What to Expect at the 2025 Emmy Awards

The Emmy Awards, being held Sunday night at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles, will feature something pretty rare: a showdown for best drama.

The Apple TV+ series “Severance” and the HBO Max medical show “The Pitt” are in a tight race for television’s most coveted prize, a face-off that the entertainment industry is watching closely because of how the contenders take such different approaches to making and crafting a TV show.

Prizes will be handed out in more than two dozen categories — including dramas, comedies, live specials, reality and talk series — for shows that aired between June 2024 and May 2025.

Here’s what to know about the ceremony:

• How to watch: The broadcast begins at 8 p.m. Eastern on CBS and can be streamed live with the Paramount+ “premium plan.”

• Red carpet: The cable network E! will air a red carpet show that begins at 6 p.m. Eastern. CBS has a red carpet show of its own that begins at 7.

• The host: The broadcast is being hosted by Nate Bargatze, a stand-up comedian who has been on a rapid rise in recent years. Bargatze, who has hosted “Saturday Night Live” twice to rave reviews, tends to keep it clean and G-rated; he is unlikely to touch on any third rails.

• The favorites: “The Studio,” the Apple TV+ sendup of modern Hollywood, is the favorite in the best comedy race but it faces stiff competition against last year’s winner, “Hacks.” Netflix’s out-of-nowhere hit, “Adolescence,” is in the driver’s seat in the limited category, but HBO Max’s “The Penguin” could play the role of spoiler.

• Anticipated highlights: There will be tributes galore to classic series, including “Law & Order,” “Gilmore Girls,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The Golden Girls.” Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen will also get a special shout-out on Sunday when they are presented the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, a rare honor. Producers are crossing their fingers that Beyoncé will show up to the ceremony because she is nominated in the best live variety special category for her Netflix halftime show, “The Beyoncé Bowl.”

• Other races to watch: Noah Wyle (“The Pitt”) will face off against Adam Scott (“Severance”) in the best actor in a drama race. Kathy Bates (“Matlock”) is a favorite in the best actress in a drama race, and is vying to become the oldest woman to win the award at 77. Jean Smart is vying for her seventh Emmy win for her role in “Hacks,” and if she pulls it off, she would be only the fifth actress to have that many awards for acting. Stephen Colbert, fresh off his cancellation from CBS, will try to win best talk show for the first time as the soon-to-be-former host of “The Late Show.”

• Smaller slate: The TV industry remains locked in a contraction, and the number of shows submitted for Emmys reflects that. There were 267 series considered for best drama, comedy, limited series and TV movie this year, a modest decline compared to 2024 but an eye-opening 33 percent drop from 2022, when the Peak TV era was thriving.