The Creative Arts Emmys, two nights in which awards are handed out in below-the-line, variety, reality and documentary categories, are not normally Emmy shows of high drama. But on Saturday, at the first of this year’s two Creative Arts ceremonies, Television Academy voters came up with a slate of winners that sent big messages and included at least one major surprise.
“The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny,” the Spanish-language performance that was a matter of contention in some circles, led all shows on Saturday with seven wins, including Outstanding Variety Special (Live) and Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special (an award that went to Hamish Hamilton).
“The Traitors” was second with six wins, including Outstanding Directing for a Reality Program, Outstanding Cinematography for a Reality Program and Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program, which gave Alan Cumming his third consecutive win in the category. The victory broke a tie with Jane Lynch and gave him sole possession of third place for the most wins in the category. He now trails only “Survivor” host Jeff Probst, who has won four times, and RuPaul Charles, whose eight-year winning streak was ended by Cumming’s first win in 2024.
In what might be considered a pointed message to CBS, the network that cancelled the show, and the resident of the White House who celebrated that cancellation, “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” won five awards for its final week of shows, including Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series for Yvonne De Mare’s work on the final episode. (It digital spinoff program, “Colbert Before Air,” won another Emmy.) Another late-night Donald Trump gadfly, Jimmy Kimmel, won the game-show hosting Emmy for “Who Wants to Be a Millioonaire.”
“The Muppet Show,” Disney’s revival led by special guest Sabrina Carpenter, pulled off a quartet of wins, climaxing with a victory over Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” special in the Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) category.
And in what might have been the biggest shock of the night, PBS’s long-running “Antiques Roadshow” won its first Emmy in 24 nominations, a streak of futility that dated back to 2002.
Other winners included this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards host, Mariska Hargitay, who picked up two awards for her special “My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay,” one for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special and one for directing.
Octavia Spencer earned her first Emmy win, taking home the award for Outstanding Narrator for her work on “Lost Women of Alaska” over a pair of nominations for 100-year-old David Attenborough.
The show took place at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles, with presenters who included Sean Evans, Colin Hanks, Julianne Hough, Julie Chen Moonves, Wanda Sykes and Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio.
This year’s Primetime Emmy Awards are being presented in three separate ceremonies. The first night of the Creative Arts awards, Sept. 5, featured variety, reality and nonfiction categories, as well as select below-the-line categories. The second Creative Arts show, on Sept. 6, will cover BTL categories for dramas, comedies and limited series, as well as select acting, directing and writing awards. Those two shows will be edited into a single broadcast that will air on Saturday, Sept. 12 on FXX.
The televised 78th Primetime Emmy Awards telecast will cover the final 19 categories and will take place on Monday evening, Sept. 14.
The lineup of categories at each of the three shows caused some controversy this year, as several categories — including writing and directing for variety shows and writing, directing and supporting acting for limited series — were moved from their usual spots on the primetime show to one of the nontelevised Creative Arts ceremonies. The DGA, WGA and SAG-AFTRA released a statement that read, in part, “The decision to eliminate these categories from the prime-time broadcast devalues the contributions of the talented people the Academy is meant to honor.”
Here is the list of winners at the first Creative Arts show.
