# The Emmys Land on Monday With Mariska Hargitay Hosting and ‘Hacks’ Holding a Record By Abdullah Al Foysal · Entertainment · Published Sat, 12 Sep 2026 15:41:11 GMT · Updated Sat, 12 Sep 2026 21:41:11 GMT Source: The Current Tribune — https://currenttribune.com/article/78th-primetime-emmy-awards-2026-mariska-hargitay-the-pitt-hacks The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards go out live on Monday, September 14, from the Peacock Theater at L.A. LIVE in downtown Los Angeles, at 8 p.m. Eastern and 5 p.m. Pacific. NBC carries the broadcast and Peacock streams it, with the usual live-TV services carrying the feed. Mariska Hargitay hosts, her first time in the role. It is a sharper piece of casting than it initially sounds: she has been the lead of a network procedural for more than two decades, which makes her a rare figure in a television business that has spent ten years reorganizing around streaming. If the ceremony wants a through-line between the industry that was and the one that exists now, she is it. ## Who Is Leading The nomination counts tell you where the heat is. - **The Pitt** (HBO Max) leads drama with 25 nominations - **Hacks** (HBO Max) has 24, a record for a comedy series in a single year - **Widow’s Bay** (Apple TV+) follows with 19 Hacks setting the single-year comedy record is the headline stat, and it arrives for a show that has been winning in this category for a while already. A record like that usually signals a voting body that has fully committed to a series rather than one still making up its mind. The Pitt’s 25 is the more interesting number structurally. A medical drama leading the field is not a 2026 storyline anyone would have predicted, and it suggests the Academy’s appetite for the high-concept, limited-run prestige drama has cooled in favour of something more procedural and more watchable week to week. ### Outstanding Drama Series Eight nominees, and the platform breakdown is its own story. - The Diplomat (Netflix) - The Gilded Age (HBO Max) - A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO Max) - Paradise (Hulu) - The Pitt (HBO Max) - Pluribus (Apple TV+) - Slow Horses (Apple TV+) - Your Friends & Neighbors (Apple TV+) Three Apple TV+ entries and three HBO Max entries in a field of eight. Apple has spent years buying its way toward this kind of presence and has now arrived, with Slow Horses finally getting the drama-series recognition its critical standing always suggested and Pluribus breaking through in its first eligibility window. ### Outstanding Comedy Series - Abbott Elementary (ABC) - The Bear (FX) - Hacks (HBO Max) - Margo’s Got Money Troubles (Apple TV+) - Nobody Wants This (Netflix) - Only Murders in the Building (Hulu) - Shrinking (Apple TV+) - Widow’s Bay (Apple TV+) Abbott Elementary remains the only broadcast network show in the category, which is roughly where network comedy has been for several cycles now. The Bear is back after a run of wins and a run of arguments about whether it belongs in comedy at all. Widow’s Bay at 19 nominations in the same year it premiered is the genuine surprise of the field. ### Limited or Anthology Series - All Her Fault (Peacock) - The Beast in Me (Netflix) - Beef (Netflix) - DTF St. Louis (HBO Max) - Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette (Hulu) Five nominees rather than the eight in series categories, reflecting a shrinking limited-series pipeline as streamers have pulled back from expensive one-and-done prestige projects. ## The Individual Hauls Jason Bateman collected four nominations across multiple productions, the highest individual count of the year. Six performers pulled three each: Quinta Brunson, Paul W. Downs, Matthew Rhys, Jason Segel, Martin Short and Noah Wyle. Those names sketch the current shape of prestige television fairly precisely. Actors working across acting, producing and directing credits on multiple shows simultaneously, rather than being identified with a single series. The multi-hyphenate is no longer the exception. ### Who Is Presenting The announced presenter list includes Zendaya, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jon Hamm, Amy Poehler and Florence Pugh, among 18 others. Gellar’s inclusion alongside Zendaya is the kind of generational pairing awards producers reach for when they want the room to feel like a continuum rather than a snapshot. ## How the Voting Works Winners are chosen by the Television Academy’s membership, more than 27,000 people spread across 31 peer groups. Nominations come from within each peer group, so actors nominate actors and editors nominate editors, but final winners in most categories are voted on by the full eligible membership. That structure has a predictable consequence. Shows with broad industry affection tend to outperform their critical standing, and technically ambitious work in niche categories sometimes underperforms, because a general electorate votes on what it has watched. Worth remembering before anyone treats a nomination count as a prediction. ## What to Watch For Three things will define how Monday reads. First, whether The Pitt converts 25 nominations into the drama series win, or whether the count reflects breadth of support in craft categories without the top-line consensus. Nomination leaders lose the big prize more often than people remember. Second, whether Apple TV+ can turn six nominations across the two main series categories into actual statues. The company’s nomination presence has outrun its win rate for several years running. Third, the tone. Hargitay is hosting a ceremony in a year when the television business has contracted hard, with fewer series ordered, shorter seasons and consolidation reshaping who owns what. Awards shows in contracting industries tend to either acknowledge the room or very conspicuously avoid it. ## Final Verdict This is a competitive year rather than a coronation, which makes for a better broadcast. Hacks arrives with a record and a target on it. The Pitt leads the field with a show that is popular as well as decorated, a combination the Emmys have not often had at the top of the drama category lately. Apple TV+ has six shots across the two marquee series races. And the ceremony itself has something to prove. Monday, 8 p.m. Eastern, NBC and Peacock.