Bryan Cranston steals another Emmy for “Breaking Bad,” not to mention some spit from Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Seth Meyers hosted the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony that aired last night on NBC. Meyers opened up with a monologue that poked fun at the absurdly astronomical salaries given to the cast of “The Big Bang Theory,” as well as the awkward Monday slot of the awards show, which usually finds itself on Sunday.
“NBC also decided to hold the Emmys a month earlier in August to avoid conflicting with Sunday night football,” Meyers said, “which is keeping with the actor’s tradition of running away from jocks.”
If you’re the one footing the bill for Jim Parsons’ seven-figure sum per episode (yes, his newly negotiated contract nets him a cool $1,000,000 for each 30-minute episode), the high price tag must have felt warranted when Parsons took home the statue for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as the pompous scientist Sheldon Cooper in “The Big Bang Theory.”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus took home Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her portrayal of Vice President Selina Meyer in “Veep,” almost making it to the stage unscathed until Bryan Cranston planted a very long, very hard kiss on her.
“Yeah, he was on ‘Seinfeld,’” said Louis-Dreyfus once she reached the stage. Cranston had portrayed Elaine Benes’ dentist boyfriend, Tim Whatley, on the popular 1990s sitcom.
You know it was a good night for Cranston when kissing a beautiful actress is not the best part in store for him. Though a lot was made of Matthew McConaughey’s surge into the awards scene with his nominated role as Rust Cohle in HBO’s “True Detective,” Cranston ultimately took home the statue for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
The night was very good to “Breaking Bad,” with Anna Gunn and Aaron Paul joining Cranston (they all received standing ovations) as winners in their respective categories. The night culminated in “Breaking Bad” taking home the big one: Outstanding Drama Series.
A rather shocking fact was that fan-favorites “Game of Thrones” and “Orange is the New Black” were snubbed. When comparing 2013 to 2014, there were a lot of repeat winners: “Breaking Bad,” “Modern Family,” Parsons, Louis-Dreyfus, Gunn.
Julianna Margulies of “The Good Wife” notably beat Claire Danes of “Homeland.”
Billy Crystal gave a special tribute to Robin Williams, sharing heartfelt and humorous stories of the comedian.
“The relentless energy was kind of thrilling,” Crystal said. “I used to think if I could just put a saddle on him and stay on for eight seconds I’d be all right.”
The best segment was Weird Al Yankovic crafting silly lyrics to shows’ theme songs that described their plots in the vein of “Gilligan’s Island.”
The worst segment, far and away, was an uncomfortable minute where Television Academy CEO Bruce Rosenblum delivered a speech while actress Sofia Vergara stood beside him on a platform that rotated 360 degrees. What his speech was about is not important, as it was something that so obviously objectified Vergara. It was an obtuse, distasteful anomaly in an otherwise fine ceremony.
Perhaps the Academy Awards could take a page out of the Emmys, as Monday’s ceremony ended two minutes early.
Follow Alex Guyton @GuyTonAlexAnder
