The cast and crew of Shōgun accepted the award for best drama series, marking its fourth award of the night and 18th overall, counting its 14 wins at the Creative Arts Emmys last weekend. Photo / Getty Images
Hacks took the top comedy prize over The Bear. Shōgun made history and broke an Emmys record. And Baby Reindeer won enough statues to turn your nose red.
Sunday night’s historic but generally surprise-free Emmys ceremony ended with a twist: Hacks won best comedy series over The Bear, which was expected to win the prize for the second time this year.
Yes, you read that correctly. The 76th Primetime Emmy Awards, which aired live on ABC, marked the second ceremony put on by the Television Academy in 2024. The 75th edition was held in January after being delayed due to last year’s Hollywood strikes, meaning The Bear stars Jeremy Allen White and Ebon Moss-Bachrach each won two awards – for different seasons – only eight months apart.
The drama categories felt less repetitive. With HBO’s Succession out of contention this time around, there was room for FX’s Shōgun to dominate – and boy, did it. In addition to winning best drama series, the critically acclaimed historical drama landed lead actor prizes for Hiroyuki Sanada and lead actress for Anna Sawai, who became the first Japanese performers to win in their respective categories. Sawai is the first Asian person to win lead actress. Counting the creative arts Emmys the show already won, that makes for a total of 18 trophies for the largely Japanese-language series.
"Shōgun" star Anna Sawai gets emotional as she accepts her #Emmy for best lead actress in a drama series. She is the first Asian winner in category history. https://t.co/3itGkRBc7U pic.twitter.com/fuiA32J49Z
— Variety (@Variety) September 16, 2024
Elsewhere, Baby Reindeer, Netflix’s psychological thriller about a man who confronts his traumas as he is stalked by a woman, made a splash with wins across the limited series categories. The ceremony hosted by Eugene and Dan Levy also featured cast reunions, including The West Wing, and nostalgic throwbacks to beloved TV shows, with the occasional nod to politics and the upcoming election.
All in all, it was a very normal Emmys with a dash of drama in, well, the comedy categories. Fitting, if you watch The Bear. Here are the night’s biggest moments.
The Bear, which won 10 Emmys this year for its first season, returned as a force to be reckoned with. It won three of four acting categories – best lead actor in a comedy for White, best supporting actor for Moss-Bachrach and best supporting actress for Liza Colon-Zayas – but ceded lead actress, for which Ayo Edebiri was nominated, to Hacks star Jean Smart, who received a standing ovation.
Jean Smart gives advice to younger actors: “Work with nice people. There’s no reason you have to work with someone who’s a pain in the ass. Life’s too short.” https://t.co/KYqzGixSKq pic.twitter.com/bL5Iejsx84
— Variety (@Variety) September 16, 2024
Smart’s win foreshadowed the best comedy series upset – probably to the delight of Laraine Newman, an original Saturday Night Live cast member and the mother of Hacks actress Hannah Einbinder. In a since-deleted post on X, Newman directed some to-the-point profanity at The Bear in all caps. She explained, in a follow-up post that still exists, that she believes the FX series to be “a great show but IMHO [in my honest opinion] it’s not a comedy – not even a dark comedy”.
Shōgun mounted a pitched battle at the Emmys, winning 18 of its 25 nominations – a record for the most wins yet by a single season of television. Sanada and Sawai earned back-to-back wins for best actor and actress in a drama, making history together. While accepting best drama series, co-creator and show-runner Justin Marks expressed awe at the fact that FX, a Disney subsidiary, “green-lit a very expensive, subtitled Japanese period piece whose central climax revolves around a poetry competition”.
Richard Gadd’s psychological thriller Baby Reindeer also had a big night, taking home six Emmys, including the award for best limited series. Jessica Gunning won best supporting actress in a limited series for her portrayal of Martha, a deeply lonely and wounded woman who relentlessly stalks the protagonist, Donny. Donny is played by Gadd, who also won an Emmy for his performance in the series.
