Nearly 80 awards are scheduled to be presented at the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony today at the Nokia Theatre, beginning shortly after 4 p.m Pacific. We’ll be live-blogging the highlights, so keep coming back for updates.
FXX will air an edited version of the Creative Arts Emmys on Sept. 21 at 9 p.m. Eastern/Pacific.
Past, present and future “Community” showrunner Dan Harmon is joining series star Joel McHale in presenting the first quartet of Emmys, including three for casting and one for guest comedy actress. The final two Emmys, for reality host and reality program, will be announced by next week’s Primetime Emmys host, Neil Patrick Harris.
A couple handfuls of juried Emmys were announced in August, including kudos for “Adventure Time,” “Portlandia,” “The Simpsons” and the Alex Gibney documentary “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God.”
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4:05 p.m.: “Tonight, we honor all the creative people in television contractually forbidden to make eye contact with me,” says McHale in his opening bit, which included sassy remarks with Harmon about the fictional moral failings of relatively anonymous nominees.
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“ ‘Oh, look at me, I’m a lighting director. I make spotlights possible.’ Yeah? But who stands in them?!” adds a revved-up McHale.
4:08 p.m.: Winning the night’s first award, for drama series casting, is Netflix original series “House of Cards” and casting directors Laray Mayfield and Julie Schubert. The show producers are serious about pushing winners through their speeches — music begins playing almost as soon as they reached the podium.
4:10 p.m. HBO’s “Behind the Candelabra” wins the first of what figures to be many Emmys, for casting of a miniseries, movie or special. Casting director Carmen Cuba won the prize.
4:12 p.m.: The final season of NBC’s “30 Rock” won’t go unrewarded by the Academy. Jennifer McNamara-Shroff wins for comedy series casting.
4:14 p.m.: A much-deserved Emmy — her first — goes to Melissa Leo for her profane turn on “Louie.” Leo thanked series showrunner Louie C.K. profusely.
4:17 p.m. “South Park” wins the Emmy for top animated program — its fifth as a series and first since 2009. In the short-form animation program category, Disney.com’s “Disney Mickey Mouse Croissant de Triomphe” topped a field that included Cartoon Network’s “Adventure Time,” “Regular Show” and “Robot Chicken.”
4:20 p.m.: “Nick News with Linda Ellerbee – Forgotten but Not Gone: Kids, HIV & Aids” was named outstanding children’s program.
4:25 p.m. “Homeland” co-star Rupert Friend is presenting four Emmys for art direction. The first winner: “MasterChef” (John Janavs, Robert Frye, Heidi Miller) in multicamera series, defeating four CBS comedies.
4:32 p.m.: Art direction for variety and nonfiction programming was shared by two NBC offerings, “London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony” and “Saturday Night Live.” In its nearly four decade history, this was the first win for “SNL” in this category.
4:34 p.m.: “Behind the Candelabra” wins its second Emmy, for art direction in a miniseries or movie. Howard Cummings, Patrick M. Sullivan Jr. and Barbara Munch Cameron shared in the honor. HBO then also won for art direction in a single-camera series, for “Boardwalk Empire” and a team featuring Bill Groom, Adam Scher and Carol Silverman.
4:40 p.m.: Backstage, Leo said she got the role because at her last Emmys, when she was attending for “Mildred Pierce,” her son wanted to meet Louis C.K. Introductions were made, and things followed from there.
“It was scary,” she said of doing the raunchy part. “It kind of bumps up your game. Trying something that I have not much opportunity to try, making people laugh. It was a step to take, and take it I did, (with) Louis right there by my side.”
4:42 p.m.: Stunt coordination Emmys went to Nickelodeon’s “Supah Nijas” (Hiro Koda, stunt coordinator) and NBC’s “Revolution” (Jeff Wolfe).
4:45 p.m. Picture editing honors are divided into seven categories. Winners: Discovery’s “Deadliest Catch” (Josh Earl, Alex Durham, Rob Butler), HBO’s “Mea Maxima Culpa” (Sloane Klevin), AMC’s “Breaking Bad” (Kelley Dixon), NBC’s “The Office” (David Rogers, Claire Scanlon, on the finale episode), CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother” (Sue Federman), “Behind the Candelabra” (Mary Ann Bernard) and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” (Einar Westerlund).
