“Aren’t you sick of winning?” Gary Cole asked Julia Louis-Dreyfus. “How many Emmys is this? She’s got five more Emmys than Lucille Ball. She should be ashamed of herself.”
The exchange was a good-natured ribbing between two costars on a show, “Veep,” that has always had a good run of luck at television’s biggest night. Louis-Dreyfus has won three of her five Emmys for the show, where she plays a bumbling vice president.
This story first appeared in the August 27, 2014 issue of WWD.
Louis-Dreyfus and Cole were at HBO’s party at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles Monday night after the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards, where the actress’ win was one of several that was widely expected along with those by the shows “Breaking Bad” and “Modern Family.” They were all past winners from traditional networks and they managed to hold off an insurgency from the streaming service Netflix, which had two buzzy shows in contention, “House of Cards” and “Orange Is the New Black.”
Host Seth Meyers opened the show by commenting on all the digital upstarts that are suddenly upending the television landscape, but the resounding message from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences was: The establishment still rules. At least, for now. And so, at the Governors Ball, just like at the awards, it was the network stars that dominated the Los Angeles Convention Center — Julianna Margulies, Claire Danes, Jon Hamm, Idris Elba, Jessica Lange, Mark Ruffalo, Amy Poehler and Edie Falco were all there.
“I’m starving. I want a hot plate,” said a mock-exasperated Margulies, who during her speech thanked the writers on “The Good Wife,” “who never cease to amaze me with 22 episodes a year.” It was a perceived jab at all those miniseries on cable that get away with much fewer episodes.
Elsewhere, Lauren Parsekian sat by herself while her husband Aaron Paul was still in the press room chatting with reporters about the sweep by “Breaking Bad.” Paul eventually appeared, triumphantly holding his Emmy in the air and joined cowinners Bryan Cranston and Anna Gunn. Controlled chaos broke out as fans and photographers crowded around the cast — “Can we get security around table 401?” radioed one event organizer.
“I’m feeling like I want a glass of Champagne,” said Gunn. How long did she plan to stay out? “For a while, because this is the last time to really have this celebration all together.”
The broadcast network veteran Allison Janney, who won the best supporting actress award for the sitcom “Mom,” her second Emmy this week, was still soaking up the moment. “I’m pinching myself,” she said, but that didn’t mean she planned to live it up for too long. “I could stay here for a little bit and then go to the HBO party because it’s on my way home. Or I could just go back. I want to get home to my dogs.” She must have gone home to the dogs because she was nowhere to be found at the Pacific Design Center. Besides the cast from “Veep,” some of cable’s other best-known faces were there, including Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Amanda Crew, Judd Apatow, Anna Chlumsky, Peter Dinklage and Natalie Dormer, as well as one Netflix interloper, Kate Mara, though technically her character was killed off in the second season of “House of Cards.” Elba, a nominee for “Luther,” screamed “Cary, Cary, Cary” after Cary Fukunaga to congratulate him for his best director win for “True Detective.”
“I’m over the moon,” Fukunaga said. “People tend to say they don’t care about these awards — Emmys, Golden Globes, Oscars or whatever. I think everyone wants to be recognized for the work they do. Whether it be their boss, their parents, or recognized in their industry.”
And, as everyone knows, “Peer recognition is the highest form of flattery.”