Primetime Emmys 2013: Backstage
Diane Haithman, Ray Richmond and Anthony D’Alessandro are contributing to Deadline’s TV coverage.
Related: Nikki Finke: Live-Snarking 65th Emmys
Just as it took HBO’s The Sopranos five seasons to finally cart off the outstanding drama series Emmy, so it was with AMC’s Breaking Bad finally earning the statuette in Season 5 amidst an outpouring of hype and fan frenzy greeting the show’s wrap-up next Sunday. Creator and showrunner Vince Gilligan was typically gracious in sharing the glory and deflecting credit onto the shoulders of many others in his backstage remarks. He also admitted that he was “stunned” to have won, making him perhaps the only one in the building to feel that way. “It was a wonderful surprise,” Gilligan said, despite his show being a heavy favorite with Emmy pundits going in. Why a surprise? “Because of the fact we were nominated among so many wonderful shows,” he replied. “This is a Golden Age of television, and it’s an absolute honor to be up here and to be working in the medium.” When a question was asked about his feelings about having beat a show (House Of Cards) airing on the Internet service Netflix, it inspired Gilligan to credit video streaming and social media for Breaking Bad‘s pop cultural explosion. He declared, “I don’t even think our show would have lasted beyond Season 2 without video streaming on demand and the Internet component of it and social media…I feel like Netflix kept us on the air. It held us in good stead. It’s a bold new era in television, and we’ve been fortunate to reap the benefits of the technological developments.” Gilligan was joined backstage by the entire Breaking Bad writing and production team, resulting in 19 people crowding around the microphone. But the spokespeople were Gilligan and star/producer Bryan Cranston, himself a three-time lead actor winner for the series who lost tonight. But Cranston didn’t seem too broken up by that loss. This is the answer to a wish and a prayer for me,” he said. “This win celebrates the entire writing team, the crew and the cast who have worked so hard for us for six years. We’re so proud to be a part of this — and what a way to go out!” Cranston also noted that being able to bring the words of the show’s writers to life has been the greatest thrill of his career. “When we read these scripts, it was like unwrapping a present,” he said. “The wonderful craftsmanship that these wonderful writers behind me were able to do (was fantastic). We are the mouthpieces of the writers. That’s what makes me so proud of what happened tonight. (more…)