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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Entertainment
Adrian Horton and Benjamin Lee

Emmys 2025: Adolescence and The Studio take home major awards - as it happened

Emmys The White Lotus (Person) Netflix
Owen Cooper accepts his award on stage
Owen Cooper accepts his award on stage Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

That's a wrap!

And with that, this very awards-heavy night comes to a close. Besides a chuckle-worthy opening skit poking fun at the quirks of the television business, host Nate Bargatze mostly stuck to chiding winners for talking too long, threatening to deduct money for the Boys & Girls Club with a ticker and actual children on stage. The bit didn’t really work, but it ultimately didn’t matter – Bargatze, as expected, donated his own money to bring the tally to $350,000 at the end of the show.

The ticker did keep the speeches mostly under 45 seconds, and thus mostly underwhelming. But there were still emotional highlights – Cristin Milioti’s exuberant win for lead actress in a limited series, 15-year-old Owen Cooper becoming the youngest supporting actor winner ever, Stephen Colbert’s jubilance in the Late Show’s Emmy swan song and the shock win for Jeff Hiller, from the little-show-that-could Somebody Somewhere.

Most heartwarming of all was the triumph of Noah Wyle and The Pitt over much more expensive, much more prestige-y shows than the HBO max medical drama. Less surprising was the dominance of The Studio, now the most awarded comedy for a single season (when counting the Creative Arts Emmys), and the sweep by Netflix hit Adolescence. Creator Stephen Graham provided one of the night’s most moving speeches, calling for equality and respect on television sets.

Well, that’s it from us. Thanks for sticking with us, and we’ll see you next year!

My colleague Benjamin Lee wrote a full rundown of tonight’s awards, reunions and speeches:

It feels like it happened a few days ago now, but there was a red carpet and it looked a bit like this:

The night’s most genuine moment:

Here’s the full list of winners if you need to catch up:

Just before the Pitt’s triumph, the Emmys brought together one final cast reunion tribute. Ice-T, Christopher Meloni, Tony Goldwyn, Epatha Merkerson and Mariska Hargitay came together to celebrate Law & Order: SVU – or, more accurately, to celebrate Hargitay’s 27-year tenure as Detective Olivia Benson on Law & Order: SVU.

As Goldwyn aptly noted: “Mariska Hargitay has solved more fictional crimes than most actual precincts.” I believe it.

Emmy winner Jack Thorne wrote this about the inspiration for his hit drama Adolescence back in March:

WINNER: The Pitt – best drama series

In the end, Emmy voters went with their hearts over their heads, picking fast-paced, topical medical drama The Pitt over the cerebral Severance, in a huge win for HBO Max and the concept of true episodic, network-style television for streaming.

Creator and showrunner R Scott Gemmill thanked the village behind the breakout hit show, currently filming its second season, and dedicated the award to all frontline healthcare workers – “respect them, protect them, trust them!”

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Here’s Stephen Colbert’s speech which had the most enthused audience reaction of the night:

WINNER: Noah Wyle (The Pitt) – lead actor in a drama series

No wonder they saved this award to the very end – Noah Wyle’s win for best actor in a drama caps one of the best feel-good TV stories of the year.

“What a dream this has been,” the former ER actor says to enthusiastic applause, before thanking everyone on The Pitt: “You bring your A game every day, which inspires me to bring mine.”

He signs off with a nod to the real-life medical workers who inspire and advised on a show about a beleaguered ER in Pittsburgh: “To anybody who’s going on shift tonight or coming off shift tonight, thank you for being in that job. This is for you!”

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WINNER: The Studio – best comedy series

No surprise here – The Studio has been all over this Emmys telecast, and is now the most awarded comedy for a single year, as well as the most awarded freshman comedy.

“I’m legitimately embarrassed by how happy this makes me,” says Seth Rogen, accepting on behalf of the show with an ad hoc speech that included, after all the family and friend and agent shout-outs, a nod to the people the show so successfully skewered: “Thank you to the executives!” said Rogen as farewell. (For what it’s worth, Apple CEO Tim Cook looked delighted.)

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This is indeed pretty charming:

WINNER: Adolescence – best limited or anthology series

And just like that, it’s a full sweep for Adolescence at the Emmys, winning every award in which they were nominated tonight.

