Los Angeles: American crime drama TV series "Breaking Bad" won big, including honours for the best drama series and best writing for a drama series at the 66th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, held here Monday. Comedy show "Modern Family" also won multiple awards at the ceremony, hosted by Seth Meyers.
"Breaking Bad" revolves around a struggling high school chemistry teacher, who is diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer at the beginning of the series. It presents how he turns to a life of crime to secure his family's financial future.
The show's star Bryan Cranston bagged the Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series Emmy. Aaron Paul, on the other hand, walked away with the Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series for his performance in the series. His co-star Anna Gunn too went home with Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series trophy.
"Modern Family" was feted for being an Outstanding Comedy Series, while Ty Burrell was given the trophy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for playing Phil Dunphy in the popular show, whose director Gail Mancuso bagged the Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series award at the extravaganza, held at the Nokia Theatre here.
The venue saw a star-studded presence of celebrities dressed in their best for the red carpet event, which was kept alive with Meyers' jokes. A special segment was 'In Memoriam', as part of which actor-filmmaker paid an emotional and befitting tribute to his "greatest friend", the late Robin Williams.
Prior to the tribute to Williams, pop star Sara Bareilles sang a touching rendition of "Smile" as the Emmy Awards acknowledged late celebrities James Avery, Maya Angelou, Lauren Bacall, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Casey Kasem, Don Pardo, Harold Ramis, Mickey Rooney, Elaine Stritch, Shirley Temple and more.
For Allison Janney, the Emmys night turned out to be a double whammy. She bagged an award for being an Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in "Mom" and even as an Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series for "Masters Of Sex".
In the category of performances in a mini-series and television movie, seasoned actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Jessica Lange won accolades for their Outstanding Performance as Lead Actor and Actress in "Sherlock: His Last Vow" and "American Horror Story: Coven" respectively.
The Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Mini-Series or movie honour was bagged by Kathy Bates for her role as Madame Delphine LaLaurie in "American Horror Story: Coven", while Martin Freeman walked away with the Outstanding Supporting Actor title for "Sherlock: His Last Vow", which also won the Outstanding Writing for a Mini-Series, Movie or a Dramatic Special for Steven Moffat.
In the Outstanding Directing for a Mini-Series, Movie or a Dramatic Special Category, Colin Bucksey received the trophy for "Fargo".
"Fargo", a dark comedy-crime drama TV series, was named the best Mini-Series and "The Normal Heart", based on a play of the same name, got the award for the outstanding television movie.
"The Amazing Race" got the Outstanding Reality- Competition Program trophy.
As far as the variety series were concerned, "The Colbert Report", which features political humorist Stephen Colbert giving satirical commentary on the big issues of the US, won two honours - the Outstanding Variety Series and Outstanding Writing in a Variety Series.
Sarah Silverman walked away with the award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special for "Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles", and the Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special Honour went to Glenn Weiss for the 67th Annual Tony Awards.
In the Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series category, Don Roy King won for his work on 'Saturday Night Live', hosted by Jimmy Fallon.
The Outstanding Variety Special Trophy was given to the team behind "AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute To Mel Brooks".
At the awards event, the presenters varied from musicians like Adam Levine and Gwen Stefani to Hollywood stars like Julia Roberts, Halle Berry and Matthew McConaughey, who was also nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series.
Other TV star presenters included Zooey Deschanel, Hayden Panettiere and Jimmy Fallon, who was also announced as the winner of Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.
