A fresh breeze entered the television awards gala held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
The Curse of Widow’s Bay, a story about the eccentric inhabitants of a haunted island in New England, swept the Emmy Awards by winning 14 distinctions, including best comedy series, writing, directing, and three actors (the lead and two supporting), dethroning Hacks, a former dominant in the category that had received more nominations in the comedy category than any other series in its fifth and final season.
Its crowning at the 78th Emmy Awards made Apple TV win more awards than any other platform for the first time. Praised by critics for a surprisingly original concept in a landscape dominated by reboots and reruns, the first season of this creation by Katie Dippold, directed by Hiro Murai, set a new record for a comedy series. These awards culminated the brilliant trajectory of The Curse of Widow’s Bay, which in recent months had become a word-of-mouth phenomenon within the entertainment industry.
From the creator of ‘Breaking Bad’
‘The Pitt’ has found a tough rival in ‘Pluribus’, which also won six awards
Its star, Matthew Rhys, won the award for best actor. Stephen Root won best supporting actor and Kate O’Flynn best supporting actress. Dippold took the award for best writing and Murai for directing.
Rhys had an unparalleled evening. He made history at the Emmys by being the first to win in two categories at the same gala. He also took home the award for best lead actor in a miniseries for his role in The Beast Within Me. This completes his hat-trick, as he already had the award for best lead in a drama series.
There were two other very notable names. Jean Smart won again as lead actress in comedy for Hacks. This brought her to eight wins in this category, joining Cloris Leachman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Smart set a distinctive record by being awarded lead actress in all five seasons of Hacks. Allison Janney also reached the peak of eight Emmys, but as a supporting actress. This time, for her role in The Diplomat.
The change on the podium was not finalized because in the drama category there was no surprise or upset. HBO Max’s medical drama The Pitt won best series in this category for the second consecutive year and became the first to win the top honor for its first two seasons since Mad Men achieved that feat in 2009.
Although it was the most nominated (25), it only took home six awards, four of which were in minor categories and two major ones, such as best series and best lead actor, Noah Wyle. Wyle, in turn, missed out on best director. The tribute went to Sal Metzstein for Slow Horses, an adaptation of Mike Herron’s espionage novels.
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In that drama territory, The Pitt has found a tough rival in Pluribus, which also won six awards. Vince Gilligan, a true legend of series thanks to myths like Breaking Bad, with which he earned a couple of Emmys, or Better Call Saul, won best creator and writer in the drama category for a science fiction series about a virus of extraterrestrial origin that connects the minds of almost all humanity into a single supposedly peaceful network or hive. In one of the few politically tinged speeches, Gilligan lamented that “right now, the strangest thing is real life.”
‘The Curse of Widow’s Bay’ had become a phenomenon within the entertainment industry
This gala also meant justice was done. Rhea Seehorn won the Emmy for best lead actress for Pluribus. It was her first win after four nominations, almost all for Better Call Saul, a cult series mistreated by television academies that led to her being overlooked for her role as lawyer Kim Wexler.
Seehorn, 54, has made up for it with this new creation by Gilligan where she plays Carol Sturka, a successful writer and chronic discontent who fights against an alienated humanity. She is the unhappiest woman in the world.
DTF St. Louis (HBO Max) won best miniseries. It had thirteen nominations and took seven. Disguised as a murder investigation in a residential neighborhood, it turned out to be a strange and charming exploration of love, both marital and platonic. The best supporting actor in this category went to Tom Pelphrey for his work in Task, while Sally Field won best lead actress in the miniseries Light Creatures.
Field also gave way to the emotional tribute paid to the recently deceased Dolly Parton. The biggest ovations, however, went to Stephen Colbert, whose CBS talk show has been canceled, who received the Emmy dedicated to these shows (his program won six) and to Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson’s and has been a fighter for this cause for years, who was awarded the Bob Hope distinction.
In the absence of the late Farrah Fawcett, who was remembered, the gala brought together the original Charlie’s Angels (Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith, and Cheryl Ladd) on the 50th anniversary of the series premiere.
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