LOS ANGELES – Cable network HBO took home the biggest haul at the television Emmy awards on Sunday with 23 trophies for shows such as political film Game Change and White House comedy series Veep. The CBS broadcast network finished second with 16, and cable channel Showtime, also owned by CBS Corp, scored big with major wins for psychological thriller Homeland.
HBO dominated with Game Change, about Sarah Palin’s unlikely pick as the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee. It earned five awards, including a best actress win for Julianne Moore.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus won the best comedy actress award for playing a fictional vice-president in HBO series Veep.
Game Change director Jay Roach said HBO succeeded with a commitment to political tales that others shied away from. “Everybody talks about politics,” Roach said as he accepted an award. “But it’s so freaking hard to get films made about politics, and they [HBO] just keep doing it and doing it so well.”
Acclaimed HBO medieval fantasy Game of Thrones earned six wins in creative arts categories including costumes and special visual effects. HBO had entered the night as the most-nominated network for the 12th straight year.
Showtime celebrated its first win for a series with Homeland. The show, which counts president Barack Obama among its fans, won six Emmys overall.
“This is your night as well as ours,” Homeland executive producer Alex Gansa said, addressing CBS and Showtime executives from the stage as he accepted the show’s award for best drama series.
Homeland won in a best drama field that for the first time included no nominees from the four major broadcast networks. A division of Fox produces Homeland, which executive producer Howard Gordon said thrived in the Showtime cable universe.
“We are grateful we are on Showtime,” Gordon told reporters backstage. “They gave us patience from the very top, allowing us to take time with the characters and let the stories breathe.”
The CBS broadcast network’s awards included a surprise win for Jon Cryer as best lead comedy actor in a revamped Two and a Half Men.
Cryer took on a larger role after the messy departure last year of Charlie Sheen, who was replaced by Ashton Kutcher.
Public television network PBS earned 12 Emmys, including best drama supporting actress for Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey.
Walt Disney co-owned broadcaster ABC took nine awards, capped by Modern Family’s third win for best comedy series.
The television studio of News Corp’s 20th Century Fox unit produces Homeland and Modern Family. Fox’s FX cable channel won six awards.
The History Channel won five Emmy awards – the most in the network’s history – for its ratings hit Hatfields McCoys starring Kevin Costner in the classic story of a family feud. The show’s three nights in May averaged 17.1 million viewers. – (Reuters)