Shock of shocks: The Amazing Race did not win its eighth straight Emmy as best reality competition show. Bravo's Top Chef won the prize.
Much of the pre-Emmy talk centered on Glee, Modern Family, and The Good Wife, freshman broadcast series that were successes with wide audiences, compared with the niche cable series, such as Mad Men or FX's Damages, that have been dominating the awards in recent years.
Among them, Glee led in nominations with 19, but picked up only two Emmys (for sound mixing and for Neil Patrick Harris as guest actor in a comedy) at the Creative Arts Awards Aug. 21. Family had 14 nominations but cashed in on three Creative Arts Emmys (casting, picture editing, and another for sound mixing).
With nine noms, The Good Wife was shut out at the earlier ceremony, where The Pacific, as HBO miniseries usually do, led the pack in the early going with seven Emmys among its 24 total nominations. (John Adams, which won a record 13 statuettes in 2008, had only 23 nominations.)
Decked out in the usual glorious garb, the troops started to arrive at the Nokia Theatre near downtown L.A. about two hours before the show began at 5 p.m. (8 p.m. EDT).
"I feel like a peacock," said Mad Men's January Jones, who looked more like a mermaid in a sea-blue dress complete with a train, and figured she'd be ahead even if she didn't win the best dramatic actress Emmy. "As little as I need to walk in this dress will be fine," she said.
Most of the gals also sported major baubles, on loan from jewelers looking for some on-air plugs. Danes said her ring was worth a cool $2 million.
Contact television critic Jonathan Storm at 215-854-5618 or jstorm@phillynews.com. Read his blog, "Eye of the Storm," at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/storm.
