The Emmy pre-game is already wild: Bad Bunny sweeps, a canceled show wins, and Mariska Hargitay is a week away from the big stage
The Creative Arts Emmys handed out over 100 trophies this weekend - and the results are sending clear signals heading into the September 14 primetime ceremony on NBC.
In brief
The Emmy pre-game is already wild: Bad Bunny sweeps, a canceled show wins big, and Mariska Hargitay is one week out
Television's awards season officially kicked into gear this weekend. The 78th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards ran across two nights - September 5 and 6 - at the Peacock Theater in Downtown Los Angeles, and they produced exactly the kind of results that make the industry gossip for a week. Bad Bunny walked away the night's biggest winner. A show that got canceled the day before the ceremony still picked up five trophies. And Widow's Bay - a series almost nobody outside the industry was watching closely - ended the weekend with more hardware than anyone.
The primetime ceremony is still a week out. But after what happened Saturday and Sunday, there's real momentum to parse.
Bad Bunny's halftime show was 'a matter of contention in some circles.' The TV Academy disagreed.
The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny - the Spanish-language performance that was a matter of contention in some circles - led all shows on Saturday with seven wins, including Outstanding Variety Special (Live) and Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special, which went to director Hamish Hamilton. According to Variety, the show also won for outstanding choreography for variety or reality programming (Charm La'Donna, Karina Ortiz), outstanding production design for a variety special (Bruce Rodgers), and outstanding music direction (Miguel Gandelman).
Seven Emmys. For a halftime show. That's a statement.
The Traitors finished second with six wins, including Outstanding Directing for a Reality Program, Outstanding Cinematography for a Reality Program, and Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program - giving Alan Cumming his third consecutive win in the category. According to Gold Derby, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert took five in its final season, and The Muppet Show took four.
Spider-Noir won five Emmys the day after it was canceled
Night 2, Sunday, belonged to a different kind of story. Spider-Noir earned five Emmy Awards on Sunday after being canceled by Prime Video on Friday. That's the kind of timing that Hollywood loves to use as a metaphor for something. The Television Academy voters locked in their ballots before the cancellation news broke - but the optics still sting for Prime Video.
On Sunday, Widow's Bay, DTF: St. Louis, and the canceled Spider-Noir were the big winners. Per Deadline, the full two-night Creative Arts tally put Widow's Bay at the top with eight wins, followed by the Bad Bunny halftime show at seven, and DTF St. Louis rounding out the top three.
Night 2 also carried more personal weight for one specific person. Mariska Hargitay won two awards for My Mom Jayne, for Best Documentary or Nonfiction Special and Best Directing. She picks up those trophies heading into her own hosting gig on September 14. Not bad warm-up material.
One historic moment nobody is talking about enough
The host conversation deserves more attention than it's getting. Veteran Law & Order: SVU actress Mariska Hargitay will host the gala, breaking a 15-year streak without a sole female host. According to TV Insider, Hargitay, who stars as Captain Olivia Benson on Law & Order: SVU, was introduced in a promo where the voiceover stated that "After 28 years in the criminal justice system, she's seen it all. Now, she faces her toughest challenge yet: Hosting the Emmys."
That's NBC leaning hard into the joke. The broadcast is back on NBC this year, another reason 2026 is a milestone year for the network, as NBC celebrates its 100th anniversary. As is usually the case when NBC has its turn airing the Emmys, the awards will air on a Monday night rather than a Sunday so as not to interfere with the network's Sunday Night Football commitment. That means September 14, 8 p.m. ET, and streaming simultaneously on Peacock.
What the pre-show results mean for the main event
Going into September 14, the nomination leaders are locked. HBO Max's The Pitt emerged as the year's most-nominated program with 25 nominations, including a nod for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actor for Noah Wyle. On the comedy side, the numbers are historic: the final season of HBO Max's Hacks set a new record for the most nominations in a single year for a comedy series with 24 nods, topping the record of 23 previously set by The Bear and The Studio.
On the drama side, Apple TV+'s freshman series Pluribus earned plenty of nominations, as did Netflix's The Diplomat and HBO Max's A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and The Gilded Age. The field is wide. One show conspicuously absent from the ballot was the breakout hit Heated Rivalry, which was ineligible for Emmy Awards as it was financed outside of the U.S.
There's also a rule change to watch. According to Variety, the Academy decreed that the outstanding variety series category will now be an "area" award, meaning nominees aren't competing against each other - they're each independently trying to get at least 90% of Emmy voters to say yes. That means potentially several shows could win.
The lineup of categories at each of the three shows caused some controversy this year, as several categories - including writing and directing for variety shows, and writing, directing and supporting acting for limited series - were moved from their usual spots on the primetime show to one of the nontelevised Creative Arts ceremonies. Plenty of people in the industry are annoyed about it. The Wrap reported the shift sparked debate about which achievements deserve primetime airtime versus a Saturday afternoon without cameras.
Nights one and two will be edited into a single broadcast, the 78th Emmy Awards (Creative Arts), airing Saturday, September 12, on FXX at 8 p.m. ET/PT, and available to stream on Hulu the next day. Then the main event - Hargitay, NBC, The Pitt, Hacks, and whatever the night decides - arrives two days later.
Widow's Bay sits at eight Creative Arts wins and counting. The Pitt has 25 nominations to defend. The last woman to solo-host the Emmys did so 15 years ago. Everything points to a September 14 with actual stakes.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
