The Primetime and Daytime Emmy Awards ceremonies will be “realigned” by genre instead of airtime
The change comes after years of shifting viewing habits and the rise of streamers
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More changes are coming to the Emmys ceremonies. After last month’s decision by the TV Academy and The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ to separate children’s and family programming into a ceremony of its own, the two bodies are now changing decades-old rules concerning the alignment of the competitions.
In ceremonies past, the television competitions were divided up by series’ airtime—hence the emphasis on “Primetime” versus “Daytime.” However, starting in the new year, the competitions will be organized by genre. This change means digital daytime dramas as well as other daytime programs, including some talk shows and game shows, could potentially move over to the Primetime Emmy Awards.
“The realignment of these Emmy competitions represents the most significant collaboration between the Television Academy and NATAS since the two became separate entities in 1977,” says Maury McIntyre, President and COO, Television Academy.
For most shows, these changes will apply to the forthcoming Call For Entries and will be reflected in 2022's ceremonies. Meanwhile, Game Show and Instructional & DIY programming categories will remain divided by airtime for the 2022 competitions as the two groups look to a genre-based alignment for the 2023 competition year.
The change comes as a response to the drastic shift in viewing habits of consumers as streaming continues to prevail over cable and live broadcast viewing. In the press release, NATAS and ATAS recognize having two award competitions based on when shows air as opposed to the content “does not make sense.”
“NATAS and the Television Academy each pride ourselves on celebrating and honoring the best television has to offer, and with the evolution of our industry, it was critical to update our competitions to meet current trends in both content and viewing habits,” says Adam Sharp, President and CEO, NATAS. “These changes will allow each Academy to honor an undivided scope of achievement in our respective fields of television excellence.”
To break this down further, all scripted dramas and comedies will enter the Television Academy-administered national competition, irrespective of airtime, with two exceptions: Programming intended for ages 15 and under will be represented in the Children’s & Family competition, and the Daytime Drama categories will remain in the Daytime competition and be redefined to include “any multi-camera, weekday daily serial, spin-off or reboot.”
Limited drama series that were previously considered Daytime will now transition to the Primetime competition. Additionally, talk shows will now be awarded in each competition, separated by format and style characteristics based on current programming in the daytime or late night spaces.
Finally, The Morning Show and Spanish-Language Morning Show categories will be permanently removed from the Daytime competition, and will now instead be eligible in the NATAS-administered News & Documentary Emmys or the Daytime competition’s Talk Show categories.
11 Comments
Honest question: who the hell is watching this shit? And WHY?!
I feel like the big losers here are the General Hospital/One Live to Life crew. Will they ever get nominated again when competing against *actual* dramas with top-notch casts? (Unless I’m misunderstanding the rule change)
“Daytime Drama categories will remain in the Daytime competition and be redefined to include “any multi-camera, weekday daily serial, spin-off or reboot.”
The article covered that. The daytime drama category stays. But any serial multi-camera show released daily can compete in it. So it’s not like you will end up with Young and the Restless trying to compete against Succession (even though both are about rich assholes).
Ah got it. Thanks
One Life to Live went off the air almost a decade ago, but the other daytime soaps will still be in the Daytime Drama category: “the Daytime Drama categories will remain in the Daytime competition and be redefined to include “any multi-camera, weekday daily serial, spin-off or reboot.” Although I’m not sure I understand that last bit, there are just 4 daytime dramas, but I guess they’re leaving it vague in case others come back on streaming or something.
There was a Days of Our Life spin-off that might be eligible too.
But that was a limited series, even though it was a daily serial
I would say I’m curious about these daytime “Limited drama series” … but, yeah, I’m not. Without looking any further into it, I’ll just imagine a gritty anthology detective series that airs right after Kathy and Hoda.
I was confused about that too: “Limited drama series that were previously considered Daytime will now transition to the Primetime competition.” The Daytime Emmys have had limited streaming series for a while now, which have been clear online soaps (often made up of folks from the various canceled network soaps) but also other shows that didn’t seem to align by genre, I never knew what qualified them and, frankly, it just seemed like budget. I imagine those are the ones that will suffer the most, the super low-budget DIY shows that aren’t in the soap tradition.
While I was a big Soap Opera fan in the 80’s and 90’s (Long live Luke & Laura and Steve & Kayla!) I haven’t watched them since maybe 2001. What shows are still on air to compete for “Best Daytime Drama?’ GH, Y&R, and DAYS? Isn’t that it?