TV awards nights are all about the drama – and the 78^th Primetime Emmy Awards delivered in spades.

While the big winners at the star-studded event at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theatre included comedy-horror series Widow’s Bay and popular drama The Pitt, there were also plenty of other memorable moments.

From dancing TV screens and golden gowns, to teary speeches and hilarious roasts, here are some of our favourite highs and lows.

‘She was my mom’

Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin fought back tears as he paid tribute to the late actor Catherine O’Hara in an emotional speech during the Emmys’ in-memoriam section.

“There are all kinds of words I could use to describe Catherine,” Culkin said of the woman who played his mother in the iconic 1990 comedy and died in January of a pulmonary embolism after battling cancer.

“She was encouraging, she was warm, she was funny, but the word that I think of is ‘Mama’. You know, she wasn’t just a wife to Bo (Welch) and mother to Matthew and Luke, she was my mom.”

The actor, who was joined on stage by O’Hara’s Schitts Creek co-stars Annie Murphy and Dan Levy, added that she was also their “mama” – “and by extension she’s all of our mama”.

“By the way, call your mother tonight, for real.”

The in-memoriam section also remembered singer and actor Dolly Parton, filmmaker Rob Reiner, actor Isiah Whitlock Jr and costume designer Bob Mackie, who died on the day of the Emmys ceremony.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Schitt’s Creek (@itsschittscreek)

Rock ‘n’ roll opener

Classic or cringey? While some TV fans lapped up Emmys host Mariska Hargitay’s ceremony-opening musical performance, many critics thought it hit an awkward note.

Dubbed I Love TV Screens and sung to the tune of I Love Rock & Roll, the song mentioned television shows nominated for awards and featured cameos from stars such as Jennifer Coolidge and Jeff Hiller, as well as dancers with TV screens on their heads.

“It felt like some weird fever dream of an award-show opener, but it was all too real,” wrote Rolling Stone.

Deadline agreed: “Hargitay opened the show with a song celebrating TV screens — TV screens! — while supposedly watching some on a cross-country flight to the Emmys. Maybe the writers should have run that through ChatGPT one more time before subjecting Olivia Benson to that.”

Law & Order star Hargitay – the first woman to host the Emmys in 15 years – also spoofed Nicole Kidman’s advertisement for AMC cinema, which became a viral meme for her dramatic delivery. But the Aussie actor got her own back when she interrupted from the front row.

“Now, Mariska, come on,” Kidman said. “That’s mine. That’s my bit. You can’t do that.”

Hargitay replied: “Zip it, movie lady! It’s TV’s turn tonight.”

2027 Emmys host?

Actor and comedian John Mulaney’s scene-stealing monologue while presenting the award for lead actor in a drama series is seeing some fans touting him as a possible host for the 2027 Emmys.

“This award is for the guys. Just men being men – finally, something for the fellas,” he began in a speech full of jokes about the under-representation of men on screen.

Ok we really gotta get John Mulaney to host some of these awards shows. That was fantastic

— Jason Jordan (@jjordan28) September 15, 2026

As the camera panned to the 2026 lead actor nominees, Mulaney went on: “They can play anything, these nominees.

“Not just doctors. They can play a cop, or an FBI agent, or a secret agent and then that’s it, no other examples.”

Although one of his X-rated quips was bleeped for the US broadcast, entertainment writers and TV fans saw Mulaney’s performance as an unofficial audition for hosting honours next year.

 “John Mulaney needs to host everything,” wrote one X user.

Golden opportunity

It can be hard to stand out amid all the glittering fashions on an awards red carpet, but Hacks star Meg Stalter drew plenty of attention with her golden get-up.

The actor was dressed head to toe as a life-sized Emmy Award in gold body paint and wings, and even posed with a large replica of the award’s sphere above her head.

Stalter, who was nominated for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for her role as Kayla in Hacks, was accompanied by her co-star and fellow nominee Paul W Downs in a much more subdued black suit.

Earlier this year, the duo wore bright orange vinyl outfits to the Critics’ Choice Awards in a playful re-creation of the looks celebrity couple Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner wore to the Marty Supreme film premiere in Los Angeles.

“Give Stalter an idea, and she’ll execute it to the fullest degree,” enthused Vogue of her Emmy look. “And, quite frankly, we need more fun in fashion. Can we give her an Emmy for the best risk-taker?”

Stalter didn’t end up winning an Emmy, but her Hacks co-star Jean Smart won her fifth award for playing acerbic comedian Deborah Vance – the first performer to claim the trophy for best comedy actress for every season of a show’s run.

Pulling a Swifty

Some loved it, others thought it was a bit weird, but either way the Emmys found a way around the fact that Taylor Swift skipped the ceremony to attend new husband Travis Kelce’s NFL game.

The pop star – who was photographed Kansas City Chiefs versus Denver Broncos season opener with actor Tom Cruise – appeared in a pre-recorded sketch alongside host Mariska Hargitay.

The skit had Hargitay reprise her Law And Order: SVU role as Olivia Benson as her team of SVU detectives investigated whether Swift would attend the ceremony.

After Hargitay concluded the singer would not attend because of the game, Swift – appearing as a detective – said: “Maybe she’ll do one of those cool, pre-taped sketch things to support the host.”

Swift’s cat, named Olivia Benson after Hargitay’s character, also appeared in the clip.

The pop star’s documentary series The Eras Tour: The Final Show had been nominated for a Creative Arts Emmy earlier in September but lost to The Muppet Show.

–with PA