65th Primetime Emmy Awards


The 65th Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring the best in prime time television programming from June 1, 2012 until May 31, 2013, were held on Sunday, September 22, 2013 at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, California. CBS televised the ceremony within the United States. Actor Neil Patrick Harris hosted the Primetime Emmys for the second time. The Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony was held on September 15.
Breaking Bad won Outstanding Drama Series for the first half of its fifth season, while Modern Family won Outstanding Comedy Series for the fourth consecutive time.
Netflix made history by earning the first Primetime Emmy Award nominations for original online only web television. Three of its web series, Arrested Development, Hemlock Grove, and House of Cards, earned a total of 14 nominations. Netflix also made history with three wins, including Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the pilot episode, "Chapter 1", of House of Cards, as well as a pair of Creative Arts Emmy Awards, making "Chapter 1" the first Primetime Emmy Award-winning webisode.

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold:
, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series winner
, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series winner
, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series winner
, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series winner
, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie winner
, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie winner
, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series winner
, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series winner
, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series winner
, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series winner
, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie winner
, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie winner
, Outstanding Choreography winner

Programs

Outstanding Comedy SeriesOutstanding Drama Series

  • Modern Family
  • * 30 Rock
  • * The Big Bang Theory
  • * Girls
  • * Louie
  • * Veep
  • Breaking Bad
  • * Downton Abbey
  • * Game of Thrones
  • * Homeland
  • * House of Cards
  • * Mad Men
    • Outstanding Variety SeriesOutstanding Miniseries or Movie
  • The Colbert Report
  • * The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
  • * Jimmy Kimmel Live!
  • * Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
  • * Real Time with Bill Maher
  • * Saturday Night Live
  • Behind the Candelabra
  • * '
  • * The Bible
  • * Phil Spector
  • * Political Animals
  • * Top of the Lake
    • Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
  • The Voice
  • * The Amazing Race
  • * Dancing with the Stars
  • * Project Runway
  • * So You Think You Can Dance
  • * Top Chef''

    • Acting

    Lead performances

    Supporting performances

    Choreography

    Directing

    Writing

    Academy's "hanging episodes" rule

    The Television Academy was alerted to an issue with "hanging episodes" by Starz. The channel has numerous series with multiple "hanging episodes". "Hanging episodes" are episodes broadcast after the Academy's deadline for consideration that are part of a season that began before the deadline. For instance, in 2012, Starz's Magic City and AMC's Mad Men both ended their seasons in June, after the May 31 deadline. These episodes were allowed to be webcast for award consideration prior to their telecast should that telecast air after the submission period has closed. The Academy had prior rules stipulating that eligible episodes be presented on the same platform as the episodes that qualify the series.

    Most major nominations

    ;By network
    ;By program
    ;By network
    ;By program
    ;Notes

    Presenters and performers

    The awards were presented by the following:

    Presenters

    Performers

    ''In Memoriam''

    Prior to the In Memoriam segment:
    A video was then presented paying tribute to the TV stars and well known behind-the-scenes workers who had died since the previous Primetime Emmy Awards broadcast, including:

    Critical

    The reviews for the ceremony were mostly negative. Brian Lowry of Variety panned the show, writing: "By the time the show was over, it was hard not to think we could have done with at least one less musical number, or one less memorial tribute, in order to let the winners — including high-profile ones in major categories — actually deliver an acceptance speech without hearing piano music kick in just as they started warming up." Melisa Maerz of Entertainment Weekly also gave the ceremony a negative review, writing: "All of which begged the question: What does the Emmys really offer us, anyway, that we can't get elsewhere? Witty banter? Red-carpet gawking? Exclusive access to the Mani Cam? If you're only tuning in to see which under-appreciated shows to add to your DVR queue, well, Twitter can tell you that better than the Emmys, especially when a mediocre season of Modern Family wins against Louie, Girls, and Veep. The one thing the Emmys is still very good at? Creating consensus. But maybe that's the problem. This year, the consensus was that the Emmys were bad."

    Ratings

    The broadcast received 17.63 million viewers, the largest audience in total viewers since 2005.