Stephen Graham accepts on behalf of the team, making sure to emphasize the egalitarianism inherent to the show. “What we do, it’s not a game of footie, you know? There are no winners and there are no losers, it’s all subjective.”

On set, from executive producer to toilet cleaner in the Winnebago, “we were treated equally”, he added. “Everyone was treated with the utmost respect. We’re all the same.” Well said.

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WINNER: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert – best talk series

The long pause before the announcement said it all: this is the Emmy send-off for the Late Show, its first win in what we now know is its last season.

Colbert appears jubilant, to chants of “Stephen!” from his writers and his staff. He spares CBS from any barbs, instead thanking his network for “giving us the privilege to be a part of the late-night tradition which I hope continues long after we’re done doing this show”.

He also recalls telling Spike Jonze, when first starting in 2015, that he wanted to make a show about love, but eventually – “and you can probably guess when this was” – he realized he was making a show about loss. “Sometimes you only know how much you love something when you get a sense that you might be losing it,” he says. “I’ve never loved my country more desperately.”

Colbert signed off with enthusiastic words of encouragement: “Stay strong, be brave, and if the elevator ever tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor!”

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WINNER: Stephen Graham (Adolescence) – lead actor in a limited or anthology series

This is really Adolescence’s night. Longtime UK character actor Stephen Graham, already a winner for writing tonight, wins for his absolutely gutting performance as the dad of a 13-year-old killer and is quickly engulfed by his cast and family.

“This doesn’t normally happen to a kid like me,” he says, seeming overwhelmed. “I’m just a mixed-race kid from a block of flats in a place called Kirkby.”

He also emotionally thanks his dad, for “taking me to a video shop as a kid”, as well as his wife – “You know, and I know, without you I would be dead.” This is a feel-good win for a devastatingly dark show.

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And now it’s time for the in memoriam segment … Phylicia Rashad kicks off the somber proceedings with a special tribute for her late Cosby Show co-star Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who tragically drowned in July at the age of 54.

Country singers Vince Gill and Lainey Wilson then take over, memorializing the many performers and TV workers we lost this year, including Teri Garr, John Amos, David Lynch, Ozzy Osbourne and Quincy Jones.

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Continuing this temporary break from the firehose of TV awards, Michael Schur and Kristen Bell present the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award to Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson.

The award honors the couple’s charity work, including but not limited to: preserving the world’s oceans, arts funding in schools, standing up for the LGBTQ+ community, pediatric AIDS and their Angels At Risk charity for addiction prevention and support.

“There’s no honor that would mean more to Mary and me than this one,” says Danson. “This life is not about us … it’s about our stewardship of what we’ve been given.”

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Cris Abrego, the TV Academy president, has appeared to pay tribute to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a critical resource for local television since 1967 and which will shut down at the end of this year after the Republican-led Congress voted to defund it.

“It silences another cultural institution,” Abrego lamented. But “at a time when division dominates the headlines, storytelling still has the power to unite us. Television and the artists to make it do more than shape our society, they shape our culture.”

Abrego, tipping into politics without specifically antagonizing anyone or naming names, calls on the room to “continue to champion that power and wield it responsibly”, as “neutrality is not enough”.

He also celebrates the 30,000-strong TV Academy for being the largest, youngest and most diverse voting bloc in history – part of the mission to ensure that “culture is not a platform for the privileged, but a public good for all”, to a vigorous nod of support from Selena Gomez.

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WINNER: Cristin Milioti (The Penguin) – lead actress in a limited or anthology series

A surprise, as most expected Michelle Williams for Dying for Sex, and Milioti immediately bursts into tears.

She then delivers, thankfully, a spirited speech in a night sorely lacking them – acknowledging her speech is written on the notes she took in therapy (“so don’t look at the back!”) and thanking her family for “supporting your strange kids and showing me movies very inappropriate for my age”. She also shouts out a friend “whose brain I want to free base”, a phrase I am now stealing.

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WINNER: Erin Doherty (Adolescence) – supporting actress in a limited or anthology series

As expected, tonight is shaping up to be an Adolescence sweep in the limited series categories, now with Erin Doherty for supporting actress as a child psychologist in the show’s standout third episode.

