Apple TV enjoyed a huge night of wins at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards on Monday, taking home 29 trophies to beat out all rivals. Leading the charge was Widow’s Bay, which made Emmy history as the most decorated freshman comedy series ever.
The breakout show won 14 Emmys, including Outstanding Comedy Series. That also makes Widow’s Bay the comedy series with the most wins in a single season.
Widow’s Bay sweeps the major Emmy comedy awards
Widow’s Bay is named for the fictional New England island town in which the show takes place. The town’s dark history catches up to it as its new mayor tries to lure tourists. The show’s mix of sharp humor and mystery quickly made it Apple TV’s latest breakout show.
It picked up some of the biggest prizes of the Primetime Emmy Awards, even beyond its win for Outstanding Comedy Series.
Matthew Rhys won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his portrayal of Tom Loftis, Widow’s Bay’s embattled mayor. Kate O’Flynn, who plays Tom’s loony assistant, Patricia Moyer, took home Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Stephen Root won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance as Wyck Crawford, a prickly believer in the evil spirits that haunt the island town.
The show also won Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Katie Dippold and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for Hiro Murai, who helmed five episodes of the show’s first season.
“Thank you Apple for letting us take this crazy, creative swing,” Dippold said at Monday night’s award ceremony. “They truly just let us do this weird show and we can’t thank you enough.”
The series’ 14 wins outdid any rival show in any category this year. And Apple TV is building a comedy legacy. With Widow’s Bay, Ted Lasso and The Studio, Apple TV has won the Emmy for best comedy series four times in six seasons.
Pluribus did well at the Emmys, too
Meanwhile, wins by darkly comedic Apple TV sci-fi thriller Pluribus would make headlines if they hadn’t been swamped by the Widow’s Bay landslide. Pluribus garnered six Emmys, including Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series for creator Vince Gilligan and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for star Rhea Seehorn.
The popular spy series Slow Horses won for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for Saul Metzstein. Apple’s comedy Margo’s Got Money Troubles earned three technical Emmys, as did Palm Royale.
These all added to the 29 total Emmys for Apple, beating the totals earned by either HBO/HBO Max or Netflix. And that’s after Apple submitted only 31 shows for consideration, versus 125 from Netflix and 86 from HBO.
In other words, the Apple TV streaming service continues to win with quality over quantity.
“There is nothing like the power of a great story to capture our imaginations, surprise us in unexpected ways, and remind us of what connects us,” said Matt Cherniss, Apple TV’s head of programming, in a press release Tuesday. “Widow’s Bay, Pluribus, and Slow Horses have done exactly that. Congratulations to all of the artists honored and thank you to the Television Academy.”
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 26 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh SE/30 (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer.
That’s because he’s a “tablet first” type of guy. Rather than use a Macbook, he connects a keyboard case to the iPad. And instead of a desktop Mac, he connects his tablet to a 27-inch display and full-size keyboard. (So don’t try to tell him that everyone has to use a Mac to be productive.)
Before coming to Cult of Mac, Ed wrote for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
