Fourteen. That's the number Widow's Bay walked away with by the time Monday's Emmy telecast wrapped, and it's more than any comedy series has won in a single year, full stop.

The Apple TV show about a haunted Massachusetts island and the oddballs stuck living on it took the Outstanding Comedy Series trophy over a stacked field that included Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Margo's Got Money Troubles, Nobody Wants This, Only Murders in the Building, Shrinking and Hacks. That last one mattered most. Hacks came in with a record 24 nominations for a comedy this season and was widely seen as the favourite heading into the ceremony, its fifth and final one. Widow's Bay had 19 nominations. It still won more actual awards.

Eight of the 14 came at the Creative Arts ceremonies over the weekend, everything from casting and cinematography to sound editing, sound mixing, music composition and Betty Gilpin's guest actress win. The other six landed on the main telecast Monday: series, lead actor for Matthew Rhys, supporting actress for Kate O'Flynn, supporting actor for Stephen Root, directing for Hiro Murai and writing for creator Katie Dippold. Murai's win made him the first Asian director to take that Emmy category.

The old record belonged to The Studio, which won 13 last year. Before that it was The Bear with 11 in 2024. Widow's Bay didn't just beat the record, it beat it in its very first season, which is the part that's got people talking. A show that most casual viewers hadn't heard of a year ago just out-collected two of the most decorated comedy runs of the last decade.

Dippold, accepting her second award of the night after her writing win, kept it loose. "I have to thank my mom for always making Halloween fun," she said, before running through the cast, crew and Apple, who she said "truly just let us do this weird show, we can't thank you enough." She closed by thanking "the evil entity on the island that trusted us with its story," which, fair, given the show's whole premise runs on that curse.

Hacks didn't leave empty-handed. Jean Smart won lead actress in a comedy for her role as Deborah Vance, capping a five-season run that pulled in 87 nominations total, the most for any comedy across a full series. But the show closes out its story without the series win it was chasing.

What happens now is the interesting bit. Widow's Bay is already building out a second season, writers' room and all, per Deadline. Whether a show can follow up a 14-win debut without the freshman-buzz advantage that clearly worked in its favour this year is the thing Apple has to answer for next.