Seattle native Jean Smart could make Emmys history with ‘Hacks’ final season

“Hacks,” a comedy series about a mentorship between a legendary Las Vegas comic, played by Seattle native Jean Smart, and an entitled 25-year-old comedy writer, got a graduation party with a record-setting 24 to lead all comedies in its final season as Emmy nominations were announced Wednesday.

Emmy voters love a departing show, and have loved the tension-between-comedy-generations “Hacks” since its first season, allowing it to run up the numbers as a fifth-year senior. Star Jean Smart has won Best Actress in a Comedy for all four previous seasons, and it would be stunning if she didn’t claim a fifth.

If Smart wins in September, she will have eight Emmy wins, tying the record for most acting Emmys for a performer, held by “Veep” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” star Cloris Leachman. In addition to that record, Smart would become the third actor to win an Emmy for every season of a series, joining Bill Cosby, who won Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for three seasons of “I Spy,” and Blythe Danner, who won the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Emmy for two seasons of “Huff.”

Smart graduated from both Ballard High School and the University of Washington (UW) before her television career kicked off in the mid-1980s.

Her sidekick throughout the series, Hannah Einbinder, who last year broke through and won Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy in her fourth nomination, got a fifth. Her castmate, the show’s co-creator Paul W. Downs, got three nominations for acting, writing and producing.

‘The Pitt’ leads with 25 Emmy nominations

The day-in-the-life emergency room series “The Pitt” was a rookie upstart last year with big wins, including Best Drama Series, Best Actor for Noah Wyle, and Best Supporting Actress for Katherine LaNasa.

Already a beloved veteran show, it dominated this year’s acting categories. Wyle was nominated again for Best Actor (along with nods for his directing and producing), as was LaNasa. Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif, and Sepideh Moafi also got nominations, with “The Pitt” taking four of the seven supporting actress spots and three supporting actor slots.

In an era when major Emmy contenders — like 2025’s top drama nominee “Severance” — take years off between seasons, “The Pitt” came right back for another round. And its claim on the acting categories was helped by the between-seasons absence of “The White Lotus” and its elite ensembles.

A solid showing for Apple TV

Two new shows from Apple TV, the one-woman-against-the-hivemind drama “Pluribus” and the horror comedy “Widow’s Bay,” both scored big in their first seasons.

“Pluribus,” from “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” creator Vince Gilligan, got 18 nods. They included Best Actress in a Drama for its sole lead cast member, Rhea Seahorn, who is considered the favorite to win.

“Widow’s Bay” got 19 nominations, including Best Actor for star Matthew Rhys, who was also nominated as a producer and for his acting in the limited series “The Beast in Me.”

Two other Apple TV shows are also up for Best Comedy: “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” whose stars Elle Fanning and Michelle Pfeiffer got acting nominations, and “Shrinking.”

The “Shrinking” nominations included Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy for Harrison Ford. The force could be with Ford, with many prognosticators saying this will be the year the Hollywood legend finally wins an EGOT-tier award. His castmate Jason Segel is up for lead actor.

Big day for Bateman, Short, and Brunson

Many close observers also think this will be the year the perennially nominated Martin Short wins Best Actor in a comedy for “Only Murders in the Building.” He was nominated for three trophies, including nods for his producing of “Only Murders in the Building” and hosting “The Match Game.” A Netflix documentary about him, “Marty, Life is Short,” also got two nominations.

Jason Bateman got four nominations for acting and producing both “Black Rabbit” and “DTF St. Louis.”

ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” remained a rare bright spot for the traditional broadcast networks that have been marginalized in top categories by cable and streaming shows. Creator, star, and two-time Emmy winner Quinta Brunson was nominated for three more, and the show got seven.

Reiner, Swift, Bunny, and Fox are among the notable nominees

The vast range of Emmy categories brings unexpected stars and beloved figures into the mix.

Rob Reiner, who was killed along with his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, in December, has a chance at his third Emmy. He was nominated for guest actor for “The Bear,” about 50 years after winning two for his acting on “All in the Family.”

Five-time Emmy winner Michael J. Fox also got a nomination in the same category for playing a patient with Parkinson’s disease, which the actor was diagnosed with in the 1990s, on “Shrinking.”

The Super Bowl halftime show is nearly always nominated, but this year’s, featuring Bad Bunny on NBC, went above and beyond with nine nominations.

Swift’s “Eras Tour” concert special got five nominations days after her marriage to Travis Kelce, one of them for the singing superstar herself as a producer. She has one previous Emmy, for interactive media in 2015, to go with her 14 Grammys.

And after a year of targeting from the Trump administration for late-night hosts and their shows, the now-off-the-air “Late Show With Stephen Colbert” got nine nominations and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” got six.

‘Beef’ and ‘Euphoria’ are back in the mix

Netflix’s “Beef” was tops in the limited or anthology series categories with 16 nominations. “Beef” had a dominant first season in 2023, and the anthology’s all-new grudge holders, Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, and Charles Melton, all got nominations.

“Euphoria” made its Emmys return after a long absence and got seven nominations. Zendaya, who won Best Actress in a Drama for the first two seasons in 2020 and 2022, got a nod for the recently aired third season.

Liza Colón-Zayas and Jeff Hiller announced the nominees at the Television Academy in Los Angeles. The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, airing on NBC, will be held on Sept. 14. Mariska Hargitay, the longtime star of NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” will host and is a double nominee for directing and producing the documentary “My Mom Jayne.”

Contributing: Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest