2010 Emmy recap: Party time at AMC, HBO

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). Jorge Garcia from "Lost," Joel McHale from "Community," Tim Gunn from "Project Runway," Tina Fey from "30 Rock" -- perfection.

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 our 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 from "Modern Family" 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 Lynch! 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."

Very 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 of "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 Vergara. 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 wanted 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, even if I don't really agree that it's a comedy. 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 show, and they broke the seven-year streak of "Amazing Race." They are also the first to get "played off" for talking too long.

9pm - Fallon and Julianna Margulies 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. The writers are always 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 time of the evening when I beg all of you to watch "Breaking Bad" on AMC. Rent the dvds to catch up. 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 (pictured here with winner Aaron Paul) from "Breaking Bad" who has won this the past two years and ... make it three!!!! Yay! Again: Please watch "Breaking Bad." Thank me later. (Note: 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. That award 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. 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." This guy 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 ("Glee") 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.  Dang. Love Kyra to death but come on, Emmy. Connie Britton! She's so amazing and 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 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 goes to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Which is a great show, but ... sigh. (Okay, they have it for this alone). Stewart is not even there and the acceptance speech from the writers kinda sucks. But they have four men and four women on stage this year. Hmmm.

10pm - Julianna Margulies presents the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award to George Clooney. She lists a lot of his good charity works and he comes out to make a speech -- standing ovation. Clooney, who looks beautiful, talks about meeting Bob Hope at his aunt Rosemary's house when he was a child. He makes some nice points about how we live in a world where people who do bad things suck up a lot of press attention while people who need help don't always get enough attention (disaster victims, etc). His speech is funny but also very intelligent. He says he hopes we figure out a way to keep the spotlight on desperate situations for more than just a few weeks.

Fallon sings next to Tom Hanks (who sits in the audience, not really participating) to introduce the Year in Miniseries and Movies. 

January Jones and John Krazinski present the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie. January Jones is a sight. And not in a good way. Brush your hair, girl. And how does she sit down in that dress? The winner is Julia Ormand for "Temple Grandin," a terrific movie from HBO. Ormand is either trying to be funny or she's a ditz.

10:15 - Claire Danes announces the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie. The winner is David Strathairn for "Temple Grandin." Love him, love that movie. Sounded for a moment like Emmy was playing him off almost as soon as he started speaking. False alarm. Oh nice -- the real Temple Grandin stands up in the audience and waves during Strathairn's speech, and she's wearing her finest cowboy outfit. Sweet!! Strathairn acknowledges her and she gets a big cheer from the audience.

Next Jewel sings a song for a friend who passed away from cancer and we begin the In Memoriam montage. I wish people wouldn't clap during this. That drives me nuts. But oh, Rue McLanahan and Dixie Carter... And I wish they'd shown a scene from "Sanford & Son" for Lena Horne.

10:25 - Blair Underwood and Maura Tierny give the award for Best Writing for Movie or Miniseries to a guy from "You Don't Know Jack" on HBO. Next, the award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Movie. Claire Danes in "Temple Grandin." I'm guessing the real Temple is stoked. "Thank you, HBO, like for serious," Danes says. She thanks Temple and Temple waves.

10:35 - Erik Skarsgard, Anna Paquin, and Stephen Moyer from "True Blood" announce the Best Director for TV Movie or Miniseries. Skarsgard is a foot taller than Moyer and Paquin. Wow. Moyer and Skarsgard should never be allowed to stand beside each other ever again. But I digress. The award goes to Mick Jackson for "Temple Grandin." His speech is wonderful, delivered directly to Temple Grandin in the audience, about how they only wanted to make a movie that was a worthy tribute to her. Mission accomplished.

Next up, the "True Blood" gang gives the award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Movie, and not surprisingly, it's Al Pacino for "You Don't Know Jack." Another good HBO movie. Pacino seems a little scattered and rambly and goes on too long. But, he's Al Pacino. Jack Kevorkian is also in the audience, but he does not stand up and wave.

10:45 - Laurence Fishburne gives "The Pacific" the award for Best Miniseries. Another HBO film. Tom Hanks (exec producer, along with Steven Spielberg) gives a nice, short speech. Fishburne then gives the award for Best Made for TV Movie. No surprise here, the award goes to "Temple Grandin" (HBO). The real Temple Grandin finally gets on stage, gives the executive producer a bear hug, and then Kanyes the mic to ask her mother to stand up in the audience. I love the Emmys.

Jimmy Fallon introduces Tom Selleck as his "real father." They are dressed just alike and they hug. "I  knew you were real!" Fallon tells him before walking away. Funny.

Tom Selleck gives the award for Best Drama. The winner is "Mad Men" (third year in a row). Can't really argue. I went with "Breaking Bad" but six of one... Matthew Weiner picks his speech up right where he got played off earlier tonight.

10:55 - Ted Danson gives the award to Best Comedy Series. Come on, "Modern Family." YES! The Emmy goes to "Modern Family!" Great!

Jimmy Fallon ends the show with, "Party at Betty White's house!"

So, let us reflect. It wasn't such a hot night for "Lost" (zero) and "Glee" (two*). Who was it who said they should give an award to Jane Lynch and skip the rest? Oh yeah, that was me. I was so close.

Random thoughts:

-Fallon: Completely awesome. Lock him in right now to do the show next year.
-Biggest surprise of the night: Probably Kyra Sedgwick winning over Connie Britton and Julianna Margulies.
-Second biggest surprise: Tie between "Lost" shut-out and only two wins for "Glee." (*two wins not counting anything won at Creative Arts ceremony last week. I'm too tired to look that up right now. But my point is, "Lost" butt got kicked by "Breaking Bad" and "Mad Men," and "Glee" butt got kicked by "Modern Family.")
-DVDs you need to add to your Netflix queue right now: "Breaking Bad" and "Temple Grandin."
-Pacing: Off just a bit. A lot of time spent on mini-series and movie folks, then "Mad Men" and "Modern Family" winners at the end seemed rushed. But the show ended on time, which is always nice (Ahem, Oscar).
-Steve Levitan: The "Modern Family" co-creator/producer is hot. How have I never noticed that before? Put him in front of the camera!
-I read somewhere that Conan O'Brien was presenting tonight. That was obviously a mistake. I would have loved that, especially since he didn't get a win.