More Categories, More Trophies
The most straightforward reason you can’t compare Emmy totals is simple math: there are vastly more awards today. The Creative Arts Emmys, which honor technical and craft achievements, started as a small
affair in 1970 to handle a growing number of categories. Fast forward to 2026, and the Television Academy is handing out awards in over 100 categories during a massive two-night event. This explosion of categories, covering everything from cinematography for a reality program to sound mixing for a variety special, means a single production has far more opportunities to rack up wins. A show in 1980 might have competed for a handful of technical awards; a 2026 production like the Super Bowl halftime show can win seven in a single night. It’s not just more TV—it’s more ways to win.
The Streaming Revolution Changed the Game
In the three-network era, a hit show like "All in the Family" or "Hill Street Blues" was a monumental achievement, but it was still television made for broadcast. Today’s streaming giants produce what are essentially 10-hour movies, with cinematic budgets to match. Shows on platforms like Netflix, HBO Max, and Apple TV+ can pour money into visual effects, production design, and costumes on a scale unimaginable to their predecessors. This allows them to dominate the craft categories. A 22-episode season of a 1980s sitcom, produced efficiently for weekly viewing, is a fundamentally different beast than an eight-episode limited series that was in production for a year. The latter has the resources to compete in dozens of technical fields, giving it a massive advantage in the awards tally.
What 'Television' Even Means Anymore
The definition of television itself has blurred. Is a Super Bowl halftime show “television” in the same way that a weekly sitcom is? Is a one-off documentary special comparable to a multi-season drama? The Creative Arts Emmys now reward live specials, short-form series, commercials, and interactive programs. While this reflects the diverse media landscape, it complicates historical comparisons. For example, on the first night of the 2026 Creative Arts Emmys, major winners included Bad Bunny's Super Bowl show and the reality series "The Traitors," each taking home a half-dozen trophies. These wins are entirely valid, but they exist in a different universe from the Emmys won by classic scripted shows of the past, which were competing in a much smaller, more homogenous field.
So Who Was Truly 'The Best'?
It’s tempting to use Emmy counts as the definitive measure of a show's greatness. Last year, "The Studio" won nine Creative Arts Emmys on its way to dominating the awards. In 2023, shows like "The Last of Us" racked up huge numbers in the craft categories. But does that make them inherently "better" than a classic like "Cheers," whose spin-off "Frasier" still holds the record for most comedy series wins? Not necessarily. It just means they played a different game with different rules. The raw number of trophies says more about the era in which a show was produced than it does about its quality or cultural impact relative to a show from 30 years prior. The huge nomination totals for modern shows are a testament to their incredible production value, but they are also a product of an awards system that has expanded to recognize every conceivable aspect of that production.
