Modern Family takes home five Emmys

If, after 48 episodes, there was still any doubt that “Modern Family” is the most adored sitcom on television, it was eliminated here at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday night.The telecast began with four awards in a row to members of the “Modern Family” team, and it ended the same way it did last year, with the two-year-old show being named the best comedy on television.Backstage, the show’s co-creator, Steven Levitan, said the sweep was “a little surreal.” Referring to all the Emmy statuettes that might show up on the set on Monday morning, he joked, “We’re getting a label maker tonight.”The Emmy Awards also reaffirmed the television industry’s respect for AMC’s “Mad Men,” naming it television’s best drama for the fourth year in a row despite stiff competition from a pair of HBO dramas, “Boardwalk Empire” and “Game of Thrones.” Clutching his statue, Matthew Weiner, the creator of “Mad Men,” told the audience, “I did not think that was going to happen.”The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences voters also recognized the end of “Friday Night Lights,” the acclaimed DirecTV and NBC drama, by awarding Emmys to Kyle Chandler, who played Coach Eric Taylor, and to Jason Katims, the head writer of the series.But from start to finish, it felt like a night for “Modern Family.” At one point the show’s host, Jane Lynch of Fox’s “Glee,” said, “Welcome back to the ‘Modern Family’ awards.”Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen, who play a lovable — and lovably flawed — husband and wife on “Modern Family,” won the awards for best supporting actor and actress; Michael Alan Spiller won a directing award; Mr. Levitan and Jeffrey Richman, two of the top writers on the series, won for an episode called “Caught in the Act.”Onstage, Ms. Bowen reacted in much the same way that her character, Claire Dunphy, probably would: “I don’t know what I’m going to talk about in therapy next week now!”Ms. Lynch was among those nominated in the best supporting actress category. She came onstage after a commercial break and said she wanted to amend what she had said on the red carpet minutes earlier about there being no losers at the Emmys.“There are losers, and I am one,” she said. “It hurts. If I didn’t have to host the rest of the show, I’d be at home by now eating a tub of turkey meatballs in the dark. I would.”In the best comedy category, "Modern Family" beat out a prior three-time winner, NBC’s “30 Rock,” and a perceived runner-up last year, “Glee." Accepting the writing award early in the evening, Mr. Richman delivered a thank-you message to “our brilliant cast and crew for your dedication, your genius and your kindness.”Winners in the drama categories included Margo Martindale, for a supporting role on FX’s “Justified”; Peter Dinklage for a supporting role on “Game of Thrones”; and Martin Scorsese for directing the first episode of “Boardwalk Empire.”Mr. Scorsese’s award wound up being the only major win for “Boardwalk Empire.” He told reporters backstage that he would like to direct more episodes of the series.Sunday felt like a final finale for “Friday Night Lights,” which wrapped up production a year ago but was nominated for the first time in the best drama category. The night before the awards show, members of the show’s production met up at a restaurant in Hollywood — Dillon’s, like the name of the Texas town where “Friday Night Lights” is set — for what Mr. Chandler called a casual get-together. They took over half the bar, he said, and “said thank you one more time.”