HBO Tops 2010 Creative Arts Emmys, ABC Leads Broadcast Networks, Show Airs August 27 on E!

HBO topped the list of winners at the 2010 Creative Arts Emmy Awards with 17 golden statuettes, followed by ABC with 15.

Leading the recipients of multiple awards was HBO's World War II epic The Pacific, with seven Emmys. The 10-part miniseries led all Emmy nominees this year with 24.

The ceremony was held at NOKIA theatre L.A. LIVE in downtown Los Angeles. The event will air as a two-hour special on Friday, August 27, at 1:00 p.m. (ET/PT), on E! Entertainment Television.

Instead of a single host, the show was guided by a series of presenting pairs made up of stars and show-runners from more than a dozen television programs of today — and one influential classic, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.

In the order of their appearance they were: Jane Lynch and Ryan Murphy (Glee), John Lithgow and Clyde Phillips (Dexter), Christina Hendricks and Matthew Weiner (Mad Men), Stana Katic and Andrew Marlowe (Castle), Mel B and Conrad Green (Dancing with the Stars), Neil Patrick Harris and Adam Shankman (The 82nd Annual Academy Awards), Mary Lynn Rajskub and Joel Surnow (24), Erika Christensen and Seth Green (Robot Chicken), Elizabeth Mitchell and Damon Lindelof (Lost), Vanessa Williams and Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives), Anna Gunn and Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad), Jake Harris, Josh Harris and Thom Beers (Deadliest Catch), Andy Samberg and Seth Meyers (Saturday Night Live), Terry Jones, Bill Jones and Ben Timlett (Monty Python: Almost The Truth), Bonnie Blair and Don Mischer (Opening Ceremonies for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games), Lily Tomlin and George Schlatter (Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In), Rico Rodriguez and Steven Levitan (Modern Family) and Jillian Michaels and Mark Koops (The Biggest Loser).

The majority of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, which honor excellence in more than 70 categories, are dedicated to key technical disciplines and behind-the-scenes crafts essential to television production — including art direction, cinematography, hairstyling, makeup, music, picture editing, sound editing and mixing, special visual effects, stunts and more.

Awards are also handed out for animation, commercials, reality series and other programming, as well as four acting categories. Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series went to Ann-Margret for NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series went to Betty White for NBC’s Saturday Night Live; Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series went to John Lithgow for Showtime’s Dexter; and Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series went to Neil Patrick Harris for Fox's Glee.

This year, there were two recipients of the prestigious Governors Award, which is given annually to individuals or organizations committed to important social causes: one to Ad Council, creator of numerous groundbreaking public-service announcements, and one to Norman Brokaw, chairman emeritus of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment.

Another special Emmy, the Syd Cassyd Founders Award, was bestowed for only the tenth time ever, this time to longtime Television Academy senior vice president of awards, John Leverence.

Outstanding Children’s Program went to Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, a feature-length version of the popular comedy series about a New York family with supernatural powers. Outstanding Children’s Nonfiction Program was “The Face of Courage: Kids Living with Cancer,” an installment of Nickelodeon’s Nick News with Linda Ellerbee.

This marked the sixth Emmy — and third in a row — for Nick News with Linda Ellerbee, which won last year for the episode titled “Coming Home: When Parents Return from War.”

ABC’s Disney Prep & Landing, an animated holiday special about two elves who prepare the way for Santa Claus, was named Outstanding Animated Program.

Outstanding Short Form Animated Program went to Cartoon Network’s Robot Chicken.

Outstanding Reality Program was presented to Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, in which British chef Jamie Oliver went to a West Virginia town with the mission of improving its citizens’ diet and nutrition.

The winner for Outstanding Commercial was “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” a spot for Old Spice Body Wash starring former NFL wide receiver Isaiah Mustafa. The production company was MJZ, and for the second consecutive year the advertising agency was Wieden + Kennedy.

For the third consecutive year, the winner for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program was Jeff Probst of Survivor.

