2026 Emmy Awards blend nostalgia and absurdity, highlighted by Swift, Fox and a sea hag

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Did you watch the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards on Tuesday morning? Or did your boss rudely insist you do your job instead? Thankfully, deputy TV editor Meg Watson, senior culture writer Karl Quinn and culture reporter Nell Geraets were busy live-blogging for you. Here’s what you missed:

Even just a few months back, this win would have been unthinkable. It was widely presumed Hacks would sweep the comedy categories for its final season – a series beloved by fans and critics that ended on an extraordinary high. But the unstoppable word-of-mouth buzz for this strange and extraordinary horror-comedy was just too strong.

Despite the show just sneaking into the eligibility period, with the final episodes not even making the cut, Widow’s Bay has become the most awarded comedy in Emmys history. It won outstanding comedy, writing and directing, along with acting wins for Matthew Rhys, Kate O’Flynn and Stephen Root. And that’s on top of eight more wins at the Creative Arts Emmys earlier this month.

The win is not only well-earned – it was easily my favourite show of the year – but exciting proof of what can happen when a studio takes a risk on an unconventional idea. MW

Getting the balance right for the in-memoriam segment in any awards show is always tricky. Who do you acknowledge, who do you draw special attention to, how do you celebrate the life without diminishing the loss? With the tribute to Canadian comic actor Catherine O’Hara, the producers got it just right. Macaulay Culkin, who played Kevin McAllister in Home Alone, paid tribute to his on-screen mum. Then Annie Murphy, who played her spoilt no-longer-rich-kid daughter, Alexis, in Schitt’s Creek, talked about some of the ways ordinary people had expressed their grief. And Dan Levy, that show’s co-creator (and O’Hara’s screen son in it), spoke at length, and with humour, of her enormous gift for improvisation. “Say yes to giving her space to experiment and create,” he said. “It will amaze you on a daily basis, and it will change your life.” KQ

For my money, comedian John Mulaney’s intro to the most outstanding actor in a drama award was not just a highlight of the show, it was perhaps the funniest thing I’ve seen on any awards show, ever.

“Finally, something for the fellas,” he said facetiously. For the next few minutes, he regaled us with tales of how overlooked men had been in the industry, poo-poohing Bluey’s dad, Bandit, as “soft” and “a joke”, digressing into some R-rated observations about how a “real man” might ease the pressure in his domestic life by paying a little lip service to his wife’s needs (so to speak), before finishing with a reading from A Guy’s Guide to Being a Man’s Man, a book published in 2006 by actor Frank Vincent. “A man’s man can be wearing the best clothes, drinking the finest wine, sitting with the most beautiful woman in Las Vegas,” Vincent observed. “But if he doesn’t treat everyone around him with respect and class, he’s not a real man’s man. He’s just a jabroni [loser] in a good suit.” Pure gold. KQ

There was a world in which The Pitt dominated the drama categories at this year’s Emmys and this exquisite and artfully made Apple TV drama was shut out entirely. I’m so glad that didn’t happen. Though the show didn’t win outstanding drama, Pluribus star Rhea Seehorn and creator Vince Gilligan were awarded lead actress and outstanding writing respectively. They are especially deserving winners not just because of the quality of this series, but because of how they’ve been overlooked in the past. It’s a crime Seehorn never won an Emmy for her role as Kim Wexler in Gilligan’s Better Call Saul (a show that was notoriously overlooked with 53 nominations and no wins). And the fact that this is Gilligan’s first writing Emmy is frankly bonkers. The dude wrote Breaking Bad! MW

The Bob Hope Humanitarian Award honours an actor whose contributions go far beyond the screen. After this year’s Emmy Awards, it’s clear that couldn’t apply to anyone more than Michael J. Fox.

From Back to the Future and Teen Wolf to Family Ties and Shrinking, the Canadian-American star has long dominated our screens. But it’s in his advocacy work that he has well and truly shone. While accepting the honour in front of a theatre-wide standing ovation, the actor spoke of his work alongside the Michael J. Fox Foundation to find a cure for Parkinson’s, a disease he was diagnosed with in 1991 at the age of just 29.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation has so far raised more than $US3 billion ($4.2 billion) for research and treatments, making it the world’s largest non-profit funder of Parkinson’s research.

