Three nights at the Peacock Theater and two broadcasts

The Television Academy held the 78th Emmy Awards over three nights in September 2026, all at the Peacock Theater at L.A. LIVE in downtown Los Angeles: night one on September 5, night two on September 6 and the main telecast on September 14.

Nights one and two were edited into a single broadcast, the 78th Emmy Awards (Creative Arts), which aired on FXX on Saturday, September 12 at 8 p.m. ET/PT and streamed on Hulu the next day. The September 14 telecast was hosted by Mariska Hargitay, broadcast live on NBC at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT and streamed live and on demand on Peacock, with awards in 19 categories.

Editorial concept timeline: September 5 and 6 merge into one broadcast, while September 14 leads to a separate live telecast.
Concept diagram: nights one and two were edited into the Creative Arts broadcast, while the September 14 telecast was separate. The official releases list FXX on September 12 and Hulu the next day for Creative Arts, and NBC live with Peacock streaming for the telecast.

Which categories fell on which night

Night one honored artistic and technical achievement in variety, reality and nonfiction series, in categories that include cinematography, costumes, casting, editing and hosting. Night two covered animation, drama, comedy and anthology series. Bob Bain and Bob Bain Productions executive produced both early nights.

The telecast carried the remaining 19 categories, with Hargitay executive producing with Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay of Jesse Collins Entertainment.

Widow's Bay finished with six wins and a record 14

Apple TV's Widow's Bay, a comedy-horror hybrid set on a haunted New England island, won six Emmys on September 14, more than any other program that night, among them Outstanding Comedy Series. Eight wins on night two took its total to 14, past the record of 13 that Apple TV's The Studio set last year and the most for a comedy series in a single year.

Matthew Rhys took lead actor, Kate O'Flynn supporting actress and Stephen Root supporting actor. Katie Dippold won for writing and Hiro Murai for directing, the first Asian winner in that category.

The Pitt's second season and the repeat winners

HBO Max's The Pitt and Apple TV's Pluribus tied for second with two wins each. The Pitt won Outstanding Drama Series for its second season, the first series since AMC's Mad Men to take that award for each of its first two seasons. Noah Wyle became the first actor to win Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for a show's first two seasons since Bryan Cranston won for Breaking Bad in 2009.

Pluribus won with Rhea Seehorn as lead actress in a drama and with Vince Gilligan's first individual writing Emmy, after earlier wins as a producer on Breaking Bad. HBO Max's Task added Tom Pelphrey as supporting actor in a drama.

Peacock's The Traitors took Outstanding Reality Competition Series for a third consecutive year and CBS's The Late Show with Stephen Colbert won Outstanding Variety Series for a second. HBO Max's DTF St. Louis won Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, its only award of the night.

Records for Rhys, Smart, Janney, Field and Root

Rhys also won Outstanding Actor in a Limited Series, Movie for Netflix's The Beast In Me, the first time one person has won two Emmys for leading performances in the same year. With his 2018 win for FX's The Americans, he is also the first person to win lead-performance Emmys in drama, comedy and limited series or movie.

Allison Janney won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama for Netflix's The Diplomat, and Jean Smart won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for HBO Max's Hacks. Both reached an eighth acting Emmy, tying Cloris Leachman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Smart's win was her fifth in the lead actress category and her third in a row, a run last matched by Louis-Dreyfus on Veep, and she is the first performer to win an Emmy for every season of a series.

Sally Field became the oldest winner of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, for Netflix's Remarkably Bright Creatures. Field turns 80 in November and is a few months older than Jessica Tandy was when Tandy won in 1988. Stephen Root, 74, became the oldest winner of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, a mark Henry Winkler held at 72 after his 2018 win for HBO Max's Barry.

The first Legacy Award, and the Bob Hope honor

Night two added an award the ceremony had not given before. The inaugural Legacy Award went to I Love Lucy for its effect on the television industry and on audiences.

Michael J. Fox received the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award on September 14. The Academy's board of governors chooses that award, established in 2002 for people in media whose deeds have a lasting impact on communities and whose philanthropy reflects Bob Hope's altruism. Fox was honored for his leadership in Parkinson's disease research through The Michael J. Fox Foundation, and Julianna Margulies, his former The Good Wife co-star, presented it. Fox has won five Emmys and holds 19 nominations, including one this year for Outstanding Guest Performer in a Comedy Series on Apple TV's Shrinking.

The telecast marked the 30th anniversary of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the 50th anniversary of Charlie's Angels. Reba McEntire performed Appalachian Memories, written by Dolly Parton, in a tribute to Parton, and the In Memoriam segment opened with recollections of Catherine O'Hara from Macaulay Culkin, Annie Murphy and Dan Levy before Noah Kahan sang the Simon and Garfunkel ballad Bridge over Troubled Water.

How to watch the three nights on demand

The Creative Arts broadcast aired on FXX and streamed on Hulu the day after. The September 14 telecast streamed live and on demand on Peacock.

The Academy published a separate winners list for each night, compiled by the accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP, plus individual category pages and winner interviews from the telecast. Each list covers its own night, so a category appears in the release for the night that handed it out.