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By MARK KENNEDY

The Emmy Awards are underway. “The Pitt” and “Widow’s Bay” are generating buzz as they compete for top prizes. The ceremony will also honor the anniversaries of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Charlie’s Angels.”

Here are some highlights as the show roars into the night.

The host with the mostest

Mariska Hargitay kicked off the show with New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson in an exuberant pre-taped bit that had her sing a version of “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll” by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, renamed “I Love TV Screens.”

The first-time Emmy host relaxed in bed with “Hacks” star Jean Smart, ate a burger in a nod to “Beef,” rode a horse and drank bubble tea with Jennifer Coolidge.

On stage, she reveled in the fact that she was the first woman to host in 15 years. The star of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” entering its 28th season, also joked that she never had to pronounce the word “finale” and pretended to have words with Nicole Kidman over her cheesy AMC ads.

“She crushed it,” said Amy Poehler.

The Smart money

Jean Smart was predicted to win her fifth straight Emmy for “Hacks” and did it with style. “What a ride this has been,” she said.

It’s her eighth trophy overall, which ties the all-time performer record shared by Cloris Leachman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Smart also becomes the first woman to win best actress for each season of a show’s run.

Smart, 74, who first got noticed in the CBS comedy “Designing Women,” won her first Emmys for guest appearances on “Frasier” and then another for a supporting role on “Samantha Who.”

Pre-show chaos

In the hour before the show opens, the Peacock Theater lobby is as jammed as an LA freeway.

Women wearing long trains attempt to protect them from an errant shoe as guests bump elbows and brush backs trying to make their way across the lobby. It’s time to gird for the three-hour show ahead, which means buying $9 cups of popcorn, $8 hot dogs and $23 beers and cocktails to carry to seats. It doesn’t appear nachos are a popular item — too messy for folks in tuxes and gowns

One person dressed appropriately

Meg Stalter, a nominee for best supporting actress for “Hacks,” was dressed as an Emmy statuette, complete with wings and a coat of gold makeup. She even held up a sphere like the real trophy itself.

It was Stalter’s first time attending the Emmys as a nominee. She earned her first career nod for supporting actress in a comedy series for playing Kayla Schaeffer in the fifth and final season of “Hacks.”

Small tables and lamps

Similar to the Grammys held across the street, this year the Emmys are having the biggest names seated at small tables with lamps on them in front of the stage.

Typically, the guests are seated in long rows like a movie theater. There’s still the same pre-show hobnobbing. It seems no one wants to sit down early, knowing they’ll be in those seats for the next three hours.

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Associated Press reporter Beth Harris contributed to this report

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For more coverage of this year’s Emmy Awards, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/emmy-awards

Original article