If you want to win your office Emmy pool, you should predict an upset in the comedy writing and directing categories.
According to Gold Derby’s odds, Hacks is the favorite to win Best Comedy Writing and Directing for its series finale (appropriately titled “Hacks”). Yet there’s another contender creeping around the corner, one that could benefit from the Emmys‘ favoritism towards rewarding pilots: Widow’s Bay.
The freshman Apple TV series scored 19 nominations overall, including Best Comedy Series. It’s competing in the writing and directing categories for its premiere episode, “Welcome to Widow’s Bay,” which contends for creator Katie Dippold and director Hiro Murai, respectively.
The Emmys have a long history of rewarding pilots for writing and directing, especially comedies. Just ask… well, Hacks, which won both prizes for its premiere episode, “There Is No Line.” Despite winning those two major awards (in addition to Jean Smart’s first of four in Best Comedy Actress), Hacks lost the Best Comedy Series prize to another freshman series, Ted Lasso, which earned two nominations in writing (including for its pilot) and three in directing (none of which were the series premiere).
There are many other such instances of this. Just last year, The Studio won the writing prize for its premiere episode, “The Promotion.” The freshman series also won the directing prize, albeit for the technically dazzling “Oner” episode. (No matter, because Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg won both awards either way.)
In 2023, The Bear followed a similar path as The Studio, winning the writing prize for its pilot (“System”) and the directing award for an episode that unfolds in real time (“Review”) — albeit not in a single take. The year prior, Abbott Elementary star Quinta Brunson won an Emmy for writing the series premiere, which wasn’t even nominated in directing. In 2018, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel creator Amy Sherman-Palladino took home writing and directing awards for that show’s first episode.
Then you have 2010, a year when Emmy voters were all over the map. The comedy writing award went to Modern Family creators Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan for the pilot, which also competed in directing. Yet the eventual Best Comedy Series victor lost the directing award to Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy for that show’s pilot, which earned a writing nom for Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan.
That wasn’t the first time Emmy voters rewarded a pilot in one category and not the other. In 2008, Barry Sonnenfeld won the Best Comedy Directing prize for helming the “Pie-lette” of Pushing Daisies, which lost the writing award. In 2005, Desperate Housewives creator Mark Cherry might’ve lost the writing prize for the pilot, but that didn’t stop voters from rewarding that episode’s director.
The same fate didn’t befall Arrested Development, which won prizes for its pilot in writing (Mitchell Hurwitz) and directing (Anthony and Joe Russo) ahead of snagging the 2004 Best Comedy Series prize. (Ironically enough, a second season installment of Arrested Development took the writing award from the Desperate Housewives pilot.)
Emmy voters don’t even hold major snubs against pilots. In 2007, the first episode of Ugly Betty won Best Comedy Directing, despite getting snubbed in writing. The year before, My Name Is Earl overcame a Best Comedy Series snub to win both the writing and directing awards for its series premiere. In 2002, Larry Wilmore won the writing prize for The Bernie Mac Show pilot, which failed to earn nominations in Best Comedy Series or Best Comedy Directing.
In 2000, Malcolm in the Middle won the writing and directing awards for its pilot, despite missing out in Best Comedy Series. (You could make a similar case this year for The Chair Company, which earned writing and directing nominations for its first episode, “Life goes by too f***ing fast, it really does,” yet was snubbed in Best Comedy Series.)
That’s not to say Emmy voters are averse to series finales. In 2020, Schitt’s Creek took home writing and directing awards for its final episode (“Happy Endings”) as part of its historic sweep throughout the comedy categories. In 2013, Tina Fey won the writing prize for the farewell episode of 30 Rock (“Last Lunch”), although the two-part finale lost the directing award to Modern Family (for “Las Vegas”).
Yet just as many finales have come up short this century, especially when pitted against pilots. The last episode of What We Do in the Shadows lost to the first episode of The Studio, just like the original series finale of Ted Lasso was no match for the series premiere of The Bear.
Everybody Loves Raymond might’ve won Best Comedy Series for its final season in 2005, but “The Finale” lost the directing prize to the shiny new object that was the Desperate Housewives pilot. The year prior, the pilot for Arrested Development won the writing award over the farewell episode of Frasier, “Goodnight, Seattle.” Emmy voters also weren’t sentimental when Sports Night was cancelled after two seasons, as its last episode (“Quo Vadimos”) was no match in the directing category against Malcolm in the Middle’s pilot.
It’s understandable why so many people are predicting Hacks to overcome these odds, considering it’s the favorite in Best Comedy Series. Yet the only other time it’s won a writing prize was for its third season finale, “Bulletproof,” which — in addition to being the only time it won the comedy series category — was the only time it wasn’t competing against a pilot. That’s good news for Widow’s Bay creator Katie Dippold, who could follow in the footsteps of Abbott Elementary, The Bear, and The Studio.
Hacks has also yet to collect another trophy in directing, falling short against comedies with more dramatic directorial flourishes like The Bear and The Studio. That’s exactly what Hiro Murai brings to “Welcome to Widow’s Bay,” and he’s overdue for a directing win after losses for Atlanta (2018 and 2022), Station Eleven (2022), and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024). (Murai, who won Best Comedy Series as one of the producers on The Bear, would make history as the first Asian winner in the Best Comedy Directing category.)
So perhaps you shouldn’t be afraid of predicting Widow’s Bay after all.
