ABC's Emmy Award Audience Increases Over Last Year

Although this was the first year that none of the programs nominated for Best Drama Series were from major broadcast networks, the audience for Sunday night's 64th annual Primetime Emmy Awards on ABC was slightly larger than FOX's telecast last year.

The broadcast drew 13.2 million viewers, up six percent from the previous year, but the show declined ten percent to a 3.8 rating among the all-important demographic of adults 18-49. This number represents a tie with the all-time Emmys low that was hit in 2008.

While the show was a hit-and-miss from a creative standpoint, the producers kept everything moving on schedule and wrapped it up in the allotted three hours. Of course, that meant playing music to cut off some of the winners' acceptance speeches, including the Modern Family team after their Best Comedy Series victory and Julianne Moore, who earned a Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie trophy for her performance as Sarah Palin in HBO's Game Change.

Comedian and late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel did an admirable job as master of ceremonies, although a social media prank in which Kimmel encouraged viewers to tweet about Tracy Morgan passing out onstage fell flat and did nothing to increase viewership. On the other hand, most of the pre-taped skits—most notably the re-imagining of AMC's Breaking Bad along the lines of The Andy Griffith Show—were well received by the live audience.

For the full list of Emmy Award winners and losers, as well as our own commentary on the happenings last night, stay tuned to TVRage!