For all the talk about how broadcasters are merely bystanders in this "Golden Age" of TV, it was Netflix who was sitting on the sidelines during the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards Monday night.
The streaming video platform, which was nominated for 31 Emmys across the Creative Arts ceremony Saturday and the more prestigious Primetime awards, was shut out of the top honors last night.
Netflix did take home several awards during the Creative Arts ceremony on Saturday, including best guest actress in a comedy series for Uzo Abuda's portrayal of Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren in "Orange is the New Black." But it failed to win any of the honors during the main show last night.
Netflix nominations had included nods for both Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright for "House of Cards"; Taylor Schilling for "Orange is the New Black"; and Ricky Gervais for "Derek." "House of Cards" and "Orange is the New Black" were also up for best drama and best comedy, respectively.
Netflix's decision to submit "Orange is the New Black" in the comedy category raised some eyebrows and host Seth Meyers poked fun at the decision during his opening monologue last night.
"We had comedies that made you laugh, and comedies that made you cry because they were dramas submitted as comedies," he said.
"Orange is the New Black" had been hyped as a front-runner in the comedy category, but the Academy stuck to the tried and true, with ABC's "Modern Family" again dominating the category.
Last year, when Netflix entered with 14 nominations, David Fincher won for best directing for Netflix's "House of Cards," but the political drama failed to sweep the Emmys as expected.
Once again, broadcast was the butt of the most jokes, with Mr. Meyers taking jabs at network TV for being stodgy and jealous of the success of cable and now streaming platforms.
"We're doing the show on Monday in part because the MTV Music Awards were last night," he said. "That's right, MTV still has an awards show for music videos even though they no longer show music videos. That's like network TV holding an awards show and giving all the trophies to cable and Netflix. That would be crazy."
And cable, once the kind of interloper at the awards that Netflix is trying to be, did take home its usual share of hardware. AMC's "Breaking Bad" won in the drama category, for example, for outstanding series, outstanding writing, outstanding lead actor, outstanding supporting actress and outstanding supporting actor. Other cable winners included HBO's "Veep" and FX's "Louie," "Fargo" and "American Horror Story."
But broadcasters proved they are still viable competitors. ABC's "Modern Family" won multiple awards, including best comedy; Jim Parsons took home the prize for lead actor in a comedy for CBS's "Big Bang Theory"; and Julianna Margulies won lead actress in a drama for CBS's "The Good Wife."
