Familiar Faces At Emmys
Cable’s Shows, Stars Take Home Their Share Of The Gold
by R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 9/28/2009 2:00:00 AM
For cable, last week’s Emmy Awards was déjà vu all over again.
Cable’s top shows and actors continued to dominate the awards, as AMC’s Mad Men was named the best drama series on television for a second time.
Glenn Close and Bryan Cranston also repeated as the top actress and actor in the drama categories, respectively, during the Sept. 20 presentation, which aired on CBS and was hosted by Neil Patrick Harris.
Close won for best lead actress in a drama for her role as Patty Hewes in FX’s series Damages, while Cranston, star of AMC’s Breaking Bad, took home best-actor honors for his portrayal of Walt White, a high-school chemistry teacher who turns crystal-meth chef as a means to support his family after learning he has cancer.
Mad Men producer Matt Weiner in his acceptance speech said that television is still a great place to work despite the uncertainty brought by the new media.
“It is an amazing time to work in TV. And I know that everything is changing, but I’m not afraid of it because I feel like all these different media, it’s just more choice and more entertainment,” Weiner said. “It’s better for the viewers in the end, and I’m glad to be a part of it.”
The only big surprise of the night for cable was Toni Collette landing the best actress award in a comedy for her performance in Showtime’s United States of Tara. Collette, who plays a schizophrenic wife and mother in the freshman, Steven Spielberg-produced dramedy, beat out last year’s winner and odds-on favorite Tina Fey from NBC’s 30 Rock.
As expected, cable dominated the movies category, with HBO’s Grey Gardens winning the award for best telepicture. The movie, about two eccentric relatives of Jacqueline Onassis, also garnered top awards for Jessica Lange as best actress — who beat out her co-star, Drew Barrymore — and for Ken Howard for supporting actor.
In other cable Emmy highlights, Shohreh Aghdashloo won for best supporting actress in a movie or miniseries for HBO’s House Of Sadaam, while Brendan Gleeson scored for best actor in the category for his performance in HBO’s Into the Storm.
Comedy Central’s The Daily Show With Jon Stewart took home top honors again for best variety music or comedy series, as well as for best writing in that category.
Also, veteran actor Michael J. Fox won an Emmy for best guest actor in a drama series for his performance in FX’s firemen series Rescue Me.
EMMY SCORECARD
Cable networks’ primetime Emmy Awards tally:
| Network | Awards |
| Source: 2009 Emmy Awards |
|
| HBO | 21 |
| Cartoon Network | 6 |
| Showtime | 6 |
| AMC | 5 |
| Comedy Central | 3 |
| History | 3 |
| FX | 2 |
| A&E Network | 1 |
| Bravo | 1 |
| Discovery Channel | 1 |
| Disney Channel | 1 |
| Fox Movie Channel | 1 |
| MTV | 1 |
| Nickelodeon | 1 |
| Spike TV | 1 |
| Syfy | 1 |
| Travel Channel | 1 |
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