4:58 p.m.: The bald Matthew Weiner joked about being assigned to present the hairstyling categories with “Mad Men” guest actress nominee Linda Cardellini. The winners: “Behind the Candelabra” (Marie Larkin, Yvette Stone, Kerrie Smith, Kay Georgiou), “Saturday Night Live” (Bettie O. Rogers, Jodi Mancuso, Inga Thrasher, Jennifer Serio Stauffer, Cara Hannah Sullivan) and “Boardwalk Empire” (Francesca Paris, Lisa Dellechiaie, Sarah Stamp).
5:06 p.m.: An emotional Dan Bucatinsky of “Scandal” won the guest drama actor Emmy in a field that included Nathan Lane and Michael J. Fox of “The Good Wife,” Rupert Friend of “Homeland” and Robert Morse and Harry Hamlin of “Mad Men.”
“How many guys get to (thank) their onscreen husband and their real-life husband? Thank you, Supreme Court of the United States,” Bucatinsky said.
5:09 p.m.: Five sound mixing awards were presented by Rickey Minor. The winners: CBS’ “The 55th Annual Grammy Awards,” Showtime’s “History of the Eagles,” HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” and “Behind the Candelabra” and Showtime’s “Nurse Jackie.” “Candelabra” is 5 for 5 so far at the Emmys, with 10 nominations remaining.
5:25 p.m.: Did we say 5 for 5? Make it 7 for 7, after “Candelabra” wins Emmys for prosthetic and non-prosthetic makeup. Other makeup Emmys went to “Game of Thrones” (first on the night for the HBO hit) and “Saturday Night Live.”
5:30 p.m. “Justified” exec producer Graham Yost and co-star Joelle Carter present the sound editing Emmys. FX’s “American Horror Story: Asylum,” which led all programs with 17 nominations this year, won for miniseries, movie or special. Nonfiction program sound editing went to History”s “The Men Who Built America,” while the series sound editing Emmy was grabbed by “Boardwalk.”
“Boardwalk,” which went 0 for 9 at last year’s Emmys, could already count four to its credit.
5:37 p.m. After a long routine, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog presented special visual effects Emmys to “Game of Thrones” and “Banshee” — yes, Cinemax has scored an Emmy. Robert Smigel then dropped the puppet momentarily to appear on stage, before Triumph presented the Emmy for top voiceover performance to Lily Tomlin for HBO’s “An Apology to Elephants,” her first Primetime Emmy since 1981.
5:55 p.m.: “Behind the Candelabra” exec producer Jerry Weintraub and Emmy-nominated actor Scott Bakula came on stage to present the costume Emmys, starting with one for “Candelabra” itself. The work of Ellen Mirojnick and Robert Q. Matthews made it 8 for 8 for “Candelabra.” Juried awards were previously announced for “The 55th Annual Grammy Awards,” “The Men Who Built America” and “Portlandia.”
6:01 p.m. The “In Memoriam” segment honors Leslie Frankehiemer, Grady Hunt, Billy Barnes, David Ellis, Malachi Throne, Fran Bascom, Dann Cahn, Jonathan Winters, Don Payne, Stanley Karnow, Nicole De Francesco, Norval D. Crutcher, Mike Vendrell, Eileen Brennan, Carl Young,. Paul Samaras, Tim Samaras, Gerry Anderson, Rosemary Welden, Barry L. Gold, Andy Williams, William Cartwright, Charles Lisanby, Hector R. Figueroa, Frank Comstock, Charles L. Campbell, Lucille Bliss, Adam Strange, Bruce Solberg, Jim Mees, Bonnie Allen, Jean Stapleton, Frank Morriss, Ken Johnson, Darren Rydstrom, Jim Gross, Fred Waugh, Bret T. Mardock, Robert Linden, Charles Durning and Ray Dolby.
6:04 p.m. Dolby is honored further in a special segment.
6:08 p.m. Academy CEO Bruce Rosenblum and Yeardley Smith of “The Simpsons” introduce a nice piece honoring Governors Award recipient June Foray, who turns 96 on Wednesday. “This is one hell of a gift,” Foray says.
6:17 p.m.: Tomlin, backstage: “I really didn’t think I’d win. I saw Seth MacFarlane up there (among the nominees).” She dedicated her Emmy to Performing Animal Welfare Society co-founder Pat Derby, who died in February.
6:20 p.m.: “You’ve got to stop being flip (in interviews) about the subject of gay marriage,” Tomlin said her partner Jane Wagner told her recently. “We still have not gotten married, but if we do, we won’t be able to sell the pictures to People.”
