Emmys 2026 Recap

Brian Lehrer (0:10)

Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now we'll talk for a few minutes about the Emmy Awards in case you missed them last night. There were more record breakers than usual.

Mariska Hargitay of Law and Order SVU became the first woman to host the Emmys in 15 years. And you know, she's not a comedian. Maybe going for someone like her to avoid political blowback from the government that regulates a lot of television. Maybe that's why they didn't have a comedian. And sure enough, she shied away from things like ICE arrests in favor of ones that aren't real when she talked about being nervous being in this role.

Mariska Hargitay (0:48)

So I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. It's a lot of pressure. But it is so reassuring to see so many familiar faces out there. And I'm just talking about how many of you I've arrested on SVU.

You guys have done some unspeakable things. I'm talking to you, Martin Short.

Brian Lehrer (1:12)

Yeah, and I was watching. I saw the cutaway of Martin Short. He did laugh at that joke. Some other highlights, the medical drama The Pit, took home best drama for the second year running, and the Apple TV comedy, Widows Bay collected so many trophies, 14 in total, that it set the all time record for any Emmy wins by a comedy series in a single year.

Matthew Reese became the first actor to win lead acting Emmys across drama, comedy and limited series, and he did it partly by winning twice in one night. There were emotional moments too, a long overdue win for Ray Seahorn after years of being passed over for her role on Better Call Saul. She was so great in that. There were also tributes to Catherine O'Hara and Rob Reiner. We'll talk about all of that and some of the other memorable moments from the ceremony now with Daniel Fienberg, Chief Television Critic at The Hollywood Reporter. Daniel, welcome to WNYC. Thanks for getting up early out there in Hollywood to do this with us.

Daniel Fienberg (2:10)

Thanks for having me.

Brian Lehrer (2:12)

Listeners, we can get a few calls and texts in here. It's going to be a relatively short segment, but what stood out to you? Any snubs or surprises or surprisingly touching moments or whatever? 212-433-WNYC. Texts would be best, because we could get to them quickly, but either call or text 212-433-9692.

Do you have a kind of overarching takeaway?

Daniel Fienberg (2:38)

It's funny and it's somewhat parochial, but the thing that stands out to me is an award show getting to 15 minutes before closing time and having only one award to go. There has never been, in my memory of doing this, an award show that ran out of material as early as last night's Emmy.

They had Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson come out and they were told to vamp, so they kind of summarized the origins of their upcoming Apple TV show. And you could almost see them looking off to the wings and seeing a stage manager going, okay, keep babbling, keep babbling. That never happens.

SPEAKER_4 (3:18)

And it was probably on.

Brian Lehrer (3:19)

It doesn't surprise me, because I only watched the first hour, but in that hour, my impression was this is really efficient. It's moving fast. They're giving the big awards, most of the big awards, right at the top, and it's also bland because of that, because it was moving ahead so efficiently.

So it doesn't actually surprise me that they wound up having to vamp at the end.

Daniel Fienberg (3:47)

No, you're completely correct. When the producers structured the show for this Sears Emmys, very clearly somebody in the room said, we're going to put as many awards in the first half of the show as we possibly can, then the second half will be as many tributes as possible. That way, if the first half is running long, maybe we'll trim things, who knows? Whatever it was, however it was structured, ended up in this very uncomfortable conclusion. Yet, you mentioned a lot of the things that really were my more tangible entertainment-based take aways. The huge night for Apple TV with the wins for Widows Bay and Pluribus, which got a couple key wins.

The domination, as pretty much is always the case, for HBO with the big wins for The Pit and for DTF St. Louis, a kind of quirky, strange little limited series that I'm astonished and very pleased played well with the voters. So you had those things, and then you had the tributes. My favorite moment of the night, honestly, was the tribute to Michael J. Fox, who received the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. He came out on stage, he accepted an extensive standing ovation from the crowd because he's as beloved as an industry figure gets, and he gave a speech that was short, but both funny and powerful.