68th Primetime Emmy Awards


The 68th Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in U.S. prime time television programming from June 1, 2015 until May 31, 2016, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was held on Sunday, September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theater in Downtown Los Angeles, California, and was broadcast in the U.S. by ABC. The ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. It was preceded by the 68th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, which took place over two nights, September 10 and 11, at the Microsoft Theater.
The nominations were announced by Anthony Anderson and Lauren Graham on July 14, 2016. The crime anthology limited series ' was the most nominated program at the ceremony with 13, and 22 overall, although Game of Thrones received the most overall nominations that year with 23 as the most nominated drama series.
With five awards, ' won the most awards of the night, while the fantasy drama series Game of Thrones won three, including Outstanding Drama Series and surpassed Frasier as the fictional television program with the most Primetime Emmy Awards with 38 wins in six seasons. The Game of Thrones win was also the second time a Sixth season of any show, had won the Outstanding Drama award, after fellow HBO show, The Sopranos Sixth season had won it, in 2007.
Additionally, the political satire series Veep won Outstanding Comedy Series for the second time in a row, while its producer and lead star Julia Louis-Dreyfus established a new record of wins for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series; it was her fifth consecutive win for the series and sixth overall in the category.
For the first time, none of the nominees for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series were from the four major American broadcasting TV networks. In addition, Ben Mendelsohn became the first actor to win Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for a series from a streaming service network; he won for Bloodline from Netflix.
This is the first and, as of 2020, the only ceremony where no network received more than one nomination in the Drama Series category. That feat has never been done in the Comedy Series category.

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 Drama Series winner
, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series winner
, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie winner
, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie winner
, Outstanding Supporting Actor 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 Limited Series or Movie winner
, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie winner

Programs

Outstanding Comedy SeriesOutstanding Drama Series

  • Veep
  • * Black-ish
  • * Master of None
  • * Modern Family
  • * Silicon Valley
  • * Transparent
  • * Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
  • Game of Thrones
  • * The Americans
  • * Better Call Saul
  • * Downton Abbey
  • * Homeland
  • * House of Cards
  • * Mr. Robot
    • Outstanding Variety Talk SeriesOutstanding Variety Sketch Series
  • Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
  • * Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
  • * The Late Late Show with James Corden
  • * Jimmy Kimmel Live!
  • * Real Time with Bill Maher
  • * The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
  • Key & Peele
  • * Documentary Now!
  • * Drunk History
  • * Inside Amy Schumer
  • * Portlandia
  • * Saturday Night Live
    • Outstanding Limited SeriesOutstanding Television Movie
  • * American Crime
  • * Fargo
  • * The Night Manager
  • * Roots
  • Sherlock: The Abominable Bride
  • * All the Way
  • * Confirmation
  • * Luther
  • * A Very Murray Christmas
    • Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
  • The Voice
  • * The Amazing Race
  • * American Ninja Warrior
  • * Dancing with the Stars
  • * Project Runway
  • * Top Chef

    • Acting

    Lead performances

    Supporting performances

    Directing

    Writing

    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''

    Very early on in the show, Jeffrey Tambor paid tribute to Garry Shandling. Later, before introducing the segment, Henry Winkler paid tribute to producer, actor and director Garry Marshall. Singer-songwriter Tori Kelly sang "Hallelujah" as photos were shown of television industry personalities who had died in the past year.