The first half of the Television Academy’s split awards weekend handed out craft wins across live events, reality, comedy and specials ahead of the primetime telecast.
The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards opened Saturday with the first of two back-to-back ceremonies at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, and the night belonged to a familiar mix of live-event spectacle, reality competition and late-night fare. The Television Academy’s split-format weekend, once known as the Creative Arts Emmys, is now being rolled into the primetime show on Sept. 14 on NBC and Peacock.
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl show leads the craft race
The biggest winner of Night 1 was The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny, which picked up awards for variety special, directing, lighting design, music direction, sound mixing, choreography and technical direction. The NBC telecast, produced with Roc Nation, Rimas, Jesse Collins Entertainment and DPS, was a clean sweep across the kind of categories that reward scale, precision and live-event execution.
Hamish Hamilton won for directing the special. The technical direction and camerawork award also went to the halftime show, underscoring how much of the Emmy voting in these categories comes down to the mechanics behind a massive live production. In a weekend built around craft, the Super Bowl performance was the night’s most decorated single title.
Reality, late night and Muppets each take a turn
The Traitors had a strong showing of its own, winning for hosting, directing, picture editing, cinematography and production design. The Peacock reality competition has become one of the sharper awards players in the genre, and Night 1 reflected that momentum.
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert also landed multiple wins as the show headed toward its end. The CBS late-night franchise won in writing, short form comedy, picture editing, technical direction and camerawork, and lighting design. The series finale was among the credited entries in the directing category as well.
The Muppet Show had a solid night with wins for variety special, writing, picture editing and production design. The Disney+ title, backed by 20th Television, Disney Branded Television, The Muppets Studio and Point Grey Pictures, was another reminder that the craft categories still reward legacy brands when the execution lands.
Solo wins and a few sharp moments on stage
In the individual categories, Jimmy Kimmel won for best game show host, Octavia Spencer took narration for Lost Women of Alaska, and Mariska Hargitay won for best documentary and directing for My Mom Jayne. Hargitay, who is set to host the Primetime Emmys next Monday, was visibly emotional on stage. “I can’t believe I get to do all this great stuff,” she said.
Wanda Sykes opened the evening by calling it “one-third of television’s biggest night,” a nod to the Television Academy’s decision to split the longtime Creative Arts Emmys across two nights. “The Emmys are spread across three glorious nights,” she said. “It’s a little like the friend who celebrates a birthday month because they like free margaritas.”
The presenter lineup leaned into the industry’s oddball side. Progressive’s Dr. Rick and Pete — played by Bill Glass and Michael C. Nelson — presented the shortform and commercial categories. Heather McMahan handled the writing awards. Kareem Rahma of SubwayTakes introduced the emerging media program category with a line aimed squarely at the room: “if you don’t know what emerging program is, you are a boomer.” Julie Chen Moonves presented the reality program categories and marked Big Brother’s 1,000 episodes in primetime, calling the CBS staple “the original gangster of reality TV.”
What comes next in the Emmy split
This weekend’s two ceremonies will hand out 102 statuettes across craft categories. Sunday’s Night 2 will focus on guest actors, supporting actor and actress in limited series, and writing for a limited series. Those categories were among five moved off the primetime telecast by the Television Academy, a change that drew criticism from Hollywood guilds.
After the weekend wraps, the two ceremonies will be edited into a single broadcast airing Sept. 12 on FXX, ahead of the Monday primetime show. For now, Night 1 has set the tone: a craft-heavy Emmy weekend where live production, reality TV and late-night fare carried the load.
