My Reactions to the 2026 Creative Arts Emmys

 

I always watch the Creative Arts Emmys that are aired on FXX on the Saturday before the broadcast. Technically they are two nights of awards edited into one 2 and a half hour broadcast but that doesn't mean they're any less fascinating.

Sometimes they can foreshadow what will happen on Emmy night. Other times they can mislead. Last year, for example, Severance was the big winner in drama taking seven Emmys. However Andor won five and The Pitt took 2. Severance managed to win two more Emmys that were somewhat surprising – Britt Lower for Best Actress and Tramell Tillman for Supporting Actor – but of course the big winner was The Pitt.

As for comedy two years ago The Bear had an incredible night winning seven Emmys, trouncing all comers. On Emmy night it won four more but in what was the biggest upset in recent memory Hacks took Best Comedy.

The Creative Arts Emmys naturally deal with the kinds of awards that are more technically elaborate and despite noble efforts to divide the awards among genre and period pieces those are still the shows that generally do the best among them. It's rare to see that correlation play out on Emmy night. This was true in Limited Series last when The Penguin took seven Emmys in the Limited Series category to Adolescence's three but Adolescence essentially won everything in sight Emmy night. We've seen shows like The Last of Us do very well here and then Succession do big on Emmy night.

So before we go any further let's see if the actual awards may have helped clarify things.

For Comedy, perhaps not unexpectedly, the big winner was Widow's Bay which took seven Emmys: Cinematography, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Music (half-hour) Music Supervision, Casting and Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Betty Gilpin. (I will get to that one)

This would seem to give the edge of Widow's Bay but remember what I said about two years ago The Bear. Hacks only won for Picture Editing in a Comedy but this has never been a show that has a great history with creative arts. Until now it's only won two others both for Guest Actress in a Comedy: Laurie Metcalf in 2022, Julianne Nicholson, 2025. I admit odds have shifted in Widow's Bay favor but it was always going to have a good night on Emmy night regardless: it was a lock for Matthew Rhys for Best Actor in a Comedy, I was pretty sure Kate O'Flynn was going to win for Best Supporting Actress and Hiro Murai seemed certain for direction. Jean Smart is certain to win her fifth Best Actress and its still heavily favored to win Best Writing. I still think the stars are in its favor. Not that I'd be disappointed if Widow's Bay won.

For the record I was also glad to see Margo's Got Money Troubles take three Emmys for Contemporary Costume, Hairstyle and Makeup. Because honestly given what that show looked like it deserved it. And I was also thrilled to see the Emmys give Palm Royale three Emmys before it was canceled, including period costume, makeup and choreography.

It was also profoundly moving to see Rob Reiner awarded posthumously for Best Guest Actor in a Comedy for what was his final performance in The Bear.

 

For Drama this was always going to be a fight between Pluribus and The Pitt and it still is. Both won four Emmys.

For Pluribus, as you'd expect, they were all technical: Production design, picture Editing for a Drama, sound mixing for a Drama, Main Title Theme. For The Pitt, there was best Music and Lyrics (for one of their songs) best prosthetic makeup, casting and Best Guest Actor in a Drama for Ernest Harden.

The big winner among dramas, however, was the recently cancelled Spider-Noir which took five technical Emmys, including cinematography, sound effects, visual effects and stunts, a good showing.

As for the other contenders Knights of the Seven Kingdoms won for Best Episodic Stunt performance while Paradise took Best Guest Actress for Shailene Woodley.

I think both shows will divide many of the awards: The Pitt will take Best Drama and Best Actor, while Pluribus will take Best Actress and Best Directing and probably Best Writing. I'm still not ruling out the possibility that Slow Horses will pull an upset in either of those categories just like it has the last two years. I remain convinced Tom Pelphrey will win Best Supporting Actor but I still think Supporting Actress in a Drama is up for grabs. Don't rule out the possibility of either Julianne Nicholson or Karolina Wydra managing an upset over one of the performers from The Pitt.

