Guest Essay Sept. 15, 2026 Robin Givhan Naveen Kumar Adam Sternbergh and Stephen Stromberg Ms. Givhan is a contributing writer in Opinion. Mr. Kumar is the associate director of the National Critics Institute. Mr. Sternbergh and Mr. Stromberg are editors in Opinion. Stephen Stromberg: Monday brought the Emmys ceremony, an annual celebration in which the television industry gathers to give statues to Noah Wyle, it seems. Yes, Wyle again received a best actor Emmy for his work on “The Pitt,” which won best drama series.

Even so, it felt like Katie Dippold’s night. Her show, the horror-comedy “Widow’s Bay,” took home 14 Emmys, including best comedy series. Did the Television Academy get things right this year? Adam Sternbergh: The two big takeaways are that the Emmys really fell hard for “Widow’s Bay” and that you never want your awards show to end with Woody Harrelson saying to Matthew Mc Conaughey, “These guys are so bored with us.” Despite a lot of cringey moments and technical hiccups, the shows that people like — “The Pitt” and “Widow’s Bay” — did well, so that felt good.

Robin Givhan: I have no quarrel with “The Pitt” and “Widow’s Bay” having big nights. “The Pitt” is still going strong and has a lot to say about our health care system, and I thank Dippold’s mother for, as Katie put it, making Halloween fun. “Widow’s Bay” is such a quirky, weird show with oddball, vulnerable men. How delightful! Naveen Kumar: Another Emmys M. V.

P. is Matthew Rhys, who was largely expected to win for playing the discombobulated, everyman mayor in “Widow’s Bay,” but who also took home a statue for playing a terrifying psycho killer in the mini-series “The Beast in Me.” Both performances were fantastic, and voters seemed to award him for his range. He’s now the first actor to win lead acting Emmys in the drama, comedy and limited series categories. Givhan: It was also a good night for older actresses — Jean Smart, Allison Janney, Sally Field.

Stromberg: Smart came away with her eighth Emmy. Kumar: Smart also made history by winning five out of five Emmys for all five seasons of “Hacks.” I adored her run, though it also would have been nice to see Lisa Kudrow honored for “The Comeback,” which is built around a brilliant, bananas performance that has evolved and deepened as the show has, ahem, come back every 10 years or so. Stromberg: What did you make of all the nostalgia for decades-old television shows? Sternbergh: The Emmys has leaned, at times awkwardly, into celebrating TV history in recent years, reuniting old casts and celebrating long-past shows in a way that sometimes reads as, “Hey, remember how much you used to love TV?” As someone who recalls when “Charlie’s Angels” was on the air — and nearly universally derided as a low point for the medium — the show’s 50th anniversary being lauded like it was “Masterpiece Theatre” did seem somewhat surreal.

Givhan: All of those reunions reminded me of how network TV was a nonstarter in these awards. The references to “Charlie’s Angels” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” were such sad little wisps of history. And dragging out the cast of the rebooted “Baywatch” with the three blonde actresses all dressed in tacky red dresses was just a reminder of network TV’s struggles.

Kumar: I can’t imagine who is tuning into “Baywatch” after that. And it’s true, with the host, Mariska Hargitay, who’s been leading “Law & Order: SVU” for 27 seasons, there was a recurring contrast between the workhorse network shows with 20-plus episode seasons, which used to make a greater claim to being a part of a monoculture, and the prestige fare of eight to 10 episodes that dominate awards ceremonies nowadays. R.

Scott Gemmill, the creator of “The Pitt,” was a writer and producer on “ER,” and the series sort of feels like a throwback to that era of professional procedurals. Sternbergh: At least the big showing for “Widows Bay” felt like an acknowledgment of what’s exciting now, as opposed to what was exciting two generations a...