Stars walk blue carpet under hot sun ahead of TV's Emmy Awards

Noah ‌Wyle, ​Selena Gomez and other television luminaries gathered on Monday at the Primetime Emmy Awards, where "The Pitt" was seeking to repeat as best drama and Jean Smart and Harrison Ford were pursuing milestone victories of their own. Celebrities walked a blue ‌carpet, chosen by broadcaster NBC in place of the traditional red, leading into the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles on an unusually warm afternoon before the ceremony to honor the best of television.

"It's the surface of the sun out here," joked "Nobody Wants This" star Kristen Bell, adding "there's a lot of friendship in the air" and a "familial ‌vibe." "Hacks" actor and nominee Meg Stalter stood out in an all-gold outfit that mirrored the Emmy statuette. She wore giant wings and held a large gold ‌globe above her head as she posed for photographs.

Mariska Hargitay, star of NBC's drama "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," will host the ceremony, breaking with a tradition of having a comedian serve as emcee. The festivities will be broadcast live at 8 p.m. ET (0000 GMT on Tuesday) on NBC and stream on Peacock. Presenters will include Sally Field, Jon Hamm, Amy Poehler and Zendaya. TINSELTOWN ON EDGE

The Emmys ⁠offered a rare ​night of celebration as Hollywood grapples with ⁠production cutbacks, anxiety over artificial intelligence and the proposed Paramount Skydance purchase of HBO owner Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has divided the industry and faces legal challenges. "Hacks" star Smart could become ⁠the first performer to win the Emmy for best comedy actress in every season of a TV show's run while Ford could claim his first Emmy at age 84 for "Shrinking."

HBO ​Max's "The Pitt," set in a Pittsburgh trauma center, is favored to win best drama – the night's top award – for a second straight year. Competitors ⁠include newcomer "Pluribus," an Apple TV show about a woman at war with an alien hive mind. "The Pitt" star Wyle is a leading contender for a second straight best actor Emmy. "Hacks," featuring Smart as a ⁠septuagenarian ​stand-up comic fighting to stay relevant, looked like the clear frontrunner two months ago. Also on HBO Max, the series earned best comedy once in its previous four seasons.

The show must fend off surging support, however, for Apple TV's "Widow's Bay," a new horror comedy starring Matthew Rhys as mayor of a small New ⁠England town that appears to be cursed. Emmy winners are chosen by the more than 27,000 writers, directors, performers, producers and craftspeople in the Television Academy.

This year, the ⁠academy revamped the late-night comedy competition. Shows ⁠including "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," which was canceled by CBS, and ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" will compete for outstanding variety series in a category that could produce more than one winner. Under the academy's rules, each nominee is judged individually and ‌any show with 90% approval ‌receives an Emmy.