And the award should go to...

Predictability and repeat wins make for a boring night at the Emmy Awards

There was actually a lot to like about this year’s Primetime Emmys ceremony. 

Seth Meyers made for an affable (if milquetoast) host, landing an amusing opening monologue that affectionately lampooned the industry while celebrating its renaissance. 

A handful of inspired moments served to prop up the evening, from the good ol’ boy “Night at the Roxbury” act of Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson to Bryan Cranston’s aggressive lip lock with Julia Louis-Dreyfus as she attempted to accept her Best Actress award for “Veep.” 

Billy Crystal offered a moving, extended tribute to Robin Williams that was all class. Weird Al Yankovic continued his comeback tour with a goofy mash-up of TV theme songs—most memorably “Game of Thrones,” at which point he and co-performer Andy Samberg handed seated guest (and “Thrones” author) George R.R. Martin an ancient typewriter and encouraged him to write faster. 

Ricky Gervais continued to not give a shit and took his moment as a presenter to lament his own loss (he was nominated for “Derek”) and read his acceptance speech. “Ha ha, I won,” he read. “I knew I would because I’m the best actor. Better than those other actors—Parsons, Cheadle, H. Macy, Joey from ‘Friends’ and Louis from ‘Louie,’ spelled slightly differently.” 

Pomp and jokes aside, though, this year’s ceremony was more of the same: predictably predictable repeat wins for established industry favorites, with the occasional surprise (read: deserved win) thrown in for good measure—thank god for Cary Fukunaga’s best director prize for “True Detective,” the HBO hit’s only award of the night. And while no one seems to know what the hell constitutes a “miniseries,” the win for FX’s fantastic “Fargo” in this category was spot-on, as were the surprise acknowledgments of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman (neither of whom were present) for their lovely work in “Sherlock: The Last Vow.” But the Emmys got it wrong more often than not. Nearly every major category was dominated by previous winners in a year rich with deserving new blood. Here are the lowlights, five examples of how the Emmys once again screwed the pooch.

1 // Modern Family kinda sucks. And yet ABC’s declining single-camera sitcom won Best Comedy Series for the fifth year in a row, beating out better-thans “Louie,” “Orange is the New Black,” “Silicon Valley” and “Veep.” Consolation prize: At least “The Big Bang Theory” didn’t win.

2 // Jim Parsons has enough trophies. Speaking of CBS’s inexplicably popular “Big Bang Theory”: Jim Parsons is talented, but he’s not four-wins-for-the-same-character talented. And he certainly isn’t as deserving as “H. Macy, Joey from ‘Friends’ or Louis from ‘Louie,’ spelled slightly differently.”

3 // Actually, let’s just write off the Comedy Performance categories as a total loss. Julia Louis-Dreyfus should win all the awards for “Veep,” and the Emmys at least got that right. However, every single comedy performance category was taken by a previous winner. Adam Driver (“Girls”) should have beaten Ty Burrell (“Modern Family”) for Supporting Actor. Kate Mulgrew (“Orange is the New Black”) or Anna Chlumsky (“Veep”) should have bested Allison Janney (“Mom”). Louis CK or Jodie Foster or Mike Judge should have taken best director over winner Gail Mancuso (“Modern Family,” of course). Consolation prize: At least Louis CK won the comedy writing trophy for “So Did the Fat Lady,” that especially ballsy episode of “Louie.” 

4 // The Normal Heart won something. Larry Kramer’s groundbreaking polemic deserved more than Ryan Murphy’s clunky, unsubtle adaptation. And yet the HBO production won Outstanding Television Movie over “Killing Kennedy” and “Sherlock: The Last Vow.” 

5 // Breaking Bad ruined the party. This is a tricky one. The Emmys didn’t get it wrong; “Bad’s” near-sweep—for Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, creator Vince Gilligan and writer Moira Walley-Beckett—was as deserving as anything. But it was such a foregone conclusion (and the show had a near-identical sweep last year) that what should have been an exciting final sendoff for Walter White and the gang turned into the most yawn-inducing moments of the night. Conversely, Cary Fukunaga’s upset win over Vince Gilligan made for the ceremony’s high point. Go figure.