The 78th Emmy Awards began on September 5 at the Peacock Theater at L.A. LIVE in downtown Los Angeles, with the first of three ceremonies recognising achievements across variety, reality and nonfiction programming, along with several technical categories. The awards are being presented over three dates; September 5, September 6 and September 14.
The opening night saw several prominent names take home Emmy trophies, including three first-time winners: Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter and Octavia Spencer.
Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny won Outstanding Variety Special (Live) for The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny, which emerged as the biggest winner of the night with seven awards. American singer-songwriter and actor Sabrina Carpenter won Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) for The Muppet Show, while Oscar-winning actor Octavia Spencer earned Outstanding Narrator for Lost Women of Alaska.
Other winners:
Among the other notable individual winners on Night 1 were Jimmy Kimmel, who won Outstanding Host for a Game Show for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire for the second consecutive year, and Alan Cumming, who won Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program for The Traitors, Desi Lydic also took home an Emmy for Outstanding Performer in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for The Daily Show: Desi Lydic Foxsplains.
The night also saw Mariska Hargitay win two Emmys for her documentary My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay, including Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program and Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special. Hargitay, who will host the September 14 Emmy telecast, was among the notable stars to score multiple honours on the opening night.
Other individual winners included Ben Archard, Yvonne De Mare and Hamish Hamilton, who won for directing The Traitors, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny, respectively. On the programme front, The Traitors was among the biggest winners with six awards, while The Late Show with Stephen Colbert picked up five in its final season. The Muppet Show won four, while Love on the Spectrum collected three. Antiques Roadshow, Ocean with David Attenborough and My Mom Jayne were among the other programmes to pick up multiple awards, while Jeopardy! won Outstanding Game Show.
Night 1 is only the beginning of this year’s Emmy celebrations. The second ceremony will take place on September 6, with both Creative Arts nights later being combined into a single broadcast on FXX on September 12. The main 78th Emmy Awards ceremony, hosted by Hargitay, will take place on September 14 at the Peacock Theater and air live on NBC and Peacock.