The 26th Emmy Awards, later known as the 26th Primetime Emmy Awards, were handed out on May 28, 1974. The ceremony was hosted by Johnny Carson. Winners are listed in bold and networks are in parentheses.
For this ceremony, individual awards dubbed "Super Emmys" were given out in addition to the traditional categories. The individual categories were dropped the following year and have not returned since.
The Primetime Super Emmy Award was a set of 14 awards that were given in conjunction with the traditional Emmy Awards at the 1974 ceremony.
Winners of a traditional Emmy would then compete against their genre counterpart from the same category (comedy vs. drama for "Series", miniseries vs. telefilm for "Special"). This format would prove to be the Super Emmy's undoing. In order to vote on a Super Emmy winner, the traditional Emmy winners had to be announced well before the ceremony.
Several members of the Television Academy were against implementing the new awards. Super Emmy winners Alan Alda and Mary Tyler Moore were some of the loudest detractors. Both threatened to resign from the academy if they were installed. During their acceptance speeches, Moore said that comparing comedic and dramatic television was "apples to oranges". Alda went one step further in his speech "it's comparing apples to oranges to Volkswagens."[2]
The Super Emmy was never awarded again.
Acting
Actor of the Year – Series
Actor of the Year – Special
Alan Alda as Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H, (CBS)
Telly Savalas as Theo Kojak on Kojak, (CBS)
Hal Holbrook as Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo, (ABC)
William Holden as Bumper Morgan on The Blue Knight, (NBC)
Actress of the Year – Series
Actress of the Year – Special
Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Richards on Mary Tyler Moore, (CBS)
Michael Learned as Olivia Walton on The Waltons, (CBS)
Cicely Tyson as Jane Pittman on The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, (CBS)
Mildred Natwick as Gwendolyn Snoop Nicholson on The Snoop Sisters, (NBC)
Supporting Actor of the Year
Supporting Actress of the Year
Michael Moriarty as Jim O'Connor on The Glass Menagerie, (ABC)
Rob Reiner as Michael Stivic on All in the Family, (CBS)
Joanna Miles as Laura Wingfield on The Glass Menagerie, (ABC)
Cloris Leachman as Phyllis Lindstrom on Mary Tyler Moore, (CBS)
Directing
Director of the Year – Series
Director of the Year – Special
Robert Butler for The Blue Knight, (Episode: "Part III"), (NBC)
Jackie Cooper for M*A*S*H, (Episode: "Carry on, Hawkeye"), (CBS)
Dwight Hemion for Barbra Streisand and Other Musical Instruments, (CBS)
John Korty for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, (CBS)
Writing
Writer of the Year – Series
Writer of the Year – Special
Treva Silverman for Mary Tyler Moore, (Episode: "The Lou And Edie Story"), (CBS)
Joanna Lee for The Waltons, (Episode: "The Thanksgiving Story"), (CBS)
Fay Kanin for Tell Me Where it Hurts, (CBS)
Tracy Keenan Wynn for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, (CBS)
^O'Neil, Thomas. "1973-74. A Super S*M*A*S*H Night." The Emmys: The Ultimate, Unofficial Guide to the Battle of TV's Best Shows and Greatest Stars. New York: Perigee, 2000. 173-174.
