‘The Pitt’ Tops A Wild Emmy Nominations Morning As ‘Hacks’ Rewrites The Comedy Record Books

The 2026 awards season kicked into high gear this week as the Television Academy revealed its nominees for the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, and the results confirmed just how competitive this year’s television landscape has become. Streaming platforms and premium cable once again dominated the conversation, with a mix of returning champions and scrappy newcomers fighting for recognition across drama, comedy and limited series categories. As the industry buzzed over Wednesday’s announcement, entertainment accounts across social media scrambled to break down exactly who came out on top.

Culture Crave, the pop culture account known for tracking awards season data, was among the first to lay out the full nomination breakdown for its followers on X, complete with images from several of the standout nominees. The post highlighted just how tightly packed the race for total nominations turned out to be this year, with a dozen shows clearing the double digit mark.

Leading the pack is HBO Max’s medical drama ‘The Pitt,’ which earned a whopping 25 nominations including nods for outstanding drama and 13 acting nominations for star Noah Wyle. That haul is nearly double the show’s 13 nominations from last year. Right behind it is ‘Hacks,’ which earned 24 nominations in its final season, topping the previous comedy record of 23 set by ‘The Bear’ and ‘The Studio’.

The rest of the field tells its own story about where television is headed. ‘Widow’s Bay,’ Apple TV’s freshman horror comedy, surged late in the Emmy campaign season to land 19 nominations, the most of any new series this year, while its Apple TV sibling ‘Pluribus’ picked up 18. Netflix’s anthology series ‘Beef’ followed with 16, and HBO’s ‘DTF St. Louis’ rounded out the double digit tier with 13, a nomination haul that nearly doubled its total from the previous year.

Further down the list, ‘Saturday Night Live’ and Prime Video’s ‘Spider-Noir’ tied with 11 nominations apiece, an especially notable showing for the Nicolas Cage led series given that it landed the total almost entirely through below the line technical categories. ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,’ ‘Fallout’ and ‘The Beast in Me’ each closed out the double digit conversation with nine nominations, cementing HBO and Amazon’s strong overall showings this cycle.

Beyond the raw numbers, the nominations also delivered some fascinating individual milestones. Jean Smart is now positioned to chase her fifth Emmy for ‘Hacks’ and eighth overall, while Jason Bateman scored four total nominations this year alone thanks to his dual roles on ‘DTF St. Louis’ and ‘Black Rabbit.’ Meanwhile, notable snubs including Jeremy Allen White and Sydney Sweeney gave fans plenty to debate in the hours after the announcement.

The 78th Emmy Awards are set to air live from Los Angeles on September 14, with ‘Law & Order: SVU’ star Mariska Hargitay hosting. With ‘The Pitt’ and ‘Hacks’ now locked in as the shows to beat, which of these nominees are you rooting for to walk away with the crown this September.