Worth Watching — September 14, 2026

Mariska Hargitay hosts the 78th Emmy Awards on NBC and streaming on Peacock. Futurama takes to the high seas in an episode spoofing The Love Boat and Gilligan’s Island. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fights back in the war against alcohol consumption. Food Network gets pumpkin spicy in a new season of Halloween Baking Championship.

Emmys

Law & Order: SVU‘s Mariska Hargitay, who won two Emmys at the Creative Arts ceremony a week ago as producer and director of her excellent HBO documentary My Mom Jayne (about the late Jayne Mansfield), hosts this year’s ceremony honoring the best of TV from L.A.’s Peacock Theater. (She also has a Lead Actress Emmy from 2006 for her work on SVU). Among the show’s highlights: a 30th anniversary tribute to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a 50th anniversary salute to Charlie’s Angels. Noah Kahan performs “Bridge Over Troubled Water” in the In Memorial segment. The most nominated series, HBO Max‘s The Pitt, is favored to win for a second consecutive year in the Drama Series race, but it’s neck and neck between the final season of HBO Max’s Hacks (with 24 nominations) and Apple TV‘s upstart horror-humor hybrid Widow’s Bay (with 19). For thoughts on more tight races and predictions, go here.

Futurama

Bob Odenkirk‘s brother Bill penned this clever episode, eschewing the animated galaxy for the mysteries of the high seas aboard the “Laff Boat,” otherwise known as a retrofitted Planet Empress. A laugh track works overtime in parodies of The Love Boat (featuring a robot love triangle), Waterworld, and, inevitably, Gilligan’s Island, all serving as a sly critique of climate change. There’s also a prescient joke from the robot Bender in light of recent alarming headlines about how AI might be the death of us all sooner than we think. At least with Bender, we might die laughing.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Irreverent and proudly un-p.c., the gang from Paddy’s Pub reacts just as you’d expect when confronting the issue of declining alcohol consumption. They double down, invading an office emptied by employees working remotely and a factory emptied by automation in search of white-collar and blue-collar patrons to recruit. Almost anyone will do. And don’t get them started on non-alcoholic brew. The unlucky intern who runs afoul of Dee’s (Kaitlin Olson) power trip is played by Tyler Tomás Perez, who you might recognize as Jacob’s brother on Abbott Elementary.

Halloween Baking Championship

‘Tis the season already, apparently. On the heels of Sunday’s premiere of Halloween Wars comes the 12th season of the spooky baking competition, with 10 bakers concocting their most horribly delicious creations for host John Henson and judges Stephanie Boswell, Aarti Sequeira, and Zac Young. This year’s setting: the Museum of Unnatural History, where the opening round challenges the bakers to make nutty desserts representing their favorite Halloween memory. The elimination challenge is inspired by grotesque masks from the museum’s Hall of Humanity.

Adam’s Law

Judge Judy Sheindlin‘s son Adam Levy, who’s tested his TV judicial chops on shows including Tribunal Justice and Justice on Trial, graduates to his own series. He takes the gavel, hoping to fill his mother’s formidable shoes as he brokers no-nonsense while overseeing cases. Among other syndicated series from CBS Media Ventures officially launching new seasons: The Drew Barrymore Show (Season 7), Entertainment Tonight (Season 46), Inside Edition (Season 39), Hot Bench (Season 13), game shows Flip Side (Season 3), and The Perfect Line (Season 2), and the new comedy clip show American Mayhem, hosted by Larry the Cable Guy.