63rd Primetime Emmy Awards

63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
Promotional poster
Date
Location
Presented byAcademy of Television Arts and Sciences
Hosted byJane Lynch
Highlights
Most awardsModern Family (5)
Most nominationsModern Family (11)
Comedy SeriesModern Family
Drama SeriesMad Men
Miniseries or MovieDownton Abbey
Variety, Music or Comedy SeriesThe Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Television/radio coverage
NetworkFox
Produced by
Directed byJoe DeMaio
← 62nd · Primetime Emmy Awards · 64th →

The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring the best in prime time television programming from June 1, 2010 until May 31, 2011, were held on Sunday, September 18, 2011, at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, California. Fox televised the ceremony within the United States. Jane Lynch hosted the Emmys for the first time. The Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony was held on September 10.

The nominations were announced live on Thursday, July 14, 2011, at 5:40 a.m. PDT (12:40 UTC) at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood, Los Angeles. The nominations were announced by Melissa McCarthy of Mike & Molly and Joshua Jackson of Fringe.

The biggest winner of the night was ABC's Modern Family. The series ended the event with five wins, including Outstanding Comedy Series for the second consecutive year. For the fourth time in history, the Outstanding Drama Series category was won for a fourth time, by AMC's Mad Men. It is also the third series to win four times consecutively in that category. Downton Abbey walked away with the award for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie, with four wins overall.

This year's ceremony was watched by 12.4 million people, down 8% from last year's show. The ceremony received mixed reviews from critics, with many praising the performance of Lynch as the host but criticizing the overall quality of the production, particularly the presenters and the orchestra.

Beginning this year, the Outstanding Miniseries and Outstanding Television Movie categories were merged. This was due to the continuing decline in the number of miniseries being produced; the previous two ceremonies only had two miniseries nominated. The merge was short-lived however when the separate categories returned, beginning in 2014.

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold:

Jim Parsons, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series winner
Melissa McCarthy, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series winner
Kyle Chandler, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series winner
Julianna Margulies, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series winner
Barry Pepper, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie winner
Kate Winslet, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie winner
Ty Burrell, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series winner
Julie Bowen, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series winner
Peter Dinklage, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series winner
Margo Martindale, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series winner
Guy Pearce, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie winner
Maggie Smith, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie winner

Programs

Programs

Acting

Lead performances

Lead performances

Supporting performances

Supporting performances


Directing

Directing

Writing

Writing

Most major nominations

Networks with multiple major nominations
Network No. of
Nominations
HBO 29
NBC 19
CBS 14
ABC 12
AMC 11
Fox 8
Showtime 7
Programs with multiple major nominations
Program Category Network No. of
Nominations
Modern Family Comedy ABC 11
Mildred Pierce Miniseries HBO 9
Mad Men Drama AMC 7
30 Rock Comedy NBC 6
The Good Wife Drama CBS
Too Big to Fail Movie HBO
Boardwalk Empire Drama 5
Downton Abbey Miniseries PBS
Friday Night Lights Drama DirecTV 4
Game of Thrones HBO
The Kennedys Miniseries ReelzChannel
The Killing Drama AMC
Saturday Night Live Variety NBC
The Big Bang Theory Comedy CBS 3
Cinema Verite Movie HBO
The Colbert Report Variety Comedy Central
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Glee Comedy Fox
Justified Drama FX
The Office Comedy NBC
Upstairs Downstairs Miniseries PBS
American Idol Competition Fox 2
Carlos Miniseries Sundance Channel
Conan Variety TBS
Dexter Drama Showtime
Episodes Comedy
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Variety NBC
Louie Comedy FX
Parks and Recreation NBC

Most major awards

Networks with multiple major awards
Network No. of
Awards
ABC 5
CBS 4
HBO
PBS
NBC 2
Comedy Central
Programs with multiple major awards
Program Category Network No. of
Awards
Modern Family Comedy ABC 5
Downton Abbey Miniseries PBS 4
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Variety Comedy Central 2
Friday Night Lights Drama DirecTV
Mildred Pierce Miniseries HBO
Notes
  1. ^ a b "Major" constitutes the categories listed above: Program, Acting, Directing, and Writing. Does not include the technical categories.

