episode of Modern Family where the kids walk in on Claire and Phil having sex is based on an experience the Modern Family writer went through.
8:39 - Lynch makes a joke about how the Emmys are now the "Modern Family Awards". Then Charlie Sheen takes the stage. Wow, awkward. Here's here to present the award for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. But before presenting the award he wishes his former cast/crew members of Two and A Half Men a good season. The winner is...Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory. This is Jim's second Emmy and third nomination.
8:44 - The lovely Sofia Vergara and the dashing Rob Lowe are up next to present Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and they start out with a joke about accents that isn't terribly funny. The nominees all run up to the stage when their names are called. The winner is...Melissa McCarthy, Mike & Molly. This is a great win. Melissa has had a great summer, starring in hit movies like Bridesmaids and she's incredibly funny so I'm very happy she won this award.
8:57 - The Variety and Reality Categories are up next. David Spade and Kaley Cuoco arrive to present Outstanding Reality Competition Series. The winner is...Amazing Race. The series last won this award in 2009. The Outstanding Writing for Variety, Music or Comedy Series winner is...The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. This is the 11th nomination and 7th Emmy for The Daily Show.
9:12 - The Lonely Island are on stage to sing a meadly of their songs. Michael Bolton joins them to perform, then Ed Helms, Maya Rudolph, and John Stamos arrive to sing the three-way song. Akon appears to sing "I Just Had Sex" and then it's a free-for-all as all the groups sing their songs together.
9:16 - Lea Michele and Ian Somerhalder arrive on stage to present Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series. The winner is...Don Roy King, Saturday Night Live.
9:18 - Anna Paquin and Scott Caan are up to present Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series. Apparently The Daily Show has won this award 8 years in a row. The winner is...The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
9:26 - The Drama categories are up next. Jon Cryer and Ashton Kutcher arrive to present Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series. The winner is...Jason Katims, Friday Night Lights. This is his second nomination and first win. The boys remain on stage to present Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. The winner is...Margo Martindale, Justified. In some respects this is a night of unexpected wins. Like Margo or Melissa McCarthy. I like that - it keeps the awards shows fresh. Now if Game of Thrones would win for Best Drama over Mad Men, I would be shocked and thrilled.
9:41 - Loretta Devine and Paul McCrane present Oustanding Directing in a Drama Series to Martin Scorsese for Boardwalk Empire.
9:44 - Kerry Washington (in a very shiny red dress) and Jason O'Mara arrive to present Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. The winner is...Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones. This is surprising and very awesome. Dinklage has been a standout in a show filled with incredible performances and storylines.
9:55 - Katie Holmes and Bryan Cranston arrive to present Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. The winner is...Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife. This is her eighth nomination and second win. The top of her dress is odd. It looks like it belongs in a sci-fi movie.
9:58 - The ladies of the new Charlie's Angels show join Drew Barrymore to announce the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. And the winner is a surprise! It's Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights. This is his third nomination and first win. I think Friday Night Lights fans must be happy tonight.
10:09 - The cast of Entourage arrives to present the award for Outstanding Writing for Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special. The winner is...Julian Fellowes, Downtown Abbey. The cast remains on stage to present Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie to Maggie Smith, Downtown Abbey. Unfortunately, she's not present to accept the award.
10:19 - Funny ladies Melissa McCarthy and Amy Poehler arrive on stage to present Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie to...Barry Pepper, The Kennedys. They also presented Oustanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special to Brian Percival, Downtown Abbey.
10:24 - The In Memorium montage is up, with the Canadian Tenors singing "Hallelujah". I might be a biased Canadian, but this group is terrific and very talented. Their Christmas CD is great. Here's a bit of trivia for you: one of the members of the group played Channing Tatum's silly friend in She's the Man. Do you recognize him?
10:34 - David Boreanaz and Anna Torv present Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie to Guy Pearce, Mildred Pierce.
10:36 - Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy arrive to present the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie to Kate Winslet for Mildred Pierce.
10:45 - After some weird problems with Fox and the broadcast (at least for me), Don Cheadle presents the award for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie to Downtown Abbey.
10:47 - William H. Macy and Maria Bello present the award for Outstanding Drama Series. This is a category that I hope gets an unexpected winner. Well, that didn't happen. The winner is Mad Men, which has won the award for each of its four seasons. As for the speech, can you really say "I didn't think this would happen" when you've won three years in a row already?
10:53 - We're coming to the very end of the show. Before Gwyneth Paltrow appears to present the award for Outstanding Comedy Series, let me say that it was a decent enough Emmy Awards. I enjoyed Jane Lynch as a host. She didn't do anything that was particularly groundbreaking, but she was good. I thought the videos presented throughout the broadcast (even the Jersey Shore one) were pretty funny.
10:54 - Paltrow arrives on stage (in a horrible dress - for more on the fashion of the Emmys, click here) to present Outstanding Comedy Series to Modern Family, which also won this award last year.
Thus concludes the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards.
