Last night Jane Lynch hosted the 63rd Primetime Emmys. Overall, Lynch proved to be a fun host. Her opening musical number featuring numerous TV celebs (Leonard Nimoy came out of retirement again to serve as “the President of TV”) tickled viewers’ funny bones and started things off right. Her zingers throughout the night (especially the one acknowledging her lesbianism) were downright hilarious. Her only fault has to be the New Jersey spoof she took part in; it was terribly boring and nearly all the jokes fell flat. Besides that, though, Lynch rocked it and the telecast went by smoothly and uncharacteristically speedy (except for maybe the mini-series/movies categories; that part tends to always drag on). Other exciting and fun moments from the night include: the two Jimmys of late night TV getting in a faux-fight; Ricky Gervais’ prerecorded bit about censorship; Charlie Sheen apologizing to the entire TV industry; The Office bit was outrageously funny in so many ways; and Amy Poehler pouncing onto the stage when her name was listed before the other Best Actresses in a Comedy nominees was priceless. Things that didn’t come across so well: the Emmy-Tones (Zacahary Levi, Cobie Smulders, Taraji P. Henson, Kate Flannery, Wilmer Valderrama, and Joel McHale seemed so stiff and the lyrics weren’t all that amusing); the Canadian Tenors rendition of “Hallelujah” was so-so; and that masked announcer was more of an annoyance than anything else as Emmy winners made their way to the stage.

Speaking of Emmy winners, let’s move on to those. Modern Family and Mad Men took home the top prizes for outstanding comedy and drama series, respectively, just as they did last year. And for those of you keeping count, Modern Family is 2 for 2 and Mad Men is an impressive 4 for 4. Other non-surprises of the night include The Daily Show with Jon Stewart winning Outstanding variety, music or comedy series for the ninth consecutive year and The Amazing Race winning Outstanding reality competition for the eighth time in nine years.

As spoiled in the post title, Modern Family walked away as this year’s Emmy victors. The ABC sitcom took home five statues for Outstanding supporting actor (Ty Burell), Outstanding supporting actress (Julie Bowen), Outstanding director (Michael Alan Spiller for the “Halloween” episode), Outstanding writing (Steve Levitan & Jeffrey Richman for the “Caught in the Act” episode), and of course Outstanding comedy series as mentioned above. Other notable comedy winners include… Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) stole the Outstanding lead actor award from Steve Carrell (The Office) and Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly) beat out Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation) for Outstanding lead actress.

In the drama categories, Mad Men interestingly did not take home any other awards in addition to their Outstanding drama series win. Friday Night Lights faded to black with two big wins: star Kyle Chandler was named Outstanding lead actor and creator Jason Katims was acknowledged for his writing. Other notable drama winners include…  Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife) won Outstanding lead actress and Margo Martindale (Justified) nabbed the award for Outstanding supporting actress. And yes I’ve saved the best for last: Peter Dinklage was awarded Outstanding supporting actor for his phenomenal portrayal as Tyrion “The Imp” Lannister in HBO’s Game of Thrones.

Look after the break for the full list of winners. Continue reading 2011 Emmy results: ‘Modern Family’ is king →