Widow’s Bay’, a horror comedy about a cursed New England town, emerged as the biggest winner at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, taking a record 14 awards, including Best Comedy Series. The show beat the final season of ‘Hacks’ to win the top comedy prize, according to a Reuters report yesterday from Los Angeles.

‘The Pitt’ won Best Drama Series for the second year in a row. Its lead actor Noah Wyle also won his second consecutive Emmy for playing Dr. Robby Robinavitch in the HBO Max medical drama.

‘Hacks’ star Jean Smart won her fifth Emmy for Best Comedy Actress. She became the first performer to win the award for best comedy actress for every season of a show’s run.

Matthew Rhys made history by winning two lead acting awards at the same Emmy ceremony. He won Best Comedy Actor for ‘Widow’s Bay’ and Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for Netflix’s ‘The Beast in Me’.

Other major winners included Rhea Seehorn, who won Best Drama Actress for Apple TV’s ‘Pluribus’. ‘DTF St. Louis’ won Best Limited or Anthology Series, while ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ won Best Variety Series after the CBS show aired its final episode this year.

‘Widow’s Bay’ also won awards for supporting acting, directing and writing. Along with technical and other awards presented earlier this month, the show took its total to 14 Emmys, a record for a comedy in a single season. Stephen Root won Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy for the show, beating Harrison Ford of ‘Shrinking’.

The ceremony was hosted by ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ star Mariska Hargitay and was broadcast live on NBC and streamed on Peacock. The Television Academy also honoured Michael J. Fox with the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for his advocacy for Parkinson’s disease research and treatment.