The Creative Arts Emmy Awards were handed out Saturday in a ceremony that will be edited and broadcast on FXX on September 19. The big news coming out of the awards is HBO’s Game of Thrones dominated with 8 wins, setting it up to break The West Wing‘s previous Emmy record of most wins in a single season of 9 trophies. GOT will at least tie next Sunday night at the Primetime ceremony if not break it outright. Will these wins translate into a Outstanding Drama Series win next week? Logic would say yes, but Mad Men may not down without a fight, I suspect.
Runner-up was FX’s American Horror Story: Freak Show with five wins. That’s to be expected given the lavish production values of the season. HBO was the clear network winner with GOT, Bessie, Going Clear, and The Jinx among others contributing to its significant haul of 29 trophies.
Here is the complete list of winners. Be sure to check out our upcoming Water Cooler Podcast for commentary on tonight’s awards and our final Emmy predictions.
Television Movie: Bessie
Guest Actor In A Drama Series: Reg E. Cathey, House of Cards
Guest Actress In A Drama Series: Margo Martindale, The Americans
Guest Actor In A Comedy Series: Bradley Whitford, Transparent
Guest Actress In A Comedy Series: Joan Cusack, Shameless
Host For A Reality Or Reality-Competition Program: Jane Lynch, Hollywood Game Night
Casting For A Drama Series: Game of Thrones
Casting For A Comedy Series: Veep
Casting For A Limited Series, Movie Or A Special: Olive Kitteridge
Unstructured Reality Program: Deadliest Catch
Structured Reality Program: Shark Tank
Variety Special: The Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special
Writing For A Variety Special: Louis C.K.: Live At The Comedy Store
Directing For A Variety Series: The Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special
Choreography: (tie) Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance
Interactive Program: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
Short-Format Nonfiction Program: A Tribute to Mel Brooks
Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program: Between Two Ferns with Zack Galifianakis with Brad Pitt
Special Class Program: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (Live From Lincoln Center)
Informational Series Or Special: Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown
Documentary Or Nonfiction Special: Going Clear: Scientology And The Prison Of Belief
Documentary Or Nonfiction Series: The Jinx: The Life And Deaths Of Robert Durst
Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking: Citizenfour
Writing For Nonfiction Programming: Going Clear: Scientology And The Prison Of Belief
Directing For Nonfiction Programming: Going Clear: Scientology And The Prison Of Belief
Cinematography For A Multi-Camera Series: Mike & Molly
Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series: Boardwalk Empire
Cinematography For A Limited Series Or Movie: Bessie
Cinematography For Nonfiction Programming: Virunga
Cinematography For Reality Programming: Deadliest Catch
Commercial: #LikeaGirl, Always
Narrator: Peter Coyote, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
Children’s Program: Alan Alda And The Actor Within You: A YoungArts Masterclass
Character Voice-Over Performance: Hank Azaria, The Simpsons
Stunt Coordination For A Comedy Series Or A Variety Program: Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Stunt Coordination For A Drama Series, Limited Series Or Movie: Game of Thrones
Special And Visual Effects: Game of Thrones
Special And Visual Effects In A Supporting Role: American Horror Story: Freak Show
Lighting Design/Lighting Direction For A Variety Series: The Voice
Lighting Design/Lighting Direction For A Variety Special: Super Bowl XLIX Halftime Show Starring Katy Perry
Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control For A Series: Saturday Night Live
Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control For A Limited Series, Movie Or A Special: The Oscars
Original Music And Lyrics: Inside Amy Schumer
Main Title Design: Manhattan
Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score): House of Cards
Music Composition For A Limited Series, Movie Or A Special (Original Dramatic Score): Bessie
Music Direction: Stevie Wonder: Songs In The Key Of Life – An All-Star GRAMMY Salute
Original Main Title Theme Music: Transparent
Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour): Game of Thrones
Sound Mixing For A Limited Series Or A Movie: Bessie
Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (Half-Hour) And Animation: Modern Family
Sound Mixing For A Variety Series Or Special: The Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special
Sound Mixing For Nonfiction Programming: Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways
Makeup For A Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic): Game of Thrones
Makeup For A Multi-Camera Series Or Special (Non-Prosthetic): Saturday Night Live: 40th Anniversary
