At the 2012 Emmy Awards night, the Hollywood's elite stars gathered together to celebrate their achievements that was full of laughter and tears.

The event's host, Jimmy Kimmel, did a decent job with his jokes getting funnier as the ceremony continued on. Meanwhile, the Emmy Award winners this year were somehow predictable but there were still a few surprises.

Here are some of the highlights and a summary as well of the winners for the 2012 Emmy Awards. During the acceptance speeches, the winners were more than normally thanking their significant others a lot by ensuring that the world knows they are appreciated. Aaron Paul, who looked shocked for his second Emmy win as Jesse Pinkman on "Breaking Man," thanked his fiancée for saving him making it a true cute and memorable moment.

Pregnant actress Claire Danes took home the Emmy Award for portraying Carrie Mathison in "Homeland" and she also gave out a memorable speech by thanking her husband Hugh Dancy. "My husband, my love, my life, my baby daddy, this doesn't mean anything without you," Danes said.

Meanwhile, an out of breath Jon Stewart gave his acceptance speech for "Outstanding Variety Show" and the TV host made the Emmy censors do something when he suddenly dropped the F-word.

"Homeland" defeated "Mad Men" as the Best Drama series at the awards night while "Modern Family" won its third-straight win fro Best Comedy. "Mad Men" was seeking its fifth-straight winning record at the Emmy Awards but was beaten by the first-season TV show drama that stars Claire Danes as a CIA agent and Damian Lewis as her investigation target.

Lewis' win denied Bryan Cranston of "Breaking Bad" his fourth Emmy Award as Lead Actor in a drama series. "I'm one of those pesky Brits, I apologize," said Lewis, who portrays an American in Showtime's espionage thriller. "I don't really believe in judging art but I thought I'd show up, just in case," Lewis added.

On the other hand, Maggie Smith was honored as Best Supporting Drama Actress for her tart-tongued dowager in "Downton Abbey." However, the 77-year old actress was not present at the ceremony to accept the honor.

On the comedic side, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jon Cryer were among the winners. Louis-Dreyfus won the Outstanding Lead Actress in a comedy series award for "Veep" while Cryer won the acting honor for "Two and a Half Men." Standup comic Louis C.K. won the Emmy as the Best Comedy Writing for "Louie" and for the special "Louis C.K. Live at the Beacon Theatre."

Among the reality TV show competitors, "The Amazing Race" was honored as the Best Reality Series with its ninth time in 10 nominations for the award. Meanwhile, Tom Bergeron of "Dancing With The Stars" won as Best Host of a Reality Series.

Julianne Moore earned her Best Actress honors with the uncanny take on Gov. Sarah Palin in the TV movie "Game Change" which was about the 2008 presidential campaign. Kevin Costner was named Best Actor for the history-based miniseries "Hatfields & McCoys" while Tom Berenger was named Best Supporting Actor for the said project. Jessica Lange won the Supporting Actress honors for "American Horror Story." ''Game Change" was crowned best miniseries/movie.

HBO came into the night with a leading 17 creative arts Emmy Awards at the ceremony that honored technical and other achievements. CBS came in second with 13 followed by PBS with 11. Discovery received six awards, NBC got five and ABC and the Cartoon Network won four awards each. Lastly, Fox received two trophies.

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