Emmys Awards: Live coverage

Breaking news: Charlie Sheen came on stage at the 63rd annual Emmys on Sunday and didn't do anything outrageous.

In fact, he wished the best to his old series, "Two and Half Men," saying "From the bottom of my heart, I wish you nothing but the best for this upcoming season," and added, "I know you will continue to make great television."

He was there to present the Emmy for lead actor in a comedy series, a category in which he had been nominated before for his former series. The honor went to Jim Parsons for his second consecutive Emmy as the brilliant geek on CBS' "The Big Bang Theory."

Until that moment, it was "Modern Family'"s night at the Nokia Theatre.

The first four trophies went to the ABC comedy series about a delightfully dysfunctional family.

First were the onscreen husband and wife Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen, who won supporting actor and actress in a comedy series.

"Oh, my God, are you KIDDING me?" said Bowen, wearing a plunging green sequined gown, holding aloft her first Emmy trophy. "I don't know what I am going to talk about in therapy next week, I won something!"

It was also the first win for Burrell, who was by contrast calm and reflective as he noted that his father had passed away before he ever saw his son perform. "I wonder what he'd think of this," Burrell said, musing that his father would be surprised that he goes to work in full makeup every day at work.

Another first-time winner was Michael Spiller, who won for directing the comedy series. And Steve Levitan and Jeffrey Richman won for comedy writing for a much-talked-about episode in which the kids caught their parents in bed together getting busy.

In other honors, CBS' "Amazing Race" returned to the winner's circle, picking up the Emmy for reality-competition series. Last year, it's reign ended when Bravo's "Top Chef" took the honor. Until then, it had won seven years in a row -- every year since the category was created.

And Don Roy King from "Saturday Night Live" scored his second straight win for directing of a variety, music or comedy series.

For the ninth year in a row, Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" won for variety, music or comedy series. "We're acutely aware of how fortunate we are to win this once," much less again and again, Stewart said. The show also won for variety, music or comedy series writing.

The most laughs of the evening went to the presentation for lead actress in a comedy series. When each nominee was announced, all six of them rushed the stage like they were finalists in a beauty pagent. Among them: Edie Falco, Tina Fey, Laura Linney, Amy Poehler and Martha Plimpton. But the honor went to Melissa McCarthy for CBS' "Mike & Molly." Not only was she given the award, they also put a crown on her head and a bouquet of roses in her arms. "Holy smokes!" she exclaimed. "It's my first and best pageant ever."

The big question of the night is how big a winner HBO will be. It has become something of a tradition to watch the pay TV channel walk off as the big winner at the Emmy Awards. And the same is likely to hold true this year.

HBO scored a record 104 Emmy nominations last July, with its lavish remake of James M. Cain's 1941 melodrama "Mildred Pierce" earning 21 nods and its freshman period gangster drama "Boardwalk Empire" capturing 18 nominations.

By contrast, HBO's pay rival Showtime scored 21 nominations, including lead comedy actress nominations for Edie Falco for "Nurse Jackie" and Laura Linney for "The Big C."

HBO already took home 15 awards Sept. 10 at the Creative Arts Emmys, including seven for "Boardwalk Empire," which has a shot at ending the three-year domination of AMC's "Mad Men" as drama series.

But don't count "Mad Men" out. It earned the most nominations of any dramatic series -- 19 in all. It could also finally be star Jon Hamm's year to take home the statuette for his performance as ad executive Don Draper.

Also looking to break such a streak: Steve Carell has never won an Emmy for lead actor in a comedy series as the eccentric boss Michael Scott on NBC's "The Office." It will be a last shot for Carell, who left the series near the conclusion of the seventh season. (Ricky Gervais, the co-creator and star of the original British series, has been very vocal in his opinion that Carell deserves the Emmy.)

But Carell has competition, including last year's winner, Jim Parsons of "The Big Bang Theory", or maybe even Louis C.K. for his darkly comedic FX series, "Louie."

Other races to watch are comedy series -- the nominees are "30 Rock," "The Big Bang Theory," "Glee," "Modern Family," which was last year's winner, and "The Office" -- and lead actress in a drama series. That race pits Kathy Bates for "Harry's Law" against Connie Britton for "Friday Night Lights," Mariska Hargitay for "Law & Order: SVU," Julianna Margulies for "The Good Wife," Elisabeth Moss for "Mad Men" and Mireille Enos for "The Killing."