What a radical idea. This year, the Emmy Awards tried something different. They decided to try to put on an actual show while giving away the usual truckload of awards. And because they were lucky enough to have hired a showman at the top of his game, the “athletic yet luminous” (to quote Dr. Horrible) Neil Patrick Harris, the night was about as enjoyable and entertaining as this dinosaur of a show could possibly be. We may have expected the digs at Kanye West—Harris got off the first: “Here’s hoping Kanye West likes 30 Rock!"—but we didn’t expect so much of the Emmy show to feel, almost, Emmy-worthy.

There are some things that remain unfixable about the Emmys: the stagnation that sets in during the long movies/miniseries segment; the ennui of watching the same shows and stars win year after year, even if many are deserving (Mad Men, 30 Rock, The Amazing Race, Glenn Close, that wonderful underdog Bryan Cranston). They might as well rechristen the Emmys the “You Again?” awards, but even then, Harris made a joke of it. “Upsets at every turn,” he blurted after The Amazing Race won its seventh consecutive Emmy.

Still, there were a few surprises, mostly in comedy: the supporting comedy awards going to a tearful Kristen Chenoweth for the long-since-canceled Pushing Daisies, and Jon Cryer for the long-overlooked smash hit Two and a Half Men. (While Cryer was in the press room, Harris milked his own loss in the category by interrupting and needling him from the host’s podium, one of his many inspired gags.) Two more network series figured in the supporting drama races: Michael Emerson winning for Lost and Cherry Jones as the president in 24.

Who wins each year, of course, is out of the producers’ hands. Their job is to make the ceremony go by as smoothly and painlessly as possible, and in that, they succeeded beyond our wildest hopes. The cheeky tone was set from the start, as a white-tuxed Harris wowed the audience (at home and in the cavernous theater) with a song and dance routine begging us to “Put down the remote.” Done. Sample shout-out: “Straight from Mad Men, there’s Joan. (Cut to giggly Christina Hendricks.) Oh the curves she has shown, it would make a blind man say, ‘Damn.’ She could turn a gay straight. Oh wait. Never mind. There’s Jon Hamm!”

Harris’ other show-stopper came midway through the night, when the accountants’ dry spiel was cut off by the mock-diabolical Dr. Horrible, his character from Joss Whedon’s Emmy-winning made-for-Internet musical Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Hijacking the telecast while cackling that “television is dead,” the mad scientist declared, “The future of home entertainment is the Internet. Why watch something like this (arms spread to reflect an HD wide screen) when you can see it like this (the image shrinks to a small computer window).” Then he boasts that on the Internet, “We’re not slaves to commercials. On the Intenet, you can watch your shows without any inter- (the picture freezes as a buffering wheel intrudes) –ruption!” Genius! His buffoonish nemesis Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion) then joined the skit, extolling the virtues of TV, including CSI: Miami. “Like the Ottoman Empire, the music industry and Zima, we’re here to stay.”

Who says satire is dead?

The shtick from both Harris, whose self-deprecating demeanor recalled the best of Bob Hope and Johnny Carson, and absurdist announcer John Hodgman sustained the show through its three-hour run time, much of it scoring (listing obscure credits as presenters were introduced), some of it not so much (a barely running gag focusing on a pretty “seat filler”). But the mood was infectious. Even the presenters were quicker than usual. When Justin Timberlake spotted comedy-actress nominee Sarah Silverman sporting a fake mustache, he quipped, “That’s what hormones will do.”

And special kudos to whoever decided to organize the show by genre: comedy awards first, then reality, then movies/minis, etc. The result was a night that flowed effortlessly, organically, and even with the inevitable dead patches, it seemed to move much faster than any Emmy show in recent memory.

Some other highlights:

Sarah McLachlan sang “I Will Remember You” over the In Memorium clips of icons who passed away this year (there were so many). Very classy, even if we’re always distracted by noticing which legends earn the most applause.

As usual, it was worth watching for the gags when the writing staffs of the comedy/variety shows were announced. Best this year: the Facebook gag for Conan O’Brien’s crew and Billy Crystal singing the nominees from David Letterman’s show. He also got off an “Aren’t you on at 10?” dig at The Jay Leno Show (which, trust me, will not get nominated next year, unless there’s a miraculous turnaround).

Ricky Gervais reminded us again why we can’t stop hoping he’ll eventually agree to host one of these shows. “Better than last year, isn’t it?” he snarked, referring to last year’s infamous debacle when reality-show hosts led the proceedings. “This is the greatest awards ceremony in the world,” he noted, because with no chiseled movie stars in attendance, “In this room, I’m probably above average.”

There’s no question the Emmy Awards were above average. We can always argue about who won and who lost—love Alec Baldwin, but this should have been Jim Parsons’ year—not to mention who didn’t even get nominated. But with Neil Patrick Harris leading the way, I still managed to turn the TV off in a good mood. At only three minutes after 11. Will wonders never cease?

For a full list of the night’s winners, go here. And what did you think? Sound off below.