Baby Reindeer's Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning posing with their Emmys. (📸: Getty) pic.twitter.com/SMsnwCn3P3
— Netflix (@netflix) September 16, 2024
While accepting the series’ award, Gadd referred to Hollywood’s resurgence after last year’s writers strike by noting that “no slump is ever broken without the willingness to take risks”. Baby Reindeer demonstrated that a show could be a hit without proven stars or a reliance on long-standing intellectual property, he said. The show presented a haunting portrayal of stalking and abuse that required Gadd to mine some of his most traumatic experiences – and it became a critical success.
“Really, the only constant across any success in television is good storytelling – good storytelling that speaks to our times,” Gadd said.
Richard Gadd: "If 'Baby Reindeer' has proved anything, it's that there's no set formula to this, that you don't big stars, proven IP, long-running series...to have a hit. The only constant across any success in television is good storytelling, good storytelling that speaks to our… pic.twitter.com/koAWf5kLbK
— Variety (@Variety) September 16, 2024
Presenters and winners sprinkled a few political statements in throughout the night, nodding at the looming presidential election and the issues animating it. While presenting the award for best actress in a comedy series, Candice Bergen, who won five Emmys for her CBS sitcom Murphy Brown, reminded audiences how Vice-President Dan Quayle criticised her character for becoming a single mother in 1992.
“Today, a Republican candidate for Vice-President would never attack a woman for having kids. So, as they say, my work is done,” she quipped before ending her speech with a “meow” — a presumed nod at Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance’s widely mocked comment from 2021 about Democrats being “childless cat ladies”.
In another moment, The Bear actress Colon-Zayas, the first Latina winner of best supporting actress in a comedy series, called for “all the Latinas who are looking at me [to] keep believing, and vote. Vote for your rights”.
When veteran actor John Leguizamo sauntered to centre stage and declared himself one of Hollywood’s DEI hires, rebranding the acronym as “diligence, excellence and imagination”, folks should have strapped in. Because for the next few minutes – before he introduced Television Academy chairman Cris Abrego – Leguizamo schooled the Emmys crowd and those watching at home on what true diversity in La La Land really meant.
First, he took the audience back to his youth in Jackson Heights, Queens. Back then, Leguizamo said, he didn’t see people like him – a Colombian American – on TV or in movies. Instead, he saw a lot of “brown face”. Al Pacino playing a Cuban gangster in Scarface. Natalie Wood playing a Puerto Rican beauty in West Side Story.
“Everybody played us except us,” Leguizamo said.
"This show tonight is proof that our industry is making progress." - #Jo... https://t.co/OmJ949AIsT
— John Leguizamo (@JohnLeguizamo) September 16, 2024
He went on to call out the stereotypical depictions of Latinos on TV. Ricky Ricardo, Speedy Gonzales, Slowpoke Rodriguez. And the A-listers in the room began to get quiet. This was a reckoning on the very night Hollywood likes to pat itself on the back. “Turns out, not complaining doesn’t change anything,” said Leguizamo, who this year took out a full-page ad in the New York Times calling out the Television Academy and urging its voters to consider artists of colour. He did have some good news, though. This year’s Emmys, which boasted the most diverse list of nominees yet — including five Latino nominees — was a step forward.
Prolific TV writer, director and producer Greg Berlanti received this year’s Governors Award, which honours career achievement. Berlanti started out by writing for Dawson’s Creek, on which he championed the first same-sex kiss between men to appear on network television – a feat brought to the audience’s attention by series star Joshua Jackson, who appeared on stage to present Berlanti with the honour.
In his speech, Berlanti recalled television being an early comfort: “There was no internet to connect with other queer kids, no LGBTQ+ advocacy groups in schools,” he said. “Back then, the only way to tell if another kid might be gay was if he also watched Dynasty, Dallas and could name all four of the Golden Girls.”
Berlanti is known for producing series such as Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, You, Riverdale and The Flight Attendant. Many of his shows feature queer characters, and he thanked his mother, who died of cancer, for being a major source of support for him throughout his life.
