Friday, February 20, 2015

EMMY IS THE NEW BLACK: Some Emmy rule changes of interest:
  • If you're a 30 minute show, you're now presumed to be a comedy, and if you're an hour-long, you're presumed to be a drama.  There's an appeals process, but it seems like that's a pretty hard and fast rule.  Big potential impacts for Orange Is The New Black (which ran as a comedy last year), Transparent, Shameless, and Jane The Virgin (which you have to assume will petition to be viewed as a comedy).
  • A tweak to the "guest actor" rules--if you're in more than half a show's episodes, you're no longer eligible in the category.  This is a potential big hit against Orange Is The New Black,where, because of billing, a lot of cast members were billed as "guest" despite appearing in most episodes, and would've knocked out several recent winners--Allison Janney was right on the edge of 50% for Masters of Sex last year.
  • A new division in the "Variety Series" category, dividing the category between "sketch" and "talk," with "sketch" awarded in the Creative Arts Emmys, and "talk" awarded in the main telecast.  This makes for interesting decisions for sketch shows like Key & Peele and Inside Amy Schumer.  Do they take the longer shot at Best Comedy Series, or do they compete as sketch shows?  

4 comments:

  1. Joseph Finn2:23 PM

    Oh wow, I love that guest actor change. Now if only they would fix the miniseries loophole so that ongoing series like AHS can't slide in there...

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  2. There's a tweak there--it's now "limited series," defined as "programs of two or more episodes with a total running time of at least 150 program minutes that tell a complete, non-recurring story and do not have an ongoing storyline and/or main characters in subsequent seasons." I think this still permits AHS and Fargo in the category, despite their "shared universe, different stories each season" conceit. The more interesting question is whether it leaves the door open for cancelled one-season series to run in the miniseries category if they have closure. For instance, could "Galavant" or "Agent Carter" (assuming they're not renewed, and Agent Carter has a proper ending) qualify?

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  3. Joseph Finn2:51 PM

    So it sounds like the loophole is still open (and perhaps it's hypocritical of me, but I have zero problem with a non-renewed show running in that category, if there is closure like you say).


    Come to think of it, no tweaks to the TV movie category, so Sherlock can still compete there for some godawful reason.

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  4. Jordan5:20 PM

    So what do they do about Comedy Bang! Bang!, a "sketch" show presented as a "talk" show? Probably just continue to ignore it.

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