Commentary: Laugh or scream? Widows Bay is the perfect escape when the world is on fire

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Set us as preferred Heading into the 78th Emmy Awards, “Widow’s Bay” seems anything but cursed.Whether or not human sacrifice was involved, Katie Dippold’s Apple TV horror-comedy emerged from last weekend’s Emmy ceremonies (formerly called the Creative Arts Emmys) with eight awards — guest actress (Betty Gilpin), casting, cinematography, music composition, music supervision, production design, sound editing and sound mixing — and a definitive statuary lead.

(“The Pitt” and “Pluribus” each got four.)Buoyed by universally great reviews and fan obsession, it could well beat HBO’s beloved “Hacks” in the best comedy category, but if there were an award for Outstanding Representation of This Moment in Time, “Widow’s Bay” would win hands down.With a president who regularly toggles between the absurd — he hates windmills, loves inflation and wants to annex Greenland — and the authoritarian as he appoints key policymakers who seem plucked from creepshow comics (not even Stephen King could have conjured an anti-vaccine national head of health and human services who has a brain worm and proudly eats roadkill), it’s difficult, at times, to know whether to laugh or scream.Outlandish conspiracy theories have become our new local legends, “witch hunt” a regular rallying cry and phantoms we once hoped were dead or banished — Nazis, white nationalists, beef tallow, the measles — now once again move freely among us.

Awards Awards columnist Glenn Whipp has looked into his crystal ball.Here’s who he thinks will win the 2026 Emmys.Is it any wonder that “Widow’s Bay,” which miraculously serves up equal portions of jump scares and belly laughs, is this season’s hottest series?Horror, always popular, is generally having a big moment, becoming at once more pervasive and more direct.

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