“I would love to mention every single person who was involved in this show, as it was the definition of a team effort,” she says, but she singles out creator Stephen Graham and executive producer Hannah Walters. “You are generosity personified,” she says, “even though Stephen called me a tea cosy today.”

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WINNER: Last Week Tonight – writing for a variety series

No surprise here, as Last Week Tonight with John Oliver deservedly wins its 32nd all-time award for the show’s pinpoint sharp writing. Speaking on behalf of the staff, senior writer Daniel O’Brien notes that they share this award with the “writers of late-night political satire, while that is still a type of show that’s allowed to exist”. Oof!

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A lot of the comedy bits haven’t worked tonight but Tina Fey’s did, of course:

WINNER: SNL 50: The Anniversary Special – live variety special

Well, live variety special goes to neither Beyoncé nor Jay Z, who do not appear to have ultimately shown up. Maybe they knew it was another year for Lorne Michaels, winning for the celebrity extravaganza that was the SNL 50 special.

“I won this award for the first time 50 years ago, in 1975,” says Michaels flanked by the show’s current stars. That was back when he had many dreams, “but not one of those dreams was that I’d still be doing the same show for the next 50 years”. And seemingly, as many more years as the 80-year-old comedy titan lives on.

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Backstage, Emmy winner Hannah Einbinder was also asked about adding Free Palestine to the end of her speech. Here she is:

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the reunion of Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel, stars of the mother-daughter cult classic Gilmore Girls – or, as Graham jokes, the little WB show that “took the season of fall hostage”.

On a recreation of their Stars Hollow porch, the two humorously recall how the show, which premiered 25 years ago next month (!), was not terribly popular or celebrated in it’s time. “If there was a birthday at the Drew Carey show next door, they would send us leftover sheet cake,” Graham says.

“Basically, we were bullied and starving,” Bledel jokes, before Graham adds, slightly more seriously: “But the one thing we did have was scripts.” A tantalizing taste, for those of us who miss them together.

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WINNER: The Studio – writing for a comedy series

Following Seth Rogen’s lead, the writers of The Studio – on a roll tonight with three awards so far – keep it extremely brief. They thank Seth and Evan Goldberg, and peace out. That’s money back on the board!

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Here’s a look at record-breaking Adolescence star Owen Cooper’s heartfelt speech:

WINNER: Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham (Adolescence) – writing for a limited or anthology series

Adolescence is (rightly) on a roll now, as Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne take home the writing award for a series that is now being shown in secondary schools across Europe.

“We haven’t expected our little program to have such a big impact, but we’re really grateful that it did,” says Graham, also a nominee for lead actor tonight.

His comically much taller co-writer Thorne adds a note of thanks for the show’s adolescent actors: “You are the flame that proves young people are going to be OK, and we’re very grateful for you”.

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WINNER: Owen Cooper (Adolescence) – supporting actor in a drama series

Wow, what a moment – Owen Cooper, the youngest-ever nominee for supporting actor in a drama series, is now the youngest winner, for his absolutely stunning performance as a 13-year-old killer in Adolescence. (If you’ve seen the child psychologist episode, you know he deserves.)

“Standing up here is just, wow, it’s just so surreal,” says the clearly overwhelmed 15-year-old, who made his screen debut(!) in the hit Netflix series.

He encourages viewers, assumedly fellow teens, to focus and put themselves out there, because you never know – “who cares if you get embarrassed, you know? Anything can be possible”. And in a sweet and classy move, he thanks the crew of Adolescence: “It may have my name on the award, but it really belongs to the people behind the camera.” Here’s to a long career ahead.

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WINNER: Dan Gilroy (Andor) – writing for a drama series

Hell yeah! Thank god there’s at least one award for Andor, by my estimation the best drama of the year. Dan Gilroy wins for Welcome to the Rebellion, a standout episode in a standout second season that surpasses any other show in the Star Wars universe.

Said Gilroy: “I want to thank the fans, who did more than watch this show, they listened, they cared and they made a story of ordinary people fighting extraordinary odds possible.”

