We would like to thank the academy for a mediocre and rather depressing 65th Emmy awards. 

“This may be the saddest Emmys of all time, but we could not be happier,” said “Modern Family”  creator Steven Levitan.

He was happy because he just won an Emmy, the rest of the audience remained sad. 

The attempt at a funny show was interrupted by somber tributes in memory of the late Cory Monteith, James Gandolfini, Jean Stapleton, Jonathan Winters and Gary David Goldbery. 

The show also included a photo montage that provided an extensive look back at the last 50 years beginning with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy which left the audience in an even more solemn mood. 

Veteran host Neil Patrick Harris was not funny enough to overcome the tone of the show. 

The program lack spontaneity and charm and left much to be desired. 

However, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey did draw laughs when they yelled at Harris during the introduction while wearing 3D glasses and eating popcorn.

“Twerk it! Work that twerk,”said Poehler.

“I come to award shows for the twerking,” said Fey.

Maybe a foam finger and some on stage shenanigans could have saved the overall flat production.

Short and not-so-sweet seemed to be the theme for the acceptance speeches this year. 

This could be attributed to the producers queuing the music to hurry the winners off the stage. 

Their attempt at preventing long drawn out speeches resulted in many actors being awkwardly cut off and unable to finish their thoughts. 

Even though acceptance speeches can be boring, they break up the scripted nature of the program and add an element of surprise.

So who gave the best acceptance speech under the circumstances? 

According to the audience and host Harris, that award would go to the star of “Nurse Jackie”  Merritt Wever. 

After winning an Emmy for best supporting actress, she gave one of the shortest speeches in history.

“Thank you so very much. Um, I gotta go, bye,” said Wever.

“Breaking Bad” and “Modern Family” were big winners this year. As expected “Modern Family” won best comedy series for the fourth year in a row and took home an award for best directing. 

The fourth time was the charm for the cast and crew of “Breaking Bad.” 

After being nominated three times the show finally won the award for outstanding drama. 

The AMC hit beat out “Downton Abbey,” “Game of Thrones,”  “Homeland, ” “House of Cards,” and “Mad Men.” 

However the show’s individual actors did not fare too well. 

Bryan Cranston was nominated for outstanding lead actor, but lost to Jeff Daniels from “The Newsroom.”  

Aaron Paul and Jonathan Banks were up for best supporting actor, but were beaten by “Boardwalk Empire’s” Bobby Cannavale. 

However, the show’s Anna Gunn did win an award for outstanding lead actress. 

Thankfully there were upsets and unexpected winners that kept the audience watching. 

The HBO hit “Behind the Candelabra,” took home three trophies for best miniseries or movie, outstanding director, and best lead actor. 

In the reality-competition category “The Voice” was victorious over long time winner “The Amazing Race.” 

Outstanding lead actor in a comedy series was given to “The Big Bang Theory’s” Jim Parsons and “The Daily Show” was defeated by the “The Colbert Report” in a surprising upset.

Women were well represented in this year’s Emmy nominations. 

Half of the nominations for directors were women, which is the most in Emmy history. 

In an industry dominated by men it is  wonderful to see women being honored. 

According to the Directors Guild of America in 2011-2012 only 15 percent of TV episodes were directed by women. 

It is apparent that when women are involved in directing, they are very successful at it. 

Perhaps the biggest surprise during this year’s Emmy awards was the nomination of a Netflix program. 

“House of Cards” starring Kevin Spacey was the first online program to be nominated for an Emmy and was up for nine awards including outstanding drama. 

“This represents a new paradigm for the industry. 

It shows that the academy has a modern, progressive streak,” said Spacey. 

This era is dynamic and the industry must evolve in order to keep up. 

Although the traditional cable channels dominated the nominations, the inclusion of an online streaming program is a glimpse into the future of television.