Honors for ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Modern Family’

LOS ANGELES â€" On Sunday, a mere seven days before its very last episode, AMC’s “Breaking Bad” finally earned the outstanding drama Emmy award that it had been denied for years.

As Bryan Cranston, who plays Walter White, the show’s lead character, applauded behind him onstage, the show’s creator, Vince Gilligan, said he “did not see this coming.” Mr. Gilligan rattled off the names of the other nominees, including “Mad Men,” the AMC sibling that beat “Breaking Bad” in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and “Homeland,” the Showtime series that beat both of them last year, making sure to mention every competitor. “I thought this was going to be ‘House of Cards,’” he admitted, mentioning the Netflix series that has been credited with ushering in a new age of online television.

But no, it was not Netflix’s night. It was Mr. Gilligan’s, whose show made its debut in 2008 and had been nominated for the top drama prize three times since, but had never won. Mr. Gilligan did not mention the impending finale next Sunday, but he did not have to â€" the award was a free advertisement before an anticipated audience of at least 10 million viewers.

"I’m just so happy for Vince," AMC’s president, Charlie Collier, said as he exited the Nokia Theater.

Until Mr. Gilligan’s acceptance speech at the very end of the Emmys on Sunday, it looked as if “Breaking Bad” might come away almost empty-handed. There were audible gasps of “Whoa!” and “What?” in the auditorium here as Jeff Daniels of HBO’s “The Newsroom” won the annual outstanding actor in a drama award, besting Mr. Cranson, who had won three times before and was widely expected to win again. Mr. Daniels sounded as surprised as anyone when he accepted the award; he had not expected to win.

Neither had Bobby Cannavale, of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire;” in fact he had not even written an acceptance speech. But he beat two “Breaking Bad” actors, Aaron Paul and Jonathan Banks, in the supporting actor category. “I can’t believe I get to get mentioned with these other really incredible actors,” Mr. Cannavale said.

But “Breaking Bad” did pick up one acting award, for Anna Gunn, who plays Walter White’s wife, Skyler, and was recognized as best supporting actress. (“Bryan Cranston just told me to breathe,” she said as she came on stage.)

To the surprise of many Emmy observers, the two stars of “House of Cards,” Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, came away without awards. The filmmaker David Fincher, who directed the first episode of “Cards,” won an Emmy for best directing, but he was not there to accept it. (A Netflix spokesman said he was filming “Gone Girl.”)

But the wins for “Breaking Bad” might be seen indirectly as wins for Netflix, too: five prior seasons of the AMC series are available on the streaming service. Minutes after “Bad” won the best drama award, the widely followed Netflix Twitter account congratulated the show â€" “All hail (this year’s) king” â€" and reminded subscribers that they could catch up online.

Earlier in the evening, Showtime’s “Homeland,” which last year took home the Emmy for outstanding drama and was nominated again this year, won two awards, one for the actress Claire Danes and another for Henry Bromell, a writer on the series who died of a heart attack in March. Mr. Bromell’s widow, Sarah, accepted his award. Ms. Danes, accepting her award later, paused to acknowledge Mr. Bromell. “We think of him every day as we continue to work on the show that he helped define,” she said.

It was a night of upsets â€" with all-too-numerous remembrances of stars who had passed away in the past year â€" from the very first award, when Merritt Wever won for her supporting actress performance on Showtime’s “Nurse Jackie,” beating three-time winner Julie Bowen of “Modern Family” as well as Ms. Bowen’s co-star Sofia Vergara.

A version of this article appears in print on September 23, 2013, on page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: Honors for ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Modern Family’ .