AMC’s glossy 1960s Madison Avenue saga “Mad Men,” which last year became the first basic cable show to win a top series award, won the best drama trophy for a second time.

“It is an amazing time to work in TV,” said “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner. “And, I know that everything is changing, but I’m not afraid of it because I feel like all these different media is just more choice and more entertainment. It’s better for the viewers in the end and I’m glad to be a part of it.”

NBC’s “30 Rock,” a satirical take on life inside a TV variety show, was honored for the third time as best comedy series, while star Alec Baldwin won his second award as best comedy actor.

“We want to thank our friends at NBC for keeping us on the air … even though we are so much more expensive than a talk show,” said “30 Rock” creator and star Tina Fey, a sly reference to Jay Leno’s new daily prime-time comedy show, which NBC notes is cheaper to produce than a scripted series – a fact that has irked some members of the creative side of the industry.

Glenn Close’s performance as a ruthless trial attorney on “Damages” and Bryan Cranston’s turn as a meth-making, cancer-stricken teacher on “Breaking Bad” were honored with the top drama series acting Emmys, the second consecutive awards for both.

“Oh my goodness,” exclaimed Cranston. “I’m a poor kid from the valley. I don’t know what I’m doing up here. I feel like Cinder-fella.”

Close called it a “huge privilege” to be part of entertainment community, then tweaked her show’s writers, saying her role is “maybe the character of my lifetime, depending on what they do this season.”

Michael Emerson, who plays the cruelly devious Ben on “Lost,” and Cherry Jones, the stalwart U.S. president on “24,” were honored as best supporting actors in drama series.

“Wowza,” Jones said. Emerson accepted his award for what he called “the role of my lifetime.”

Toni Collette of Showtime’s “United States of Tara” was honored as best lead actress in a comedy series for her role as a mother with multiple personalities, providing a rare incumbent defeat by depriving Fey from consecutive wins in the category for “30 Rock.” But Fey took the stage a few moments later to acknowledge a guest actor award she received for her Sarah Palin impersonation on “Saturday Night Live.”

Kristin Chenoweth of “Pushing Daisies” and Jon Cryer of “Two and a Half Men” won supporting acting Emmys for their comedies and proved that acceptance speeches can be entertaining.

“I’m not employed now so I’d like to be on `Mad Men.’ I also like `The Office’ and `24,’” said Chenoweth, alternating between tears and smiles as she accepted for her canceled ABC series. “Thank you so much to the academy for recognizing a show that’s no longer on the air.”

Chenoweth later was examined by paramedics because she felt a migraine coming on, her publicist said. But the actress felt better after lying down and was considering take part in some of Sunday’s post-Emmy activities, spokeswoman Meghan Prophet said.

Cryer, whose series is the most-watched comedy on TV, brought a wry tone to his speech.

“I used to think that awards were just shallow tokens of momentary popularity, but now I realize they are the only true measure of a person’s worth as a human being,” said Cryer, who turned the win over fellow nominee Harris into a funny bit of onstage banter with the “How I Met Your Mother” star.

“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” won the trophy for best variety, music or comedy series, its seventh in a row. Also keeping its amazing streak alive: “The Amazing Race,” which won its seventh consecutive Emmy in the outstanding reality-competition category, once again turning top-rated “American Idol” into an also-ran.

“Grey Gardens,” the story of a reclusive mother and daughter who were relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and the Dickens adaptation “Little Dorrit” won for best movie and miniseries, respectively.

Harris, who moved the show along with good-natured humor, started the evening on a lively note, performing “Don’t Touch That Remote,” a custom-made tune from Broadway composers Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman of “Hairspray” fame. Harris implored viewers to stay glued to the show and called attention to some of the stars in the house.

“I see legends galore, Lange, Barrymore,” Harris sang to Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore, later adding, “But like next season on `Idol’ I’m not seeing Paula Abdul.” Meanwhile, the camera panned to an empty seat at the Nokia Theatre.

Harris’ winning turn as host was lauded onstage by many, including Jeff Probst, honored as best reality show host for CBS’ “Survivor.” Probst was one of the five reality hosts who emceed the Emmys last year and received scathing reviews.

“Neil Patrick Harris, THIS is how you host the Emmys. Nice job,” Probst said, pointing his Emmy toward him.

An exception to the upbeat mood came in clips from animated series “Family Guy,” which showed the dog character Brian beaten bloody, followed by a reality show snippet with barely concealed swearing.

The TV academy, meanwhile, hoped to avoid an unwanted rerun of last year: paltry viewership. The 2008 ceremony was the least-watched ever with an audience of 12.3 million.

Acclaimed but low-rated series like “Mad Men” are seen as one reason viewers bypassed the awards, so major categories were expanded this year to increase the odds for more popular fare. There were as many as seven nominees per category, compared with the traditional five (the Oscars have made a similar play this year, expanding the best-picture category from five nominees to 10).

Harris and Emmy executive producer Don Mischer promised to keep the scheduled three-hour ceremony snappy, but they had less room to maneuver than planned. A TV academy proposal to pre-tape some acceptances and show them in a truncated version – gaining time for something more entertaining than speeches – was quashed by industry opposition.

HBO went into the ceremony as the awards leader after last weekend’s Creative Arts Primetime Emmys ceremony for technical and other achievements. The channel earned 16 trophies, followed by NBC with 11 and Fox and ABC with eight awards each. CBS, PBS and Cartoon Network had six each.

