Mariska Hargitay to Host 78th Emmys on NBC
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- Mariska Hargitay will host the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards on NBC on September 14, with the ceremony streaming on Peacock from the Peacock Theater, the longtime Emmys venue that will also soon house the Oscars.
- Law & Order: SVU returns for its 28th season this fall, poised to surpass 600 episodes; Hargitay has earned 8 Emmy nominations for detective Olivia Benson and won lead actress in a drama in 2006.
- 'My Mom Jayne,' a documentary Hargitay directed and produced about her mother Jayne Mansfield, is among the films in play for Wednesday's nominations alongside her hosting duties.
- The pick makes Hargitay a rare non-comedian to lead the ceremony; Nate Bargatze hosted last year's Emmys on CBS in the Big Four network rotation.
- NBC is unlikely to land many key-category nominations on Wednesday, though its Saturday Night Live — the all-time Emmy leader — reliably earns its share.
- Leading nominee contenders include Apple TV's "Pluribus" and HBO Max's "The Pitt" starring Noah Wyle, to be unveiled by recent winners Liza Colón-Zayas and Jeff Hiller at the Television Academy in Los Angeles.
Why it matters: For a ceremony where NBC is unlikely to land many key-category nominations, the network handed the hosting job to its own 25-year SVU star; Hargitay's potential nominee bid for 'My Mom Jayne' and SVU's approaching 600-episode milestone give the broadcast built-in storylines no comedian host can replicate.
