‘Shogun’ Wins Best Drama in Record Year, ‘Hacks’ Takes Top Comedy Prize

The broadcast slumped in the second hour, which included a lengthy introduction to the Television Academy chair Cris Abrego and an in memoriam sequence set to Jelly Roll’s “I Am Not Okay.” (It worked better if you didn’t think too hard about the lyrics.) But it rebounded in the third, which saw substantial wins for “Baby Reindeer” and “Shogun,” which set a record for the most Emmy Awards in a single season (18). And the ceremony concluded with perhaps the night’s biggest shock: The award for best comedy went not to the heavily favored FX restaurant dramedy “The Bear” but instead to the Max showbiz sitcom “Hacks.” The 11 awards “The Bear” received are the most won by a comedy in a single season, which must be some consolation.

The hosts strode into “The Bear” comedy-not-a-comedy debate early in the night. “In the true spirit of ‘The Bear,’ we will not be making any jokes,” Eugene Levy said. But there were some good ones, including two — courtesy of Selena Gomez and Candice Bergen — about childless cat ladies. In a big night for diversity and kilts, these were the best and worst moment of the Emmys. ALEXIS SOLOSKI

Best award trend: Sharing the wealth

We went into the night knowing which shows were going to dominate these Emmys — or did we? It turned out that a night of runaway winners and foregone conclusions had some surprises for us after all.

“Baby Reindeer” did walk off with best limited or anthology series, but “Ripley” and “Fargo” pulled off wins as well. “Slow Horses” and “The Morning Show” made a couple of dents in the dominance of “Shogun.” And while “The Bear” cleaned up overall, the show that many felt was not a real comedy was upset in the night’s last award by “Hacks,” which is not only a comedy, but is also about comedians. (I would have preferred an upset for the luminous “Reservation Dogs,” but at least the Emmys kept things interesting.) JAMES PONIEWOZIK

Worst running bit: Those ‘TV archetype’ dioramas

The Emmys love to reminisce; the program this year saw tributes to “The West Wing” and “Happy Days,” itself a pioneer of TV nostalgia. But we could have done without the repeated, tepid segments, on generic sets, commemorating familiar prime-time character types: TV Moms, TV Dads, TV Villains, TV Doctors. It reminded us, I guess, that TV has done a lot of the same things, over and over? Point taken. JAMES PONIEWOZIK

Best constructive criticism: John Leguizamo

Amid all of Sunday’s nostalgia, it stood out when John Leguizamo took to the Emmy stage and reminded us that the old days weren’t always happy days for everybody.

Leguizamo recalled watching TV when he was young, seeing sitcoms and cartoons traffic in negative Latino stereotypes and watching sci-fi shows like “Star Trek” imply that people like him wouldn’t exist in the future. Leguizamo has since become an activist for diversity in entertainment.

“Turns out not complaining didn’t change anything,” he said. “So for the past few years, I’ve been complaining.” JAMES PONIEWOZIK

Worst shameless promotion: That Johnnie Walker ad

​​Promotions masquerading as legitimate material is a scourge in any medium. Shoehorning an ad into the Emmys themselves is disgraceful. When the ceremony had Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Taylor Zakhar Perez shilling for booze as a prelude to presenting what is ostensibly television’s highest honor, it was distracting and bizarre. (Also, no: Having a drink before you present is, in fact, a terrible idea.) MARGARET LYONS

Best banter trend: Rhetorical love taps

Awards ceremonies are necessarily exercises in self-congratulation. Happily, the broadcast didn’t always play nice.

The Levys gave each other a hard time. Four “Saturday Night Live” performers turned up to tease the veteran producer Lorne Michaels. (Bowen Yang kept calling him “Lauren.”) Rob McElhenney may have referred to Meryl Streep as a jockstrap. The “Only Murders in the Building” trio drew comedy blood with Martin Short saying of Steve Martin, “What an honor it is for me to be working with someone who looks like he’s fallen and can’t get up.” Martin responded, “Let me say what an honor it is for me to be working with someone who looks like a former women’s tennis champion.” Selena Gomez called them “two guys who are this far away from being childless cat ladies.”

Even the dead were ribbed, with Jimmy Kimmel saying of Bob Newhart: “He did not have range. He didn’t need to have range. Bob had what very few comedians have, especially today: a degree in accounting.” ALEXIS SOLOSKI

Best speechifying: Richard Gadd

Gadd delivered three of the night’s better speeches, and in his acceptance speech for his show’s win for best limited or anthology series, he spoke to the TV industry at large, which seems to be spinning its wheels in many regards.

