And The Winner is... HBO - Emmys 2015

No doubt that the big winner in the 2015 Emmys is HBO. Totaling 18 Emmy awards this year, the network dominated the field with “Game of Thrones,” “Veep” and “Olive Kitteridge.” “Game of Thrones” won Best Drama Series, Best Supporting Actor in Peter Dinklage, Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series, Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.  “Veep” had a similar sweep winning Outstanding Comedy Series,  Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in Julia Louis-Dreyfus,  Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in Tony Hale and Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series.

The first award of the night, for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series, went to Allison Janney for “Mom” on CBS. Having taken home awards multiple times for playing C.J. Cregg on “The West Wing,” “Masters of Sex,” and “Mom” last year, Janney won her seventh Emmy last night. She is now tied with Ed Asner for most performance Emmy wins.

“Inside Amy Schumer” won for outstanding variety sketch series. A teary-eyed Schumer took the stage and thanked her sister and the girl who gave her “sort of a smoky eye.”  It’s been a huge year for Schumer writing and starring in her first film the blockbuster romantic comedy “Trainwreck.” After 12 consecutive nominations, Chuck O’Neil won his first Emmy award for outstanding directing for a variety series for “The Daily Show.” The show took home another award for outstanding variety talk series. “Late Show With David Letterman” seemed like it might win for its final season, but instead Stewart took the stage and said “I will never have another experience like this. Thank you very much. You will never have to see me again.” Cue tears.

A tearful Uzo Aduba won outstanding supporting actress in a drama for playing Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on “Orange Is the New Black.” She also won last year for the role, although in 2014 “Orange” was considered a comedy and Aduba was technically a guest actress on the series.

And after 16 total nominations- eight for “Mad Men”, Jon Hamm finally won his Emmy! Getting a standing ovation as he literally crawled onto the stage to accept his Lead Actor in a Drama Series accolade. Viola Davis, the star of Shonda Rhimes’ “How to Get Away With Murder,” made history with her Lead Actress award- beating out Taraji P. Henson’s Cookie on “Empire.” This is Davis’s first Emmy win, and she’s the first black woman to take home the award.

A true  highlight of the night was Tracy Morgan’s surprise appearance as a presenter after recovering from his bus crash 15 months ago. As far as hosting goes Andy Samberg was really well received and actually funny! Some stand out jokes include:

“‘Orange is the New Black’ is now technically a drama while ‘Louie’ is now technically jazz.”

“Racism is over… don’t fact check that.”

“The mean nun from ‘Games of Thrones’” will yell at you if your speech goes too long.

Paula Deen is on “Dancing With the Stars”: “If I wanted to see an intolerant woman dance, I would have gone to one of Kim Davis’s four weddings.”

“We also said goodbye to ‘True Detective’ even though it’s still on the air.”

COMPLETE LIST OF NOMINEES AND WINNERS

Comedy Series

“Louie” (FX)

“Modern Family” (ABC)

“Parks & Recreation” (NBC)

“Silicon Valley” (HBO)

“Transparent” (Amazon)

“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” (Netflix)

“Veep” (HBO)- WINNER

Drama Series 

“Better Call Saul” (AMC)

“Downton Abbey” (PBS)

“Game of Thrones” (HBO)-WINNER

“Homeland” (Showtime)

“House of Cards” (Netflix)

“Mad Men” (AMC)

“Orange Is The New Black” (Netflix)

Limited Series

“American Crime” (ABC)

“American Horror Story: Freak Show” (FX)

“Olive Kitteridge” (HBO)-WINNER

“The Honorable Woman” (Sundance)

“Wolf Hall” (PBS)

Lead Actor in a Comedy

Anthony Anderson, “Black-ish”

Louis C.K., “Louie”

Will Forte, “The Last Man on Earth”

Matt LeBlanc, “Episodes”

William H. Macy, “Shameless”

Jeffrey Tambor, “Transparent”-WINNER

Lead Actress in a Comedy Series 

Edie Falco, “Nurse Jackie”

Lisa Kudrow, “The Comeback”

Julia Louis Dreyfuss, “Veep”-WINNER

Amy Poehler, “Parks and Recreation”

Amy Schumer, “Inside Amy Schumer”

Lily Tomlin, “Grace and Frankie”

Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Kyle Chandler, “Bloodline”

Jeff Daniels, “The Newsroom”

Jon Hamm, “Mad Men”- WINNER

Bob Odenkirk, “Better Call Saul”

Liev Schreiber, “Ray Donovan”

Kevin Spacey, “House of Cards”

Lead Actress in a Drama Series 

Claire Danes, “Homeland”

Viola Davis, “How To Get Away With Murder”-WINNER

Taraji P. Henson, “Empire”

Tatiana Maslany, “Orphan Black”

Elisabeth Moss, “Mad Men”

Robin Wright, “House of Cards”

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Jonathan Banks, “Better Call Saul”

Ben Mendelsohn, “Bloodline”

Jim Carter, “Downton Abbey”

Peter Dinklage, “Game of Thrones”-WINNER

Alan Cumming, “The Good Wife”

