Small-Screen Stars Honored At Emmy Awards

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The stars of the small screen strode down the red carpet last night, to attend the Emmy Awards.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

"How I Met Your Mother" star Neil Patrick Harris was the host. Here's how we met him.

(SOUNDBITE OF EMMY AWARDS BROADCAST)

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS: Welcome to the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards. Tonight we celebrate the best of television. For our younger audience, that's the thing you watch on your phones.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)

INSKEEP: From the big opening number, everything went just as Kevin Spacey wanted it to.

(SOUNDBITE OF EMMY AWARDS BROADCAST)

KEVIN SPACEY: It's all going according to my plan.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)

SPACEY: I was promised the hosting job this year, and they turned me down. They said they wanted someone more likeable.

GREENE: Spacey plays the scheming, power-hungry politician Frank Underwood on the Netflix original drama "House of Cards."

INSKEEP: Now, one of the big questions going into last night's Emmys was this: Would an online streaming service be able to beat out the networks and cable channels for a big award?

GREENE: Netflix did. "House of Cards" won Best Directing for a Drama Series. Still, cable showed its continued strength throughout the night.

INSKEEP: AMC's soon-to-end "Breaking Bad," about Walter White's descent into depravity and drug production, won for Best Drama. It was the first time it won the award, despite three previous nominations.

GREENE: For Showtime, Merritt Wever, who plays a nurse on "Nurse Jackie," took home Best Supporting Actress in a Drama and also, the unofficial award for best acceptance speech.

(SOUNDBITE OF EMMY AWARDS BROADCAST)

MERRITT WEVER: Thanks so much. Um - thank you so much. Um - I gotta go. Bye.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)

GREENE: Short and sweet. Another surprise came with the variety show award. "The Daily Show" has dominated that category, winning every year since 2003.

INSKEEP: This year, it went to Stephen Colbert's outlandish Comedy Central satire, "The Colbert Report."

(SOUNDBITE OF EMMY AWARDS BROADCAST)

STEPHEN COLBERT: Wow. As I said before, it's sort of a cliche to say that it's an honor just to be nominated, but it's more than that. It's also a lie.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)

COLBERT: COLBERT: This is way better.

GREENE: Some kept their winning streaks.

INSKEEP: ABC's "Modern Family" won the Emmy for outstanding comedy series for the fourth straight year.

GREENE: Best Lead Actress in a Drama went to Claire Dane from Showtime's "Homeland," once again.

INSKEEP: And Jim Parsons, who plays an extremely awkward physicist on CBS's "The Big Bang Theory," took home his third Emmy for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.