Shortly after this morning’s announcement of the 77th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards nominations I hopped on a zoom with Television Academy Chair Cris Abrego and Television Academy President and CEO Maury McIntyre to get the lay of the land on their views of the nominations, where the Academy is heading, their continuing focus on equity and inclusion initiatives, how the choice of Emmy host Nate Bargatze came about, the dominance of streaming among the nominees, and other topics. They both were upbeat and clearly happy with the direction of the Emmys and these newly-minted nominees.
DEADLINE: So the nominations really seem to be saying voters are looking for fresh shows and not the same thing year after year.
CRIS ABREGO: I think it’s incredible. It’s great. It’s exactly what we we’ve always wanted to your point. And I think it’s indicative of a lot of the what is happening with the cycle of television now, and how it works and when shows are being made, and where they land in the cycle of the award season. And I think that gives us a great opportunity for these kind of fresh opportunities to be seen and be voted on. Look at drama series, seven of the eight drama series weren’t on the list last year. The Pitt, Paradise, and some showed up after rotation. But that churn is really a reflection of how this industry is changing. And I think it’s a good thing given these new chances of these new stories.
MAURY McINTYRE: And I would just say that I think this actually started several years ago. We’re just now maybe getting some credit, but the talk about Modern Family and how Modern Family kept winning, it’s like ‘guys that was over a decade ago!’. But as Chris says, you know, some of this is just what’s happening now with the industry. You know, when you have so many shows that had to take a break or or had to be put on break because of strikes, etc, you’re seeing shows not necessarily coming back each year because they just haven’t been available. But I think on the comedy side, you actually are seeing a lot of breakouts coming in. The Studio certainly is breaking ground again with record setting nominations in the comedy category, definitely kind of beloved by Hollywood because it’s about Hollywood, You know, it’s good to see that throughout. I mean there’s so many new, fresh Emmy nominees, some surprisingly fresh Emmy nominees with people like Harrison Ford, who you would think he would have been an Emmy nominee at some point in his previous career. First-time nominees like Colin Farrell, Jake Gyllenhaal. I think it’s pretty exciting.
DEADLINE: In terms of the acting nominees it feels that so many of them come from the same few shows like White Lotus.
McINTYRE: I think that’s something that has as much to do with the calendar cycle of television that has changed. What has not changed is how when a show really hits a nerve and impacts an audience, how they become so engaged. And only television can do that. And so when you remember Succession used to do that with the entire cast. The Pitt, The Studio, Severance, these are shows that have really connected with an audience, so impactfully that, yeah, they’re gonna get multiple nominations in that category. You look at like, even in limited series it’s happening pretty regularly. From Baby Reindeer to Adolescence. They’re so impactful, they hit a nerve, you recognize everyone in the series. I think, just to the level quality of television that’s being made right now, it’s pretty incredible.
DEADLINE: It all seems to be coming from streaming now, very little from broadcast networks anymore.
McINTYRE: Definitely from the scripted side, but look at reality competition, CBS has two of the five nominees in reality competition, the variety Talk Series are clearly mostly from broadcast, etc. So I mean, I think it depends on the genre we’re talking about. I also think that we are seeing a lot of our partners looking at their streaming shows, but also looking at how can they move synergies between their platforms and their linear networks, etc. Paradise started, of course, on Hulu. But didn’t they try to play do it on ABC or whatever? Only Murders In The Building too?
ABREGO: It’s a great point. I think you’re spot on Maury in that way because we talked about that too. I think really, you almost have to look at the lineage of these series, because they’re coming, to your point, from the network to have streaming platforms, and sometimes they’re coming from even the studios that are connected to some of these networks, and that part of it and another platform… So yeah, I think networks still have have a huge hand involved in the great stuff being made.
DEADLINE: Speaking of the networks, will there be any consideration to moving from the four broadcast network wheel of CBS, ABC, NBC, and FOX for broadcasting the Emmy ceremonies to perhaps streaming in the future?
