When the 2013 Emmys kicked off on Sunday night, host Neil Patrick Harris was not performing a musical number.  This was only the first of the night’s myriad of surprises.  This year’s Emmys received the award show’s highest ratings since 2005, with 17.6 million viewers tuning in.  Despite the high ratings, the show itself felt heavy.  Every winner was cut off mere seconds after beginning to speak, and there were no less than five memorials to honor deceased actors.

AMC’s Breaking Bad and ABC’s Modern Family received the biggest awards of the night for Best TV Drama and Best TV Comedy, respectively.  For the second year in a row, Claire Danes took home the award for Leading Actress in a Drama for Homeland, over fan-favorite Kerry Washington.  Jeff Daniels won for Leading Actor in a Drama for HBO’s The Newsroom.  For the third time in four years, Jim Parsons won the award for Leading Actor in a Comedy for his role of Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory; Julia Louis-Dreyfus won for Lead Actress in a Comedy.

Highlights of the night included Amy Poehler and Tina Fey mocking the struggle of wearing a gown by rolling onto the stage to present the night’s first award.  For the first time in the history of the Primetime Emmys, choreographers were honored.  Each of the nominees choreographed pieces inspired by the biggest shows on television.  The final product was an incredible dance that was entertaining and also conveyed what each show was about.  When Julia Louis-Dreyfus accepted her award, she did so in character with Tony Hale (who plays her assistant on Veep) whispering tips into her ear.  By far, the best moment of the night was when Will Ferrell presented the awards for Best TV Drama and Comedy.  He did so in a t-shirt and flip flops, with his three sons onstage with him because he “couldn’t find childcare.” Ferrell never ceases to stir up some laughter.

Overall, it seems that this year’s Emmy Awards show had very mixed reviews, partially due to the fact that Neil Patrick Harris’ performance as host (in comparison with his at the Tony’s) did not quite meet the bar that had been set by anxiously-waiting viewers. On the other hand, fans roared as he showed off his talent in a musical number about half-way through the show. Also, the emphasis on choreographers was extremely exciting to see, as it put a deeper focus on the work that really goes into making a production happen. After all the surprises and additions of the night, will these high ratings be topped next year? It’s well known that viewership is highly based on who is chosen to host. However, this year’s show proved that the build-up of viewers is not necessarily enough to result in a great show, if the expectations cannot be met. Looks like next year’s Emmys’ host may have some pressure riding on him/her to blow the fans away!