Emmy Voters Under Siege; Talk Show Freakout; Place Your Bets On ‘Bookie’ – Notes On The Season

A column chronicling conversations and events on the awards circuit.

It is getting down to Emmy voters moment of truth as we are now less than a week away from the start of Emmy nomination voting next Thursday on June 13 with all ballots due to be completed by 10:00pm on Monday June 24. Nominations will be announced on July 17. In fact the TV Academy just sent their first warning shot to voters, urging them to “GET READY TO VOTE!”

The 76th Emmy Awards air on ABC September 15, exactly 8 months since the last Primetime Emmy show in January, and it seems just like yesterday doesn’t it? I can’t swear on it but I believe this is the first year ever to have two Primetime Emmys in the same calendar year, and certainly the first to have two so close to each other. Of course the reason was the dueling actors and writers strikes that forced the Television Academy to move their September 2023 date out of harms way into January 2024. The delay, plus the fact that it was on Fox (generally the network in the Emmy broadcast network wheel that draws the lowest numbers) probably could be blamed for abysmal ratings. Voting ended in August 2023, a full five months before the envelopes would actually be opened. You can forgive viewers for forgetting what shows were even nominated. As an Academy member I honestly couldn’t remember what I even voted for.

The fact is just about every single awards show and guild contest voted the same three shows for program, acting, writing, and directing in their respective categories – Succession for Drama Series, The Bear for Comedy Series, Beef for Limited Series -so the Emmys just had nothing new to add. This kind of across the board sweep in tandem for the same three shows was unprecedented. This year I think will be different, because Succession and Beef are gone, and The Bear, fine as it is, is facing really stiff competition in Comedy from genuine comedies. The gloves are off and it could be anybody’s ballgame.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: FYC EVENTS

You can certainly tell that from the enthusiastic turnouts of voters to the infinite numbers of FYC events , just off the charts, not to mention the special installations, like mini-Smithsonians that the streamers have once again been out doing in force spending the kind of cash Oscar campaigners only dream of being able to do. It would be hugely disappointing to see my fellow TV Academy voters fall back on the same old- same old voting patterns. We have a real chance to shake things up so let’s hope we do just that and make the Emmys GREAT again (although I must say I thought the Anthony Anderson hosted presentation of the 75th Emmys was Emmy worthy itself, full of welcome nostalgia for a better time, even if the winners were so predictable).

So because I am a member (and a longtime member and former Writers branch Governor) of the Television Academy I can definitely attest to the tsunami of email invites we get during the “season” that come directly from the TV Academy with invites to various FYC events. Everyone uses the Academy’s list -for a price – to get this stuff out there to the membership, all with the notice at the bottom that these are not hosted by the Television Academy, but rather the studios and networks who pay to have the invites sent thru the mailing house. As far as I could tell the first one I got for this season was a Hulu and 20th Television invite to a star-filled Only Murders In The Building FYC at Paramount. Since then I count 293 more emails for just about any show and network and streamer and whatever else that came with the Television Academy’s digital fingerprints.

EMMY VOTERS UNDER SIEGE

This week alone there have been FYC opps offered for Understanding Autism ; The Formula 1 Opening Ceremony For The Las Vegas Grand Prix; Carol & The End Of The World; The Express Way with Dule Hill; Billy Joel’s 100th Live At Madison Square Garden (I assume not his birthday); an invite to a taping of CBS’ After Midnight With Taylor Tomlinson; a virtual event from You Tube for Good Mythical Morning With Rhett & Link and First We Feast’s Hot Ones; more virtual events for The Tatooist Of Auschwitz and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon; separate reminders to watch every single show on Apple TV+, ESPN, ABC, Peacock, Great Performances, STARZ, National Geographic, Netflix, and the Onyx Collective; Then there was an invite to an evening with all the creatives of the BET Media Group; a Mary & George panel discussion; and on and on. And this was all before Thursday when more arrived including FYC viewing links for Freeform; Native America; AMC Networks; Pepito’s America Mamadas; and Jim Henson: Idea Man. None of this covers the countless individual emails from the studios and streamers I get detailing all of it with “Post Event Alerts” or to events sent on their own.

CHUCK LORRE IS OFF TO THE RACES!

Most amusing invite of the week came directly from Max/WBTV for their self-described “out of the box” FYC event for their Chuck Lorre series Bookie, a terrific show if you haven’t seen it yet. Sometimes Emmys are compared to a “horse race”. In this case this series is taking that literally. The invite notes that “instead of the usual theater/Q&A set-up, this unique and thematically on-brand FYC event will take place at the amazing Santa Anita Park Racetrack! On Saturday, 6/8, there will be a 3pm PT screening of an episode of Bookie followed by a panel with cast and filmmakers, and then a reception RIGHT ON THE TRACK! It’s also a race day, so join us for a wonderful afternoon of horse racing in conjunction with our FYC event”. How about that for thinking “out of the box”! No word yet if voters will be able to place their bets with series stars Sebastian Maniscalco and Omar J. Dorsey, but at the very least they are placing their own bet on the first-season series doing well in the race for Emmy.

THE DAILY SHOW SHOWS OF THEIR HOSTS

Today there is a more conventional attempt to gain attention. Comedy Central is inviting press to a “intimate” luncheon with talent from The Daily Show including Ronny Chieng, Desi Lydic, Jordan Klepper, and Michael Kosta in West Hollywood. That is followed later by the show’s “Emmy official event” (words that won’t make the Academy happy) with clips and Q&A and reception at Paramount Studios, with Monday host Jon Stewart joining the aforementioned stars for that one aimed directly at voters, and sure to be packed. Of course this season, and specifically election season, the show has thrived with the weekly return of multi-Emmy winner and iconic host of the series, Stewart, along with rotating host gigs for the regular cast. Coming off January’s Emmy win against all the late night talk shows, and the last hurrah for Trevor Noah, Comedy Central is aiming to do it again with this unique shakeup of the single host format, clearly made possible by Stewart’s willingness to return to the desk, for at least one day a week ala Rachel Maddow who also turned her daily gig into a Monday only spot on MSNBC for this politically charged year.

TALK SHOW COMPETITION MAKING CAMPAIGNERS SWEAT

The format change for Daily Show which had conducted a well-publicized, but so far unrealized, search for a permanent host has really worked, putting it in a strong position to repeat its return to the winner’s circle. Competitors in the talk category are sweating because of the much smaller number of shows being entered, meaning as few as only three nominees instead of the usual five per Academy rules. HBO’s John Oliver had dominated this category until being moved last year into the “Scripted Variety Series” category and winning there against perrennial champ there, Saturday Night Live. Regarding that category the TV Academy this week just put out a call for volunteer judges who agree to watch all of the entries and vouch that you saw all seven before deciding which would be Emmy worthy. This will all be concluded before the end of the month.

But back to the talk shows, each one is jockeying for those spots, even late entry John Mulaney whose week long Netflix seat-of-your-pants talker gained a lot of attention, yet another threat to the more conventional broadcast network talkers, primarily Kimmel, Fallon, Colbert, and Meyers. All have hit the circuit for the campaign in one way or another. Should be interesting, all deserving , but puhleeeez anyone but Gutfeld!

Until next week.