“Welcome to the 77th Emmy Awards. You know, it’s not a big one like 75 or 80, but it’s the one they gave me,” stated comedian Nate Bargatze, launching Sunday evening’s awards into motion. The presentations at this year’s Emmys certainly lived up to Bargatze’s description; nothing too big, splashy or potentially controversial, save for the occasional swear in an acceptance speech — thank you, John Oliver. The opening sketch was filled with noticeably self-aware commentary on how television has changed in recent years, including how streaming is “unfair to the consumer” — the character who says this is then promptly asked to leave — that many winning shows are never watched by the majority of people and how an Emmy is just not quite as good as an Oscar. However, that didn’t make the victories any less well earned, and here is a summary of the biggest wins.

Netflix’s “Adolescence” swept the limited or anthology series category, winning a whopping six out of its eight nominations, including Best Limited Anthology Series, Best Actor in an Anthology (Stephen Graham), Best Supporting Actress in an Anthology (Erin Doherty) and 15-year-old Owen Cooper won Best Supporting Actor in an Anthology — the youngest male actor to win an Emmy. “The Pitt,” HBO Max’s show about the trauma that first responders and hospital workers face, won several of the biggest categories including Best Supporting Actress in a Drama (Katherine LaNasa), Best Actor in a Drama (Noah Wyle) and Best Drama, a category that several theorized would go to Ben Stiller’s “Severance.” “Severance” still got its dues, however, with Britt Lower being awarded Best Actress in a Drama for her performance of Helly R. and Best Supporting Actor in a Drama going to Tramell Tillman, among others. In the Emmy’s 77-year history, Tillman is the first Black man to win the award.

On the comedy side of the awards, Apple TV+’s “The Studio” won a record-breaking 13 awards, becoming both the most awarded comedy show ever — previously held by “The Bear” — and taking the record for most wins in a first season. “The Studio” won for Outstanding Comedy, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy and Outstanding Lead Actor — Seth Rogen — and many others. Although cancelled after its current season, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” won for Outstanding Talk Series and “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” won for Outstanding Scripted Variety Series — beating “Saturday Night Live.” SNL wasn’t left out of the awards, however, as their 50th anniversary special took the Best Variety Special Live category. 

Some notable surprises included the snubbing of “The Last of Us,” which received a total of 16 nominations, — primarily for artistry, which was showcased during the creative arts awards, where the show did get a few victories — and won no awards at the primetime awards on Sunday. “Somebody Somewhere” snuck the win for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series — Jeff Hiller — and quietly received no other awards. “Slow Horses” similarly only received one award, which was Best Directing for a Drama Series.

The weekend before the Emmy Awards was also filled with celebrations and recognitions of outstanding achievements through the Creative Arts Awards. “The Daily Show” hosts Jordan Kepler and Desi Lydic received awards for their contributions to the program, with Lydic even earning the Best Performer in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series award for her segment “Desi Lydic Foxsplains.” The second season of “Arcane” pulled ahead of popular shows such as “Bob’s Burgers” and “Love Death + Robots” to collect its second Best Animated Program award, joining classic series including “The Simpsons,” “Rick and Morty,” “South Park” and “Futurama,” among a few others, on the list of animated series that have won the award more than once. 

A few other noteworthy wins were Barack Obama winning Best Narration for the series “Our Oceans,” Julie Andrews for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in “Bridgerton,” Shawn Hatosy for Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series in “The Pitt,” Merritt Wever for Best Guest Actress in a Drama Series in “Severance,” Bryan Cranston for Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for “The Studio” and Julianne Nicholson for Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for “Hacks.” “Hacks” also received Best Lead Actress in a Comedy — Jean Smart — and Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy — Hannah Einbinder — on Sunday. “Adolescence” was awarded Best Cinematography for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for the unique and complicated “one-take” style that each of the show’s four one-hour episodes adopts. SNL took home a colossal 11 awards during the creative arts weekend, seven of which were for the 50th anniversary special in February.

Overall, this awards season was a celebration of television through the ages, reminding viewers that creativity is still alive in serial storytelling and also questioning how well it can be maintained. All you have to do to find a new show is take a look around — and then probably pay more than you want to for a subscription service to access it.

— Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly spelled out the name of streaming service. It has since been corrected to “HBO Max.”