ABREGO: I don’t think we would comment on that at this point. We still have two more with this Emmys upcoming, and next year’s Emmys still to go, so we’ll see.
DEADLINE: Talk Series is a category that keeps dwindling. It is now down to just three nominees due to Emmy rules about numbers of submissions hitting a certain mark. Is there talk about fixing this problem so there can be more competition?
McINTYRE: We’re having lots of conversations about it. Clearly, we have conversations about all the awards throughout the year. We know that variety is a genre that we need to look at. We absolutely want to talk with our partners about it as well. We want to hear what they have to say, because we know that they have particular feelings about it. I will say, I think that we have taken a little bit of a pause to really evaluate it, especially in light of what’s been going on in the industry. You don’t want to do a knee jerk reaction, because submissions may be low this year, if that was caused because of strikes still or anything like that. So we’ve been trying to see what’s been going on in the industry around it so we can figure out what the future is going to look like without necessarily reacting to what we are in right now. But I definitely think we will continue that conversation. I think we will have that conversation again with partners in the industry in that space, and come up with some options as we move forward.
DEADLINE: With the Trump Administration making so many controversial changes against diversity and DEI, and some in the industry seemingly falling in line in many ways – or so it seems -the Television Academy has remained steadfast with their Focus On Equity And Inclusion initiatives. Will that continue?
ABREGO: I think you look at the reflection of the health of diversity, the content is in its storytelling. You know from Andor to The Last Of Us to The Bear to Hacks, you see these creative kind of differences. And that’s part of the reflection of this. Our membership is growing. They’re becoming more engaged. I love being at events. I was at an honors event when a member, a new member, came to me, was considering becoming more involved and potentially running for a governor’s role. It’s a really exciting time at the Academy, and as much of what is the challenges to our industry, the academy is strenghthening, and I’m excited, really excited. but for us, you know, we incredibly committed to it (DEI) , because we know it creates better storytelling, better projects, better thinking. You know in our governor’s room, in our meetings we have these really spirited conversations because we stress test the ideas of how this academy is evolving, and we need that diverse thought in that room. And we get it, and it’s helpful, because you really have this as this business continues to evolve so quickly. The academy plays such a huge role at being at the front of it.
DEADLINE: Finally I want to ask about this year’s Emmy host. You chose Nate Bargatze who is not associated with CBS, and is in fact nominated this year for his Netflix comedy special. Usually the hosts come from the stable of the network broadcasting the ceremony.
ABREGO: I give our partners at CBS all the credit and we are so fortunate to have Nate, obviously. I don’t know if you’re a fan or not, but we are huge fans. His comedy is just so on point these days. And you know, CBS really was aggressive about pursuing him, getting him to come on board. And so we are really, really excited to have him and so fortunate to have him hosting this year.
DEADLINE: The ratings were up for last year’s show. What are you doing to continue that upward trend numbers-wise?
ABREGO: I think it was my cameo that did it (laughs). And I’m not just saying this, our partners last year at Disney, at that point, those guys, were incredibly great at helping the market launch and get behind the creative on the show. And it’s the nominees. These are real television shows that are really resonating with an audience that shows up to see them rewarded. So I think we’re on track for another great telecast just looking at the nominations. We’re on track for another great show this year.
McINTYRE: I also give kudos to (producer) Jesse Collins and his team as well, because, you know, the 75th was, I think, kind of a landmark for us in terms of just what a fantastic show it was. And so that led us into the show last year on ABC. Clearly, they were only nine months apart so that helped us a little bit too. But you know, you’ve got Jesse Collins, who delivered a great show and then delivered another really good show. We got him back again for CBS, so we’re really excited about what we’re going to see this year again. I think to Chris’s point, it’s true. It’s also about the quality of the programs that are nominated. But you also know that when you have a Jesse Collins show, you’re going to be entertained during the award show. It’s going to be respectful and honor those winners. And I think it’s just a great experience for the audience.
