Emmys Review: Hargitay Deserved Better Than This Script — SkimNews
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- Mariska Hargitay hosted the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards from L.A.'s Peacock Theater as the first female emcee since Jane Lynch in 2011, but Deadline's review says the script — penned by ex-Late Show with Stephen Colbert writers cut loose by CBS in May — was a 'first-draft mess' that 'let down the side' of television's writers' medium.
- Stephen Colbert appeared onstage and quipped that 'if you like the comedy tonight, my old writers wrote it,' directly acknowledging the writing staff's pedigree; Amy Poehler separately told Hargitay she 'nailed it,' which the review reads as a compliment to the host's ability to deliver lousy lines with a straight face.
- Taylor Swift appeared midway through the broadcast in a precinct-themed skit, framed as an Olivia Benson case file and capped with a nod to the Kansas City Chiefs' Monday Night Football win over the Denver Broncos — a cameo the review calls a 'new low in lame' despite Rolling Stone's separate coverage positioning it as a marquee moment.
- John Mulaney delivered an alternative opening monologue tied to Noah Wyle winning Best Actor in a Drama for The Pitt for a second consecutive year, offering the kind of comedic delivery the review says Hargitay's script lacked.
- Sally Field won Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series for Remarkably Bright Creatures and delivered what Deadline calls the best line of the night, a 'Blessed Canada' remark tied to her Canadian roots.
- The ceremony's emotional peaks were onstage tributes to Catherine O'Hara, Rob Reiner, Dolly Parton, and James Burrows, while the heavily hyped Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charlie's Angels reunions were dismissed as 'non-events.'
- Hargitay has played Olivia Benson on Law & Order: SVU since 1999, won two Emmys for the role, and picked up a third the prior weekend for her documentary My Mom Jayne — credentials the review argues made her deserving of material written to her strengths rather than to generic late-night pacing.
Why it matters: NBC hosted the Emmys for the first time since 2022 and broke with tradition by handing the stage to a dramatic actress rather than a comedian, pairing two-time SVU Emmy winner Mariska Hargitay with ex-Late Show writers recently cut loose by CBS in May. The review argues that a ceremony billed as a Hollywood throwback instead proved that star power alone can't carry a writer's medium, and the failure lands hardest on Hargitay, who the piece says 'put it all on the table' and deserved much better than what she was given.
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