The 21st Emmy Awards—also known since 1974 as the 21st Primetime Emmy Awards—were handed out on June 8, 1969. The ceremony was co-hosted by

Bill Cosby William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American retired comedian, actor, and media personality. Often cited as a trailblazer for African Americans in the entertainment industry, Cosby was a film, television, and stand-up comedy ...

and

Merv Griffin Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television show host and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer, later appearing in film and on Broadway theatre, Broadway. From 1962 to 1986, G ...

. The top shows of the night were ''

Get Smart ''Get Smart'' is an American comedy television series parodying the Spy fiction, secret agent genre that had become widely popular in the first half of the 1960s with the release of the ''James Bond'' films. It was created by Mel Brooks and Bu ...

'', which won Outstanding Comedy Series for the second consecutive year, and Outstanding Dramatic Series winner ''

NET Playhouse ''NET Playhouse'' is an American dramatic television anthology series produced by National Educational Television. NET subsequently merged with WNDT Newark to form WNET, and was superseded by the Public Broadcasting Service, though the NET titl ...

''. ''NET Playhouse'', from the PBS predecessor National Educational Television Network, became the first show outside the

Big Three television networks From the 1950s to the 1980s, during the network era of American television, there were three commercial broadcast television networks – NBC (the National Broadcasting Company, "the Peacock Network"), CBS (the Columbia Broadcasting System ...

to win a top series award. Due to several categories being combined for the ceremony, no show received more than two major wins. The most drastic rule change was that all shows that had aired more than two seasons were ineligible. The cause of this change was due to the rise in repeat winners in recent years. There was no winner in the category of ''Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role'', because the judges felt that none of the nominees were worthy of an award.

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed in bold and series' networks are in parentheses.Emmys.com list of 1969 Nominees & Winners
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Programs

Acting

Lead performances

Supporting performances

Single performances

Directing

Writing

Most major nominations

Most major awards

;Notes

References

External links

Emmys.com list of 1969 Nominees & Winners
* {{EmmyAwardsbyYear

021 069 is: * in Brazil, the telephone area code for the city of Rio de Janeiro and surrounding cities (Greater Rio de Janeiro) * in China, the telephone area code for the city of Shanghai. * in Indonesia, the area code for the city of Jakarta and su ...

Primetime Emmy Awards The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

Primetime Emmy