With an Oscar and a Grammy already under her belt, Kate Winslet found herself to three-quarters of the way to an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) last night, scooping her first Emmy Award for miniseries Mildred Pierce.
In an evening that brought a few surprises (Kyle Chandler! Friday Night Lights!) as well as a lot of repetition (The Daily Show took Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series for a record ninth year in a row), the Todd Haynes-directed HBO series took home awards for both Winslet and co-star Guy Pearce, while most of the cast and crew were nominated.
But it was denied the Outstanding Miniseries or Movie gong, which went instead to Downton Abbey, with Maggie Smith named Outstanding Supporting Actress alongside writing and directing awards.
Sitcom Modern Family did well again, winning Outstanding Comedy Series against the likes of The Big Bang Theory and Glee, with stars Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen taking trophies as Outstanding Supporting Actor and Actress In A Comedy Series and gongs for its writing team and one of the show’s directors.
Talking of The Big Bang Theory, Jim Parsons once again walked away with Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series, while Bridesmaids' Melissa McCarthy was Outstanding Lead Actress in the same category for Mike & Molly.
Over on the dramatic side, there was a shock as Super 8's Kyle Chandler nabbed Outstanding Lead Actor in a surprise victory against Hugh Laurie and Jon Hamm, amongst others. And his show, Friday Night Lights, was also the unexpected victor in the Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series category. Mad Men got Outstanding Drama Series and Julianna Margulies took home Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series for The Good Wife.
But by far the most deserved award went to Margo Martindale for her astonishing work as a supporting actress on Justified. And we'd be remiss if we didn't report that Peter Dinklage got a well-deserved Outstanding Supporting Actor gong for Game of Thrones. And young whippersnapper director Martin Scorsese also got an award, nabbing the Drama directing prize for Boardwalk Empire.