“No slump is ever broken without a willingness to take risks,” Gadd said. “If ‘Baby Reindeer’ has proved anything, it’s that there’s no set formula to this — that you don’t need big stars, proven I.P., long-running series, catchall storytelling to have a hit.”

“The only constant across any success in television,” he continued, “is good storytelling — good storytelling that speaks to our times. So, take risks, push boundaries, explore the uncomfortable, dare to fail in order to achieve.” Combine this with Jodie Foster’s “love and work equals art,” and we could really have something. MARGARET LYONS

Best look: Endearing fluster

Liza Colón-Zayas did not expect to win best supporting actress in a comedy for her work in “The Bear.” Onstage, she said that her husband, the actor David Zayas, had encouraged her to write a speech, but she hadn’t because she did not think a win was possible. Her ad lib — poignant, heartfelt — was one of the great pleasures of the evening, as was her win, a first for a Latina actress in her category.

Also sweetly flustered was Lamorne Morris (“Fargo”), a winner for supporting actor in a limited or anthology series or movie. He thanked his mother, stumbling over an anatomical description of his own birth, then went on to thank his daughter, who “always doubted me,” he joked. Then he asked his fellow nominee Robert Downey Jr. to autograph a poster.

While John Oliver couldn’t have been shocked to receive an Emmy for outstanding variety series, he was just befuddled enough to refer to his older son, Hudson, as “husband.” “Ouch. Ouch,” he said. “That’s going to come back to haunt me.” ALEXIS SOLOSKI

Worst look: Humidity chic

Is it hot in the Peacock Theater or is it just them? It’s possible that most of Hollywood has gone menopausal. Or maybe something was wonky with the indoor lighting and temperature. On camera, nearly everyone seemed to be glistening, and some stars looked absolutely damp. Flop sweat is a fact, of course, but Tinseltown’s winners, losers and those not even nominated were all unusually shiny. ALEXIS SOLOSKI

Best fashion choice: Kilts

It was a fortuitous night for Scots rocking kilts. Alan Cumming, the flamboyant host of the Peacock reality competition series “The Traitors,” started by accepting the Emmy for best reality competition program wearing a black kilt over black pants, complete with a tartan sash. (He also won an Emmy for best reality host earlier in the week.)

Richard Gadd, the star and creator of the hit Netflix series “Baby Reindeer,” gallivanted onstage in a blue-and-green tartan kilt — accessorized with a black sporran, or kilt pouch, over black tights — to accept the top award for best limited or anthology series, along with awards for writing and acting. Gadd’s success did create a bit of a wardrobe conundrum: He’ll need a bigger sporran to carry all that hardware home. SARAH BAHR

“Hacks” has been nominated for the top comedy award twice before, but this is its first win. The Emmy is for its third season, which finished in May. Max has announced plans for a fourth.

“Please support comedy — it speaks truth to power,” said one of the show’s creators, Lucia Aniello, in the acceptance speech. “We have to go because we start shooting the next season in five days.”

Since it premiered in 2021, the show has been regularly recognized by Television Academy voters, with 48 total nominations and nine wins. Smart has won the award for lead comedy actress three times, including on Sunday, and Einbinder received supporting actress nominations in each of the three seasons. The series also won on Sunday for best comedy writing.

“Hacks” beat out “Abbott Elementary,” “The Bear,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Only Murders in the Building,” “Palm Royale,” “Reservation Dogs” and “What We Do in the Shadows.”

On Sunday, it won several more, including Emmys for Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai, the lead actor and actress in the series. Frederick E.O. Toye also won for outstanding directing.

“You guys greenlit a very expensive, subtitled Japanese period piece whose central climax revolves around a poetry competition,” the showrunner Justin Marks said while accepting the best drama award. “I have no idea why you did that, but thank you for your faith in this incredible team.”

“Shogun” is a remake of the 1980 NBC mini-series of the same name. And that mini-series was itself an adaptation of the 1975 novel by James Clavell.

Set in 17th-century Japan, the story involves an English sailor, John Blackthorne (played by Cosmo Jarvis), who lands in Japan and becomes embroiled in a deadly political conflict involving the shrewd Lord Toranaga (Sanada) and his translator, Lady Mariko (Sawai). Unlike the 1980 mini-series, which was centered on Blackthorne, the new “Shogun” is told primarily through the viewpoints of its main Japanese characters.

