Apple Cleans Up at the Emmys with ‘Widow’s Bay’
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Apple has just sealed the record-breaking 89 Emmy nominations it received in June with a similarly record-breaking number of wins, as Widow’s Bay swept every major category, turning it into the most Emmy-awarded comedy series in history.
While the tally for Widow’s Bay was 14 Emmy awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, those actually only made up half of the awards Apple took away last night, with 29 wins overall covering other hits such as Pluribus, Slow Horses, Margo’s Got Money Troubles, Palm Royale, and Mr. Scorsese.
That number makes Apple the most Emmy-awarded network of the year, although it still lags behind CBS, which received 44 wins in 1974, and Netflix, which tied that record in 2021. Apple also has a very long way to go to beat NBC, which has over 1,000 all-time Emmy wins — although it’s obviously been around for a few decades longer.
Still, Apple topped the charts at this year’s Emmys, and, as it was quick to point out in its press release, that makes it the fastest streamer to achieve this most-awarded status, coming only seven years after its launch.
The Star of the Show
While Apple TV may sit behind other heavy hitters, it’s certainly breaking a few other records of its own. Last year, The Studio became the most-nominated and most-awarded freshman comedy series in Emmy history, with 23 nods and 13 wins. It was tied with The Bear for nominations, but it came out on top when the final awards were tallied up, 13 to 10, including Outstanding Comedy Series.
The previous record for freshman comedy series wins was held by The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which won 8 Emmys in 2018. Apple’s Ted Lasso came close in 2021, winning an impressive seven Emmys, including the award for Outstanding Comedy Series — a feat that had at that time only been accomplished by seven shows in TV history. However, Ted Lasso has already broken a record of its own that year when it received 20 nominations, marking the most to date for a freshman comedy series, beating out the 19 that Glee received in 2010.
The Studio not only cleaned up at the Emmys. It went on to do something that no comedy in history had ever done before: sweeping every major award on the table: best comedy across the Emmys, Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, and BAFTA Television Awards, plus others from the American Film Institute, Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Producers Guild of America (PGA), Directors Guild of America (DGA), and Writers Guild of America (WGA), and more.
We’ll have to wait a few months to see if Widow’s Bay does the same, but it’s well on its way.
In addition to Outstanding Comedy Series, Widow’s Bay scores with wins for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Matthew Rhys, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Kate O’Flynn, and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Stephen Root, alongside Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Katie Dippold and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for Hiro Murai.
According to The New York Times, critics felt that Widow’s Bay represented “a strikingly original concept in a landscape of reboots and revivals.” It also marked a record for star Matthew Rhys, who is now the first performer to win a lead acting Emmy across the three different categories of limited, comedy and drama series.
This latest win ties Apple TV with ABC for the most freshman comedy Emmy wins, although it took the traditional network 31 years to accomplish what Apple has managed to do in five, with ABC’s wins coming for Taxi (1979), The Wonder Years (1988), and Modern Family (2010).
The all-time crown remains with NBC, which has managed to score seven wins from The Monkees in 1967 to 30 Rock in 2007, with three of those coming in an even tighter four-year span: Cheers (1983), The Cosby Show (1985), and The Golden Girls (1986).
Things slowed down a bit for NBC after that, with Frasier (1994) being its only freshman comedy win of the 1990s. Still, Apple is now tied with NBC for two consecutive wins, and if it continues at this pace, it might not be long before it breaks a few new ones.
Meanwhile, Rhea Seehorn received her first Emmy win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Pluribus, after she missed out three times for Better Call Saul. Pluribus also netted Vince Gilligan a win for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.
Slow Horses, which returns for its sixth season tomorrow, also won Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for Saul Metzstein.
Pluribus took six wins overall, while three each went to Margo’s Got Money Troubles and Palm Royale. The remaining two went to Mr. Scorsese for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series, and “I’m Not Remarkable” for Outstanding Commercial.
