78th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards Red Carpet Underway

And that’s it for the Emmys. Thanks so much for joining us as we live blogged our way through the event. Overall, it felt pretty good, the right shows won – Widow’s Bay, The Pitt, Pluribus and Hacks – and there was enough fun and surprises to keep things moving for its more than two-hour duration.

For the full wrap-up, read Michael Idato’s analysis (written from his seat inside the theatre), check out the full list of winners and don’t miss our red carpet gallery.

Thanks and goodbye. (And don’t forget to party like Katie Dippold at Halloween.)

There were 19 awards handed out in this ceremony, excluding the humanitarian award given to Michael J. Fox. And the big winner on the night was Apple TV.

The streamer won six awards for Widow’s Bay, two for Pluribus and one for Slow Horses, giving it nine in all. That put it way ahead of the pack.

Next best was HBO Max, which won five, across four programs (OK, you might argue that indicates a greater breadth, but whatever). Hacks won best comedy actress for Jean Smart – her fifth win in five seasons of the series, a remarkable streak – plus two for The Pitt and one each for DTF St. Louis and Task.

Netflix won three, for The Diplomat and The Beast In Me (helping Matthew Rhys make history as the first man to win two lead actor awards in the same year, the other coming for Widow’s Bay), and the feature Remarkably Bright Creatures, which gave Sally Field another acting trophy for her bulging cabinet (she has three other Emmy wins, two Golden Globes, a SAG award and a lifetime achievement award, and two best actress Oscars).

Give it up for Widow’s Bay, which has gone six for six tonight. The horror-comedy scooped the trophy for best comedy series, beating long-standing favourites such as Hacks, Only Murders in the Building and Abbott Elementary.

“I love this group so much,” said Widow’s Bay creator and writer Katie Dippold when accepting the trophy on behalf of the whole cast and crew.

“We love all these other [nominated] shows so much. I firstly have to quickly thank my mum for always making Halloween fun (a pause here to remember Dippold’s viral Babadook tweet – may we never forget). This was such a great collaboration of the best wonderful weirdos and artists … Thank you Apple TV for letting us take this crazy creative thing … We’d also like to thank the evil entity on the island that tested us with its story. OK, serve the punch now!”

This means the Apple TV show won in every single category it was nominated for at the primetime Emmys. Clearly, the people love kooky, quirky, mind-bending adventures on cursed islands. I mean, I could watch Matthew Rhys panic in a creepy hotel crawl space until the end of time. Thank goodness a second season is on the way.

It’s been a bit of an odd night for this much-loved medical drama, losing out in all supporting acting categories despite having most of its cast nominated, but The Pitt got the big award that really mattered.

For the second year in a row, The Pitt has won outstanding drama series.

Accepting the award, series creator R. Scott Gemmill, previously of ER fame, delivered a passionate speech about the importance of authentic storytelling and “shining a light” on people doing heroic work in the real world.

“We’ve always tried to be really authentic and tell real stories about the real-life heroes who are here for us day in and day out,” Gemmill said, speaking generally about US healthcare workers.

Macaulay Culkin, Annie Murphy and Dan Levy took to the stage to introduce the In Memoriam segment, which kicks off with Cathrine O’Harra, who played mother to all of them – in the Home Alone movies (Culkin) and the TV series Schitt’s Creek (Murphy and Levy).

“Like a good mum, she always showed up when I asked her to, because that was Catherine. That’s what she did,” Culkin says. “She showed up, and this is the best that we can do for her tonight. We’re showing up for her. She may have forgotten me, twice, but we will always remember her.”

“Catherine’s laugh was a perpetual yes, and …,” says Murphy a reference to the golden rule of improvisational comedy.

DTF St. Louis is a masterclass in drama – mysterious, heartbreaking, a shockingly nuanced take on male adult friendship. No wonder it won the award for best limited or anthology series tonight, beating out Sarah Snook’s All Her Fault, Beef and other heavy-hitters.

The show’s creator Steven Conrad accepted the award on behalf of the cast and crew, thanking all of their family members and loved ones for their “good cheer and faith”.

“On behalf of the 175 people who worked on DTF St. Louis, we are all grateful and we each send out great appreciation. Thank you,” he said.

The show had already been on something of a winning streak, winning six trophies at the Creative Arts Emmys earlier this month. This included wins for its supporting stars Harbour – who arguably delivered the best performance of his career so far as Floyd Smitch – and Cardellini. This Primetime Emmy is the cherry on top of a very deserving cake.

Just a few weeks after her death, Dolly Parton has been honoured on stage at the Emmys with a heartfelt speech from Steel Magnolias co-star Sally Field and a performance of Appalachian Memories by longtime friend Reba McEntire.

“If there are truly angels on Earth, then we just lost one,” Field said.

“I adored her from day one. How could you not? She was genuine, humble, supporting and blisteringly funny. With a bawdy sense of humour that would send any rude guy looking for a place to hide. I couldn’t see then what a real giant Dolly was – not just as an artist, but as a human. She was a humanitarian whose contributions have made a profound and huge difference.

“I am not the only one on Earth who will love you forever and ever.”

Linda Cardellini and David Harbour, each of whom has won an acting award for their work in the superb DTF St Louis, present the award for best writing in a drama series (their own show won the writing award for limited series, for series creator Steven Conrad, who also won for directing).

The win goes to Vince Gilligan, his fifth win from 26 nominations, dating all the way back to The X-Files in 1997. He’s won for Pluribus, which he describes as a “weird” show about “a world in which everybody gets along”.

“It’s so sci-fi, but think about it,” he said. “There is nothing weirder than our current reality, these past 10 years, you can’t write this stuff. I submit to you that a real world in which people get along is just as believable as what we’ve got now, and achievable.

“We will never agree on everything, but we can show respect to one another, maybe even kindness, and we can stop listening to a relative few who tell us that that is for suckers, and who get their power from dividing us. My two cents.”

It’s worth a hell of a lot more than the toxic reality we currently inhabit, IMHO.