Emmys Best, Worst Moments & Memorable Quotes

This year's Emmys threw some curveballs into sea of predicted winners. While Mad Men three-peated its Outstanding Drama win, it once again failed to yield a win in any acting categories. Lost, meanwhile, walked away totally empty-handed in its last season, having been nominated for drama series, lead actor (Matthew Fox), and supporting actors (Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn). And while Glee took honors for directing and supporting actress Jane Lynch, fellow freshman hit Modern Family took Outstanding Comedy.

The upsets were all in the acting categories; Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife) who had dominated awards season, sat in her chair while Kyra Sedwick was named Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama for The Closer (her first win in five nominations). Underdog nominees Aaron Paul (supporting actor in a drama for Breaking Bad) and Jim Parsons (lead actor in a comedy for The Big Bang Theory), made a lot of critics happy by winning their categories. Here's a rundown of the show:

BEST MOMENTS

• Jimmy Fallon's opening sequence, in which he led an all-star Glee Club that included Tina Fey, Jon Hamm (doing dance moves with Betty White), Joel McHale, Jorge Garcia, and one lesser known brunette I had to look up later (it was Nina Dobrev from The Vampire Diaries; methinks someone a little more recognizable should have sufficed here) singing "Born to Run." Kate Gosselin and Tim Gunn also made cameos.

• George Clooney's appearance in a Modern Family network pitch skit.

• Spicing up the writing and directing categories by asking the nominees questions like, "What did your mom want you to be when you grew up?" The answers were priceless.

• Presenters Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw (stars of the new spy series Undercovers), who demonstrate what it would look like if all the beauty in the universe was funneled into two people.

•  Ricky Gervais handing out beer in the middle of the show. (Matthew Morrison and Betty White were among the takers, Matthew Perry politely declined) Later in the series, True Blood's Alexander Skarsgard joked(?) that it was non-alcoholic. While presenting Directing for a Variety Special, Gervais also hoped the winner was Winter Olympics director Bucky Gunts, because "I didn't know you could even say those words on television." Lo and behold, the winner was... Bucky Gunts.

• George Clooney's acceptance speech for the Bob Hope Humanitarian award. It was succinct, funny, and pointedly called out that all celebrities help in a disaster, but no one helps seven months later. Seriously, give this man something at every awards show.

• The real-life Temple Grandin giving one of the movie's producers a bear hug, cutting off her speech, and cheerfully standing and waving whenever her name was mentioned.
  

• Jimmy Fallon introducing an identically-tuxed Tom Selleck as "my real father," then embracing him with a giant hug that left Selleck a little flustered. "Uhh, OK," he chuckled afterwards.

WORST MOMENTS

• The Twitter campaign Fallon held to bring fresh new ways of interacting with a crowd. Reading aloud people's logins is not very funny. Their Tweets, even less so.
• Having Nathan Fillion present... and not have him say anything funny. Missed opportunity!
• The really strange staging, including the bright blue/red nominee and presenter displays that remind you of those teaser posters in the movie theater that list the cast of the next X-Men movie. Seriously, everyone looked like comic-book superheroes. What is this, Comic-Con?
• The duets that introduced each genre. Amy Poehler was game, and Kim Kardashian looked delighted, but Julianna Margulies looked embarrassed. Having them sing purposefully (or unpurposefully) out of tune didn't help.
• 

• January Jones' hair. (And dress.)
  

• The split-screen action showing what was going on backstage and in the makeup room simultaneously (Jimmy Fallon getting his face powdered? Really?), like an episode of 24, and weird bumpers like "The stars of True Blood... in 7 MINUTES."
  

Memorable Quotes
"NBC asking the host of Late Night to come to Los Angeles to host a different show, what could possibly go wrong?" [Cut to shot of Conan O'Brien] "Too soon?" -- Jimmy Fallon

"I LOVE THE BIG BANG." -- Presenter Sofia Vergara

"I'd like to thank our wives, without whom... well, we'd be dating around a lot." --Steven Levitan, accepting for Modern Family

"I would like to thank the Academy for allowing a gay man to host two years in a row. Congratulations Jimmy, you're doing a great job." -- Presenter Neil Patrick Harris

"I'm not funny!" --Outstanding Comedy Actress winner Edie Falco

"During the time it took me to walk up here I'm venturing there were 200 text messages to my fellow nominees saying 'You were robbed.' And I cannot argue with that." -- Lead Actor in a Drama winner Bryan Cranston

"The Island, it was mystical / and in the end they died / I didn't understand it, but I tried." -- Jimmy Fallon, singing a farewell to Lost to the tune of Green Day's "Time of Your Life"

"I told my mom I was emminated for a Nommy." -- Supporting Actress in a Miniseries/TV Movie winner Julia Ormond

"Better break the news to Spielberg / He's running out of wars." --Fallon singing about The Pacific's many nominations

"Mel Gibson. I'm not gonna have a go at him. He's been through a lot. Not as much as the Jews, to be fair." -- Presenter Ricky Gervais

"Don't (give a standing ovation), because then I might think that I'm sick and I don't know it, but you know it..." --George Clooney, recipient of the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award

"Jack Kevorkian. I am so grateful you are my friend, but I'm even more grateful you're not my physician." --Adam Mazer, director of You Don't Know Jack

"By an obscure and ancient Emmy bylaw, we are now legally required to make at least one vampire pun while presenting the next award." -- Presenter Stephen Moyer (True Blood)

Check out all the winners and nominees at our Emmy Central, where you can also buy past winners. Now, what were your favorite and least favorite moments? --Ellen

Comments

[Romance Movies on August 31, 2010 at 01:30 PM]

The opening clip from the Emmys is hilarious! I didn't watch them live, so thanks for posting the clip here! Love the part with Jon Hamm and Betty White. So wrong! And the part with Kate Gosselin! The whole opening was really well done!

[怀淰＠＾过厾 on August 31, 2010 at 10:39 PM]

so thanks for posting the clip here! Love the part with Jon Hamm and Betty White. So wrong!

[sensations on October 15, 2010 at 12:01 AM]

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age.Mixed up in all the celebrated cases of the day.Train mysteries，air
mysteries，high society deaths-oh，he's here，there and everywhere.Never
been so celebrated as since he retired."

[xiao on November 10, 2010 at 11:52 PM]

Love the part with Jon Hamm and Betty White. So wrong!

[xiao on November 11, 2010 at 05:15 PM]

Love the part with Jon Hamm and Betty White. So wrong!

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