63rd Primetime Emmy Awards


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 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:
, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series winner
, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series winner
, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series winner
, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series winner
, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie winner
, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie winner
, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series winner
, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series winner
, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series winner
, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series winner
, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie winner
, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie winner

Programs

Outstanding Comedy SeriesOutstanding Drama Series

  • Modern Family
  • * 30 Rock
  • * The Big Bang Theory
  • * Glee
  • * The Office
  • * Parks and Recreation
  • Mad Men
  • * Boardwalk Empire
  • * Dexter
  • * Friday Night Lights
  • * Game of Thrones
  • * The Good Wife
    • Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy SeriesOutstanding Miniseries or Movie
  • The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
  • * The Colbert Report
  • * Conan
  • * Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
  • * Real Time with Bill Maher
  • * Saturday Night Live
  • Downton Abbey
  • * Cinema Verite
  • * The Kennedys
  • * Mildred Pierce
  • * The Pillars of the Earth
  • * Too Big to Fail
    • Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
  • The Amazing Race
  • * American Idol
  • * Dancing with the Stars
  • * Project Runway
  • * So You Think You Can Dance
  • * Top Chef

    • Acting

    Lead performances

    Supporting performances

    Directing

    Writing

    Most major nominations

    ;By network
    ;By program
    ;By network
    ;By program
    ;Notes

    Presenters

    The awards were presented by the following:
    NameRole

    		Presenters of the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
    Presenter of the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

    		Presenters of the award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series

    		Presenters of the award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series
    Presenter of the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

    		Presenters of the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

    		Presenters of the award for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
    and Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series

    		Presenter of the awards for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series

    		Presenter of the awards for Outstanding Variety Series

    		Presenters of the awards for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
    and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

    		Presenters of the award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series

    		Presenter of the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

    		Presenter of the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series



    		Presenters of the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series




    		Presenters of the award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special
    and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie

    		Presenters of the awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie
    and Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special
    Presenter of the In Memoriam tribute

    		Presenter of the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie

    		Presenters of the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
    Presenter of the award for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie

    		Presenter of the award for Outstanding Drama Series
    Presenter of the award for Outstanding Comedy Series

    In Memoriam

    A clip tribute to TV personalities was shown along with The Canadian Tenors playing the song "Hallelujah":

    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 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, Cobie Smulders, Kate Flannery, Wilmer Valderrama, Joel McHale and nominee Taraji P. Henson. 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."