2011 American television programming awards
The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards , honoring the best in
prime time television programming from June 1, 2010, until May 31, 2011, were held on Sunday, September 18, 2011, at the
Nokia Theatre in
Downtown Los Angeles ,
California .
[5]
Fox televised the ceremony within the United States.
Jane Lynch hosted the Emmys for the first time.
[2] The
Creative Arts Emmy Awards
ceremony was held on September 10.
[1]
The nominations were announced live on Thursday, July 14, 2011, at 5:40 a.m.
PDT (12:40
UTC ) at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in
North Hollywood, Los Angeles . The nominations were announced by
Melissa McCarthy of
Mike & Molly and
Joshua Jackson of
Fringe .
The biggest winner of the night was
ABC 's
Modern Family . The series ended the event with five wins, including
Outstanding Comedy Series for the second consecutive year. For the fourth time in history, the
Outstanding Drama Series category was won for a fourth time, by
AMC 's
Mad Men . It is also the third series to win four times consecutively in that category.
Downton Abbey walked away with the award for
Outstanding Miniseries or Movie , with four wins overall.
This year's ceremony was watched by 12.4 million people, down 8% from
last year's show .
[6] The ceremony received mixed reviews from critics, with many praising the performance of Lynch as the host but criticizing the overall quality of the production, particularly the presenters and the orchestra.
[7]
[8]
Beginning this year, the
Outstanding Miniseries and
Outstanding Television Movie categories were merged. This was due to the continuing decline in the number of miniseries being produced; the previous two ceremonies only had two miniseries nominated. The merge was short-lived however when the separate categories returned, beginning in
2014 .
Winners and nominees
Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold :
[9]
[10]
Jim Parsons , Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series winner
Melissa McCarthy , Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series winner
Kyle Chandler , Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series winner
Julianna Margulies , Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series winner
Barry Pepper , Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie winner
Kate Winslet , Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie winner
Ty Burrell , Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series winner
Julie Bowen , Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series winner
Peter Dinklage , Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series winner
Margo Martindale , Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series winner
Guy Pearce , Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie winner
Maggie Smith , Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie winner
Programs
Acting
Lead performances
Supporting performances
Directing
Writing
Most major nominations
Networks with multiple major nominations
[note 1]
Network
No. of Nominations
HBO
29
NBC
19
CBS
14
ABC
12
AMC
11
Fox
8
Showtime
7
Programs with multiple major nominations
Program
Category
Network
No. of Nominations
Modern Family
Comedy
ABC
11
Mildred Pierce
Miniseries
HBO
9
Mad Men
Drama
AMC
7
30 Rock
Comedy
NBC
6
The Good Wife
Drama
CBS
Too Big to Fail
Movie
HBO
Boardwalk Empire
Drama
5
Downton Abbey
Miniseries
PBS
Friday Night Lights
Drama
DirecTV
4
Game of Thrones
HBO
The Kennedys
Miniseries
ReelzChannel
The Killing
Drama
AMC
Saturday Night Live
Variety
NBC
The Big Bang Theory
Comedy
CBS
3
Cinema Verite
Movie
HBO
The Colbert Report
Variety
Comedy Central
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Glee
Comedy
Fox
Justified
Drama
FX
The Office
Comedy
NBC
Upstairs Downstairs
Miniseries
PBS
American Idol
Competition
Fox
2
Carlos
Miniseries
Sundance Channel
Conan
Variety
TBS
Dexter
Drama
Showtime
Episodes
Comedy
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Variety
NBC
Louie
Comedy
FX
Parks and Recreation
NBC
Most major awards
Networks with multiple major awards
[note 1]
Network
No. of Awards
ABC
5
CBS
4
HBO
PBS
NBC
2
Comedy Central
Programs with multiple major awards
Program
Category
Network
No. of Awards
Modern Family
Comedy
ABC
5
Downton Abbey
Miniseries
PBS
4
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Variety
Comedy Central
2
Friday Night Lights
Drama
DirecTV
Mildred Pierce
Miniseries
HBO
Notes
^
a
b "Major" constitutes the categories listed above: Program, Acting, Directing, and Writing. Does not include the
technical categories.
Presenters
The awards were presented by the following:
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
In Memoriam
The annual In Memoriam segment was presented by
John Shaffner and featured
the Canadian Tenors performing the song "
Hallelujah ".
[44]
[45] The segment was extended for this ceremony, as executive producer
Mark Burnett stated that "it [didn't] need to be a bummer... It can be a celebration".
[46]
[47]
Memorable moments
Opening number
The show opened with Jane Lynch performing a pre-taped opening number which showed the TV world as being contained inside of a large building, parodying
Rear Window . Lynch walked through the building and entered the universe of shows including
The Big Bang Theory ,
Mad Men ,
Parks and Recreation ,
MythBusters and
Glee (the show of which Lynch is a cast member) among others. Lynch's lyrics satirized elements of each show and television in general. The ceremony culminated with Lynch entering the theatre and performing a short dance number, which ended with a
fireworks show. The opening number received a
standing ovation .
Emmytones
Throughout the night, the "Emmytones" introduced each genre in the form of a short jingle. They consisted of
Zachary Levi ("Chuck"),
Cobie Smulders ("How I Met Your Mother"),
Kate Flannery ("The Office"),
Wilmer Valderrama ("Royal Pains"),
Joel McHale ("Community") and nominee
Taraji P. Henson ("Person of Interest"). The Emmytones received mixed to negative reviews, with many critics citing them as unimportant and others calling them "time fillers."
[48]
Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
For the presentation of the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, each of the nominees went up to the stage in the style of a beauty pageant. The
orchestra played music similar to that of a pageant as the nominees went to the stage. The winner ended up being
Melissa McCarthy , who mentioned that this was "her first and best pageant ever." Both the producers and the nominees in the category gave nominee
Amy Poehler credit for conceiving the idea. Nominee
Martha Plimpton was also credited.
The presentation was well received critically with many critics regarding it to be the best part of the night. Once all the nominees reached the stage, they received a
standing ovation .
[49] The pairing of
Rob Lowe and
Sofía Vergara , who presented the category, was also praised critically.
Criticism about the orchestra
For the 2011 ceremony, the producers enlisted Hype Music to provide the orchestrations.
[50] These orchestrations were universally hated by reviewers. The band played music from the Hype Music roster of artists as the winners walked to the stage, breaking the tradition of their respective program's
theme song being played as they accepted their awards. The decision to do this received an overwhelmingly negative response from critics and enraged Emmy Award enthusiasts, many of whom felt as though a tradition observed since the
1st Primetime Emmy Awards had been broken.
[51] One reviewer even called this decision "one of the biggest mistakes in the ceremony's history."
[52]
References
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a
b
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a
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^
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"The Daily Show: Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series" .
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences . September 18, 2011. Retrieved March 19, 2023 – via
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^
"Don Roy King: Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series" .
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^
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^
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^
"Maggie Smith: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie" .
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^
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^
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^
"Guy Pearce: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie" .
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^
"Kate Winslet: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie" .
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences . September 19, 2011. Retrieved March 19, 2023 – via
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^
"Downton Abbey: Outstanding Miniseries Or Movie" .
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^
"Mad Men: Outstanding Drama Series" .
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^
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^
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^
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^ Weaver, Joshua R. (2011-09-19)
Emmy Awards 2011 Recap: No Surprises
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External links