Movieline

Rating the 5 Most Shocking Emmy Reactions from Inside the Auditorium

    • The intrepid L.A. bureau of Movieline -- meaning Kyle Buchanan and yours truly -- attended the fancy Emmy show last night, and even liveblogged it. We were excited for a night of high-falutin' good times and glamour (which is why I dressed like Kitty Carlisle), but the actual show was somehow better than expected, and it's mostly because of five craycray Emmy moments that had the audience gasping, hacking, and stabbing strangers.

    5. Julia Ormond wins for Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries

    Audience reaction: Enthusiastic applause, contempt for January Jones's elocution

    This looked like it was going to go You Don't Know Jack's way, with either Susan Sarandon or Brenda Vaccaro picking up the hardware, but Julia Ormond bested even her own co-star Catherine O'Hara to win the Emmy. I'll give presenter January Jones credit and declare her bungled "Julorrrman" pronunciation the product of abject glee.

    4. Eric Stonestreet wins for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

    Audience reaction: Shocked "oohs"

    Even if you could argue that Stonestreet's nominated "Fizbo" episode was the funniest of his competitors' submissions, I don't think many expected Stonestreet to outpace a long-deserving nominee like Neil Patrick Harris or even his own show's Ty Burrell. Still, the wannabe clown act sealed the deal for Stonestreet, who kicked off the night's barrage of Modern Family adulation.

    3. Top Chef wins for Best Reality Series

    Audience reaction: Childlike hoots, scores of furrowed "Colicchio" brows, liberated squeals

    Padma Lakshmi interrupted her producer's speech to voice her own surprise, and she spoke on behalf of all of us. The Bravo series broke The Amazing Race's seven-year win streak, winning out over arguably middling seasons of American Idol and Project Runway. We can quibble that the stellar RuPaul's Drag Race and Survivor missed deserving chances for victory here, but who can deny the Voltaggio dynasty a trophy?

    2. Kyra Sedgwick wins for Best Actress in a Drama

    Audience reaction: Half squeals, half Margulies-ian straight faces

    Aside from Jane Lynch in the supporting comedy categories, there was no bigger shoo-in than Julianna Margulies for the dramatic actress category. Not so fast, Alicia Florrick: Kyra Sedgwick took the prize and seemed awfully prepared about it. That could've been a bigger moment for her had she not pulled out the scroll of thank-yous in record time.

    1. Archie Panjabi wins for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama

    Audience reaction: Hyperbolic round of yelps, a smattering of applause, and haughty Christine Baranski-like befuddlement

    Now, what is this. Archie Panjabi is very good as Kalinda Sharma on The Good Wife, but her part is so... hammy? Overly serious and then overly quippy? At any rate, no one guessed she'd outshine the Mad Men girls and her own co-star Christine Baranski. In the theater, I kicked up my legs and muttered my own Panjabian one-liner: "Time to drink. And fast."