LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK — The surprises came in the form of new and old at the 61st Primetime Emmys on Sunday as dark horses such as Toni Collette and Kristin Chenoweth beat out the favored winners while veteran actors took home nearly every other acting award.
And though it was hardly a shock that AMC's "Mad Men" won for the second year in a row for drama series and "30 Rock" won for the third consecutive year for comedy series, repeat wins in drama categories by Glenn Close for lead actress for FX's "Damages" and Bryan Cranston for AMC's "Breaking Bad" were not entirely expected.
Including the Creative Arts Emmys handed out last week, the big winners were PBS' "Little Dorrit," with seven awards; HBO's "Grey Gardens," which took six; and NBC's "30 Rock," which won five. But a wide variety of programs were represented: In all, the 28 Emmys handed out Sunday went to 20 shows.
Hosted by a wry Neil Patrick Harris, the three-hour-long program was spiked with jokes about the diminishing influence of broadcast television and old-fashioned, crowd-pleasing musical numbers.
NBC's "30 Rock" had gone into the awards show with 22 nominations, more than any other series. But as the night went on, it won only a handful, including Matt Hubbard for writing and Alec Baldwin, who won for lead actor in a comedy for the second year in a row. The win for comedy series made it all go down a bit easier.
"Whew! That was a nail-biter," exclaimed Tina Fey, the show's creator, star and writer as she collected the statuette. "The night was full of interesting and unexpected things, and I thought that didn't bode well for us," she told reporters later.
The win for "30 Rock" was no doubt a disappointment for "Family Guy" fans: The bawdy Fox show was the first animated series to be nominated in that category since "The Flintstones" 48 years ago.
HBO continued its domination, winning 21 Emmys to lead the pack, including three Sunday for "Grey Gardens," named best made-for-TV movie.
The film's Jessica Lange also won lead actress for playing an eccentric relative of former First Lady Jackie Kennedy. Lange appeared genuinely stunned.
"I can't believe I'm standing here," said Lange, 60.
She was one of many older actors -- including Close, 62 -- who won.
Brendan Gleeson, 54, won for actor in a miniseries or movie for HBO's "Into the Storm," in which he played Winston Churchill. Supporting actress went to Shohreh Aghdashloo, 57, for the pay channel's "House of Saddam."