6:22 p.m.: “The 66th Annual Tony Awards” picked up two Emmys in short measure, for music direction and original music and lyrics. Music composition Emmys went to PBS’ “Downton Abbey” (John Lunn) and ReelzChannel’s “World Without End” (Mychael Danna, familiar to Oscar voters).
6:25 p.m.: Margo Martindale, presenting the Emmy for main title theme music, sings an explanation of “The Americans” to the tune of the “Brady Bunch” theme: “The Commie Bunch.” The Emmy itself goes to Bear McCreary and Starz’ “Da Vinci’s Demons,” which also won the Emmy for main title design.
6:30 p.m.: What was the top commercial of the year in the Academy’s eyes? Canon’s “Inspired,” by Grey Advertising.
6:32 p.m.: A big moment coming up: Will Bob Newhart, nominated for his guest comedy performance on “The Big Bang Theory,” win his first Emmy? The answer: Yes!
6:43 p.m.: “Behind the Candelabra” misses its perfect night on its ninth and final nomination of the night, losing to Sundance Channel’s “Top of the Lake” for cinematography in a miniseries or movie. “Candelabra” still has a chance to win five more Emmys next weekend, which would enable it to tie 2008’s “John Adams” for the Emmy record for wins by a movie or miniseries. Other cinematography Emmys went to “Deadliest Catch,” “House of Cards” and CNN’s “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.”
6:46 p.m.: Carrie Preston (“The Good Wife”) wins the night’s final guest acting Emmy, for drama guest actress, beating out Martindale, Cardellini, Diana Rigg (“Game of Thrones”), Jane Fonda (“The Newsroom”) and Joan Cusack (“Shameless”).
6:48 p.m.: Foray, backstage. “It’s very flattering. It’s a lifetime achievement award, and I’ve been working since I was 12 years old.”
6:51 p.m. Nonfiction honors go to “American Masters: Mel Brooks” (Robert Trachtenberg) in directing and “Mea Maxima Culpa” (Alex Gibney) in writing. As previously mentioned, “Mea Maxima Culpa” also won a juried award for exceptional merit in documentary filmmaking.
6:55 p.m. HBO’s “Manhunt: The Inside Story of the Hunt for Bin Laden” wins for top documentary or nonfiction special, while “American Masters” won another Emmy, for top doc or nonfiction series.
6:58 p.m.: The night’s latest tie comes in the informational program category. “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” shares the honor with Bravo mainstay “Inside the Actors Studio.”
James Lipton vs. the 45-second time limit on speeches … this could go nuclear. His final three words before he has to leave the stage: “redefining the universe.”
7:02 p.m.: Emmy presenter Mark Cuban kicks off the special class Emmys. For top special class program, the Tonys are the winners, while Cartoon Network’s “Childrens Hospital” wins for short-format live-action entertainment program and History.com’s “Remembering 9/11” for short-format nonfiction program.
7:30 p.m.: Took a break there to spend some time with Newhart following his Emmy win. Newhart said he plans to return to “The Big Bang Theory” this coming season. Read the story here.
7:32 p.m.: Awards mainstay Louis J. Horvitz wins the variety special directing Emmy for “The Kennedy Center Honors” on CBS.
7:33 p.m.: Louis C.K. adds another Emmy to his collection with variety special writing honors for “Louis C.K.: Oh My God.” But “Kennedy Center” tops it for outstanding variety special.
7:35 p.m.: The final two awards of the night are here. Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn are voted outstanding reality/reality-competition hosts — “We made it work,” says Gunn — and “Undercover Boss” from CBS wins for top reality program.
7:40 p.m.: Some of the awards I missed while writing about Newhart: “How I Met Your Mother” wins for multicam cinematography, “The Big Bang Theory” for tech direction, camerawork and video control for a series and the Tonys in the same category for a special. “The Voice” and this year’s Super Bowl halftime show won lighting Emmys.
7:45 p.m. And that’s a wrap! Read the highlights of the 2013 Creative Arts Emmys here.
7:55 p.m.: Postscript … Neil Patrick Harris , an Emmy-winner tonight for his work as a producer and host of the Tonys, was asked if he plans to stay in TV.
“You may not love my answer,” said Harris. “I think we’re in the most amazing time to be working in that they’re all bleeding together. You don’t have to choose. … I’m super-pleased in the number of plates I’m able to keep spinning at the same time.
Harris did add that he isn’t keen “to jump into something that keeps me in the same role for a long period of time.”