Best, Worst Moments of 78th Primetime Emmy Awards

by Julian Spivey
The 78th annual Primetime Emmy Awards aired Monday, September 14, on NBC, hosted by “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” star Mariska Hargitay, on a night when Apple TV’s horror-comedy “Widow’s Bay” was the biggest winner, taking home all but one of the evening’s comedy honors.

Here are the best and worst moments of the Emmys…

Worst
The biggest issue with the Emmy Awards was Hargitay and that cringy AF pre-taped opening where she sings “I Love T.V. Screens,” an awkward phrase to begin with, to the tune of Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock & Roll.” Maybe a line or two landed, but it was far too cheesy and almost made me pass out from embarrassment at the very beginning of a show honoring the best of television. I knew Hargitay was a bad choice for host, even if it makes sense for NBC to have its biggest star helming the night in its 100th year of operation, but I didn’t know it’d be this bad. There’s never been a worse opening in Emmy history. Comedians should host award shows from here on out.
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Photo: NBC

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Best
My favorite winner of the night was Tom Pelphrey, who won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Robbie Prendergrast on HBO’s “Task,” one of my favorite shows and performances of 2025. Somehow, this wonderfully written and performed drama didn’t make the cut in the Outstanding Drama Series field, so I was curious whether Pelphrey stood a chance of winning for his performance. It might have helped that the three nominees from “The Pitt” vote split, but we’ll never know if that played a part. It’s a beautifully earned honor for Pelphrey, who wound up giving one of the night’s sweetest acceptance speeches to his partner and fellow actor, Kaley Cuoco. 
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Photos: NBC

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Worst
It’s become quite obvious that Apple TV’s supremely hilarious and heartwarming comedy series “Shrinking” is destined to be a bridesmaid at the Emmys. The series continues to rack up a decent amount of nominations; it received nine this year but can’t get over the hump and win one. It’s not 0-for-18 after three seasons, which, to my knowledge, might be the second-most in Emmy history for a comedy, behind “Newhart,” going 0-for-25. I thought Harrison Ford had an excellent chance this year for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his terrific performance as psychologist Paul, who’s suffering from Parkinson’s disease, but he lost to Stephen Root for “Widow’s Bay,” which swept the evening. 

Best
I want to be on record that I think Harrison Ford gave the best performance this year of all the nominees for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, and he would’ve had my vote as a result. However, Stephen Root winning the category for his role as the curmudgeonly Wyck on “Widow’s Bay” is something I couldn’t be mad about. Root has been one of the best character actors in Hollywood for more than three decades and probably should’ve won an Emmy back in the mid-‘90s for his role as wacky radio station owner Jimmy James on NBC’s “NewsRadio.” If not that, he probably should’ve won for his role as prickly Monroe Fuches on HBO’s “Barry.” The world will be a better place for having to introduce Root as “Emmy Award-winning Stephen Root.” 

Photo: NBC

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Worst
How could NBC host the Emmy Awards in its 100th year of existence without having any sort of tribute to the great shows and moments in the network’s history? I thought it would be a given to have a segment celebrating the network, and the fact that none such happened was the biggest surprise of the entire evening. I understand NBC will be having a three-hour primetime special in December in honor of its centennial, but wouldn’t it have made sense to at least do something to promote that future event on one of the most-watched nights you’re going to have as a network this fall? As someone who wants a bit more of television history in my Emmy telecast, NBC failed miserably.

Best
It was nice to see Stephen Colbert go out on top, winning Outstanding Variety Series nearly a half year after his version of the “Late Show” went off the air at CBS, with the network cancelling him controversially. Colbert had won this honor last year, after news came out that the next season would be his last on the network, but it was nice to see him rewarded again.
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Photo: NBC

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Worst
The Variety Series category didn’t go quite the way I expected. Colbert winning was a foregone conclusion, honestly, but I thought there could be up to five winners in this category, with the category becoming an area award, in which the shows were judged individually instead of against each other. Voters were asked, “Does this nominee merit an Emmy?” and would have to give a “yes” or “no” answer for each of the five nominees (“Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “The Daily Show,” “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” and “Saturday Night Live”). Any nominee that reached more than 90 percent “yes” would be given an Emmy. If no nominee reached the 90 percent threshold, the winner would be the show with the highest “yes” percentage.” We don’t know whether Colbert’s show was the only one to reach 90 percent or just the highest percentage among the nominees. Either way, I’m disappointed that “Jimmy Kimmel Live” didn’t reach the 90 percent threshold. Kimmel had one of the best years of his show, with his comeback from the President Donald Trump administration trying to get him removed from the network and his devastating remembrance of his friend and late band leader Cleto Escobedo III. I didn’t want to see all five nominees win an Emmy because it would honestly make a mockery of the category, but it sure would’ve been nice for Kimmel’s show to get love in a category it hasn’t before.

Best    
It was a record-setting night for two of the greatest actresses ever to grace our television screens, with Jean Smart and Allison Janney each picking up their eighth Emmy win, tying them with legends Cloris Leachman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the most acting wins in the history of the awards. Smart won her fifth consecutive Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series honor on Monday night for HBO Max’s “Hacks.” She had previously won two Emmys for “Frasier” and one for “Samantha Who?” Janney won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Vice President-turned-President Grace Penn on the most recent season of Netflix’s “The Diplomat.” Janney previously won four Emmys for “The West Wing,” two for “Mom,” and one for “Masters of Sex.” 
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Photos: NBC