“The support from all of you was so uplifting, and it made me feel like I could keep doing this and that I hadn’t lost what I could do,” he said while accepting the award. “I understood that I actually didn’t have to surrender to it, but that I could do everything I could for people living with the disease. You stood up for me, and I appreciate it. I’m proud of the progress we’ve made.” NG

Look, I have nothing against Noah Wyle, who won the award for most outstanding actor in a drama for The Pitt for a second straight year. But when will Gary Oldman receive his due from the clowns who judge the Emmys? His farting, snuffling, barking, filthy, foul-mouthed spy, Jackson Lamb, is one of the most brilliant comic creations of all time. He’s also a damned fine dramatic creation, too. Anyone can put on scrubs and look important; it takes a special talent to convey gravitas while covered in ketchup and oil stains. On the upside, there are two more seasons (at least) of Slow Horses in which the Emmys can make amends. KQ

This was a victory lap for Matthew Rhys. The Welshman made Emmys history as the first performer to win lead actor in a comedy and lead actor in a limited or anthology series in a single year, for Widow’s Bay and The Beast in Me respectively. And when you combine those with his 2018 win for The Americans, he’s the first male performer in history to hold trophies in all major categories (comedy, drama and anthology).

But he did lack in one area: thanking his longtime partner, Keri Russell. The country of Wales got a bigger thank you! It’s a huge oversight for the longtime wife guy who has taken every other opportunity to sing her praises in this Emmys campaign. And also a blow to me personally, as I’m watching The Americans for the first time and (like everyone else on the internet) have become parasocially obsessed with their relationship. He made sure to give her some love from the press room, however, calling her a “class act” and saying she’s odds on to finally get her first trophy next year. MW

Who knew Mariska Hargitay was such a weirdo? The Law and Order: SVU veteran exchanged pantsuits for Game of Thrones robes and crime-busting for unexpected musical numbers as host. As the first woman to host the Emmys in a decade and a half (yes, it has been that long), Hargitay opened the show by singing a cover of I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll, switching out the lyrics for “I love TV screens”. The creativity level was essentially zero, but at least we got to see the sea hag from Widow’s Bay turn into Jennifer Coolidge drinking boba tea. But wait, the singing didn’t end there. About halfway through the show, Hargitay began randomly dueting with actor Andrew Rannells about all the shows that ended this year. I guess when you’re not necessarily known for your comedy chops, you have to think outside the box. Some of her lines, like calling Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson her “favourite vape flavours” or calling Dick Wolf “Richard Penis”, made her seem more like an awkward aunt rather than an Emmys host. But hey, after playing a tough police detective for god knows how many years, it’s not surprising that she just wanted to let her freak flag fly. NG

Just when you think Taylor Swift couldn’t possibly have anything to do with an event, somehow she steals the show. The pop juggernaut made an unexpected Emmys cameo in a pre-recorded skit with the Law and Order: SVU cast, proving it really is Swift’s world, and we’re all just living in it. Hargitay and her crew were busy trying to determine whether the singer would show up at the award show, using the nominees to riff on Swift’s songs, when the pop star rocked up dressed in a grey powersuit, channelling her “no-nonsense detective era”. She didn’t show up alone either – she whipped out her beloved cat Olivia Benson, who was named after Hargitay’s SVU character. I certainly wasn’t expecting the pop star’s first public appearance after her super-secretive July wedding to be at the Emmys. NG

The first season of The Pitt absolutely dominated last year’s Emmy Awards. Given the second season was arguably just as beloved, its partial sidelineing on Tuesday had many clutching their pearls. Sure, it still managed to scoop the trophy for outstanding drama, just as it did in 2025. And Noah Wyle unsurprisingly won lead actor in a drama. It also won a few categories at the Creative Arts Emmys earlier this month. But two primetime awards for the year’s most-nominated show (it received a whopping 25 nods) is very slim, and that’s putting it mildly. The medical drama lost out in categories it was expected to sweep, including supporting actor and actress. In fact, four actors from The Pitt were nominated in the latter category, making The Diplomat’s Allison Janney’s win even more impressive. Its victories may have been few and far between, but at least it inspired the internet to do what it does best: create memes. This one with Jennifer Coolidge as Allison Janney is almost worthy of an Emmy itself. NG

The 78th annual Emmy Awards will be replayed in primetime on Foxtel at 8.30pm (AEST) and will be available on demand via Binge.