Homeland toppled Mad Men to win the top drama prize on Sunday as the Primetime Emmy awards favoured politics and 21st-century tensions over shows set in bygone eras.

Homeland is said to be one of President Barack Obama’s favourite TV shows

Modern Family, ABC’s show about the chaotic lives of three related couples and their children, won best comedy series for a third year and supporting actor Emmys for Eric Stonestreet and Julie Bowen, as well as a directing award.

“I am praying that everyone doesn’t get sick of us,” joked executive producer Steve Levitan.

Backstage, Stonestreet joked: “We know that eventually it will not be this way and you will hate us all.”

Homeland, a post-9/11 psychological thriller about a returning Iraq war hero turned by al-Qaeda, won best drama after one season on cable channel Showtime. It also took trophies for best writing and best acting for its two leads, Claire Danes and Damian Lewis, for a total of six including technical awards.

Homeland, said to be one of President Barack Obama’s favourite TV programmes, brought to an end the reign of AMC’s stylish 1960s advertising show Mad Men, which left Sunday’s Emmy ceremony empty-handed.

It was the biggest shutout in Emmy history for Mad Men, which had gone into Sunday’s awards as joint top nominee with 17 nominations.

Homeland also beat popular Downton Abbey, about aristocrats and their servants in an English country house, and HBO’s medieval fantasy series Game of Thrones, in what was the first year that all the nominated best drama series came from cable television.

Danes, who plays a bipolar CIA operative in a cat-and-mouse game with Lewis’s sleeper agent, said she believed Homeland had succeeded with viewers and critics because it was neither preachy nor overtly political.

“We are a little startled. I don’t think anyone was expecting to be recognised this way starting off,” Danes told reporters backstage.

The show doesn’t take a very biased position but it does speak to our feelings of anxiety and unrest right now, in the sense that we’re in a new era where the enemy is not so clear

“The show doesn’t take a very biased position but it does speak to our feelings of anxiety and unrest right now, in the sense that we’re in a new era where the enemy is not so clear.”

Danes said it was “way cool” that Obama is a fan. “I think it speaks to the relevancy of the show and it’s hugely validating,” she added.

Homeland returns for a second season on Sunday, with an opening episode set against the fictional bombing by Israel of Iranian nuclear facilities and the global tensions that ensue.

American politics did figure strongly in other Emmy races.

Game Change, the HBO story of Sarah Palin’s entry into the 2008 US vice-presidential race, was also a big winner, taking the Emmy for best miniseries, writing, directing and acting for star Julianne Moore.

“Wow, I feel so validated because Sarah Palin gave me a big thumbs down!” Moore said while accepting her first Emmy.

Backstage, Moore thanked actress and Palin impersonator Tina Fey, and journalist Katie Couric for what she called their “incredible influence” on the 2008 elections. Couric interviewed Palin in 2008 in what became a cultural and political landmark after the encounter was spoofed by Fey on Saturday Night Live.

In what was seen as a tight race for lead comedy actress, Julia Louis-Dreyfus beat Girls star Lena Dunham, Amy Poehler of Parks and Recreation, New Girl’s Zooey Deschanel and Tina Fey with her turn as a frustrated US vice president in the wickedly satirical HBO political show Veep.

With the presidential elections fewer than two months away, Emmy show host Jimmy Kimmel got the festivities off to a biting and topical start in an opening monologue.

As for the sprawling grandeur of Downton Abbey, Kimmel quipped: “It really gives you a sense of what it must have been like to grow up in (US Republican presidential candidate) Mitt Romney’s house.”

Oscar-winning actor Kevin Costner won an Emmy in his first role for television. He starred in the popular History channel miniseries Hatfields & McCoys, about a legendary feud between two 19th- century families, while Tom Berenger took a supporting actor Emmy for his role in the show.

Two and a Half Men’s Jon Cryer was the surprise winner in the comedy actor category, beating fellow CBS nominee and double Emmy winner Jim Parsons of geeky show The Big Bang Theory.

Full list of winners

• Supporting actor, comedy: Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family, ABC.
• Writing, comedy series: Louis C.K, Louie, FX Networks.
• Supporting actress, comedy series: Julie Bowen, Modern Family, ABC.
• Directing, comedy series: Steven Levitan, Modern Family, ABC.
• Actor, comedy series: Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men, CBS.
• Actress, comedy series: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep, HBO.
• Reality-competition programme: The Amazing Race, CBS.
• Host, reality-competition programme: Tom Bergeron, Dancing with the Stars, ABC.
• Supporting actor, drama series: Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad, AMC.
• Writing, drama series: Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Gideon Raff, Homeland, Showtime.
• Supporting actress, drama series: Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey, PBS.
• Directing, drama series: Tim Van Patten, Boardwalk Empire, HBO.
• Actor, drama series: Damian Lewis, Homeland, Showtime.
• Actress, drama series: Claire Danes, Homeland, Showtime.
• Writing for a variety special: Louis C.K., Louis C.K. Live at the Beacon Theatre, FX Networks.
• Directing for a variety special: Glenn Weiss, 65th Annual Tony Awards, CBS.
• Variety, music or comedy series: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Comedy Central.
• Supporting actress, mini-series or movie: Jessica Lange, American Horror Story, FX Networks.
• Supporting actor, mini-series or movie: Tom Berenger, Hatfields & McCoys, History.
• Writing, miniseries, movie or dramatic special: Danny Strong, Game Change, HBO.
• Actress, miniseries or movie: Julianne Moore, Game Change, HBO.
• Directing, miniseries, movie or dramatic special: Jay Roach, Game Change, HBO.
• Actor, miniseries or movie: Kevin Costner, Hatfields & McCoys, History.
• Miniseries or made-for-TV movie: Game Change, HBO.
• Drama series: Homeland, Showtime.