Present-day drama takes awards at Emmys Shows with more than a hint of contemporary reality won big at the 2012 Emmy awards, with "Homeland" and "Modern Family" grabbing several awards apiece. "Homeland" and its mixture of post 9-11 psychological thriller and couple in crisis themes won six awards. including actor's honours for Britain's Damien Lewis and Claire Danes. The show is reportedly President Obama's favourite. By winning "Homeland" ended the reign of "Mad Men," but it also fought off "Game of Thrones" and "Downton Abbey" in what has been a vintage year for US TV productions. This year was also the first time the drama category was entirely made up of shows made for cable channels. Four awards went to "Game Change," a miniseries about the rise of Sarah Palin with Julianne Moore playing the bear-shooting hockey mom. Moore thanked the original Palin impersonator, Tina Fey, backstage. "This story is not so much about Sarah Palin as it is about our political process, and I think it's very interesting now, in this election year, just doing an examination about how we pick our leaders, so that to me was what was so compelling about this film," said Moore in her speech. "Modern Family" made it a hat-trick of wins for best comedy show for the third year running, and picked up three other awards including best director. Kevin Costner won for his first-ever TV role in the History Channel's "Hatfields and McCoys," which also saw co-star Tom Berenger win a best supporting actor prize. And Jon Stewart brought the house down as usual with his antics, with a little help from Stephen Colbert and friends, who wrestled him to the floor when he tried to go on stage. More about: Awards, Emmy awards, Television, USA