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WINNER: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver – scripted variety series

Survivor host Jeff Probst stages this two-nominee category as a showdown vote between two hosts: Last Week Tonight’s John Oliver and Saturday Night Live’s Lorne Michaels. Last Week Tonight is the easy pick – it’s won in a series category nine times in a row. And accepting their 31st overall Emmy(!), Oliver speaks at 2x his standard quick speed. With several bleeps – other than “that’s money for CBS!” – it’s nearly unintelligible.

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WINNER: Adam Randall (Slow Horses) – directing for a drama series

The first win tonight for Slow Horses, the Apple TV British show that has diehard fans, but not many Emmys yet. “That is unexpected,” says Adam Randall, who wins over Severance’s Ben Stiller and others, in a speech that like most others tonight, doesn’t go beyond standard, if sweet, thanks to friends and family.

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WINNER: Philip Barantini (Adolescence) – directing for a limited or anthology series

Not a surprise, and much deserved – Philip Barantini wins for Adolescence, which besides being devastating is also technically impressive – filmed seamlessly in one take.

That’s thanks to Barantini, who pays tribute to creators Stephen Graham (shedding a tear) and Jack Thorne, for writing a series “so raw, so urgent and so absolutely necessary”. I really hate that they keep this speech timer up there, theoretically taking money away from kids and distracting first-time winners as they thank their friends, family and coworkers. But it is keeping this show running at a clip!

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It’s not been the most political night so far but here’s video of the most notable speech:

WINNER: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (The Studio) – directing for a comedy series

We’re cooking with awards here, and Rogen and Goldberg keep it snappy: they thank their cast and crew, joke about being wife guys – “I LOVE MY WIFE!” shouts Goldberg – and celebrate being under time (“we’re under, thank you!”).

With this award and counting the pre-telecast Creative Arts Emmys, The Studio now has the most Emmys ever for a freshman series.

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WINNER: Jeff Hiller (Somebody Somewhere) – supporting actor in a comedy series

Oh wow, the biggest surprise of the night so far – I gasped – as Jeff Hiller beats out former winner Ebon Moss-Bachrach and The Studio’s Ike Barinholtz for his role on the excellent but criminally under-seen HBO series Somebody Somewhere.

I really thought Hiller’s nomination was the win, and it seems he did too. “I feel like I’m going to cry because the past 25 years I’ve been like ‘World, I want to be an actor,’ and the world kept being like ‘How about computers?’” he says, nearly sobbing during his speech.

He thanks the writers of the Kansas-set, heartwarming small-town show, which celebrates “connecting and love in this time when compassion is seen like a weakness”, as well as its co-star and creator, the truly incomparable comic Bridget Everett. Watch Somebody Somewhere!

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WINNER: The Traitors – reality competition program

Seems like The Traitors is becoming the new RuPaul’s Drag Race, winning once again for reality competition.

Host Alan Cumming, already a winner for best host earlier this month, thanks “our cast, our CRAZY cast” (accurate!) and acknowledges that “it’s a difficult time to be living, but it’s so nice that this show can bring a little bit of joy”.

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WINNER: Hannah Einbinder (Hacks) – supporting actress in a comedy series

Finally! On her fourth nomination, Hannah Einbinder wins her first Emmy for her incredible performance as the gen Z foil to Jean Smart’s bristly Deborah Vance on Hacks.

“I was pretty committed to my personal narrative that it was actually cooler to continue to lose,” she jokes, “but this is pretty cool too!”

Einbinder gets emotional talking about her costar/fellow winner Smart, “who is like the sun, and I just get to stand in her warmth”.

And she ends her speech with a list: “go birds”, a bleeped-out “fuck Ice [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement]” and “free Palestine!”

Updated

Time for our first TV tribute of the night – Reba McEntire, accompanied by Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman of the country band Little Big Town, sing Thank You for Being a Friend, the theme song of the classic sitcom the Golden Girls, much to the delight of several people in the audience singing along.

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WINNER: Britt Lower (Severance) – best actress in a drama series

Looks like it could be a big night for Severance, as most people (myself included) expected this to go to the inimitable Kathy Bates, nominated at 73.

The 45-second rule is working to keep things brief, but at the expense of anything interesting or gossipy. Lower keeps it tight, sticking to the basics of thanking the crew, her family, the show’s fans and her character, Helly R, “for choosing me”.

