‘The Traitors,’ ‘Late Show With Stephen Colbert,’ & ‘Saturday Night Live’ Among Early 2026 Emmy Nominees

The Television Academy has kindly realized there is no need to announce the annual Emmy nominations during the wee hours of the morning on the West Coast, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t required to throw a bone or two to their broadcast partners. For the second year in a row, multiple categories were announced during a morning news program. In this case, NBC’s “The Today Show,” and the categories were Outstanding Variety Series and Outstanding Reality Competition Program. And, no surprise, “The Traitors,” “Saturday Night Live,” and “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” were among the nominees.

READ MORE: Mariska Hargitay Is Your Surprise 2026 Primetime Emmy Awards Host

The breakdown of a very predictable set of nominees was as follows:

Outstanding Variety Series

The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC)
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO Max)
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (CBS)
Saturday Night Live (NBC)

Outstanding Reality Competition Program 

Dancing With the Stars (ABC)
RuPaul’s Drag Race (MTV)
Survivor (CBS)
Top Chef (Bravo)
The Traitors (Peacock)

This year saw the Outstanding Talk Series and Outstanding Scripted Variety Series combined into Outstanding Variety Series. That category previously existed in some form between 1951 and 2015. This was also “Dancing with the Stars” first nomination since 2016. It has now been nominated 12 times in the Reality Competition category.

The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards will air on NBC on Monday, Sept 14 at 8 PM ET, 5 PM PT.

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