After its debut in February, many viewers and critics praised the new version’s epic scope and attention to authenticity. It was initially billed as a limited series, but the designation changed when FX announced in May that it was developing additional seasons.

Other nominees for best drama included: “3 Body Problem,” “The Crown,” “Fallout,” “The Gilded Age,” “The Morning Show,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and “Slow Horses.”

“Shogun” is set in feudal Japan and based on the 1975 novel by James Clavell. Sawai plays Toda Mariko, a Christian woman married to a samurai. Sawai was born in New Zealand but moved to Japan later in childhood. Sawai, 32, told The New York Times last month that her Emmy nomination gave her confidence and helped cure the impostor syndrome she has felt during her career.

“It makes me want to keep telling stories that have a big impact on the people who haven’t been seen,” she said.

Sawai beat out a pool of talented and acclaimed actors that included Carrie Coon for “The Gilded Age”; Maya Erskine for “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”; Imelda Staunton for “The Crown”; and the “Morning Show” co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon.

“It was an East-meets-West dream project with respect,” Sanada said in his acceptance speech. “And ‘Shogun’ taught me that when people work together, we can make miracle. We can create a better future together.”

Sanada, who previously appeared in HBO’s “Westworld,” among other series, landed one of his first major Hollywood roles in “The Last Samurai” (2003), with Tom Cruise. More recently he has appeared in films like “Rush Hour 3,” “Avengers: Endgame” and “John Wick: Chapter 4.”

Sanada beat out a group of award-winning actors that included Idris Elba for “Hijack”; Donald Glover for “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”; Walton Goggins for “Fallout”; Gary Oldman for “Slow Horses”; and Dominic West for “The Crown.”

In the show, the character Donny (played by the show’s creator, Richard Gadd), is tormented by a woman named Martha whom he first encounters while working at a bar. But Donny, an aspiring comedian who is struggling with his sexuality, refuses for weeks to entirely dismiss Martha and the attention she provides. Viewers eventually discover that some of Donny’s insecurity and hurt stem from an abusive relationship in his past.

“Baby Reindeer” was viewed more than 50 million times in the four weeks after it debuted, according to Netflix. It has also earned several awards and coming into Sunday, the series had 11 Emmy nominations, having won multiple Creative Arts Emmys. Jessica Gunning, who plays Martha, also won a supporting actress Emmy on Sunday; Gadd won the lead actor and writing awards for a limited or anthology series.

”If ‘Baby Reindeer’ has proved anything it’s that there is no set formula to this — that you don’t need big stars, proven I.P., long-running series, catchall storytelling to have a hit,” Gadd said in accepting the award. “Really, really, the only constant across any success in television is good storytelling — good storytelling that speaks to our times.”

But “Baby Reindeer” has also caused headaches for the streamer and for Gadd: In June, a woman who says the Martha character was modeled after her brought a defamation suit against Netflix. (Netflix has said it intends “to defend this matter vigorously”; Gadd has called the story a “fictionalized retelling of my emotional journey.”)

Other nominees in the category included “Fargo,” “Lessons in Chemistry,” “Ripley” and “True Detective: Night Country.”

A spoken tribute to Newhart, delivered by the television host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel, came immediately after an in memoriam segment in which other performers who died this year, including James Earl Jones, Richard Simmons and Shannen Doherty, were honored.

In an appraisal for The New York Times, the critic Jason Zinoman said Newhart had basically invented the hit stand-up special. “Onstage, he didn’t curse, bust taboos or show anger,” Zinoman wrote. “His style was gentle and wry.”

The Times also collected some of Newhart’s most memorable performances in a streaming guide and explored how the finale of “Newhart” stuck the landing.

For the 50th anniversary of “Happy Days,” The Times convened a virtual summit of the surviving original stars — Howard, Winkler, Donny Most, Anson Williams, and Marion Ross — to look back on the show.

“I thank God I was part of this ensemble,” Winkler said in that interview. “It is a gift from heaven that fell in my lap.”

“You have made an old man very happy,” Stewart said while accepting the show’s award. “This is remarkable to have an opportunity to work with this incredibly talented group once a week.

“It has really made my Mondays.”

Although Stewart is in many ways once again the face of “The Daily Show,” he is just one of six hosts recognized by the award, including Ronny Chieng, Jordan Klepper, Michael Kosta, Desi Lydic and Dulcé Sloan. (Stewart is an executive producer of all episodes.) Heading into Sunday, the current iteration of “The Daily Show” had four nominations and one win, for picture editing.

“The Daily Show” beat “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” “Late Night With Seth Meyers” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”