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WINNER: Tramell Tillman (Severance) – supporting actor in a drama series

Severance’s Tramell Tillman is a bit of an upset here, considering the power of the White Lotus (perhaps headed for a tough night?). It’s nice to see – he deserves for stealing almost every scene as Mr Milchick in Severance.

Tillman becomes the first Black man to win in this category, the last remaining acting category to not yet award a Black performer. He used his 45 seconds to celebrate his mother: “My first acting coach was tough, y’all, but all great mothers are. Mama, you were there for me when no one else was and no one else would show up … this is for you.”

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An update from Bargatze on that ticker: presenters are allowed to go over 45 seconds, but not the winners. Yes, “we’re punishing the people who worked the hardest to get here”, Bargatze jokes.

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WINNER: Katherine LaNasa (The Pitt) — supporting actress in a drama series

We’re rolling fast here, as there are many awards to get through. And finally our first sort-of surprise: Katherine LaNasa wins The Pitt’s first award of the night, for playing beloved nurse Dana.

LaNasa thanked “all the nurses that inspired Dana” and the “incomparable Noah Wyle”, as well as her husband and children. It’s brief and rushed, but they really seem to be serious about those 45 seconds – a ticker in the corner (rude?!) bumps the donation down to $98,000, owing to one prolonged wave toward her husband.

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WINNER: Jean Smart (Hacks) – best actress in a comedy series

Another expected win, but still a delight – Jean Smart wins her seventh all-time Emmy for playing Deborah Vance, her fourth award for a career-defining character.

The always classy Smart took Bargatze’s brevity message to heart; she briefly thanks her “unbelievable crew” and “beyond brilliant” showrunners, as well as “incomparable” costar (and supporting actress nominee) Hannah Einbinder. Then she signs off with a quick “everybody, let’s be good to each other. Let’s just be good to each other.”

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Nate Bargatze is back, this time for a more traditional monologue, which he uses to throw the gauntlet down for the Adrien Brodys of the world – ie, people who talk too long. Bargatze admonishes the A-listers in attendance to keep their acceptance speeches under 45 seconds: “If you want to do more than that, do it on social media later,” he says. “More people are going to see it there anyway.”

To raise the stakes, Bargatze announces that he has donated $100k to the Boys & Girls Club of America – but it’s subject to change based on the speeches. For every second someone goes over 45 seconds, Bargatze will deduct $1,000 away from the Boys & Girls club. Every second under adds $1,000.

“It’s tough, but I can’t change it – this is a game I made up and these are the rules,” Bargatze jokes, but he tries to keep the mood light – “relax, let’s have fun, alright?” Good thing Seth Rogen kept it tight! (We’re at $106,000.)

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WINNER: Seth Rogen (The Studio) – best actor in a comedy series

No surprise here – The Studio is a popular show and Seth Rogen was the expected choice. He still seems surprised, though – “I literally prepared nothing, I’ve never won anything in my life,” he says quickly, seemingly aware that this show is supposed to move at a clip. He thanks his wife, his mother and everyone who worked on the Studio, which is starting off with plenty of momentum.

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And we're live!

It’s showtime – comedian and first-time host Nate Bargatze has taken the stage at the 77th primetime Emmy awards, alongside three SNL cast members – Bowen Yang, James Austin Johnson and Mikey Day – in costume as the inventor of television, Philo T Farnsworth.

In the skit, a play on his viral Washington’s Dream SNL skit, Bargatze riffs on the idiosyncrasies and contradictions of modern television by “dreaming” of its future – of the travel channel for travel, the food channel for food and the history channel “for aliens”.

Bargatze ribs streaming as “a new way for companies to lose money” with stars who are “real-life murderers, mostly”, and pokes fun at the newly prestigious Emmys – though not, as he acknowledges, as prestigious as the Oscars. Such awards which celebrate The Pitt, “a heartbreaking look at the emotional toll of trauma” and “laugh-out-loud comedies like the Bear, a heartbreaking look at the emotional toll of trauma”.

It’s a humorous and little off-kilter intro to a show that draws easy, polite laughs from the audience, particularly for lines about a time when a woman will host their own talk show – “not in real life, but on a show called Hacks”.

