LOS ANGELES, Sept 18 — The 70th Emmy Awards offered television fans plenty of surprises today, from an on-air proposal to a flurry of edgy political jokes and a clutch of unexpected winners.

The gala, television’s version of the Oscars, was expected to be a showdown between record-breaking fantasy epic Game of Thrones and last year’s best drama winner The Handmaid’s Tale.

But the ceremony in downtown Los Angeles quickly went off script, with sentimental favourite Matthew Rhys winning the Emmy for best drama actor for spy thriller The Americans and Claire Foy earning a statuette for The Crown.

In the comedy categories, two shows dominated the competition at the Microsoft Theatre: HBO dark comedy Barry and Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, with each taking home two acting prizes.

The top prizes for best drama and best comedy were yet to be handed out, but the three-hour gala already featured plenty of Twitter-worthy moments.

After the stars strutted up the red carpet, the show opened with a daring song-and-dance number poking fun at an array of hot-button issues in America.

"We solved it!” crooned Saturday Night Live nominees Kate McKinnon and Kenan Thompson, with back-up from pop stars John Legend and Ricky Martin — and even RuPaul —about the problem of diversity on the small screen.

They then yielded the stage to hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che — also regulars on the veteran NBC comedy sketch show — who let the zingers fly.

"This year, the audience is allowed to drink in their seats. Hope you’re excited about that — because the one thing Hollywood needs right now is a bunch of people losing their inhibitions at a work function,” Jost said, a reference to #MeToo.

In describing The Handmaid’s Tale, Che said Hulu’s dystopian drama "takes place in an imaginary future where an entire group of people is violently forced to work and make babies against their will.”

"It’s what black people call history. It’s Roots for white women,” he quipped, referring to the landmark 1970s television mini-series about slavery.

Fonzie wins!

It was an offbeat yet amusing start to the Primetime Emmys, which was unusually held on a Monday night.

Looking to boost audience ratings, organizers said they were hoping to shake up the format — and indeed they did, intentionally and unintentionally.

The early part of the night was dedicated to the comedy programs: sentimental favourite Henry Winkler, the Fonz in 1950s-set ABC sit-com Happy Days, won his first Emmy for his supporting work on Barry, a caustic tale of a hitman-turned-actor. Series star Bill Hader won the prize for best lead actor.

Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs Maisel won both for lead actress (Rachel Brosnahan) and supporting actress (Alex Borstein).

Drama showdown

Both GoT and Handmaid had picked up Emmys hardware before today: HBO’s blood-spattered smash hit won seven statuettes in technical categories at the Creative Arts Emmys a week ago, while Handmaid scooped up three.

At the gala, Peter Dinklage took home the best supporting actor prize for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister on GoT, which was ineligible last year.

Thandie Newton won the best supporting actress in a drama statuette for her work on HBO’s futuristic western Westworld.

"I don’t even believe in god but I’m going to thank her tonight,” Newton quipped.

As expected, Darren Criss won the star-studded race for best actor in a limited series or movie for his searing work on FX’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace as the designer’s killer Andrew Cunanan.

It was a big night for the true-crime show, which also took home best limited series.

And Saturday Night Live won the award for best variety sketch series.

For best drama, the nominees are GoT, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Americans, Westworld, The Crown, Netflix retro sci-fi mystery Stranger Things, and NBC family saga This is Us.

TV history in making

With its eight Emmys so far this year, GoT — which will return in 2019 for an abbreviated eighth and final season — now has 46 Emmys overall.

In the emerging battle of traditional networks vs new platforms, streaming giant Netflix ended HBO’s 17-year streak of leading the Emmy nominations, with 112 to the premium cable network’s 108.

After last week’s Creative Arts Emmys, HBO has won 17 statuettes to Netflix’s 16. — AFP