The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences unveiled notable rule changes for the 2023 Emmy Awards, including a shakeup in the variety categories that will likely pit a pair of perennial winners against each other: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver and Saturday Night Live.
The most notable changes will see the variety talk and variety sketch awards replaced with two new categories: outstanding talk series and outstanding scripted variety series (see the official descriptions of the new categories below).
The new categories will change the eligibility for some shows, including Last Week Tonight, which appears to qualify in the scripted variety series category, alongside SNL. In prior years, Oliver’s show was up against other late night talk shows, like The Daily Show, The Late Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Related Stories
Meanwhile, in the last few years, the sketch category has been light on nominees, with last year only seeing SNL and A Black Lady Sketch Show nominated. Likewise, shows like Jon Stewart’s The Problem and David Letterman’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction will likely become eligible in the talk category.
Other changes made by the Academy include limiting the number of selections voters can make in the first round (now it will be capped at the number of nominations in each category; before it was unlimited); combining the tracked categories (single-camera and multicamera editing and cinematography) into one category each (though they can be split if the number of nominees in each track is 20 or more); as well as the previously announced new game show categories.
The new variety category descriptions:
Outstanding Talk Series: Programs where a significant portion of the running time consists of unscripted interviews or panel discussions between a host/hosts and guest celebrities or personalities. A Talk Series can include scripted elements and other aspects of a variety series such as monologues, musical performances, etc., so long as the main intent of the program is interviews/discussions.
Outstanding Scripted Variety Series: Programs that are primarily scripted or feature loosely scripted improv and consist of discrete scenes, musical numbers, monologues, comedy stand-ups, sketches, etc. Scripted Variety Series may occasionally feature unscripted elements, but the main intent of the series is scripted or performed entertainment.
