The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards aired last night. This year’s edition had almost the same nominations as last yea couple with the same projected winners, and only a few surprises.

For her role in United States of Tara, Australian born actress Toni Collette walked away from the Emmy Awards with the prize for the best actress in a comedy series.

Collette said the thought of winning an Emmy for best female actress in a comedy never crossed her mind.

Best actor went to Alec Baldwin for his role in the comedy 30 Rock, a series which is set amidst a fictional TV show. The NBC comedy had the most nominations this year with 22 total.

Tina Fey failed in her attempt to win best actress for the comedy, but she was still honoured for her Sarah Palin impersonation.

Little Dorrit, from the BBC, received several awards, including the best mini-series.

The TV show was also awarded for best art direction, costumes and cinematography.

Executive producer Anne Pivcevic said that the they were very happy with Little Dorrit’s popularity in North America.

Irish actor Brendan Gleeson, for portraying Winston Churchill in Into The Storm, was awarded the Emmy for the outstanding lead actor in a mini-series or movie.

Kristin Chenoweth won the best supporting comedy actress despite her show, Pushing Daisies, has now been cancelled.

Chenoweth said that since she’s currently unemployed, she’d like a position on ‘Mad Men’. She also added that she like ‘The Office’ and ‘24′.

Two and a Half Men’s Jon Cryer won best supporting comedy actor.

Cryer said that he used to think that awards were just meaningless symbols of momentary popularity, but the actor now joked that they are the only true measure of a person’s worth as a human being.

HBO set a record this year with a total of 99 nominations.