“Widow’s Bay,” Apple TV’s horror-comedy about a cursed island town in New England, won outstanding comedy series at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards on Monday night, September 14, capping a run that set a new record for the most Emmys ever won by a comedy series in a single season. The Widow’s Bay Emmys total also included both lead and supporting acting prizes.
The first-year show finished with 14 trophies, one more than the 13 collected last year by “The Studio,” another Apple TV comedy, according to The Hollywood Reporter and the Los Angeles Times. The comedy series award was the final prize handed out during the ceremony, which was hosted by Mariska Hargitay.
A sweep for the cast and creators
Matthew Rhys, who plays the island’s overcompensating mayor, Tom Loftis, won lead actor in a comedy series. Stephen Root and Kate O’Flynn won the supporting acting categories, and Betty Gilpin won for guest actress. Hiro Murai, who directed five of the season’s 10 episodes and serves as an executive producer, won for comedy directing, and creator Katie Dippold won for writing. The show’s other wins came in casting, half-hour cinematography, score, music supervision, production design, sound editing and sound mixing.
Rhys had a double night. He also won lead actor in a limited or anthology series for “The Beast in Me,” the Times reported.
“Widow’s Bay” earned 19 nominations, the most of any new show this year. In the top comedy category it beat “Abbott Elementary,” “The Bear,” “Hacks,” “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” “Nobody Wants This,” “Only Murders in the Building” and “Shrinking.”
Accepting the series award, Dippold thanked the cast and crew. “This was such a great collaboration of the best wonderful weirdos and artists,” she said, according to the Times. “We’d also like to thank the evil entity on the island that trusted us with its story.” The Hollywood Reporter noted that she also thanked her mother “for always making Halloween fun.”
A summer show built on word of mouth
The series premiered at the end of April, a late entry in the Emmy race, and grew into a word-of-mouth hit that inspired memes and fan cosplay. Dippold started writing it more than a decade ago, drawing on childhood trips to the Jersey Shore and small New England seaside towns.
Murai told the Times he thought of it as a “spooky summer show.” “So much of what makes it scary is that it doesn’t look like it should be scary. It’s all sunlight,” he said.
Rhys said he hoped the show’s success would encourage studios to take chances. “I really hope this does something in the Hollywood psyche, where they go, ‘Let’s put away the remakes and let’s just get after new challenging, original material,'” he told the Times.
The win gives Apple TV the comedy series title for a second straight year and its fourth in six years, following “Ted Lasso” in 2021 and 2022 and “The Studio” in 2025.
Jean Smart makes history
Jean Smart won lead actress in a comedy series for the fifth and final season of HBO Max’s “Hacks,” making her the first woman to win an Emmy for every season of a show, Variety reported. The only other performer to do so was Bill Cosby, who won for all three seasons of “I Spy” between 1966 and 1968.
The audience gave Smart a standing ovation when presenter Zendaya read her name. She dedicated the award to the show’s creators, Lucia Aniello, Jen Statsky and Paul W. Downs. “It all begins and ends with them,” Smart said. “I love you guys so much. What a ride this has been.”
The win was Smart’s eighth career Emmy, tying the record for most wins by a performer held by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman. Allison Janney also reached eight on Monday with a win for “The Diplomat.” “Hacks” entered the night with 24 nominations, a single-season record for a comedy series.
Other top winners
HBO Max’s medical drama “The Pitt” won outstanding drama series for its second season, and “DTF St. Louis” won outstanding limited series, according to the Los Angeles Times.