 

Okay you know what I think about Best Limited Series and for the record I'm now doubly angry. David Harbour and Linda Cardellini's acceptance speeches for Best Supporting Actor and Actress were both in their own ways profoundly moving and they deserved to be part of the main broadcast. Again you screwed up Emmys.

Momentum has now completely shifting to DTF St. Louis which won six Emmys, including directing and writing for Steven Conrad. (He deserved to give his speech in prime time, academy!) That said, it should be noting that the award for Casting was one of the few it didn't win, going instead to Love Story.  Considering every lead in DTF was nominated and it still didn't win and how important casting has been overall, its striking.

Beef prevailed for Contemporary Costume, sound editing and sound mixing in an Anthology so it could still manage an upset. And I was glad to see one of my favorite composers for Sean Callery win another Emmy for The Beast in Me.

 

As to the ceremonies themselves I always take a certain pleasure out of them that is often equal to the prime-time broadcast. These are the unsung heroes and heroines of television, who give as much to the world as the writers, directors and on-screen talent and I have a fondness when they are recognized.

I'll confess I care more about that then some of the awards for shows that are given more coverage such as reality TV or live performances. That said it did my heart a world of good to see Jeopardy win best game show and that the most awarded Variety special even more than late night was the reimagined version of The Muppet Show which won five Emmys, including Best Variety Special. This meant a lot to a great many people, including those who worked on it. One winner brought out a VHS recording of one of the original episodes and Seth Rogen said how wild it was they were honored on the 50^th anniversary of the debut. If that's not a reason to get things started and bring it back full time, I don't know what is.

There are some series, especially those such as Widow's Bay and Beef that really are nothing without the technical masters who do their work and they deserve more credit then they got. I'll be honest, I wouldn't mind if at least a couple of these awards were added to the primetime broadcast because they deserve more than they get.

But for me one of the great rewards in the 21^st century often is the Guest Actor and Actress in either comedy or drama.  Far more often these awards give recognition to some of the best actors who never get their due and they should. I've been overjoyed to see such favorites as Jeremy Davies win for Justified and Margo Martindale for The Americans, Reg E. Cathey prevail for House of Cards, Gerald McRaney's win for This is Us and Alexis Bleidel winning for The Handmaid's Tale. Even if it didn't like the shows in some cases, these are some of the greatest actors of TV and they deserve their moment.

In recent years its been paying off for veterans who never got their due from the Emmys. I've seen such talents as Nick Offerman, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jon Bernthal and last year Shawn Hatosy finally get their due. And this year it was just as rewarding as two of my all-time favorites actresses: Shailene Woodley and Betty Gilpin, after each having been ignored by the Emmys for over a decade despite having starred in some of the greatest shows of that period (including when they  co-starred in the incredible Three Women two years ago) finally got their first Emmys for Paradise and Widow's Bay, respectively.

Gilpin's speech, the last of the night, brought the house down because it was delivered as a poem she wrote. It was both hysterically funny, incredibly moving and briefly a call to arms. It also brought me joy to know Gilpin's 'date' to the Emmys was Allison Brie. I'm so glad to know the 'GLOW-mance is still going on. (Now can we get an Emmy for Alison too?)

By the way I made some predictions going into this night. I was right that Harbour and Cardellini would win, right that DTF St. Louis would win for writing and wrong about directing. I correctly predicted Woodley would win Best Guest Actress in a Drama and I did predict that a Guest Actor in a Drama would go to someone from The Pitt – though my guess was Jeff Kober rather than Ernest Harden, Jr. Considering Gold Derby was betting on Colman Domingo, I did better on that. I was wrong about Best Guest Actor in a Comedy and a Drama. I thought Michael J. Fox and Kaitlin Olson would prevail. But I'm totally fine with Betty Gilpin winning.

How will it play out tomorrow? We'll see. Looking forward to it.