After Sunday, HBO emerged with a leading 21, followed by NBC with 16, ABC with 11 and Fox with 10. CBS and PBS had nine each.

Palin will appear Saturday on the show hosted by actor Josh Brolin, who plays President Bush in director Oliver Stone’s new movie, “W.”

A John McCain campaign spokeswoman, Jill Hazelbaker, on Friday confirmed Palin’s appearance but offered no details about what the Alaska governor will say or do.

“SNL” is a popular stop on the entertainment circuit for presidential candidates and their running mates. Obama has appeared briefly on the show, and Republican presidential candidate John McCain once hosted it.

“I can see Russia from my house.”

She didn’t quite say that, of course, but it’s close enough — not to mention funny, and memorable.

Thus I was counting on SNL to neatly sum up the vice-presidential debate between Palin and Joe Biden. They didn’t disappoint.

Sure, there were the expected shots at Palin: her non-answers, her lack of experience, her winks. But SNL is an equal-opportunity parodist, and one of my favorite moments poked fun at Biden.

Queen Latifah/ Ifill: “Do you support, as they do in Alaska, granting same-sex benefits to couples?”

Sudeikis/Biden: “I do. In an Obama-Biden administration same-sex couples
would be guaranteed the same property rights, rights to insurance, and
rights of ownership as heterosexual couples. There will be no distinction.
I repeat: NO DISTINCTION.”

Latifah/Ifill: “So to clarify, do you support gay marriage, Senator Biden?”

Sudeikis/Biden: (deadpan) “Absolutely not.”

Then, in case anyone missed the contrast, he follows up:

Sudeikis/Biden: “But I do think they should be allowed to visit one another in the hospital and in a lot of ways, that’s just as good, if not better.”

Again, this is not quite what the actual Biden said — but it’s close enough, not to mention funny, and memorable.

We’ve seen this before in the Democrats: on the one hand, trying to support full legal equality for same-sex couples, and other the other hand, trying to avoid the m-word at all costs. The result is an incoherent mess — one that gets messier when they try to explain the incoherence.

Consider, for instance, the actual Biden’s explanation of his and Obama’s opposition to full marriage equality. They don’t support same-sex marriage, Biden said, because that’s a decision “to be left to faiths and people who practice their faiths [to determine] what you call it.”

No, it isn’t. Because the question was not about religious marriage, it was about civil marriage — which in a free society is a matter for government, not religion.

I don’t mean to pick on the Democrats here. The only reason that the Republicans avoid getting into the same logical pretzel is that they don’t even try to make the argument for full equality under the law.

And while it’s true that both Obama and McCain oppose same-sex marriage at the federal level, Obama remains far ahead on gay issues: in supporting federal civil unions, in opposing “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell,” in opposing key portions of the “Defense of Marriage Act,” and in the kinds of federal judges and Supreme Court justices he is likely to appoint. Obama also opposes anti-gay state marriage amendments that McCain supports.

The question is how long we can politely pretend that his stance of “full legal equality but not marriage” makes sense, because it doesn’t. It didn’t when John Kerry used it in the last election, it didn’t when Hillary
Clinton, John Edwards, and Bill Richardson used it during the primaries, and it doesn’t now.

It doesn’t make logical sense, although I can see why some think it makes political sense.

Personally, I’m a political incrementalist. I believe in fighting for a half a loaf today and then regrouping to fight for the rest tomorrow, if the full loaf is genuinely not yet possible. That doesn’t mean I don’t find legal inequality demeaning: it just means that securing certain rights is more important to me than being an “all or nothing” purist.

So I’m willing to support the “half a loaf” politicians. I’m just not willing to pretend that they’re offering the full loaf, or to rest content when I get it. I’m not willing to settle for “separate but equal”­another oxymoron in this debate.

History teaches us what “separate but equal” does. It demeans one group by suggesting that they must be kept apart from others. But it also embodies a bigger problem: “separate but equal” never turns out really to be “equal.”

That was true during segregation, and it’s true now for civil unions — a newfangled status that, in practice, simply doesn’t grant full legal equality. We’ve learned this in case after case, as civil-union couples face legal issues with entities that don’t even understand their legal status, much less recognize it.

That’s why we need to keep fighting for full equality. Because in the end, there’s nothing funny about unequal treatment under the law.

John Corvino, Ph.D. is an author, speaker, and philosophy professor at Wayne State University in Detroit.

For over fifteen years he has traveled the country speaking on homosexuality and ethics. His writing has been featured in regional and national periodicals, at the online Independent Gay Forum, and in numerous scholarly anthologies. His column “The Gay Moralist” appears Fridays on 365gay.com.

For more about John Corvino, or to see clips from his “What’s Morally Wrong with Homosexuality?” DVD, visit www.johncorvino.com.

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Catch John Corvino as he lectures on gay rights and debates same-sex marriage with Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family:

October 14: Bridgewater State College (MA) 2 pm Moakley Auditorium
October 21: Valencia College (Orlando, FL) (DEBATE) details pending
October 22: Siena Heights University (Adrian, MI) 9 pm Ledwidge Building
October 23: Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo) 7:30 pm Kirsch Auditorium
October 30: Canisius College (DEBATE) (Buffalo NY) 7 pm Regis Conference Room