LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The Apple TV comedy-horror show "Widow's Bay" set a record Monday night for the most Emmy wins by a comedy series. There are also wins for "The Pitt" and "Hacks" at the 78th Emmy Awards. NPR's critic-at-large, Eric Deggans, was up late watching and is up early with us now. Good morning, Eric.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: That's the job.
FADEL: (Laughter).
DEGGANS: I take the hit so you don't have to.
FADEL: Right? I mean, you have to catch me up because I did not stay up for the Emmys so I could wake up to host this morning. Let's start with that show that dominated the night, "Widow's Bay." Was that a surprise?
DEGGANS: Quite a surprise. I mean, "Widow's Bay" made Emmy history in a bunch of ways. It won 14 Emmys total. Series star Matthew Rhys won an Emmy as best actor in a drama, and he also won best actor in a limited series for Netflix's "The Beast In Me." That was also a first. Director-executive-producer Hiro Murai was the first Asian director to win for work in a comedy series.
And this show, which kind of centers on a small, fictional New England town that suffers from a centuries-old curse, was a surprise hit that generated all this praise for melding horror, comedy and drama in an inventive show, and that turned into a juggernaut of wins last night.
FADEL: What else stood out to you?
DEGGANS: Well, OK, on the drama side, HBO Max's "The Pitt" won best drama series and best actor in a drama for star Noah Wyle, but even though lots of its actors were nominated in supporting categories, they didn't win, suggesting they might have split the vote.
Now, actress Rhea Seehorn, an alum of the excellent drama "Better Call Saul," finally won an Emmy as star of Apple TV's "Pluribus" for best actress in a drama. And Stephen Colbert, whose talk show "The Late Show" got canceled by CBS in May, won best variety series, urging Hollywood to find jobs for his former staff, some of whom served as writers for the Emmys, as he noted.
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STEPHEN COLBERT: I just want to point out that if you like the comedy tonight, my old writers wrote it tonight.
DEGGANS: And even though controversy over his cancellation had political undertones, Colbert avoided any politics, anger or recrimination in his acceptance speech.
FADEL: Did any of the winners talk about politics?
DEGGANS: Not really. I mean, you know, Alan Cumming - host of "The Traitors" - urged people to vote when he accepted their award as best reality TV competition show. But star Sally Field, honored as best actress in a limited series or TV movie - she may have spoken the most directly 'cause she shaded Paramount's attempts to buy rival media company Warner Bros. Discovery while speaking on why the arts matter.
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SALLY FIELD: We're the arts. We matter. Our voices matter. Our diversity, our unique storytelling matters. We can't let those voices be silenced or compromised or merged.
DEGGANS: Now, there was a sense here that the Emmys were trying really hard to avoid controversy. I mean, they even hired actress Mariska Hargitay to host instead of a comedian.
FADEL: I mean, yeah, I love her, but you wouldn't expect the Star of "Law & Order: SVU" to be the host of the Emmys. She kicked things off with a Joan Jett parody.
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MARISKA HARGITAY: (Singing) Singing I love TV screens. "Margo's Money Troubles" (ph) on the airplane, baby. I love TV screens.
FADEL: So how'd she do?
DEGGANS: Well, as you can hear from there, they had some awkward stuff going on there, and the show was awkwardly paced. But her superpower was her willingness to try anything and make fun of herself. There were lots of "Law & Order" jokes, including a pretaped "SVU" spoof with Taylor Swift. But entertaining as she could be, there was a sense that the Emmys felt a little too safe and buttoned-up. They even ended the ceremony a few minutes early, which almost never happens.
FADEL: That's NPR critic-at-large Eric Deggans. Thank you, Eric.
DEGGANS: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARC DE SOLEIL'S "SAHARA COWBOY") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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