Stars walk blue carpet under hot sun ahead of TV’s Emmy Awards
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US actress Mariska Hargitay and her daughter Amaya Josephine Hermann arrive for the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sept 14.
PHOTO: AFP
- Stars like Noah Wyle and Selena Gomez walked a blue carpet at the Emmy Awards, held under a hot sun in Los Angeles, celebrating TV excellence.
- Jean Smart and Harrison Ford pursued milestone Emmy wins, while HBO Max’s The Pitt aimed to repeat as best drama.
- The Emmys occur amid industry challenges like AI concerns and studio mergers, with new award rules set for 2026 to allow multiple winners in some categories.
AI generated
LOS ANGELES - Noah Wyle, Selena Gomez and other television luminaries gathered on Sept 15 at the Primetime Emmy Awards, where The Pitt was seeking to repeat as best drama and Jean Smart and Harrison Ford were pursuing milestone victories of their own.
Celebrities walked a blue carpet, chosen by broadcaster NBC in place of the traditional red, leading into the Peacock Theatre in downtown Los Angeles on an unusually warm afternoon before the ceremony to honour the best of television.
“It’s the surface of the sun out here,” joked Nobody Wants This star Kristen Bell, adding “there’s a lot of friendship in the air” and a “familial vibe”.
Hacks actor and nominee Meg Stalter stood out in an all-gold outfit that mirrored the Emmy statuette. She wore giant wings and held a large gold globe above her head as she posed for photographs.
Mariska Hargitay, star of NBC’s drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, will host the ceremony, breaking with a tradition of having a comedian serve as emcee.
The festivities are broadcasting live at 8pm ET (8am Singapore time on Sept 15) on NBC and stream on Peacock. Presenters will include Sally Field, Jon Hamm, Amy Poehler and Zendaya.
US actress and singer Selena Gomez was among the television luminaries gathered on Sept 15 at the Primetime Emmy Awards.
PHOTO: AFP
Tinseltown on edge
The Emmys offered a rare night of celebration as Hollywood grapples with production cutbacks, anxiety over artificial intelligence and the proposed Paramount Skydance purchase of HBO owner Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has divided the industry and faces legal challenges.
Hacks star Smart could become the first performer to win the Emmy for best comedy actress in every season of a TV show’s run while Ford could claim his first Emmy at age 84 for “Shrinking”.
HBO Max’s The Pitt, set in a Pittsburgh trauma centre, is favoured to win best drama – the night’s top award – for a second straight year.
Competitors include newcomer Pluribus, an Apple TV show about a woman at war with an alien hive mind.
The Pitt star Wyle is a leading contender for a second straight best actor Emmy.
Hacks, featuring Smart as a septuagenarian stand-up comic fighting to stay relevant, looked like the clear front runner two months ago. Also on HBO Max, the series earned best comedy once in its previous four seasons.
The show must fend off surging support, however, for Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay, a new horror comedy starring Matthew Rhys as mayor of a small New England town that appears to be cursed.
Emmy winners are chosen by the more than 27,000 writers, directors, performers, producers and craftspeople in the Television Academy.
The academy has revamped the late-night comedy competition in 2026.
Shows including The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which was cancelled by CBS, and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live will compete for outstanding variety series in a category that could produce more than one winner.
Under the academy’s rules, each nominee is judged individually and any show with 90 per cent approval receives an Emmy. REUTERS