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It’s almost guaranteed that at least one of the actors in Adolescence, the gutting four-part British limited series, will win tonight:

Brutally honest Emmy ballots are less of a tradition than the Oscar ones (sadly) but the Hollywood Reporter did manage to snag one from a long-time producer and Emmy voter that offers up some insight/arch criticism.

Here are some choice quotes:

“I’m not a Severance fan. I find it curiously cool, in the Marshall McLuhan sense – I don’t care about the people, and I’m kind of old-school in my William Goldman-like belief that I should.”

“The Bear is brilliant, but it’s not a comedy. Only Murders in the Building is the same show every year.”

“I’m voting for The Late Show because of what Paramount did to Colbert, just so he can get up and give a speech, and because it would be an absolute ‘fuck-you’ to Trump. You saw that he Truth Social-ed the next day and took credit for Colbert getting fired? Fuck him.”

An update for Beyoncé watchers – Entertainment Tonight is reporting that she and Jay Z have seat markers and Gayle King says she spotted her “person” scoping out the theater yesterday (though she didn’t pick up Gayle’s call) … it’s looking promising.

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Without some surer things in the race like Succession or Game of Thrones and with the comedy race now less Bear heavy (Hacks was the surprise winner last year), there’s potential for some real surprises tonight. Could new shows like The Studio and The Pitt triumph? Or will Severance and The White Lotus come out on top? And will Adolesence pull a Baby Reindeer? Here’s what Adrian Horton is predicting:

From Hacks (I will be shocked if Jean Smart doesn’t win for a fourth time) to Abbott Elementary to The Bear, the red carpet is filling up with comedy nominees:

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I present to you: the inimitable Cate Blanchett, nominated tonight for best actress in a limited series for Apple TV’s Disclaimer.

Will The Studio sweep the comedy awards? It’s a safe bet given Hollywood’s history of supporting art about … Hollywood. The cast is out in force tonight prepping for their moment on the stage:

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Selena Gomez is here, along with fiancé Benny Blanco. The Only Murders in the Building star isn’t nominated for an acting award this year, but is representing the Hulu show, nominated for best comedy, as a cast member and executive producer; last year, she became the most-nominated Latina producer for a comedy in Emmy history.

As per usual, tonight will not just be a celebration of new shows but it will also remember the older ones. Last year saw surviving cast members from Happy Days, The West Wing and Saturday Night Live on stage.

This year, fans can expect cast reunions for Gilmore Girls and Grey’s Anatomy and a special tribute to Golden Girls.

Jenna Ortega paying homage to Isabella Rossellini in Death Becomes Her?

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Red carpets have been relatively apolitical of late, but we’re seeing more explicit support for Palestine so far tonight. Wearing a keffiyeh, Javier Bardem has been using his time on the red carpet to call attention the genocide in Gaza and encourage fellow film and television workers to boycott Israeli institutions complicit in the war that has killed more than 200,000 Palestinians so far.

Speaking to Variety, Bardem said he would not work with any film or TV company “who justifies or supports the genocide” in Gaza.

And in an interview with E!, Bardem name-checked a pledge, published by the group Film Workers for Palestine and signed by thousands of actors, directors and other film workers, to not work with Israeli film institutions that are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people”.

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Ben Stiller confirmed Real Housewives fan!

The nominees for best drama actor and actress are here:

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It’s becoming an Emmys tradition – an under-the-radar British show made for Netflix about a troubling subject matter becomes a surprise ratings hit and then an awards darling. Last year that was Baby Reindeer, Richard Gadd’s unsettling series about a stalker, and now it’s Adolescence, a drama about a teenage killer, that’s become an even bigger success.

It’s now the second-most-watched Netflix show of all time (sandwiched between bigger budget blockbusters Wednesday and Stranger Things) and sparked so many conversations that it made its way to the UK parliament and tonight, it’s up for six Emmys. But how many can it win?

Beyoncé is already an Emmy winner: a couple weeks ago, her Cowboy Carter NFL halftime show – rightly dubbed the “Beyoncé Bowl” – picked up her first-ever Emmy for costumes for variety, non-fiction or reality programming. (She shares the award with designers Shiona Turini, Erica Rice, Molly Peters, Chelsea Staebell and Timothy White). But tonight could be her first televised Emmy, for live variety special.