Michael Kelly, “House of Cards”

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Joanne Froggatt, “Downton Abbey”

Lena Headey, “Game of Thrones”

Emilia Clarke, “Game of Thrones”

Christine Baranski, “The Good Wife”

Christina Hendricks, “Mad Men”

Uzo Aduba, “Orange is the New Black”-WINNER

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Andre Braugher, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”

Adam Driver, “Girls”

Keegan-Michael Key, “Key and Peele”

Ty Burrell, “Modern Family”

Tituss Burgess, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”

Tony Hale, “Veep”-WINNER

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Mayim Bialik, “The Big Bang Theory”

Niecy Nash, “Getting On”

Julie Bowen, “Modern Family”

Allison Janney, “Mom”-WINNER

Kate McKinnon, “Saturday Night Live”

Gaby Hoffmann, “Transparent”

Jane Krakowski, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”

Anna Chlumsky, “Veep”

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

Timothy Hutton, “American Crime”

Adrien Brody, “Houdini”

David Oyelowo, “Nightingale”

Richard Jenkins, “Olive Kitteridge”- WINNER

Mark Rylance, “Wolf Hall”

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

Felicity Huffman, “American Crime”

Jessica Lange, “American Horror Story: Freak Show”

Queen Latifah, “Bessie”

Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Honorable Woman”

Frances McDormand, “Olive Kitteridge”- WINNER

Emma Thompson, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Live From Lincoln Center)”

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series

Alan Alda, “The Blacklist”

Michael J. Fox, “The Good Wife”

F. Murray Abraham, “Homeland”

Reg E. Cathey, “House of Cards”-WINNER

Beau Bridges, “Masters of Sex”

Pablo Schreiber, “Orange Is the New Black”

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series

Margo Martindale, “The Americans”-WINNER

Diana Rigg, “Game of Thrones”

Rachel Brosnahan, “House of Cards”

Cicely Tyson, “How To Get Away With Murder”

Allison Janney, “Masters of Sex”

Khandi Alexander, “Scandal”

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series

Mel Brooks, “The Comedians”

Paul Giamatti, “Inside Amy Schumer”

Bill Hader, “Saturday Night Live”

Louis C.K., “Saturday Night Live”

Bradley Whitford, “Transparent”-WINNER

Jon Hamm, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series

Christine Barasnki, “The Big Bang Theory”

Gaby Hoffmann, “Girls”

Pamela Adlon, “Louie”

Elizabeth Banks, “Modern Family”

Joan Cusack, “Shameless”-WINNER

Tina Fey, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”

Outstanding Variety Series

“The Colbert Report” (Comedy Central)

“The Daily Show” (Comedy Central)- WINNER

“Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC)

“Last Week Tonight” (HBO)

“Late Show With David Letterman” (CBS)

“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” (NBC)

Outstanding Variety Sketch Series

“Drunk History” (Comedy Central)

“Inside Amy Schumer” (Comedy Central)-WINNER

“Key & Peele” (Comedy Central)

“Portlandia” (IFC)

“Saturday Night Live” (NBC)

Outstanding Reality Competition Program

“The Amazing Race” (CBS)

“Dancing With the Stars” (ABC)

“Project Runway” (Lifetime)

“So You Think You Can Dance” (Fox)

“Top Chef” (Bravo)

“The Voice” (NBC)-WINNER

Writing for a Comedy Series 

David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik, “Episodes”

Will Forte, “The Last Man On Earth”

Louis C.K., “Louie”

Alec Berg, “Silicon Valley”

Jill Soloway, “Transparent”

Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche, “Veep”-WINNER

Writing for a Drama Series 

Joshua Brand, “The Americans”

Gordon Smith, “Better Call Saul”

David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, “Game Of Thrones”-WINNER

Semi Chellas and Matthew Weiner, “Mad Men”

Matthew Weiner, “Mad Men”

Directing for a Comedy Series 

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, “The Last Man On Earth”

Louis C.K., “Louie”

Mike Judge, “Silicon Valley”

Jill Soloway, “Transparent”-WINNER

Armando Iannucci, “Veep”

Directing for a Drama Series

Tim Van Patten, “Boardwalk Empire”

David Nutter, “Game Of Thrones”-WINNER

Jeremy Podeswa, “Game Of Thrones”

Lesli Linka Glatter, “Homeland”

Steven Soderbergh, “The Knick”

Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special 

John Ridley, “American Crime”

Dee Rees, Christopher Cleveland, Bettina Gilois and Horton Foote, “Bessie”

Stephen Merchant, Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, “Hello Ladies: The Movie”

Hugo Blick, “The Honorable Woman”

Jane Anderson, “Olive Kitteridge”-WINNER

Peter Straughan, “Wolf Hall”

Directing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special 

Ryan Murphy, “American Horror Story: Freak Show”

Dee Rees, “Bessie”

Hugo Blick, “The Honorable Woman”

Uli Edel, “Houdini”

Tom Shankland, “The Missing”

Lisa Cholodenko, “Olive Kitteridge”-WINNER

Peter Kosminsky, for “Wolf Hall”