Presenters

The awards were presented by the following:

Name(s) Role
Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Kimmel
Presented the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Julianna Margulies Presented the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Ricky Gervais
Jane Lynch
Presented the award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series
Will Arnett
Zooey Deschanel
Presented the award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series
Charlie Sheen Presented the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Rob Lowe
Sofía Vergara
Presented the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Kaley Cuoco
David Spade
Presented the awards for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program and Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series
Lea Michele
Ian Somerhalder
Presented the award for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series
Scott Caan
Anna Paquin
Presented the award for Outstanding Variety Series
Jon Cryer
Ashton Kutcher
Presented the awards for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Loretta Devine
Paul McCrane
Presented the award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
Jason O'Mara
Kerry Washington
Presented the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Bryan Cranston
Katie Holmes
Presented the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Drew Barrymore
Annie Ilonzeh
Minka Kelly
Rachael Taylor
Presented the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Kevin Connolly
Kevin Dillon
Jerry Ferrara
Adrien Grenier
Jeremy Piven
Presented the awards for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
Melissa McCarthy
Amy Poehler
Presented the awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie and Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special
John Shaffner Presented the In Memoriam segment
David Boreanaz
Anna Torv
Presented the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie
Claire Danes
Hugh Laurie
Presented the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
Don Cheadle Presented the award for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie
Maria Bello
William H. Macy
Presented the award for Outstanding Drama Series
Gwyneth Paltrow Presented the award for Outstanding Comedy Series

In Memoriam

The annual In Memoriam segment was presented by John Shaffner and featured the Canadian Tenors performing the song "Hallelujah". The segment was extended for this ceremony, as executive producer Mark Burnett stated that "it [didn't] need to be a bummer... It can be a celebration".

Memorable moments

Opening number

The show opened with Jane Lynch performing a pre-taped opening number which showed the TV world as being contained inside of a large building, parodying Rear Window. Lynch walked through the building and entered the universe of shows including The Big Bang Theory, Mad Men, Parks and Recreation, MythBusters and Glee (the show of which Lynch is a cast member) among others. Lynch's lyrics satirized elements of each show and television in general. The ceremony culminated with Lynch entering the theatre and performing a short dance number, which ended with a fireworks show. The opening number received a standing ovation.

Emmytones

Throughout the night, the "Emmytones" introduced each genre in the form of a short jingle. They consisted of Zachary Levi ("Chuck"), Cobie Smulders ("How I Met Your Mother"), Kate Flannery ("The Office"), Wilmer Valderrama ("Royal Pains"), Joel McHale ("Community") and nominee Taraji P. Henson ("Person of Interest"). The Emmytones received mixed to negative reviews, with many critics citing them as unimportant and others calling them "time fillers."

Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

For the presentation of the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, each of the nominees went up to the stage in the style of a beauty pageant. The orchestra played music similar to that of a pageant as the nominees went to the stage. The winner ended up being Melissa McCarthy, who mentioned that this was "her first and best pageant ever." Both the producers and the nominees in the category gave nominee Amy Poehler credit for conceiving the idea. Nominee Martha Plimpton was also credited.

The presentation was well received critically with many critics regarding it to be the best part of the night. Once all the nominees reached the stage, they received a standing ovation. The pairing of Rob Lowe and Sofía Vergara, who presented the category, was also praised critically.

Criticism about the orchestra

For the 2011 ceremony, the producers enlisted Hype Music to provide the orchestrations. These orchestrations were universally hated by reviewers. The band played music from the Hype Music roster of artists as the winners walked to the stage, breaking the tradition of their respective program's theme song being played as they accepted their awards. The decision to do this received an overwhelmingly negative response from critics and enraged Emmy Award enthusiasts, many of whom felt as though a tradition observed since the 1st Primetime Emmy Awards had been broken. One reviewer even called this decision "one of the biggest mistakes in the ceremony's history."


This page was last updated at 2023-12-31 13:34 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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