Game Of Thrones Takes Best Drama At The 2015 Emmys

While Mad Men's Jon Hamm finally wins Lead Actor

Though some had predicted departing series Mad Men winning the big drama prize at this year’s Emmy Awards, handed out in Los Angeles on Sunday night, it was actually Game Of Thrones that took its total past The West Wing in terms of Emmys won in a single year with 12 (which includes eight from the Creative Arts awards handed out before the night).

In addition to scoring to big award, the show got a directing prize for David Nutter for Mother’s Mercy, a writing award for showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss for the same episode and a Supporting Actor trophy for Peter Dinklage.

Benefitting from a huge swell of affection for his work and the fact it was his last year in the role, Jon Hamm finally took the stage to collect the dramatic Lead Actor Award for Mad Men’s Don Draper, while Viola Davis, in her first year on the show, won Lead Actress and a big standing ovation for How To Get Away With Murder. Orange Is The New Black’s Uzo Aduba, meanwhile, won her second Emmy in a row.

In the comedy awards, Jeffrey Tambor was favourite to take the top actor prize for Transparent, while Allison Janney, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tony Hale were all repeat winners for Mom and Veep respectively. The political comedy also snagged the main gong (a surprise since Modern Family has been winning it for years) and a writing prize for Armando Iannucci, Simon Blackwell and Tony Roche, who created the successful Election Night episode.

Miniseries-wise, it was definitely Olive Kitteridge’s night, with prizes going to actors Frances McDormand, Richard Jenkins and Bill Murray plus writer Jane Anderson and director Lisa Cholodenko. Amy Schumer and her show benefitted from the Variety section being split into different categories this year, beating the likes of Key & Peele and Saturday Night Live, while The Daily Show added another award to its trophy cabinet for the Variety Talk category. It’ll be interesting to see if it remains as dominant next year with Trevor Noah about to replace Jon Stewart.

The main category list is below. For the full account of the winners, head to the Television Academy’s site here.

DRAMA
Game Of Thrones
Better Call Saul
Downton Abbey
Homeland
Mad Men
Orange Is The New Black

LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Kyle Chandler, Bloodline
Live Schreiber, Ray Donovan
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Peter Dinklage, Game Of Thrones
Jonathan Banks, Better Call Saul
Ben Mendelsohn, Bloodline
Jim Carter, Downton Abbey
Michael Kelly, House Of Cards
Alan Cumming, The Good Wife

LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Viola Davis, How To Get Away With Murder
Taraji P. Henson, Empire
Claire Danes, Homeland
Robin Wright, House Of Cards
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Uzo Aduba, Orange Is The New Black
Joanne Froggatt, Downton Abbey
Lena Headey, Game Of Thrones
Emilia Clarke, Game Of Thrones
Christine Baranski, The Good Wife
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men

WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
Game Of Thrones, "Mother’s Mercy," David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Better Call Saul, “Five-O”, Gordon Smith
Mad Men, “Lost Horizon”, Sam Chellas and Matthew Weiner
Mad Men, "Person To Person", Matthew Weiner
The Americans, "Do Mail Robots Dream Of Electric Sheep?", Joshua Brand

DIRECTING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
Game Of Thrones, “Mother’s Mercy”, David Nutter
Boardwalk Empire, "Eldorado", Tim Van Patten
Game Of Thrones, "Unbowed, Unbroken, Unbent", Jeremy Podeswa
Homeland, “From A To B And Back Again”, Lesli Linka Glatter
The Knick, "Method And Madness," Steven Soderbergh

 

COMEDY SERIES
Veep
Louie
Modern Family
Parks And Recreation
Silicon Valley
Transparent
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
Anthony Anderson, Black-Ish
Don Cheadle, House Of Lies
Louis C.K., Louie
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
William H. Macy, Shameless
Will Forte, The Last Man On Earth

LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Lily Tomlin, Grace And Frankie
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback
Amy Schumer, Inside Amy Schumer
Amy Poehler, Parks & Recreation

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Tony Hale, Veep
Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Keegan-Michael Key, Key & Peele
Titus Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Adam Driver, Girls
Ty Burrell, Modern Family

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Allison Janney, Mom
Niecy Nash, Getting On
Mayim Bialik, The Big Bang Theory
Jane Krakowski, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Julie Bowen, Modern Family
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Gaby Hoffman, Transparent
Anna Chlumsky, Veep

WRITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES
Veep, "Election Night," Simon Blackwell and Tony Roche (story and teleplay), Armando Iannucci (story)
Episodes, “Episode 409”, David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik
Louie, “Bobby’s House”, Louis C.K.
Silicon Valley, "Two Days Of The Condor", Alec Berg
The Last Man On Earth, “Alive In Tucson”, Will Forte
Transparent “Pilot”, Jill Soloway

DIRECTING FOR A COMEDY SERIES
Transparent, “Best New Girl”, Jill Soloway
The Last Man On Earth, “Pilot”, Christopher Miller and Phil Lord
Louie, “Sleepover”, Louis C.K.
Silicon Valley, “Sand Hill Shuffle”, Mike Judge
Veep, “Testimony”, Armando Iannucci

 

TV MOVIE
Bessie
Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Poirot’s Last Case
Grace Of Monaco
Hello Ladies: The Movie
Killing Jesus
Nightingale

MINISERIES
Olive Kitteridge
American Crime
American Horror Story: Freak Show
The Honorable Woman
Wolf Hall

LEAD ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Richard Jenkins, Olive Kitteridge
Timothy Hutton, American Crime
Adrien Body, Houdini
Ricky Gervais, Derek Special
David Oyelowo, Nightingale
Mark Rylance, Wolf Hall

LEAD ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge
Felicity Huffman, American Crime
Queen Latifah, Bessie
Emma Thompson, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Freak Show
Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Honorable Woman

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Bill Murray, Olive Kitteridge
Richard Cabral, American Crime
Denis O’Hare, America Horror Story: Freak Show
Finn Wittrock, America Horror Story: Freak Show
Michael Kenneth Williams, Bessie
Damian Lewis, Wolf Hall

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Regina King, American Crime
Angela Bassett, American Horror Story: Freak Show
Mo’Nique, Bessie
Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Freak Show
Kathy Bates, American Horror Story: Coven
Zoe Kazan, Olive Kitteridge

WRITING FOR A MINISERIES, MOVIE OR A DRAMATIC SPECIAL
Olive Kitteridge, Jane Anderson
American Crime, “Episode One”, John Ridley
Bessie, “Bessie”, Horton Foote (Story), Dee Rees (Screenplay and story), Christopher Cleveland (Screenplay), Bettina Gilois, Screenplay)
Hello Ladies, "Hello Ladies: The Movie," Stephen Merchant, Gene Stupnitsky, Lee Eisenberg
The Honorable Woman, Hugo Blick
Wolf Hall, Peter Straughan  

DIRECTING FOR A LIMITED SERIES, MOVIE OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
Olive Kitteridge, Lisa Cholodenko
American Horror Story: Freak Show, “Monsters Among Us”
Ryan Murphy
Bessie, Dee Rees
The Honorable Woman, Hugo Blick
Houdini, Uli Edel
The Missing, Tom Shankland
Wolf Hall, Peter Kosminsky

 

VARIETY TALK SERIES
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
Late Show With David Letterman
The Colbert Report
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

VARIETY SKETCH SERIES
Inside Amy Schumer
Drunk History
Key & Peele
Portlandia
Saturday Night Live

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