"Homeland", "Modern Family" top winners at Emmy Awards

PanARMENIAN.Net - The terrorism thriller "Homeland" and "Modern Family" were the top winners at the Sept 23 Emmy Awards in a ceremony that veered between daring and predictability in honors and Jimmy Kimmel's turn as host, The Associated Press reports.

The four awards for "Modern Family" included a three-peat as best comedy series, although there was a minor backlash online as some Emmy watchers questioned whether the show had a deserving season.

"Homeland," whose four trophies for its freshman season included honors for stars Claire Danes and Damian Lewis, stopped "Mad Men" in its tracks, denying the show a record-setting fifth best drama trophy.

Turns out the TV academy wasn't ready to crown the Madison Avenue saga as best ever. Instead, "Mad Men" walked away without a single statuette despite a leading 17 nominations, making it Emmy's biggest loser ever, said Tom O'Neil of the awards website Gold Derby.

Showtime's "Homeland," the cable channel's first best drama winner, also kept Bryan Cranston from his fourth consecutive best acting award for "Breaking Bad" and made "Mad Men" star Jon Hamm an also-ran once more.

Aaron Paul won best supporting drama actor for "Breaking Bad."

In a surprise on the comedy side, Emmy voters decided that "Two and a Half Men" with Jon Cryer and without Charlie Sheen is really good, as Cryer claimed the best comedy actor trophy.

Ashton Kutcher, who joined the show after Sheen was fired, wasn't nominated.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus was honored as best actress in comedy for "Veep."

Maggie Smith was honored as best supporting drama actress for her tart-tongued dowager in "Downton Abbey," unhurt by the program's move from the miniseries category.

Among reality competitors, "The Amazing Race" was honored as best reality series, ninth time in 10 nominations for the award. Tom Bergeron of "Dancing With the Stars" won as best host of a reality series.

Julianne Moore's uncanny take on Gov. Sarah Palin in the TV movie "Game Change," about the 2008 presidential campaign, earned her best actress honors.

Kevin Costner was named best actor for the history-based miniseries "Hatfields & McCoys," while Tom Berenger was named best supporting actor for the project and Jessica Lange won supporting actress honors for "American Horror Story."