OUTSTANDING HOST FOR A GAME SHOW Jimmy Kimmel, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”
OUTSTANDING GAME SHOW “Jeopardy”
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION DESIGN FOR A VARIETY OR REALITY SERIES “The Traitors”
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION DESIGN FOR A VARIETY SPECIAL “The Muppet Show”
OUTSTANDING MUSIC COMPOSITION FOR A DOCUMENTARY/NONFICTION OR REALITY PROGRAM (ORIGINAL DRAMATIC SCORE) “John Candy: I Like Me”
OUTSTANDING MUSIC DIRECTION “The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny”
OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY FOR VARIETY OR REALITY PROGRAMMING “The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny”
OUTSTANDING EMERGING MEDIA PROGRAM “Uncanny Alley: A New Day”
OUTSTANDING CASTING FOR A REALITY PROGRAM “Love on the Spectrum”
OUTSTANDING INNOVATION IN EMERGING MEDIA PROGRAMMING “Crafting Crimes”
OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY FOR A NONFICTION PROGRAM “Ocean with David Attenborough”
OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY FOR A REALITY PROGRAM “The Traitors”
OUTSTANDING SHORT FORM COMEDY, DRAMA OR VARIETY SERIES “Colbert Before Air”
OUTSTANDING SHORT FORM NONFICTION OR REALITY SERIES “Inside the Pitt”
OUTSTANDING COMMERCIAL “I’m Not Remarkable – Apple”
OUTSTANDING HAIRSTYLING FOR A VARIETY, NONFICTION OR REALITY PROGRAM “RuPaul’s Drag Race”
OUTSTANDING MAKEUP FOR A VARIETY, NONFICTION OR REALITY PROGRAM “Saturday Night Live”
OUTSTANDING COSTUMES FOR VARIETY, NONFICTION OR REALITY PROGRAMMING “The Masked Singer” and “The Traitors”
OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A VARIETY SPECIAL “The Muppet Show”
OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A VARIETY SERIES “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”
OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A NONFICTION PROGRAM “The Daily Show Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse”
OUTSTANDING SOUND MIXING FOR A VARIETY SERIES OR SPECIAL “The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny”
OUTSTANDING SOUND MIXING FOR A REALITY PROGRAM “Welcome to Wrexham”
OUTSTANDING SOUND MIXING FOR A NONFICTION PROGRAM “Billy Joel: And So It Goes”
OUTSTANDING SOUND EDITING FOR A NONFICTION OR REALITY PROGRAM “Ocean with David Attenborough”
OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING FOR VARIETY PROGRAMMING “The Muppet Show”
OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING FOR VARIETY PROGRAMMING (SEGMENT) “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”
OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING FOR A NONFICTION PROGRAM “Sean Combs: The Reckoning”
OUTSTANDING PERFORMER IN A SHORT FORM COMEDY OR DRAMA SERIES Desi Lydic, “The Daily Show: Desi Lydic Foxsplains”
OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING FOR AN UNSTRUCTURED REALITY PROGRAM “Love on the Spectrum”
OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING FOR A STRUCTURED REALITY OR COMPETITION PROGRAM “The Traitors”
OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY OR NONFICTION SPECIAL “My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay”
OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY OR NONFICTION SERIES “Mr. Scorsese”
OUTSTANDING HOSTED NONFICTION SERIES OR SPECIAL “Tucci in Italy”
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A DOCUMENTARY/NONFICTION PROGRAM Mariska Hargitay, “My Mom Jayne”
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A REALITY PROGRAM Ben Archard, “The Traitors”
EXCEPTIONAL MERIT IN DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING “The Librarians”
OUTSTANDING NARRATOR Octavia Spencer, “Lost Women of Alaska”
OUTSTANDING HOST FOR A REALITY OR REALITY COMPETITION PROGRAM Alan Cumming, “The Traitors”
OUTSTANDING UNSTRUCTURED REALITY PROGRAM “Love on the Spectrum”
OUTSTANDING STRUCTURED REALITY PROGRAM “Antiques Roadshow”
OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN/LIGHTING DIRECTION FOR A SPECIAL “The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny”
OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN/LIGHTING DIRECTION FOR A SERIES “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”
OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL DIRECTION AND CAMERAWORK FOR A SERIES “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”
OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL DIRECTION AND CAMERAWORK FOR A SPECIAL “The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny”
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A VARIETY SERIES Yvonne De Mare, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A VARIETY SPECIAL Hamish Hamilton, “The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny”
OUTSTANDING VARIETY SPECIAL (PRE-RECORDED) “The Muppet Show”
OUTSTANDING VARIETY SPECIAL (LIVE) “The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny”
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