Adolescence, Hacks, The Studio, The Pitt are the Series of the Year According to the Emmy Awards
Some of the edition's favorites were snubbed, as the Emmys crowned four series from the last season as the best of the year, making excellent choices compared to the past.
Despite the many nominations it garnered, the past year was neither for The Bear nor for The White Lotus. With Shogun on hiatus (filming for season two will begin in Vancouver next January), Succession now concluded, and Stranger Things on the starting blocks, the Emmy Awards voters finally decided to look beyond the titles they've been focusing on for years, rewarding some recent or debut series that have been much loved by critics and audiences.
Adolescence Confirmed as Miniseries of the Year
The victory of Adolescence was somewhat expected by everyone: the most-watched British series ever on Netflix had little to no competition in the miniseries category, with its limited number of episodes. Thus, it took home a remarkable six statuettes: that of best miniseries and three awards for its nominated performers, including the Emmy for best supporting actor to the very young Owen Cooper, the teenager of the project (the youngest male actor to win an Emmy in the award's history). It would be defined as a must-watch series, if not for the fact that the numbers show how much of the audience devoured it, despite the difficult subject matter, involving incels and violence against women. Adolescence, in fact, explores a dramatic true crime case involving a young teenager not as a victim, but as a perpetrator. Using the single-shot technique, it fully immerses the viewer in the story, alongside the boy, the investigators, and the boy's parents, who are shocked to discover a dark side they had never suspected in their son.
The Studio Triumphs and Makes History in Many Ways
Another major confirmation of pre-show predictions was the victory, or rather, the triumph of The Studio, the AppleTV+ comedy created by and starring Seth Rogen. It's a historic victory for many reasons, starting with the fact that for the first time, the Cupertino company becomes the broadcaster with the most awarded series of the evening: no one beats the thirteen awards collected by this Hollywood-themed comedy that tells the adventures of a producer who becomes the decision-maker at the head of a Hollywood major during a time of great crisis for the company. HBO maintains its lead as the broadcaster with the most overall awards for the evening, but Apple had been seeking a similar affirmation with its series for some time.
It came close with another comedy, Ted Lasso, a few years ago. This time it won over the voters, thanks to Hollywood's perennial love for films and series that depict its behind-the-scenes. The peculiarity of The Studio is its inclusion of a large number of guest stars playing themselves (or an ironic and exaggerated version of their public persona), much like in the French series Call My Agent. In short, the series is all the more entertaining the more familiar one is with the mechanisms that govern Hollywood, from parties at Charlize Theron's house to which one is finally invited upon promotion, to Martin Scorsese's projects (in his first Emmy nomination as an actor) to be tactfully shelved, and a whole series of jokes and references for true insiders.
The triumph of The Studio is all the more significant considering that it entered the race with its first season, at its debut, while historically comedies take a few seasons to truly win over this award. It was truly Apple's night, as it also secured two awards for the performers of Severance, another big hit that exploded in its second season. Britt Lower's "innie" Helly R. and Tramell Tillman's Milchick took home the wins, with Tillman being the first African-American actor to win an Emmy for best supporting actor in a drama series.
The Pitt is the Most Loved Series in the United States of the Last Season
It could have been a historic double win if Apple had also secured the victory in the best drama series category for the second, highly acclaimed season of Severance, as some predicted, underestimating the phenomenon of The Pitt. The HBO medical drama, which was supposed to be an offshoot of the historic series ER before Michael Crichton's widow blocked the project and pushed the creators towards an original series, was the most-watched series in the United States in recent months (years?). A true phenomenon, which week after week set record numbers during live broadcasts (as hadn't been seen in a long time) and then streaming on HBO.
The face of this genre's resurgence is Noah Wyle, who became famous in the 90s for the character of Dr. John Carter in ER. With a family always involved in the medical field, the actor deeply understands the sensitivity and demands of an increasingly pressured profession. So when ER creator John Wells contacted him in the post-pandemic, he immediately joined the project, which renewed and modernized the genre.
No love stories in the hallways, no "medical investigations" à la House MD: The Pitt is a nearly documentary-style account of a very long shift in the emergency room of a Pennsylvania hospital for a group of new recruits, interns, and first responders. Each episode covers more or less sixty minutes of the aforementioned shift, moving between the waiting room, examination areas, and operating rooms, following the fates of doctors and patients, intertwined in a narrative that tackles, without softening them, the harsh realities of a profession that has become more difficult in the post-pandemic, amidst pseudoscientific delusions, assaults on medical staff, the need to "corporatize" healthcare institutions, and staff burnout. It's a heartfelt, gripping, and truthful drama that kept America glued to the screen week after week and won five statuettes, including one for Noah Wyle, who missed out for five consecutive years in the role of the shy and kind Dr. John Carter at the peak of ER's popularity. The first episodes of The Pitt will arrive next week, from September 24, 2025, on Sky.
Hacks Confirmed as the Beautiful and Invisible, Must-Rediscover Title of the Emmy Awards
HBO's other hit is Hacks, which has been awarded by the Emmys for quite some time, but in Italy is still relatively unknown, as it's scattered across Netflix and Prime Video in its various seasons. Now in its fourth season, Hacks is in a sense the counterpart to The Studio in the world of comedy. The two protagonists, united by a complicated working relationship, are the famous comedian Deborah Vance (played by Jean Smart) and Ava Daniels (played by Hannah Einbinder). The former is a star losing relevance due to age and therefore hires the latter, a young comedy writer who had problems after a controversial tweet and was canceled, to refresh her repertoire. The series, more niche than the others discussed so far, finally managed to win awards for both of its protagonists this year.