The stars are working the Red Carpet now, heading inside for the big night. From the limited bit I've seen so far, it sounds like navy blue is big color this year. Here's a photo gallery that will be updated several times tonight.
Starting the live recaps at 8pm. Check in periodically for updates!
8pm: GREATEST. EMMY. OPENING. EVER. Host Jimmy Fallon took the kids from "Glee" and at least one person from a bunch of other shows and did a terrific song and dance number to Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." Betty White gave Jon Hamm dance lessons and then Hamm sang a bit (Jon Hamm singing Springsteen? I can die happy now). Hurley from "Lost," Joel McHale from "Community," Tim Gunn from "Project Runway," etc.
After the amazing opening (who misses Neal Patrick Harris? Not me.) Fallon picked up his guitar and strummed as he told a few jokes and introduced a clip for the Year in Comedy. Great stuff. This is where we got out First Conan-NBC Joke of the Night. And it was mild.
Jon Hamm and Betty White are the first presenters of the night. Hamm references their sexual chemistry in the opening number and White counters with their sexual chemistry in the quick-change room. Hamm is gorgeous tonight. They give the Emmy to Eric Stonestreet for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy. YAY!!! Great speech. Love him. He was my pick.
8:20 - John Hodgeman (Hello, he's a PC) is the guy doing voiceovers and telling fun facts about the winners as they make their way to the stage. Sofia Vergara and Jim Parsons give the Best Comedy Writing award to Steve Levitan for "Modern Family." Funny speech.
Stephen Colbert, who is funny just walking, comes out to present to the Best Emmy for Supporting Actress in a Comedy. I called Jane Lynch for "Glee" and the winner is ... Jane Lynchh! YES!!! She looks great out of the track suit. Nice, exuberant speech.
8:30 - Lauren Graham (who will always be Lorelai Gilmore to me) presents with Matthew Perry (that's right, Chandler Bing). Their joke flops. They acknowledge the Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (Betty White for SNL) and Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series (Neil Patrick Harris for "Glee") -- both awards that were given out last week at the Creative Arts Emmy show. They also give out the award for Best Directing in a Comedy Series. Ryan Murphy wins for "Glee."
Funny bit when motivational speaker Tony Robbins gives the cast of "Modern Family" some tips on how to make their show better (too bad his own NBC show didn't last more than a week!). The first involves some crossover with Cameron and Mitchell adopting Stewie from "Family Guy." Stewie gets a belly-laugh from me when he tells Ed O'Neil (formerly "Married with Children) that it must be nice to finally be on a show he can mention at dinner parties without people cringing. He also suggests airing the show in 3-D, which works for fans of Sofia Vergera. And there are some really funny bits with George Clooney -- basically all cast members want storylines that involve Clooney being their new mate.
Next up, the award for Best Actor in a Comedy, as announced by Eva Longoria Parker and LL Cool J. The winner is Jim Parsons from "Big Bang Theory." Nice!! I went sentimental with a pick of Tony Shalhoub for his final season of "Monk," but also noted I rwanted Parsons to win. So I'm taking a half-point there.
8:44 - Neil Patrick Harris, last year's Emmy host, comes out to present the award for Best Actress in a Comedy, but first he congratulates the Emmys for having the guts to let a gay guy host two years in a row. Ha! The winner is Edie Falco for "Nurse Jackie." I picked her too! I'm on a streak. "Nurse Jackie" is fantastic. If you haven't seen it yet, rent Season 1 on dvd (and soon, Season 2).
Jimmy Fallon has his guitar again to introduce a montage for the Year in Reality TV. This is awesome and disgusting and inspiring and degrading and dang, that "Deadliest Catch" scene made me cry again!
Will Arnett and Keri Russell (from "Running Wilde" on Fox this fall) announce the winner for Best Reality TV Series. Guess who wins? "Top Chef." YES! CALLED IT!!!! Great, great show - and they broke the 7-year streak of "Amazing Race." They are also the first to get "played off" for talking too long.
