Mariska Hargitay Hosts the Emmys Tonight

The 78th Emmy Awards kick off tonight, Monday, September 14, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Coverage on NBC and streaming service Peacock begins at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific, which lands at 2 a.m. Belgrade time on the night heading into Tuesday, September 15. For the first time, the ceremony is hosted by Mariska Hargitay, star of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

The choice of host is no accident. NBC is marking its 100th anniversary this year, and both the network and the Television Academy weighed names from outside their own ranks before ultimately settling on Hargitay in honor of the milestone. According to Wikipedia, this is the first Emmy ceremony not hosted by a comedian, a reality show host, or a television personality since Angela Lansbury in 1993, and the first time a woman has held the role since Jane Lynch in 2011.

Hargitay is no stranger to the Emmy stage. At the earlier Creative Arts ceremonies, held September 5 and 6, she already picked up two awards, for documentary and for directing My Mom Jayne, in which she tells the story of her mother, actress Jayne Mansfield. Per the Boston Globe, that was not her first trophy from that stage either; the paper notes she has won three Emmys over the course of her career, including lead actress in a drama series for her role on SVU.

Hargitay described how she feels about tonight’s role in a statement carried by NBC.

Bringing important stories to light has been the heart of my career. It is a great honor to host the 78th Emmy Awards, in the year my beloved NBC celebrates its 100th birthday, and to celebrate this extraordinary community of storytellers. Whether it’s an actor or a director, a costume designer or a sound designer, we are all equally privileged to take part in making television that unites us. No matter how, where, or when we watch, we are together in our laughter, our tears, our love of stories, and our joyful anticipation of what comes next.

The ceremony is produced by Jesse Collins Entertainment, with Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay serving as executive producers. The show was moved from Sunday to Monday this year so it would not clash with NBC’s Sunday Night Football broadcast.

Anyone following the red carpet has options. E! kicks off its countdown at 5 p.m. Eastern with Erin Lim Rhoads, and the main red carpet show begins at 6 p.m. with hosts Justin Sylvester, Keltie Knight and Will Marfuggi, also streaming on Peacock. CNN subscribers can catch red carpet coverage from 5 p.m. on the CNN app, with Elizabeth Wagmeister and Ramin Setoodeh.

The most nominations this year belong to The Pitt, the HBO Max drama, with 25. Right behind it is Hacks with 24, a record for a comedy series in the ceremony’s history. In third place is newcomer Widow’s Bay, on Apple TV+, with 19 nominations. The Pitt and Hacks will also go head to head in the outstanding comedy series category.

Presenters on stage will include Zendaya, Jon Hamm, Sally Field, Macaulay Culkin, Florence Pugh, Amy Poehler and Alan Cumming. The night also carries two anniversaries from television history. Marking 30 years of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz will take the stage. Marking 50 years of Charlie’s Angels, Cheryl Ladd, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson will appear.

In the In Memoriam segment, Noah Kahan will perform “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” This year’s Bob Hope Humanitarian Award goes to actor and activist Michael J. Fox, for his longtime contribution to Parkinson’s disease research and awareness.

Nominations for the 78th ceremony were announced on July 8, and a day earlier, on July 7, the host’s name was revealed. The production company was confirmed on April 30. All of it now leads to tonight’s finale, on the night when NBC, in Hargitay’s own words, comes home, a hundred years after it was founded.