The televised 78th Emmy Awards ceremony took place at Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on September 14, 2026. Mariska Hargitay became the first woman to host the Emmys in 15 years, opening with a parody of Joan Jett’s hit ‘I Love Rock ’N Roll’ called ‘I Love TV Screens.’ The 2026 Emmy Awards were held over three nights on September 5, 6 and 14.
Widow’s Bay emerged as the top winner across all three nights of the Primetime Emmy Awards, taking home a record 14 awards, according to Billboard. This marked the most wins in a single season by a comedy series and also set a new record for freshman season wins. Widow’s Bay won eight awards during the Creative Arts ceremonies and another six during the televised ceremony. Apple called it the most decorated freshman comedy in Emmy history.
The next-highest totals included DTF St. Louis with seven Emmys and The Pitt, Pluribus and The Traitors with six each. The Pitt won four Creative Arts Emmys before adding two awards during the main ceremony.
Stephen Colbert’s talk show, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, earned the Outstanding Variety Series Award. The Late Show won six Emmys during the 2026 awards while the separate digital series Colbert Before Air won Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series. The Late Show also won for writing, directing, technical direction, lighting and picture editing.
This was the final season for The Late Show after CBS announced its cancellation, and it had previously won the Outstanding Talk Series award. The Television Academy combined outstanding scripted variety series and talk series into one category this year. The Academy said the change followed a decline in submissions in both categories.
Jean Smart and Allison Janney each won their eighth Emmy, tying them with Cloris Leachman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the most acting wins. Matthew Rhys made history by winning Outstanding Lead Actor in both comedy and limited or anthology series this year. Rhys became the first performer to win two lead acting Emmys in the same year. His earlier win for The Americans also made him the first performer to win lead acting Emmys in drama, comedy and limited series or movie categories.
The Pitt is the first show to take best drama series in each of its first two seasons since Mad Men, which won in each of its first four seasons. The Traitors continued its winning streak by taking home Outstanding Reality Competition Program for the third year in a row.
Hacks received 24 nominations and won two Emmys, while The Bear received seven nominations and won one award. The Bear’s victory went to the late Rob Reiner for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. Other major winners included Rhea Seehorn for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and Jean Smart for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Smart won the award for the fifth straight season of Hacks and became the first performer to win an Emmy for every season of a series.
The awards show featured performances by Reba McEntire and Noah Kahan, along with tributes to Dolly Parton. Mariska Hargitay also appeared with the cast of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Taylor Swift in a prerecorded sketch about whether Swift would attend the Emmys.
Reba McEntire performed ‘Appalachian Memories’ during a tribute to Dolly Parton earlier in the ceremony. Noah Kahan later performed ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ during the In Memoriam segment. The final award of the telecast was Outstanding Comedy Series, which went to Widow’s Bay.
The event was broadcast live on NBC and Peacock, drawing attention from fans and industry professionals alike.
IMAGE: en:Mariska Hargitay, star of SVU. Photo: veronica Romm from fort lee, USA / Wikimedia, taken 2007-05-01, CC BY 2.0