The fact that the Television Academy has saved this category for the telecast suggests that maybe, just maybe, the Queen will grace television’s biggest night with her presence. My bet is no. But regardless this is an award to watch, as it pits Beyoncé against collaborator Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX Halftime (produced by her husband, Jay Z), as well as the 2025 Oscars, SNL 50: The Anniversary Special and SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert.

It’s a White Lotus cast reunion tonight, with most of the third season’s ensemble cast – including a stunning eight nominees! – in attendance.

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Tonight’s emcee is comedian Nate Bargatze, a first-timer who has the unenviable task of taking on the job in a year that’s actually been surprisingly great for awards show hosts. Both Nikki Glaser and Conan O’Brien brought the respective Globes and Oscars houses down while Cynthia Erivo’s more old-fashioned, song-and-dance turn gave us everything that Ariana DeBose couldn’t for the three, torturous years prior.

Earlier this week, he sat down with Variety and gave some tips on what we can expect. He’s keen to keep the focus on it being “a fun night” after a dark week of headlines, opting not to prioritise any political jabs.

He also has a plan to keep speeches short by donating $100,000 to a charity and then subtracting $1,000 every time a winner goes over their allotted 45-second time. “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “It could cost me a ton of money. It could cost me no money. I just thought of it because everybody brings up, is there a way to kind of keep these speeches down? Nothing really works.”

Because there are so many Emmys and because A-list actors can only be expected to stay in the same seat for so long, the awards are split between two weekends. Last Saturday and Sunday saw this year’s Creative Arts Emmys, where The Studio won nine awards, a sign that we might also be seeing the Seth Rogen comedy dominate tonight’s ceremony.

Here are some of the more notable winners:

Outstanding guest actor in a comedy series: Bryan Cranston (The Studio)

Outstanding narrator: Barack Obama (Our Oceans)

Outstanding guest actress in a drama series: Merritt Wever (Severance)

Outstanding TV movie: Rebel Ridge

Outstanding guest actress in a comedy series: Julianne Nicholson (Hacks)

Outstanding host for a reality or reality competition program: Alan Cumming (The Traitors)

Outstanding original main title theme music: The White Lotus

Outstanding host for a game show: Jimmy Kimmel (Who Wants to be a Millionaire?)

Outstanding guest actor in a drama series: Shawn Hatosy (The Pitt)

Sure

There’s still a lot of understandable outrage over the decision to cancel The Late Show, a long-running institution that’s most recently been in the capable hands of Stephen Colbert. At last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys, the show picked up a directing award and is predicted to win in the talk series category tonight.

But the ceremony is airing on CBS, the same network that pulled the plug, so it’ll be interesting to see how fiery his acceptance speech will be …

The Emmys are back!

Yes, it’s that time of year again, where you realize how much TV you haven’t seen – the Emmys are back! And with a healthy mix of award show veterans and newbies.

With the absence of Shōgun, which basically swept the drama awards last year, the race this year is shaping up to be one of the more interesting competitions this year. Apple TV’s Severance leads the night with 27 nominations for its second season. But the epitome of prestige TV – long-gestating, high-budget, starry cast – is up against HBO Max’s answer to the network medical drama. The Pitt, with 13 nominations and plenty of audience goodwill, could come out ahead. Both face-off against Andor, Slow Horses, Paradise, The Last of Us, the Diplomat and Emmys stalwart, The White Lotus.

On the comedy side, another Apple TV success, Hollywood business satire The Studio, has the momentum, with 23 nominations – breaking the record for most nominations for a show’s first season. It competes with two former winners – Hacks and still-not-a-comedy The Bear – as well as Abbott Elementary, Only Murders in the Building, Shrinking, What We Do in the Shadows and the first season of the Netflix hit Nobody Wants This. And like Baby Reindeer last year, another small British production released through Netflix, Adolescence, enters as the heavy favorite for limited series, along with several deserved acting nominations.

The night promises at least a few surprises and memorable speeches, as well as cast reunions for Gilmore Girls and Law & Order – stick with us for all the highlights!

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