"The Sopranos" wins a farewell Emmy

The 59th annual Emmy awards included one last nod to HBO's Soprano family, as expected. But the list of winners was full of surprises.

HBO’s The Sopranos took the Emmy for best drama series in its final season in an award ceremony Sunday that otherwise defied expectations. NBC’s 30 Rock won for best comedy series in its first season, beating out favorites Entourage and Ugly Betty. And Ricky Gervais took best lead actor for his bittersweet HBO series Extras—a trophy that had been expected to go to Steve Carell of The Office or Alec Baldwin of 30 Rock.

That was “relatively painless,” said Josef Adalian in Variety.com. The 59th annual Primetime Emmy Awards moved fast and made “sparing use of the inoffensive, near-invisible” host—Ryan Seacrest. There were even some laughs. The biggest came when Gervais failed to show up to collect his statuette, and Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert called up Steve Carell for a “Daily Show reunion” and impromptu “happy dance.” It wasn’t much, “but at least watercoolers won't be buzzing about yet another dreadfully dull awards show.”

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