As expected, “Breaking Bad” and “Modern Family” won the top honors of Best Drama and Best Comedy at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards, but the many upsets in the acting categories were the biggest stories of the night.

Arguably the biggest surprise was when Jeff Daniels of “The Newsroom” beat heavy hitters Bryan Cranston, Damian Lewis and Kevin Spacey to take the troph for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama. Bobby Cannavale also upset in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama category with his win for “Boardwalk Empire.”

The winners of the women’s races were more expected, as Claire Danes won her second consecutive Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama category for playing Carrie Mathison on “Homeland” and Anna Gunn won Outstanding  Supporting Actress in a Drama for “Breaking Bad.”

The award for Outstanding Writer for a Drama Series went to the late Henry Bromell for “Homeland.” David Fincher won best direction of a drama series for “House of Cards,” the only Netflix series that won.

On the comedy side, Jim Parsons won his third Emmy for playing lead Sheldon Cooper on “The Big Bang Theory.” Julia Louis-Dreyfus took home Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy for “Veep,” tying Lucille Ball with her fourth Emmy win (before this, she had one each for “Veep,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine” and “Seinfeld).

For the first time in three years, no actor on “Modern Family” won in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy category. Tony Hale won the award for “Veep” and Merrit Wever received the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy award for “Nurse Jackie.”

“Modern Family” won an additional prize as Gail Mancuso took home the award for comedy directing. Tina Fey and Tracey Wigfield won Outstanding Writer for a Comedy Series for the series finale of “30 Rock.”

The movie and miniseries categories were dominated by Behind the Candelabra. The film won Outstanding Miniseries/Movie and Michael Douglas won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Movie or Miniseries for his portrayal of Liberace in the movie. Steven Soderbergh also won Outstanding Director for a Miniseries/Movie for the film.

The other movie and miniseries categories spread the wealth. Laura Linney won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries/Movie for “The Big C: Hereafter.” James Cromwell received Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries /Movie for “American Horror Story: Asylum.” Ellen Burstyn took home Outstanding Supporting  Actress in a Miniseries/Movie for “Political Animals.” Finally, Abi Morgan won Outstanding Writer for a Miniseries/Movie for the British series “The Hour.”

There were first-time winners in both the reality competition and variety categories. “The Voice” bested perennial winner “The Amazing Race” in the reality competition category. Meanwhile, “The Colbert Report” ended the 10-year reign of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” as the Outstanding Variety Show.

Host Neil Patrick Harris performed several song-and-dance routines centered on the nominees. The nominated choreographers also performed a dance number tribute to the year in television

The night featured remembrances of many television stars who passed away in the past year, including James Gandolfini, Cory Monteith, Jean Stapleton, Gary David Goldberg and Jonathan Winters.