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Apple TV's "Widow's Bay" won a record 14 Emmys for a comedy in a single year at Monday's ceremony, while "The Pitt" repeated as best drama.
"Widow's Bay," a horror series starring Matthew Rhys as the leader of an isolated, haunted New England island community, surpassed the previous single-year comedy record of 12 awards set last year by Apple's "The Studio."
The series won every comedy category presented that night except best actress, with Rhys, Kate O'Flynn and Stephen Root each taking home acting prizes.
Other comedies underperformed, including "The Bear," which won only a posthumous guest actor award for Rob Reiner.
Rhys, who won best drama actor in 2018 for "The Americans," earned his first comedy Emmy for "Widow's Bay" and also won lead actor in a limited series for "The Beast in Me."
He additionally took the best comedy series prize as one of the show's producers, becoming the first performer to win a lead acting Emmy across the comedy, drama and limited series categories, and the first man to win two lead acting trophies in a single night.
"Hacks" underperformed relative to expectations, but its star Jean Smart repeated as best comedy actress, her fifth win for the series across five seasons, making her the first actress to win for every season of a show.
The victory was her eighth acting Emmy overall, tying her with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman for the most by a performer. Accepting the award, Smart said, "What a ride this has been."
Allison Janney won best supporting actress in a drama for "The Diplomat."
"The Pitt" won its second consecutive Emmy for best drama. The series, which follows hospital workers in a Pittsburgh emergency room in real time, led all shows with 25 nominations and won six awards overall.
Star Noah Wyle won his second straight lead actor prize and also won best drama series as one of the show's producers.
Accepting his acting award, Wyle said, "I grew up in LA. I'm a Hollywood kid. This is all I've ever wanted to do and this is the only club I've ever wanted to join.
Thank you for accepting me." Rhea Seehorn won best drama actress for "Pluribus." Apple's "Slow Horses" won best directing for a drama series, continuing a run of writing and directing wins dating back to 2024.
HBO Max's "DTF St Louis" won best limited series, bringing its total wins to seven. In the same field, "Beef," which won eight awards including both lead acting prizes in 2023, took only three technical awards at the Creative Arts Emmys this year.
Sally Field won best actress in a limited series or television movie for "Remarkably Bright Creatures." In her acceptance speech, Field criticized efforts to merge Paramount and Warner Bros., saying "our diversity, our unique storytelling matters" and that those voices should not be silenced or compromised.
Matthew Rhys separately won best actor in a limited series, an award presented by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" co-stars Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz, who marked the 30th anniversary of that series during their presentation.
Mariska Hargitay, star of "Law and Order: SVU," hosted the ceremony and opened the show with a musical parody of Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," recreating Nicole Kidman's AMC Theatres advertisement as part of her monologue.
She also appeared in a pre-taped sketch featuring a cameo from Taylor Swift. Presenting the award for best directing in a comedy series, comedian Marcello Hernandez addressed several audience members by name, including actor Harrison Ford.
Stephen Colbert's "The Late Show" won the newly combined best variety series category as well as best writing for a variety series. "Saturday Night Live," which holds the record for most Emmys by a show, added only one further award, for best makeup, despite 11 nominations.
Singer Noah Kahan, who earned his first number one album on the Billboard 200 chart last month with "The Great Divide," performed a rendition of "Bridge over Troubled Water" during the ceremony's in memoriam segment.
The 78th Emmy Awards aired live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Monday on NBC and Peacock.
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