Outstanding Nonfiction Special was won by the HBO production Teddy: In His Own Words, about former Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, who died almost a year ago to the day, August 25, 2009.

Outstanding Nonfiction Series went to PBS’s The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, produced by iconic documentarian Ken Burns. The series also received the award for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming, which went to Dayton Duncan.

Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking went to another PBS production, Nerakhoon (The Betrayal), about the members of a Laotian family forced to leave their homeland due to the secret war waged there by the U.S.

Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming went to Barak Goodman for still another PBS production, My Lai.

Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report took the prize for Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Special, and Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Special went to Don Roy King for the episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Betty White.

“The Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Digital Experience” from the NBC.com, won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Media — Fiction for the second consecutive year. In addition, Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Media — Nonfiction went to “Star Wars: Uncut,” from StarWarsUncut.com.

Among the music categories, Randy Newman took the Emmy for original music and lyrics win for the song "When I'm Gone," from the final episode of the USA series Monk. In addition, Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music was shared by longtime collaborators Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman for Showtime's Nurse Jackie. Prior to working in film and television, Melvoin and Coleman spent many years in the pop music world, including a stint with Prince.

The 63rd Annual Tony Awards telecast was named Outstanding Special Class Program, with Emmys going to executive producers Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss, and to host Neil Patrick Harris. The award made it two Emmys on the night for Harris, who earned the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series award for his performance in Glee as a disgruntled former member of McKinley High's glee club whose return to the school years later threatens to end the group.

At the Primetime Emmys on August 29, Harris will have a chance to make it three Emmys this year when he vies for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for CBS' How I Met Your Mother.

In the other acting categories, White earned her fifth career Emmy for an array of performances as host of the June 8, 2010, episode of SNL.

Lithgow was honored for his Dexter performance as Arthur Mitchell, a seemingly benign family man who is actually a notorious serial killer known as the “Trinity Killer” for his pattern of murdering in threes. The award was the fifth career Emmy for Lithgow — he previously won three times for 3rd Rock from the Sun and once for Amazing Stories.

In her guest role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Ann-Margret played an alcoholic, drug-addicted hoarder who may hold information crucial to a case. The award was the first Emmy for Ann-Margret, who was nominated five times before.

This marked four consecutive years that Law & Order: Special Victims Unit was honored in this category. Ann-Margret followed Ellen Burstyn, who took the Emmy last year, Cynthia Nixon, who won in 2008, and Leslie Caron, who prevailed in 2007.

The winner for Outstanding Voice Over Performance was Anne Hathaway, for the role of Princess Penelope in the episode of The Simpsons titled “Once Upon a Time in Springfield.”

Joining The Pacific among programs with multiple wins were Disney Prep & Landing with four, Modern Family, Saturday Night Live and The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concert with three; 24, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Dancing with the Stars, Generator Rex, Glee, Mad Men, Return to Cranford (Masterpiece), So You Think You Can Dance, Survivor, Temple Grandin, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, The Simpsons, The Tudors and Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony with two each.

Rounding out the night’s winners after HBO’s 17 Emmys and ABC’s 15 were Fox with nine; CBS, NBC and PBS with seven; Showtime with five; Cartoon Network with four; AMC and Discovery with two; and A&E, Comedy Central, Disney Channel, History, NBC.com, Nickelodeon, StarWarsUncut.com, USA and VEVO.com with one each.

This year’s executive producers were Steve Venezia, chair of the Creative Arts Awards Committee, and vice chairs Frank Scherma and Mark Watters. The producer — for the 16th time — was Spike Jones, Jr. Chris Donovan directed the show.

The Primetime Emmy Awards telecast, hosted by Jimmy Fallon, will air live coast-to-coast on NBC on Sunday, August 29 (5-8 p.m. PT, 8-11 p.m. ET), from NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE in downtown Los Angeles. The executive producer is Don Mischer

A complete list of this year's nominees and winners is available here.