78th Emmy Awards: Zendaya, Florence Pugh and Macaulay Culkin become presenters; Top nominees, presenter, date, time and more details revealed |

It’s “The Pitt” vs. “Pluribus” and “Hacks” vs. “Widow’s Bay” at the 78th Emmy Awards on Monday night.The stars of all four shows – Noah Wyle in “The Pitt,” Rhea Seehorn in “Pluribus,” Jean Smart in “Hacks” and Matthew Rhys in “Widow’s Bay” – appear to be the heavy favorites for best acting awards. And nearly all prognosticators are picking “The Pitt” to win its second straight best drama award.HBO Max’s day-in-the-life emergency room drama “The Pitt” has already become a cultural institution in two seasons, and after big wins as an upstart rookie, it was this year’s top overall nominee with 25.“Hacks” led all comedies with a record 24 nominations in its fifth and final season. Here’s a closer look at where things stand and how they could develop.

Date and time of the 78th Emmy Awards

But otherwise, the television competition should be close at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The ceremony will air live on NBC beginning at 8 pm ET, with one of the network’s iconic stars, three-time Emmy winner Mariska Hargitay, as host. Peacock will stream the show live.

The history of the Emmys so far

While the biggest stars are still waiting for the envelopes to be opened, most of this year’s Emmy Awards have already been handed out in the first ceremonies on Saturday and Sunday.“Widow’s Bay,” Apple TV’s freshman horror comedy starring Rhys as the mayor of a small New England town facing a centuries-old curse, won eight Emmy Awards, including best guest actress for Betty Gilpin.The show had been widely acclaimed for its clever shift between humor and horror, and earned 19 nominations, but few expected such a haul of trophies. You can win up to six more on Monday.The “Hacks” only managed one victory.“The Pitt” won four Emmy Awards, including an emotional first career win for Ernest Harden Jr., 73, for best guest actor in a drama.“Pluribus,” another Apple TV Emmy rookie from “Breaking Bad” creator Vince Gilligan, also won four.Future host Hargitay won two Emmy Awards for the documentary she directed about her mother, Jayne Mansfield, along with one she already had for her long-running role on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”The first weekend of the Emmys will be edited into a single taped show that will air on FXX on Saturday at 8 pm in all time zones.

In drama, ‘The Pitt’ competes with ‘Pluribus’

The doctors, nurses and patients of “The Pitt” were inundated with Emmy nominations for the second season. Many will compete with each other. There is so much overlap in categories that despite having 12 nominations for Monday night’s awards, it can only win six.Wyle alone can win four Emmy Awards, including directing, writing, best drama as a producer and best actor, an award he won last year for his role as Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch.The other best drama nominees are “Paradise,” “Slow Horses,” “The Diplomat,” “The Gilded Age,” “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” “Your Friends & Neighbors” and “Pluribus.”Rarely has a single actor starred in a show as much as Rhea Seehorn in “Pluribus,” where she plays a misanthropic woman confronting a hive mind that has engulfed nearly everyone else alive. Voters are likely to reward the former “Better Call Saul” star with his first Emmy after four nominations.Seehorn’s fellow nominees include Zendaya, who won the category twice before for “Euphoria.”Katherine LaNasa won best supporting actress last year for her portrayal of Nurse Dana “Pitt,” and the character had an even bigger second season, guiding patients through heartbreaking dramatic moments and becoming a viral phenomenon for her lines in ER’s “Baby Jane Doe.”This year she will have three castmates: Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif and Sepideh Moafi, as competition.“It’s really exciting to have more of my colleagues on the board,” LaNasa told The Associated Press after the nominations were announced.Two “Pitt” men, Patrick Ball and Shawn Hatosy, are nominated for the supporting actor award.

In Comedy, Will ‘Widow’s Bay’ Ruin ‘Hacks’ Graduation Celebration?

The Emmys love to give golden sendoffs to outgoing shows, and it would be surprising if Jean Smart didn’t win best actress in a comedy for playing comedian Deborah Vance, as she did for the previous four seasons.But Emmy voters’ clear affection for “Widow’s Bay” could prevent “Hacks” from winning much more. The two shows will compete for best comedy along with “Abbott Elementary,” “The Bear,” “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” “Only Murders in the Building” and “Shrinking.”Hannah Einbinder, who scored a big win last year for best supporting actress in a comedy after four nominations for “Hacks,” will go up against Kate O’Flynn, who wowed with a standout performance in the debut season of “Widow’s Bay.”Both shows also have nominees for best supporting actor in a comedy, but they could easily be overshadowed by Harrison Ford, who many believe will finally win his first major Hollywood award for his performance in Apple TV’s “Shrinking.”Apple TV has become the dominant force in Emmy comedy. This year’s nominees will benefit from the temporary absence of Apple’s “The Studio,” which had a dominant performance at the Emmys last year, and the streamer’s “Ted Lasso,” which put it on the Emmy map.

‘Beef’, Colbert, Kimmel and the rest of the nominees

Limited series categories will have a reduced role in the main Emmy program after four of them were relegated to the Emmys’ opening weekend.HBO Max’s “DTF St. Louis” was the big winner of those awards, taking home the award for best supporting actor and actress for David Harbor and Linda Cardellini.“Beef” brings star power to the lead acting categories, with Carey Mulligan the consensus favorite for best actress in a limited series and Oscar Isaac the favorite for best actor.And after another year of feuding with President Donald Trump, the late-night shows of Jimmy Kimmel and the now-cancelled Stephen Colbert are nominated for outstanding variety series.

Emmy Award Presenters

The Emmys have recruited a host of stars known for roles in both television and film to appear at the 78th annual Emmy Awards on Monday. Zendaya, David Harbour, Florence Pugh, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Amy Poehler and Jon Hamm are just a few of the hosts the Television Academy named on Wednesday. Other stars set to appear on stage at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles during the ceremony include Odessa A’zion, David Boreanaz, Linda Cardellini, Macaulay Culkin, Alan Cumming, Sally Field, Marcello Hernandez, Kate Jackson and Peter Krause.Also on the Emmy list are Cheryl Ladd, Dan Levy, Julianna Margulies, Annie Murphy, Niecy Nash-Betts, Keke Palmer, Amanda Peet, Rachel Sennott and Jaclyn Smith.Longtime star of NBC’s Law & Order: SVU Mariska Hargitay will host the awards ceremony celebrating the best in television. Additional presenters will be announced in the coming days.