What Actually Happened at This Year’s Emmys
Widow’s Bay closed out the 78th Emmys with 14 trophies total, the most a comedy series has ever won in a single year, topping the 13 wins The Studio set just one ceremony earlier. Matthew Rhys, Kate O’Flynn, and Stephen Root each took home acting prizes, and the show also won Best Comedy Series, Best Directing for Hiro Murai, and Best Writing for creator Katie Dippold. Murai’s win made him the first Asian director to take the comedy directing category. Eight of the show’s wins came at the untelevised Creative Arts ceremony the weekend before, with six more on the main telecast. Root, 74, also became the oldest performer to win Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, breaking a record Henry Winkler had held since 2018.
The Pitt Holds Its Ground
The Pitt defended its Best Drama title for a second straight year, finishing the night with six wins total, four of them from the Creative Arts ceremony. (One outlet counted seven by folding in a win for the companion short-form special “Inside The Pitt,” but the flagship series itself took six.) Noah Wyle picked up his second consecutive lead actor prize for playing Dr. Michael Robinavitch. The show led all programs with 25 nominations this year, but split its acting field so many ways that most of its supporting nominees went home empty handed. The win also made The Pitt the first medical drama to win Best Drama twice, a feat ER never managed.
Jean Smart and Allison Janney Join an Exclusive Club
Jean Smart’s fifth acting Emmy, this one for Hacks, brought her career total to eight and tied the all-time acting record held by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman. It also made her the first woman to win an acting Emmy for every eligible season of a series, having won for all five seasons of Hacks. Minutes later, Allison Janney joined that same group with a supporting actress win for The Diplomat, her eighth career acting Emmy and her first win for the Netflix drama after three seasons of nominations. Her previous wins came for four different shows, including four for The West Wing.
The Rest of the Night’s Big Wins
DTF St Louis took home Best Limited Series, part of a seven-win run that included writing, directing, and supporting acting prizes for David Harbour and Linda Cardellini at the Creative Arts ceremony. Rhea Seehorn won her first career Emmy for lead drama actress in Pluribus, which also won Vince Gilligan a writing trophy. Matthew Rhys added a second lead acting win of the night for The Beast in Me, becoming the first male performer to win two lead acting categories in the same year. Sally Field won lead actress in a limited series or movie for Remarkably Bright Creatures, making her, at 79, the oldest woman ever to win that category.
