Television's most meta night — where TV stars gather on TV to give each other TV awards — went down on Sunday evening, and the biggest story of the Emmys wasn't who won, but who didn't win. AMC's "Mad Men," which went into the show with 17 nominations — the most of any show — walked away with nothing, while a familiar awards powerhouse and a newcomer dominated the prizes.
The industry showed their love for Showtime's "Homeland," which after only one season walked away with four prizes including Best Drama Series, Best Writing and statues for its two leads, Claire Danes and Damian Lewis. Meanwhile, on the comedy end of the spectrum, "Modern Family" once again ruled the roost. Not even the critical acclaim of "Girls" or outsider favorites like "30 Rock" could stop ABC's crown jewel from landing Best Comedy Series, Supporting honors for Julie Bowen and Eric Stonestreet and Best Directing. But "Mad Men" wasn't alone in its drought — "Breaking Bad" also mostly went home empty handed, except for Aaron Paul's second Emmy win for Best Supporting Actor.
Full list of winners below. Who deserved a win and who missed out? Did you like Jimmy Kimmel as the host? Weigh in below.
Emmy Award Winners 2012
— Drama Series: "Homeland," Showtime.
— Actress, Drama Series: Claire Danes, "Homeland," Showtime.
— Actor, Drama Series: Damian Lewis, "Homeland," Showtime.
— Supporting Actor, Drama Series: Aaron Paul, "Breaking Bad," AMC.
— Supporting Actress, Drama Series: Maggie Smith, "Downton Abbey," PBS.
— Writing, Drama Series: Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Gideon Raff, "Homeland," Showtime.
— Directing, Drama Series: Tim Van Patten, "Boardwalk Empire," HBO.
— Comedy Series: "Modern Family," ABC.
— Actor, Comedy Series: Jon Cryer, "Two and a Half Men," CBS.
— Actress, Comedy Series: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Veep," HBO.
— Supporting Actress, Comedy Series: Julie Bowen, "Modern Family," ABC.
— Supporting Actor, Comedy Series: Eric Stonestreet, "Modern Family," ABC.
— Writing, Comedy Series: Louis C.K, "Louie," FX Networks.
— Directing, Comedy Series: Steven Levitan, "Modern Family," ABC.
— Miniseries or Movie: "Game Change," HBO.
— Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Julianne Moore, "Game Change," HBO.
— Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Kevin Costner, "Hatfields & McCoys," History.
— Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Jessica Lange, "American Horror Story," FX Networks.
— Supporting Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Tom Berenger, "Hatfields & McCoys," History.
— Directing, Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special: Jay Roach, "Game Change," HBO.
— Writing, Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special: Danny Strong, "Game Change," HBO.
— Reality-Competition Program: "The Amazing Race," CBS.
— Host, Reality-Competition Program: Tom Bergeron, "Dancing With the Stars," ABC.
— Variety, Music or Comedy Series: "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," Comedy Central.
— Writing for a Variety Special: Louis C.K., "Louis C.K. Live at the Beacon Theatre," FX Networks.
— Directing, Variety, Music or Comedy Special: Glenn Weiss, 65th Annual Tony Awards, CBS.
American Horror Story? Anybody? That show was great and one of the few new shows last fall that managed to keep me interested and engaged the entire season. Only Jessica Lange gets acknowledged for that show's brilliance? Disappointing. I guess not enough folks were paying attention.
Mad Men this season was soooo good! I really wanted to see Christina or Elisabeth win they were phenomenal oh and Jared Harris in one of the most shocking episodes. I love that show. I also like Homeland but sometimes Claire overacts and the premise at times seems too far fetched but i still think its good I was actually surprised they won. But please can Modern family stop winning? I enjoy it but seriously it's not that great. But Whatever.
Total pile of piss that Mad Men didn't win anything.
Homeland is nonsense. It's built on the premise that a US soldier was turned by Al Qaida and yet the inciting incident – a Muslim boy he was forced to teach being killed in a bomb – was an accident. How could it have been a plan if it was an accident? Sadly, the whole show sits upon this stupendously thoughtless, lazy plotting, and regardless of how good Claire Danes (and, for my money, Mandy Patinkin) is, I can't believe in the show because of that.
Matthew Weiner is a sore loser: http://hollywoodandswine.com/after-emmy-awards-shutout-mad-men-creator-matthew-weiner-fires-15-year-old-son-from-show/
All right I must say I didn't expect that. My Emmy prediction comment was that "cheap subversive" would be all over the place … I underestimated the power of lukewarm consensus ! Ah Louis C.K. still won a major Emmy so that's still OK I guess.
Cannot believe Homeland won anything let alone 4. Watching every episode of it was like reading a book by Dan Brown. Terrible writing & I was bored watching it but like Brown the end of each episode made you want to watch the next one only to be bored again. As for Claire Danes, she was poor.
It's so disgusting that Homeland won anything.
F*ck the Emmys.
Please let this not be a foreshadow of things to come… *cough Oscars cough*