66th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards

Seth Meyers opened the show poking fun at why the Emmys were airing on a Monday night. Apparently it was because the MTV Video Music Awards, on a network that no longer airs music videos, were on Sunday and to proceed football season (because actors run away from jocks). It did seem unusual to watch an awards show that began airing while the work day was still wrapping up in the Pacific time zone. Meyers did a great job with the monologue, engaging both the home audience and the audience in the Nokia Theater, while making timely jokes like streaming being the new cable. Netflix had a total of 11 nominations and HBO had 36 nominations, 19 for Game of Thrones.

Jimmy Kimmel presented the second award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy series and he took the opportunity to give Matthew McConaughey a hard time. Kimmel teased him for gaining back the weight he lost for Dallas Buyers Club and for being greedy to want an Emmy five months after winning an Oscar. Capped off with "Alright, Alright, Alright, Already...now get out of here and take Julia Roberts with you." Speaking of Julia Roberts, it was disappointing that she did not win for the Normal Heart because she gave a powerful performance that deserved the recognition. The McConaughey jokes continued when the Modern Family writer won for comedy and said she had to look at McConaughey because if she looked at her cast, directors or producers, she would cry. The Normal Heart did receive recognition for best television movie and Ryan Murphy gave an impassioned but not preachy acceptance speech.

Billy Crystal paid homage to Robin Williams and said, "It's very hard to talk about him in the past because he was so present in all of our lives. For almost forty years he was the brightest star in a comedy galaxy."

Breaking Bad cleaned up with it's final season and Modern Family nabbed the top comedy award again.

Red carpet coverage was minimal due to the showtime. Preceding the full list of winners, are my best dress choices. Julia Roberts in a beaded Elie Saab and Kaley Cuoco's Monique Lhuillier are my favorites.

DRAMA SERIES Breaking Bad 

COMEDY SERIES Modern Family 

LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad 

LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife 

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES  Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad 

LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory 

LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep 

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES Ty Burrell, Modern Family

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES Allison Janney, Mom 

WRITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES Louis CK, Louie 

WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES Moira Walley-Beckett, Breaking Bad 

DIRECTING FOR A COMEDY SERIES Gail Mancuso, Modern Family 

DIRECTING FOR A DRAMA SERIES Cary Joji Fukunaga, True Detective 

REALITY COMPETITION PROGRAM The Amazing Race 

MINISERIES Fargo 

TELEVISION MOVIE The Normal Heart 

LEAD ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock: His Last Vow 

LEAD ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Coven 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE Kathy Bates, American Horror Story: Coven 

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE Martin Freeman, Sherlock: His Last Vow 

WRITING FOR A MINISERIES, MOVIE OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL Steven Moffat, Sherlock: His Last Vow 

DIRECTING FOR A MINISERIES, MOVIE OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL Colin Busksey, Fargo

VARIETY SERIES The Colbert Report

WRITING FOR A VARIETY SPECIAL Sarah Silverman, We Are Miracles 

DIRECTING FOR A VARIETY SERIES Glenn Weiss, The 67th Annual Tony Awards

Wish I Was Here

Zach Braff waited ten years to make his second writing and directorial effort after Garden State. His use of Kickstarter for funding Wish I Was Here was very publicized. The movie is certainly independent and in keeping with the tone of Garden State, it has a solid soundtrack featuring the Shins. Josh Gad of Frozen Olaf fame is his younger brother and Kate Hudson portrays his wife. Mandy Patinkin gives a powerful performance as the ailing patriarch. Jim Parsons has a small and fantastic role as one of Braff's character's peers. With this film and the Normal Heart, Parsons has really been proving that he has the strong acting chops to play more than just the Big Bang's Sheldon Cooper. Braff inner circle members Donald Faison and Michael Weston make short appearances in the film as well. On a side note, Weston's name always confused me because the name is also the main character in Burn Notice and the actor was also a traumatizing character in Six Feet Under. Pierce Gagnon is an amazing young actor with a lot of screen time as Braff's precocious son.

Joey King is making quite the career for herself. Co-starring as Braff's daughter in Wish I Was Here, she was also Colin Hanks' daughter on the FX Fargo series this summer. In 2010 she played Romona, one of the beloved characters in the movie adaptation of the Beverly Cleary books. The film also has the pop culture humdinger of Carrie Bradshaw and Mr Big exes, Aiden and Natasha, portraying Romona's parents. John Corbett and Bridget Moynahan as a couple has always seemed like a crazy pop culture crash and it taking place in Portland always made it seem like a secret joke written for me. It was also a nice adaptation of the beloved Beverly Cleary books. King was also in Crazy Stupid Love as one of Steve Carell's children and in White House Down as Channing Tatum's little girl. King has certainly had some amazing movie dads.

Back to Wish I Was Here, while an emotionally engaging film with many comedic moments, part of it fell flat for me. There were a couple of scenes that just felt heavy handed and as if they were trying too hard to resonate in a certain way. I also never really bought Hudson as Braff's wife. Overall I enjoyed the movie but it was not quite what I hoped for. To date the film has made 3.5 million dollars and has a 76% audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.