‘Widow’s Bay’ dominates with eight Emmys at early ceremony, while ‘The Pitt’ takes four

“Widow’s Bay” swept the early Emmy ceremony with eight awards for its debut season, establishing itself as the weekend’s biggest winner before the main ceremony and broadcast. The Apple TV horror comedy stars Matthew Rhys as the mayor of a small New England town facing a centuries-old curse.

The show won in categories including cinematography, sound, music and production design. Betty Gilpin also won best guest actress in a comedy. She accepted with a rapid-fire comic poem that included the lines “our business is stupid, but actors are the bomb” and “let’s all lean more toward Sam Shepard and less toward Sam Altman.”

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our business is stupid, but actors are the bomb

“The Pitt,” which led this year’s nominations with 25 and had won best drama for its first season, earned four awards. Among them was best guest actor in a drama for 73-year-old first-time nominee Ernest Harden Jr., who portrayed Louie Cloverfield, the emergency room’s troubled longtime presence. Harden wept when his name was announced and later said backstage: “I am just on cloud 25. I’m not saying it’s a complete surprise because ‘The Pitt’ is such a powerful show to come from, but just to get it in your hands is unreal.”

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let’s all lean more toward Sam Shepard and less toward Sam Altman.

Harden’s career includes a speaking role in the 1975 Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway thriller “Three Days of the Condor” and three seasons on “The Jeffersons,” but he had acted for decades without awards recognition. Singer-songwriter Andrew Bird and Gavin Brivik won for original music and lyrics for a song about Harden’s character. “It’s not a music-heavy show,” Bird said backstage. “But they gave us a beautiful moment with a character that we love.”

“DTF St. Louis” won six awards in the limited-series categories. Its co-stars David Harbour and Linda Cardellini both became first-time Emmy winners. Harbour won best supporting actor in a limited series in his third nomination, while Cardellini won best supporting actress in a limited series in her fourth nomination.

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I am just on cloud 25. I’m not saying it’s a complete surprise because ‘The Pitt’ is such a powerful show to come from, but just to get it in your hands is unreal.

Rob Reiner also received an acting Emmy posthumously, nearly nine months after his killing. The Television Academy presents more than 100 Primetime Emmys, with most awards handed out during two ceremonies over the weekend. The events were previously called the Creative Arts Emmys but have been rebranded as the first two nights of the 78th Emmy Awards.

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It’s not a music-heavy show. But they gave us a beautiful moment with a character that we love.