Mathew Imaging/FilmMagic(LOS ANGELES) -- The 63rd Annual Emmy Awards, held Sunday night in Los Angeles, was a real family show -- Modern Family, that is.
The ABC series went five for five, sweeping the comedy categories: picking up the award for best comedy series for the second year in a row, awarding best supporting actress and actor to Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell, and also winning for comedy writing and directing.
Shocked first-time Emmy winner Julie Bowen said at the podium, "Ohmigod. Ohmigod. Are you kidding me? I don't know what I'm gonna talk about in therapy next week! I won something!"
In the comedy lead actor categories, there was a repeat and a first-time win. Jim Parsons won best actor in a comedy series for The Big Bang Theory, while Melissa McCarthy, so memorable this summer in the movie Bridesmaids, picked up her first Emmy for Mike & Molly.
McCarthy won after all six comedy actress nominees had, in an unusual move, assembled onstage together, and McCarthy was presented with a tiara and a bouquet of roses when her name was called.
"Holy Smokes!" she exclaimed onstage, "This is my first and best pageant ever!" She added, "I'm from Illinois, and I'm standing here, and it's kinda amazing!"
Parson was presented with his Emmy by none other than Charlie Sheen, who shocked the audience by being well-behaved, coherent, polite and gracious.
Addressing his former colleagues at Two and a Half Men, Sheen said, "From the bottom of my heart, I wish you nothing but the best for this upcoming season. We spent eight wonderful years together and I know you will continue to make great television."
In the drama categories, Mad Men was shut out of every major category except the one that mattered: best drama series, which it won for the fourth year in a row. Friday Night Lights star Kyle Chandler was a surprise winner for best actor in a drama series, while Julianna Margulies won best actress in a drama for The Good Wife.
Accepting her award for playing the wife of a cheating politician, Margulies addressed her husband, saying, "I love being your good wife, and I'm so grateful you have no political aspirations!"
Both drama supporting categories went to first-time winners: Peter Dinklage won for playing the dwarf Tyrion Lannister in the HBO series Game of Thrones, while Margo Martindale, a veteran actress whose resume includes Dexter, Lonesome Dove, Million Dollar Baby and Dead Man Walking, won for her role as Mags Bennett in the series Justified.
Dinklage thanked, not his agent or manager, but his pet-sitter, while Martindale noted, "Sometimes things just take time, but with time comes great appreciation."
Some famous Oscar winners picked up their first Emmys Sunday night -- Kate Winslet won best actress in a miniseries or movie for Mildred Pierce, while Martin Scorsese won for directing Boardwalk Empire.
At the podium, a surprised Winslet hoisted her Emmy and exclaimed, "Oh! Look! I really did win it!"
Her co-star Guy Pearce, who won for best actor in a miniseries and movie, gave a hilarious acceptance speech, saying that in his role he "got to have sex with Kate Winslet many, many times..." Pearce added, "...so Kate, I share this with you. Thank you for letting me insert myself into your world of Mildred Pierce."
Mildred Pierce had the most nominations going into the Emmys but most of the awards in the miniseries or movie category were won by Downton Abbey.
Host Jane Lynch opened the show by having a conversation with the "president of TV," played by Leonard Nimoy. He was a last-minute replacement for Alec Baldwin, who asked that his pre-taped part be cut out after Fox nixed a joke he planned to make about the phone-tapping scandal involving Fox News Corp, the parent company of Fox TV.
Lynch then kicked off a lengthy song-and-dance number about how TV is a "vast wonderland," as she moved through a series of rooms with stars of different shows, including the casts of Mad Men and The Big Bang Theory, Randy Jackson, Eric Dane and Jeremy Piven and herself as Glee's Sue Sylvester. It was cute, but couldn't help feel like a rehash of last year's similar song-and-dance, multi-star opening with Jimmy Fallon.
Lynch, who made several jokes about the fact that she's gay, kept things moving, with the help of the Emmytones -- a group of actors that included Joel McHale, Wilmer Valderrama, Cobie Smulders, Taraji P. Henson -- who sang the intro to each category.
One of the funniest comments in the entire Emmy telecast was the final one.
Stevan Levitan, the creator of Modern Family, recalled that while shooting on location, a gay couple had approached him and said that with Modern Family, "You're not just making people laugh, you're making them more tolerant."
Levitan said, "They're right. We are showing the world that there's absolutely wrong with a loving, committed relationship...between an old man and a hot young woman." As the audience laughed, he added, "And looking around this room tonight, I see that many of you agree!"
In the multiple repeat department, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart won best variety, music or comedy series for an astounding ninth time, while The Amazing Race won best reality competition for the eighth time.
Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio
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Mathew Imaging/FilmMagic(NEW YORK) -- This year's Emmy Awards saw an uptick in viewership from the 2011 ceremony.
