Spooky comedy “Widow’s Bay” cleaned up at Monday’s awards show.

Sheryl Lee Ralph calls Abbott Elementary ‘the only real comedy’ nominated at the Emmys

Spooky comedy “Widow’s Bay” cleaned up at Monday’s awards show.

By Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.

EW's editorial guidelines

September 15, 2026 1:14 a.m. ET

Sheryl Lee Ralph at the 2026 Emmys. Credit:

Randy Shropshire/NBC via Getty

- *Abbott Elementary* star Sheryl Lee Ralph said before the Emmys that the sitcom was the “only real comedy” nominated.

- There’s been debate as to whether a show like *The Bear*, for instance, qualifies as a comedy.

- *Widow’s Bay* beat out *Abott Elementary *for Outstanding Comedy Series on Monday.

Sheryl Lee Ralph supported her show *Abbott Elementary** *while throwing some shade ahead of Monday’s Emmys.

“*Abbott Elementary*, top of the conversation — nominated for best cast,” Ralph told E! News about the show’s nod for Outstanding Comedy Series. “I’m looking forward to a win since we’re the only real comedy in the category.”

Alas, the ABC sitcom did not beat out* The Bear*; *Hacks*; *Margo’s Got Money Troubles*; *Nobody Wants This*; *Only Murders in the Building*; *Shrinking*; or, the winner, *Widow’s Bay*.

More than one of the nominated shows has been called out before for its lack of laughs, particularly critical darling *The Bear*, which is at times is more harrowing than hilarious.

That series has even inspired debates in the media.

Much of the night was, in fact, about *Widow’s Bay*. which regularly has moments worthy of a chuckle and a scream, sometimes in the same episode. The Apple TV series, which stars Matthew Rhys, Dale Dickey, Kevin Carroll, Kate O’Flynn, and Stephen Root, features Rhys as the mayor of an island in New England that’s cursed.

Matthew Rhys becomes the first person to achieve this Emmy feat with ‘The Beast in Me’ and ‘Widow’s Bay’ victories

Steve Martin shares Martin Short’s torn-up acceptance speech after Emmys shut out ‘Only Murders in the Building’

*Widow’s Bay* went into the ceremony having already won eight trophies at last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys. But then it won six awards on Monday night, including the big one for Outstanding Comedy Series. The show’s total number of Emmy wins this year was 14, which is the most a comedy has ever won in a single year. The previous holder of that record was *The Studio*, which won an impressive 13 awards last year.

*Abbott Elementary*, which premiered in 2021, has won four Emmys over its run, for writing, casting. and acting. Ralph herself won in 2022.

The cast of ‘Abbott Elementary’.

Disney/Gilles Mingasson

The mockumentary-style series about teachers and their leaders at a public school was nominated for seven trophies this year. It lost out in the Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series category at the Creative Arts Emmys to, yep, *Widow’s Bay*.

has reached out to Ralph’s rep for comment.

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our ******EW Dispatch newsletter******.***

Ahead of the Emmys in 2022, the actress told NPR’s* Fresh Air* that a win (which she got that year) would be icing on the cake.

“Whether I get that trophy in my hand or not, I already feel like a winner,” Ralph said. “The love that has been shown to me, showered on me, the flowers that have been given to me, literally and figuratively. I feel like a winner. And forever after this, I will always be Tony-nominated, Emmy-nominated Sheryl Lee Ralph. Oh my God! I feel so good and so happy and so excited.”

- Awards Shows & Events

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Emmys”