63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring the best in prime time television programming from June 1, 2010, until May 31, 2011, were held on Sunday, September 18, 2011, at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, California, where 25 awards were presented. Fox televised the ceremony within the United States. Jane Lynch hosted the Emmys for the first time. The Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony was held on September 10.
The nominations were announced live on Thursday, July 14, 2011, at 5:40 a.m. PDT at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood, Los Angeles. The nominations were announced by Melissa McCarthy of Mike & Molly and Joshua Jackson of Fringe.
The biggest winner of the night was ABC's Modern Family. The series ended the event with five wins, including Outstanding Comedy Series for the second consecutive year. For the fourth time, the Outstanding Drama Series category was won by AMC's Mad Men. It is also the third series to win four times consecutively in that category. Downton Abbey walked away with the award for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie, with four wins overall.
This year's ceremony was watched by 12.4 million people, down 8% from 62nd [Primetime Emmy Awards|last year's show]. The ceremony received mixed reviews from critics, with many praising the performance of Lynch as the host but criticizing the overall quality of the production, particularly the presenters and the orchestra.
Beginning this year, the Outstanding Miniseries and Outstanding Television Movie categories were merged. This was due to the continuing decline in the number of miniseries being produced; the previous two ceremonies only had two miniseries nominated. The merge was short-lived however when the separate categories returned, beginning in 2014.
Winners and nominees
Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold:Most major nominations
| Program | Category | Network | No. of Nominations |
| Modern Family | Comedy | ABC | 11 |
| Mildred Pierce | Miniseries | HBO | 9 |
| Mad Men | Drama | AMC | 7 |
| 30 Rock | Comedy | NBC | 6 |
| The Good Wife | Drama | CBS | 6 |
| Too Big to Fail | Movie | HBO | 6 |
| Boardwalk Empire | Drama | HBO | 5 |
| Downton Abbey | Miniseries | PBS | 5 |
| Friday Night Lights | Drama | DirecTV | 4 |
| Game of Thrones | Drama | HBO | 4 |
| The Kennedys | Miniseries | ReelzChannel | 4 |
| The Killing | Drama | AMC | 4 |
| Saturday Night Live | Variety | NBC | 4 |
| The Big Bang Theory | Comedy | CBS | 3 |
| Cinema Verite | Movie | HBO | 3 |
| The Colbert Report | Variety | Comedy Central | 3 |
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Variety | Comedy Central | 3 |
| Glee | Comedy | Fox | 3 |
| Justified | Drama | FX | 3 |
| The Office | Comedy | NBC | 3 |
| Upstairs Downstairs | Miniseries | PBS | 3 |
| American Idol | Competition | Fox | 2 |
| Carlos | Miniseries | Sundance Channel | 2 |
| Conan | Variety | TBS | 2 |
| Dexter | Drama | Showtime | 2 |
| Episodes | Comedy | Showtime | 2 |
| Late Night with Jimmy Fallon | Variety | NBC | 2 |
| Louie | Comedy | FX | 2 |
| Parks and Recreation | Comedy | NBC | 2 |
Most major awards
| Program | Category | Network | No. of Awards |
| Modern Family | Comedy | ABC | 5 |
| Downton Abbey | Miniseries | PBS | 4 |
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Variety | Comedy Central | 2 |
| Friday Night Lights | Drama | DirecTV | 2 |
| Mildred Pierce | Miniseries | HBO | 2 |
;Notes
Presenters
The awards were presented by the following:In Memoriam
The annual In Memoriam segment was presented by John Shaffner and featured the Canadian Tenors performing the song "Hallelujah". The segment was extended for this ceremony, as executive producer Mark Burnett stated that "it need to be a bummer... It can be a celebration".- Cliff Robertson
- Elizabeth Taylor
- Anne Francis
- James MacArthur
- Peter Falk
- Harold Gould
- Stanley Frazen
- James Arness
- Janet MacLachlan
- Madelyn Pugh Davis
- Steve Landesberg
- Blake Edwards
- Betty Garrett
- John Cossette
- Bill Erwin
- Barbara Billingsley
- Leslie Nielsen
- Tom Bosley
- Reza Badiyi
- Leonard Stern
- Ryan Dunn
- Denise Cramsey
- Frank Potenza
- Bob Banner
- Andy Whitfield
- Fred Steiner
- Jill Clayburgh
- John Dye
- Jack LaLanne
- Al Masini
- Sada Thompson
- Laura Ziskin
- Don Meredith
- Sherwood Schwartz
- Bubba Smith
- Stephen J. Cannell
Memorable moments
Opening number
The show opened with Jane Lynch performing a pre-taped opening number which showed the TV world as being contained inside of a large building, parodying Rear Window. Lynch walked through the building and entered the universe of shows including The Big Bang Theory, Mad Men, Parks and Recreation, MythBusters and Glee among others. Lynch's lyrics satirized elements of each show and television in general. The ceremony culminated with Lynch entering the theatre and performing a short dance number, which ended with a fireworks show. The opening number received a standing ovation.Emmytones
Throughout the night, the "Emmytones" introduced each genre in the form of a short jingle. They consisted of Zachary Levi, Cobie Smulders, Kate Flannery, Wilmer Valderrama, Joel McHale and nominee Taraji P. Henson. The Emmytones received mixed to negative reviews, with many critics citing them as unimportant and others calling them "time fillers."Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
For the presentation of the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, each of the nominees went up to the stage in the style of a beauty pageant. The orchestra played music similar to that of a pageant as the nominees went to the stage. The winner ended up being Melissa McCarthy, who mentioned that this was "her first and best pageant ever." Both the producers and the nominees in the category gave nominee Amy Poehler credit for conceiving the idea. Nominee Martha Plimpton was also credited.The presentation was well received critically with many critics regarding it to be the best part of the night. Once all the nominees reached the stage, they received a standing ovation. The pairing of Rob Lowe and Sofía Vergara, who presented the category, was also praised critically.