Greg Berlanti accepts the Television Academy's governors award at the 2024 #Emmys pic.twitter.com/xjei8Lf9MS
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 16, 2024
“Her belief travels through me and out to all of the kids out there who today may feel alone or scared to share their truth with the world,” he said. “If my mom were here, she would want you to know that you are loved and you are worthy and you have a story to tell, and we need those stories now more than ever. She believes in you, and I do too, so hurry up to get here.”
Was it giving rerun? The Emmys were heavy on the nostalgia, and nothing conjures up the warm and fuzzies quite like a TV mum or TV dad. Your favourite showed up in two segments that could have seemed yawn-worthy if you weren’t paying attention to the political winks tucked into the witty banter.
First up was a trio of iconic TV dads from beloved sitcoms: George Lopez (The George Lopez Show), Damon Wayans (My Wife and Kids) and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family). On stage to present the award for best lead actor in a comedy, the fictional fathers gathered around in a “man cave”. When the group decided to pay tribute to their “wives”, Ferguson, who was in a same-sex marriage on Modern Family, spoke up: “I’m so sorry, did you watch my show, or …?”
One time for marriage equality!
The ceremony moved on to the progressive arc of TV mums who, according to actress Meredith Baxter (Family Ties), were lucky to get out of the kitchen back in her day. She appeared alongside two other iconic TV matriarchs, Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) and Susan Kelechi Watson (This is Us). The triumvirate declared that the times, they had a-changed.
Damon Wayans, @georgelopez, and @JesseTyler Ferguson present at the 76th #Emmys! 🌟 #76thEmmys #TelevisionAcademy pic.twitter.com/3HlItT9b7M
— Television Academy (@TelevisionAcad) September 16, 2024
“We have choices,” Watson said. “Our dreams aren’t deferred.” She added that “it’s okay to ask for as much money as a TV dad”.
The power trio wrapped with a nod to the birds and the bees: “Thank God we are way past the days when we couldn’t even say the word ‘pregnant’ on I Love Lucy,“ Baxter said. Or when married couples slept in separate beds. Which, of course, prompts the question: How did all those characters become mums in the first place?
She may not have made it into the In Memoriam segment – during which an orchestra accompanied Jelly Roll singing I Am Not Okay – but comedian John Oliver’s dog will go down in Emmys history. While accepting the award for best scripted variety show, the Last Week Tonight host had the usual people to thank: his staff, his wife, HBO for not cancelling his show and his sons (one who he first mistakenly called “husband”, though “his name is Hudson”).
But who the Emmy winner really wanted to acknowledge was his family’s dog.
“I also want to thank – this is going to be very silly – our dog. We had the most fantastic dog,” Oliver said. The furry friend attended his wedding, saw the couple through two pregnancies and rode through the pandemic with the family. The music playing Oliver off began to overtake his story, but he pressed on. “Perfect choice of music,” he continued. “We had to say goodbye to her. I feel like Sarah McLachlan right now. She was an amazing dog. This isn’t just for her; this is for all dogs.”
Emmy voters agree with the growing sentiment that The Traitors is one of the greatest reality TV shows of all time. The delectably goth competition series about fake murder that is filmed in a Scottish castle and hosted by Alan Cumming, unseated RuPaul’s Drag Race from its admirable run as a five-time winner of best reality competition series. Perhaps even more significant was Cumming breaking RuPaul’s eight-year streak of winning best reality competition host.
Drag Race is as groundbreaking and powerful as ever, but The Traitors, which pits reality stars from shows like The Bachelor, Survivor and Real Housewives against one another in a high-end version of the parlour game Mafia, simply out-camps them all.
Bicon Alan Cumming wears the trans flag as he accepts at the #Emmys for The Traitors. 🏳️⚧️ pic.twitter.com/479oXF7xA2
— GLAAD (@glaad) September 16, 2024
Community and coming together are among the themes in these Kiwi classics.