9pm - Fallon and Julianna Marguiles fake-slap each other to introduce the Year in Drama. Wow, there are some GREAT shows on TV. Another super-mild NBC-Leno joke from Fallon as he introduces Chris Meloni and Mariska Hargitay ("Law & Order:SVU"). They give out the award for Best Writing for a Drama. By the way, I love the segments where they ask writers to tell funny stories. Writers are funny. Best Writing Award goes to Matthew Weiner and Erin Levy for "Mad Men." Of course. Weiner gets played off pretty abruptly. Next, the SVU duo give out the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. The winner is ... Aaron Paul for "Breaking Bad." Ahem. Called it. This is the part of the evening when I beg all of you to watch "Breaking Bad" on AMC. Rent the dvds. It's one of the greatest television shows ever.
9:10 - Emily Deschanel and Nathan Fillion announce the winner for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama. The Emmy goes to Archie Panjabi for "Good Wife" (my streak is over - I picked Christina Hedricks from "Mad Men"). Panjabi is great and so is "Good Wife" so this is nice. A fine speech.
Edie Falco announces the winner for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series. I picked Bryan Cranston from "Breaking Bad" who has won this the past two years and ... make it three!!!! Yay! Again: Please watch "Breaking Bad." Thank me later. (Sad for Kyle Chandler, who is great on "Friday Night Lights," but Cranston gets some tough stuff to act on "Breaking Bad" and he acts the fool out of that Walt White character).
9:20 - The actors from NBC's new "Undercovers" show recognize the Best Guest Actor and Best Guest Actress from a Drama (given last week at Creative Arts Emmy show) and the winners were John Lithgow ("Dexter") and Ann-Margret ("Law & Order: SVU"). Lithgow and Ann-Margret give out the award for Best Directing in a Drama. The ward goes to Steve Schill for "Dexter." On the way to the stage he hugs Michael C. Hall, whose hair has grown back very curly!
Next a musical tribute to three TV shows we lost this year, and Fallon is dressed as Elton John at a piano singing an altered version of "Candle in the Wind" to say goodbye to "24." Next a quick-change into Boys II Men clothes to sing a farewell to "Law & Order" (sniff, sniff) -- a very funny version of "Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday." He even pours one for his homie onto the stage. Next up, Fallon goes "Green Day" ("Time of Your Life") to sing for "Lost." Okay, this is hilarious.
9:30 - Do the Emmys seem to be going at lightning speed or is just me because I'm typing nonstop? Okay, Tina Fey and Matthew Morrison announce the Best Actress in a Drama. I picked Connie Britton ("Friday Night Lights" but said I'd be happy if Julianna Margulies ("Good Wife") won. Guess what. Neither of them won. Kyra Sedgwick won for "The Closer." Okay, this has to be the biggest surprise of the night. Really? Dang. Love Kyra to death but come on, Emmy. Connie Britton! She's sitting right there!!!
Fallon has his guitar again and sings a short but funny duet with Stephen Colbert to introduce the Year in Variety, which means late night talk shows, awards shows, and "Saturday Night Live" clips. Lots of Leno/Conan/Letterman clips, which are just as funny as they were earlier this year, and some Betty White, Colbert, Jon Stewart...
Next Joel McHale and Jeff Probst come out to give the award for Best Writing for a Variety Show. McHale is about a foot taller than Probst. The Emmy goes to the 63rd Annual Tony Awards. Speech. Yawn. I must not be the only person who thinks this is boring because NBC just flashed a note on the screen that Ricky Gervais is coming up in 4 1/2 minutes. It's like they're begging me not to change the channel.
9:45 - Ricky Gervais. He is funny approximately always. He goes on a rant about how there's no booze allowed at the Emmys, unlike the Golden Globes. Gervais is even funny when he's saying that he's not going to talk about Mel Gibson. And then does. So funny. "Who wants a beer?! Who wants a beer!?" And with that Gervais has some waiters come out and serve beers to some folks in the front row.
Gervais announces the award for Best Directing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Special. Gervais makes fun of Bucky Gunts' name. "I hope it's Bucky Gunts, because I didn't know you could say that on Television. Let's face it. We're all Bucky Gunts here. That's life." And the Emmy goes to ... Bucky Gunts! Gervais lets out a cheer. Bucky Gunts wins for the Vancouver Olympics and he's probably a very nice man, but he is not as funny as his name.
Next is the award for Best Variety, Music or Comedy Show. Come on, Conan! I so want to hear that speech. And on NBC no less. But alas, it's not to be. Even though the announcement of the show's clip got a huge response from the audience, the award once again went to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Which is a great show, but ... sigh. Stewart is not even there and the acceptance speech from the writers kinda sucks. They have four men and four women on stage. Hmmm.
