One thing is clear about the 2014 Emmy Awards: Most of the winners were pretty sure they were going to win. Many champs last night had won previously, and most of them were favored to win again. It made for an anticlimactic evening, but some of these thespians were better able to feign surprise than others. But who was the least surprised winner of all? We rank the top five.
5. Aaron Paul
Look, I clap and dance every time Aaron Paul gets to give a speech. He's a great actor with a seemingly great attitude who seems like he's obsessed with his job. Although I believe he was genuinely disoriented when he took the stage, he name-checked his nominees so quickly that it's clear he was pretty sure he'd be visiting the dais that night. Still: “Price is Right” Aaron Paul forever.
4. Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Surely when you plan a theatrical smooch with Bryan Cranston before you hit the stage (and a subsequent one-liner), you're pretty sure you're about to win an award. But JLD has been a habit of good award prep. Remember the year she motioned to her costars offstage as if they were her yes-men characters on “Veep”? Or that time Amy Poehler gave her a speech to read? Both were classics, and this is another gem in her Emmy-heavy history.
3. Ty Burrell
Confession about Ty Burrell: There are times when he is really, really, rally attractive. He has a sinisterness. And perfect eyebrows. It works for him. Trust. But man, he popped right into that “Oh, these crazy kids wrote me a speech bit!” the second he hit the stage. It was like Julie Bowen hit “play” and he was off. Cute jokes, but it was an oddly canned speech for the first podium of the night.
2. Bryan Cranston
See, this is how you do a prepared Emmy moment. Cranston didn't oversell a moment of his cool, sincere speech, yet he must've been 100% positive he was going home with the trophy that night (particularly after costars Aaron Paul and Anna Gunn won too).
1. Jim Parsons
The richest man on TV was also the least surprised winner in the room. The impeccably dressed “Big Bang Theory” star practically felt like a radio commercial actor as he whizzed through his acknowledgements with the breezy, unembellished flair of a pro. Good for Parsons, but sigh: This was an especially predictable evening.