Emmys 2025: 'The Pitt' wins best drama, 'The Studio' takes home best comedy

In this year's Emmy battle of old school versus new, hot vs. cool, heart vs. brains — "The Pitt" versus "Severance," in other words — the old-school show with heat and heart prevailed. "The Pitt" won outstanding drama at Sunday's 77th annual Primetime Emmys.

With 27 nominations going into Sunday's awards (double that of "The Pitt"), "Severance" appeared to have the headwinds all along, but "The Pitt" made this a race. Noah Wyle — who won in the best actor/drama category — was the sentimental favorite, and by association his show, too, which so closely evoked the classic he starred in for 11 seasons, "ER."

"The Studio" won outstanding comedy, a  category many expected "Hacks" to win again.

Besides "The Pitt" and "Severance," these 77th Emmys clearly had some other priorities, most notably time management. In his opening monologue, host Nate Bargatze introduced a novel game of sorts — a $100,000 gift to the Boys & Girls Club of America, which would be docked every time a winner exceeded their acceptance speech beyond 45 seconds. Great in theory, not necessarily in practice because presenters (like Jennifer Coolidge) or assorted other commentators (JB Smoove) paid no heed to the clock. Bargatze observed that "only those who worked hardest to get here" would be penalized.

The winners pushed the clock too. When Hannah Einbinder (winner, best supporting actress, comedy, "Hacks") went long, the on-screen dollar figures started to plummet. "I'll pay the difference," she said  and then tossed in the only sharply political note of the entire night: "[expletive] ICE and Free Palestine."

Time is of course a huge issue for any awards show, although Emmys telecasts aren't necessarily the worst offenders either. But the pressure was on Sunday for these Emmys to surprise an apathetic audience out there, and surprise them fast. Mission accomplished, at least in the first hour, when a series of unexpected winners quickly ascended the stage of the Peacock Theater — Seth Rogen (best actor, comedy, "The Studio"), Britt Lower (best actress, drama, "Severance"), Katherine LaNasa (best supporting, "The Pitt") — and just as quickly walked off. Meanwhile, there was this landmark victory: Tramell Tillman, who became the first Black actor to win the supporting actor/ drama category for "Severance."

The first big surprise of the night was Stephen Colbert who arrived on stage even before Bargatze got to his $100,000 gimmick, no doubt leading some to wonder whether Sunday's host had been switched out. (But no, he was just presenting the first award of the night.) Colbert did get a big laugh ("Is anyone hiring?") and a standing ovation. There had been some reports that the Academy might even create a special tribute award to Colbert, whose "Late Show" was canceled in mid-July (and will end next May.)

But there was no need to. A couple hours later, he won for outstanding talk series — a first for "Late Show" — and also got the biggest applause of the night. "My friends," he said, "I have never loved our country more desperately. Stay strong, be brave, and if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch [a button for] a higher floor."

As expected, four shows dominated the stage Sunday night — "Severance," "The Studio,"  "The Pitt" and "Adolescence," which officially got its own party started halfway through the telecast with a win for Owen Cooper, the 15-year-old from Warrington, England who turned in a searing performance as Jamie Miller, the tween who murders a classmate. "Tonight proves that if you listen [and] step out of your comfort zone, you can achieve anything," he said in accepting the award. "I was nothing three years ago." Co-star Erin Doherty — who played Jamie's clinical psychologist — later won the best supporting actress Emmy. Meanwhile, Stephen Graham won for best actor, anthology, and the show itself took home the Emmy for best anthology/limited series.

One of the high points of the night had to be "Saturday Night Live's" win for the 50th anniversary special — a record 94th — because Lorne Michaels himself was there to accept the award. He offered a salute to the Academy for Television Arts & Sciences which may not have been fashionable, but seemed heartfelt nonetheless: "I want to thank the Academy for keeping 'television' in their name. As long as it's there, we'll keep showing up."