David Bridges
Highlights
- Winners: Apple TV+ led the 2025 Primetime Emmy awards with seven wins, including four for The Studio.
- Acting Awards: Severance received two acting awards, highlighting its strong performances.
- Outstanding Drama: HBO Max’s The Pitt won the Best Outstanding Drama Series, surprising many.
- Shift in Prestige: The awards reflected a continued shift of prestige from traditional networks to streaming platforms.
Streaming platforms once again dominated the 2025 Primetime Emmy awards (77th edition), while network TV was shut out of the major filmed categories. Apple TV+ came out on top with seven total wins including four for The Studio: Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actor (Seth Rogen), Outstanding Directing (Rogen and Evan Goldberg), and Outstanding Writing. “I’ve never won anything in my life,” Rogen said during his off-the-cuff acceptance speech. “When I was a kid I bought a used bowling trophy.”
Apple+ also garnered two acting awards for Severance, including Britt Lower (Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series) and Tramell Tillman (Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series). However, HBO Max’s medical drama The Pitt surprisingly pipped Severance for the Best Outstanding Drama Series, while also earning Noah Wyle and Katherine LaNasa drama series awards for Outstanding Lead Actor and Outstanding Supporting Actress, respectively. HBO Max also scooped awards for its comedy series Hacks with Jean Smart taking the Outstanding Lead Actress trophy and Hannah Einbinder winning for Outstanding Supporting Actress.
Netflix took the prize for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series with critical darling Adolescence, with that same show earning Stephen Graham, Owen Cooper, and Erin Doherty Emmys for lead actor and supporting actor and actress, respectively (at 15, Cooper is the youngest-ever male winner of a Primetime acting Emmy). That show also won Emmys for outstanding directing and writing for a limited or anthology series or movie.
The Emmys showed again how prestige and money continue to shift from networks to streamers. CBS’s only Emmy was for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, a show it canceled in August. NBC won for the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special, while cabler HBO took prizes for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (Outstanding Scripted Variety Series and Outstanding Writing) along with The Penguin (Cristin Milioti for Outstanding Lead Actress) and Somebody Somewhere (Jeff Hiller for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series).
Daniel Mercer
