Did Anyone See This Coming?

Well... that happened. In an upset that will leave television critics spinning in their Twitter accounts for days, Jeff Daniels took home the 2013 Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in an Emmy. That's right — despite Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston's lock on the category for the past three years, The Newsroom actor picked up the trophy.

Of all the categories in 2013's Emmy race, the award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series was perhaps the year's closest. Would the award go to Cranston? To Damian Lewis, whose turn as the duplicitous Brody in Homeland took home the gold at last year's Emmys, or Kevin Spacey, in a momentous win for the Netflix-produced drama House of Cards? Would Jon Hamm finally be rewarded for his iconic work as the suave, emotionally mangled Don Draper? Nope — instead, it was Daniels, who brought in the award for his performance as Will McAvoy in HBO's The Newsroom.

So, what happened? Did Cranston and Hamm split the votes, like when two popular guys from the same friend group ran for Homecoming king in high school and the dark horse journalism nerd won instead? Daniels seemed as surprised as anyone as he approached the stage — an "oh crap" was indeed uttered (and seconded by all of us) — and made mention of a fictional golden barcalounger awarded to him by the AARP. And, of course, there was the prerequisite mention that Aaron Sorkin "makes it matter and makes it count." Is it wrong for us to wish the Emmy voters' counts in this category didn't count?