Makeup For A Limited Series Or A Movie (Non-Prosthetic): American Horror Story: Freak Show
Prosthetic Makeup For A Series, Miniseries, Movie Or A Special: American Horror Story: Freak Show
Sound Editing For A Series: Game of Thrones
Sound Editing For A Limited Series, Movie Or A Special: Houdini
Sound Editing For Nonfiction Programming (Single Or Multi-Camera): Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways
Hairstyling For A Single-Camera Series: Downton Abbey
Hairstyling For A Multi-Camera Series Or Special: Saturday Night Live (Martin Freeman)
Hairstyling For A Limited Series Or A Movie: American Horror Story: Freak Show
Costumes For A Contemporary Series, Limited Series, or Movie: Transparent
Costumes For A Period/Fantasy Series, Limited Series, or Movie: American Horror Story: Freak Show
Costumes for a Variety or Music Program: (tie) Drunk History, Superbowl XLIX Halftime Show with Katy Perry
Short-Format Animated Program: Adventure Time
Animated Program: Over the Garden Wall
Production Design For A Narrative Contemporary Or Fantasy Program (One Hour Or More): Game Of Thrones
Production Design For A Narrative Period Program (One Hour Or More): (tie) Boardwalk Empire, The Knick
Production Design For A Narrative Program (Half-Hour Or Less): Silicon Valley
Production Design For Variety, Nonfiction, Reality or Reality-Competition Programming: Portlandia
Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series: Game of Thrones
Multi-Camera Picture Editing For A Comedy Series: The Big Bang Theory
Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Comedy Series: Silicon Valley
Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Limited Series Or A Movie: Olive Kitteridge
Picture Editing For Variety Programming: The Colbert Report
Picture Editing For Nonfiction Programming: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst
Picture Editing For Reality Programming: Deadliest Catch
MAD MEN and GAME OF THRONES would be acceptable choices for the winner. They’re missing way too many of my favorites to care that much. I got no clue about eligibility dates but my seven (7?!) nominees for drama would have been Mad Men, Game of Thrones, The Americans, The Knick, Hannibal, Rectify and then whichever qualifies out of Vikings, Fargo, Justified or Penny Dreadful.
I think we need more categories. Catering and limo service are getting screwed – try making a series without them.
Agree with Antoinette – can’t agree or disagree because I don’t have all the channels or the time to watch them if I did.
At this point I watch the Emmys in case anyone I like is nominated. I don’t bother paying attention anymore. I don’t have the channels or the wherewithal to do it. They almost never nominate the people I think did outstanding work in that year but because I can’t see every damn TV show I can’t know for certain that they’re wrong.
I’m not a binge watcher either. I still like waiting a week for the next episode. I’ll only watch a few in a row if I have nothing else to do and it’s raining out or something. For example I’m still working my way through “Bloodline” which I like very much but I’m not done yet. You know what, let me take a gander at the nominees then I’ll tell you who I want to win. *plays elevator music*
Drama Series – Game of Thrones
(although I thought this season was pretty weaksauce compared to previous seasons)
Lead Actor Drama – Kyle Chandler
(I realized he was reminding me of someone the other day and the internet helped me figure out that it’s Don Johnson. Can’t wait for “Blood and Oil”.)
Lead Actress Drama – Taraji P. Henson
(she’s just been amazing in creating this iconic character)
Supporting Actor Drama – Ben Mendelsohn
(the first time I remember seeing him was in Killing Them Softly, and I couldn’t stand him. It’s taken this long for me to get used to him. Supporting Actor is the most difficult category for me at the Emmys as it always is in movie awards. I’d be happy for the Dink, Deja Vu or Frank from “Wiseguy”.)
Supporting Actress Drama – Lena Headey
(She’s been great as Cersei but if they give it to her for walking around naked so be it.)
Variety Series – Letterman
(He should not have abandoned us.)
Directing Drama – Tim Van Patten
(I don’t even watch Boardwalk Empire but I had a huge crush on Salami back in the day.)
And that is all the people I could possibly root for. With all those other categories, I’m lost. Kudos to the people who are all caught up and can make it through all those nominees.
A very solid list of winners. The love for Game of Thrones here just reinforces my view that it’s going to be a big winner at the Primetime Emmys… or my predictions turn out to be wrong, like they are most of the time.
Very pleased to see Bessie with lots of wins too. Plus, can we just talk about how great the Guest Acting wins are? Whitford, Martindale, Cusack (despite her category fraud) and Cathey are all worthy winners in my book.