The Emmy Awards 2012 has been and gone. The tuxedos dry cleaned and the dresses sold in ex-worn outlet stores, never to be donned by a star again for fear of the unwanted headlines. But hang on a minute; why aren’t the AMC Execs still shaking off a hangover? Why isn’t Bryan Cranston polishing his Emmy? Why in the great gods of television isn’t Jim Parsons heading to his Big Bang Theory rehearsals without an extra skip in his step?

It’s because none of them won! That’s why! And what a scandal that is. But what exactly happened? Well the Bryan Cranston one we can see; he’s won it before for the same character (Walter White), and Damien Lewis was quite something in Showtime’s terrorist drama Homeland, but did the show deserve the most prestigious award of Best Drama? Breaking Bad’s 4th season was truly something to behold. It had everything, and it’s not like the competition stopped there, with Mad Men vying for an unprecedented 5th award. But Homeland was the first season of a truly ground-breaking show: a drama that addressed a growing elephant in the rooms of many western citizens. Terrorism. Add to that the stellar performances – with Claire Danes picking up Best Actress as well - and we can just about understand the way the voters went.

Now, for the comedy awards, we’re not so sure. Modern Family was always going to win the big prize, and given that the ABC comedy had nearly a billion nominations* going into the ceremony, other wins were inevitable. However, Jim Parson’s portrayal of Sheldon Cooper has – alongside some incredibly snappy writing – carried The Big Bang Theory to beyond 100 episodes. With Charlie Sheen leaving, and Jon Cryer adopting a bigger role, he bagged the prize, but even he was surprised and shocked as he gave a press conference; big fat Emmy in his right hand. Oh, and Lena Dunham should have won too. Her performance in Girls sets new benchmarks for women comedy actors being allowed to ‘be’ different things. Now time to start predicting the 2013 awards…

*Modern Family had 14 nominations for The Emmys.