Rafu Wire Service and Staff Reports

The 78th Emmy Awards were presented on Sept. 14 at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live, with Apple TV’s “Widow’s Bay” collecting six awards that night and 14 overall, setting a record for the most Emmys won by a comedy series in a single year.

Hiro Murai

Hiro Murai won for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for an episode of “Widow’s Bay” titled “Welcome to Widow’s Bay.” The other nominees were Randall Einhorn for “Abbott Elementary,” Christopher Storer for “The Bear,” Andrew DeYoung for “The Chair Company,” Lucia Aniello for “Hacks,” and Mary Lou Belli for “The Ms. Pat Show.”

Murai is the first director of Asian descent to win in that category, according to the Television Academy.

He directed five of the 10 episodes of “Widow’s Bay,” with the first episode receiving the award.

His other TV directing credits include “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” “Atlanta,” and “Station Eleven.” He has been an executive producer of all three shows as well as “The Bear.”

“Widow’s Bay,” which is about a skeptical mayor leading the superstitious residents of a cursed New England island, also won for Outstanding Comedy Series (with Murai among the recipients), Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series (Matthew Rhys), Supporting Actress, Comedy (Kate O’Flynn), Supporting Actor, Comedy (Stephen Root), and Writing for a Comedy Series (series creator Katie Dippold).

Other nominees for Outstanding Comedy Series were “Abbott Elementary,” “The Bear,” “Hacks,” “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” “Nobody Wants This,” “Only Murders in the Building,” and “Shrinking.”

Born in Tokyo, Murai moved to Los Angeles at the age of 9 and become a filmmaker in the U.S. He won a Grammy Award in 2019 for the music video for Childish Gambino’s “This Is America.”

Murai won an Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy in 2024 and 2023 as an executive producer of “The Bear.” He was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” in 2024; Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for “Atlanta” in 2022 and 2018; Outstanding Directing for a LImited or Anthology Series or Movie for “Station Eleven” in 2022; Outstanding Comedy Series for “Atlanta” in 2018 and 2017.

His father, Kunihiko Murai, is a composer known for songs including “Tsubasa wo Kudasai” (Please Give Me Wings).

The 78th Emmy Awards began Sept. 5 with the presentation of awards for reality, nonfiction and variety programming and mainly technical categories, followed Sept. 6 by awards for scripted programming.

“Widow’s Bay” was the top winner during the Sept. 6 ceremony with eight awards, including Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for Betty Gilpin.

Among limited or anthology series or movies, Season 2 of “Beef,” created by Lee Sung Jin, won for outstanding sound editing, sound mixing, and contemporary costumes (winners included Kellie Ishisaki, key costumer), and was also nominated for outstanding series, lead actor (Oscar Isaac), lead actress (Carey Mulligan), supporting actress (Youn Yuh-jung), directing, writing, picture editing, casting, cinematography, and stunt coordination.

Other winners on Sept. 5 and 6 included John Koyama (“The Boys”), Outsanding Stunt Coordination for Drama Programming; Toko Nagata (“Widow’s Bay”), Oustanding Music Supervision; Takashi Okazaki (“Star Wars: Visions”), Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation.