My Biggest Takeaways from the 2026 Emmy Awards
Last night, television's biggest stars were recognized at the 78th Emmy Awards, hosted by Mariska Hargitay. Every year the ceremony feels like a bit of a jumping off point for awards season, as just in the next few months we'll be getting more film and television awards being handed out. Among the action this year we had follow-up seasons, new shows shaking up the competition, and prominent shows being shut out compleltey.
Today, I'll be looking at some of my big picture takeaways from this year's Emmy awards. A lot of this will feature my personal opinion on some of the shows, but also just a look at what the surprises or big winners were. I also do want to give a shoutout to Hargitay before we start, who I believe put on a really good show. It's fun seeing an actor we typically take so serious really meld into a comedic portral. Anyway, let's get into all of my thoughts!
Widow's Bay Sets Emmy Record
If the general public wasn't aware of Widow's Bay, it will be after last night. Apple TV's Comedy about the aforementioned town won FOURTEEN Emmy's last night, breaking the record for the most single season wins for a comedy series. This starts with the technical categories, including: directing, writing, and casting. Creator and Showrunner Katie Dippold got to make multiple speeches last night, and deservedly so. Frankly I did really love this show, and although there may have been some other projects in the comedy category that I wish got some wins as well, this show deserves all the praise it's getting. Obviously the acting speaks for itself, but the work that Dippold and Hiro Murai did on the filmmaking side set the foundation for what turned out to be an incredible first season.
We do have to single out the acting nominations as well though, as the main trio from Season 1 all ended up winning their respective category. A huge shoutout to Matthew Rhys who not only won for WB, but also for The Beast in Me, becoming the first ever to win two acting awards in the same night. I'll admit I wasn't 100% familiar with Rhys before watching Widow's Bay, but I left a huge fan of his work. Not only is he one of the funniest actors I've ever seen, he also is able to switch to intensity on a dime with the insane plot of the show. Kate O'Flynn is equally as good, especially in her Patricia-focused episode around the midway point of the season. She makes Patricia, even with how many awful things she does, a sad and relatable character. Lastly we have Stephen Root, who in some ways felt like the unsung hero as I was watching the show. He's able to go from this heretic character to a leading man and for it not to feel like tonal whiplash at all. What an incredible first season of this show and I cannot wait for more in the future!
The Pitt Hurts Itself in Many Categories, But Wins In Others
One big storyline coming into every awards show comes in the form of multiple actors from a show being nominated in one category. Sometimes with so many actors in a single show to choose from, they can equally split votes and allow for another contender to break through. Although The Pitt ended up winning in many other places, this unfortunately happened on many occasions for them. For Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Patrick Ball, Shawn Hatosy, and Gerran Howell all ended up losing to Tom Pelphrey for Task. Then Supporting Actress was even more stacked in The Pitt's favor: Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif, Katherine LaNasa, and Sepideh Moafi all lost to Allison Janey for The Diplomat. The question could also be asked about fatigue. The show is of course only on its second season, still as good as ever, but LaNasa won last year and most of the supporting actors were up for it. We know that Pitt is getting many more seasons over the next few years, so maybe this is a situation where we'd rather look at people who aren't always here (see Pelphrey's limited role in Task).
However, let's still recognize that the show received two big wins last night. Noah Wyle continues to sweep the awards shows for Best Actor, which is the most deserved award every single year. The guy is not only so composed in the environments Dr. Robby finds himself in, but can also produce an incredibly emotional scene like in the finale of Season 2. There were a lot of great Drama Series' this year, but for me The Pitt is just on another level in terms of its filmmaking. I see no reason that it shouldn't win every year it's up for it (besides maybe the next year with The Bear Season 5) and it appears the voters agree. This was one of the only shows I was really "rooting" for this year, just because it really hits with me every episode, and I'm glad to see it still came away with a lot of awards.
Long Overdue Recognition for Seehorn and Pelphrey
Although Widow's Bay was the clear success story of the night, there were plently of actors who finally were recognized after years of being ignored for past performances. The first would be Tom Pelphrey for Task, who won Best Supporting Actor. I've been a big fan of Pelphrey for a while - for me he's always the standout in projects that may not be as good and then in something like Ozark, which is really good, he still shines. I liked Task but I wasn't the largest fan of it, and still I do think his performance was easily the best part (alongside Mark Ruffalo). He also had one of the best speeches of the night, shouting out his family as much as he could! The next one to fit into this category was Rhea Seehorn winning Best Actress in a Drama Series in a STACKED group of actresses. Really any one of these ladies would be overly deserving, but I was especially happy for Seehorn who was somehow shut out over the years for her phenomenal work in Better Call Saul. Even with Pluribus, a great show in its own right, feeling different from BCS, this feels like justice for those snubs. Congrats to the unmatchable Vince Gilligan finally winning for writing as well!
Beef, Shrinking, and Others Completely Shut Out
Every year we are going to have some great shows that either just don't reach the level of awards wins or are drowned out by stacked categories. Beef is one that doesn't fit in either of those categories for me, as I feel it was severely snubbed in multiple categories. It started with Cailee Spaeny not being nominated, and continued with all the other actors being shut out. Although I do love Sally Field and Remarkably Bright Creatures, I felt Carey Mulligan was severely deserving. Unfortunately Shrinking was a casualty of the Widow's Bay sweep, but it would have been nice to see it win in at least a few places. Harrison Ford felt like one that felt likely entering the night, even with Root being a good winner. Margo's Got Money Troubles, Paradise and The Bear were others that I loved but not sure there was a place for them to win here. None of them were shutout for any undeserving shows or actors, but it does always hurt to see a sweep cause some projects to put a zero across the board.
Comments