TV bosses gather on indigo carpet for 78th Emmy Awards
The people who run television walked the same carpet at the 78th Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on 14 September.
Newly appointed Apple chief executive John Ternus stood alongside Disney chief executive Josh D’Amaro outside the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles, part of a gathering of the industry’s top leaders for the annual awards Variety.
The main ceremony was broadcast live from the Peacock Theater at L.A. LIVE at 8 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. PT, on NBC and Peacock, according to the Television Academy Television Academy. It was hosted by Mariska Hargitay and aired live coast-to-coast on NBC, with streaming live and on demand on Peacock Television Academy. The red carpet began at 6 p.m. ET USA Today, with a pre-show streaming on NBC’s official TikTok from 6:45 to 7:45 p.m. ET NBC.
The carpet itself was indigo-coloured, not red. A heatwave that had covered Los Angeles for more than a week broke on Monday afternoon, just before the arrivals.
Ternus was attending his first major awards show, he told Variety on the carpet. He added that he might be the world’s biggest Apple TV fan.
He was not alone from Apple. Eddy Cue, Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht joined him at the theatre. Apple TV headed into the night with nominations for Widow’s Bay, Shrinking, Pluribus and more.
Disney arrived in pairs. Dana Walden attended with her husband Matt Walden, while D’Amaro attended with his wife Susan D’Amaro. Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos was also there, alongside Netflix content executives Bela Bajaria and Jinny Howe.
NBCUniversal’s television team turned out in force, with Pearlena Igbokwe, Liz Jenkins and Frances Berwick on the carpet. HBO and Max chairman Casey Bloys attended with Warner Bros. Discovery chief executive David Zaslav.
The Primetime Emmys are peer awards, meaning television workers vote for each other’s work. The prize represents recognition from nearly 24,000 Television Academy members, with each member voting in their own field of expertise Television Academy.
This year’s awards ran across three nights, on 5, 6 and 14 September Television Academy. The final night brought the decision-makers together in one room. For viewers, that is the point. The executives who order series, renew them or cancel them were watching the same show as everyone else.
