I had a wide-ranging conversation via Zoom on Wednesday with Television Academy chair Cris Abrego and president and CEO Maury McIntyre to talk all things Emmys shortly after Abrego presided over this morning’s 76th annual Primetime Emmy Awards nominations announcement.
Among the topics covered were the breadth and freshness of many of the nominations, and what that signals for the show. We also discussed where things are in terms of coming out of the pandemic and the strikes, as well as plans for the 76th Emmy show itself, who may host, their concerns on the ratings for last year’s ceremony, and who is watching. Plus we get into the intrigue behind category placement of the two biggest Emmy voter-getters: Shōgun and The Bear. We also talk about a possible expansion of the Limited Series/Anthology category, and where Abrego, just six months into his term as chair, hopes to take the Academy in the future.
DEADLINE: It was a bit of a surprise and nice to see a lot of fresh faces in the key Emmy categories of Drama, Comedy, and Limited or Anthology Series. That doesn’t happen often. In fact, in Drama Series, out of eight nominees only The Crown returned from last year, a first in half a century. In Comedy, five of the eight weren’t there last year.
CRIS ABREGO: Absolutely. I think it’s given opportunity for a lot of first-time nominees this year, which is exciting. And again, look these shows. I don’t know if you’ve seen them — I’ve seen most of them. They’re just really, really great content. That’s a testament to the community, to the industry. You know, in preparation for this morning, I was even watching some of [previous TV Academy chair] Frank [Sherma]’s old videos, and I was listening to him do this in Covid. And just the fact that we were able to still deliver content in those times and, and to your point, you know, to continue to do that. It just makes me so proud to be a part of this industry.
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DEADLINE: And you are coming back with the ceremony literally eight months to the day of the 75th Emmys. I think this is the first time ever there have been two Primetime Emmy shows in the same calendar year. A fact, right? Was there any thinking of delaying it or did you just want to get back to the regular schedule?
MAURY McINTYRE: Yes, that is true. But the competition was held to the same schedule and so it’s been a year since we’ve announced nominations. It was just the show itself, and I don’t think anyone wanted to have another delay. We were just so excited to get the 75th finally up and running when we did it in January. And again, you know, kudos to [producer] Jesse Collins and his team, who are again back for the 76th. I don’t think we could have had a better show for our 75th. It was just a pretty amazing, amazing night of awards, and honoring, and nostalgia. And I think we’re looking forward to the same thing with the 76th and we’re excited that it’s coming up so quickly. Quite honestly, we need to be able to celebrate the shows we just nominated.
DEADLINE: I would agree that nostalgia-filled 75th was a very well-produced awards show, yet it set records for the lowest-rated Emmys. Is that a thing you are addressing and trying to figure out why that is? The ratings seem to keep hitting lows.
ABREGO: Of course, we are. It’s obviously something that we’re watching very closely. We know first and foremost that evening is truly celebrating everyone’s hard work and rewarding the excellence in this industry. That’s what the Emmy represents. But we also want to have relevance in in pop culture, and want our audience to celebrate with us as they watch that. And so it’s something we’ve always paid attention to, and that’s part of the reason why we moved so quickly with Jesse, to give him ample time to really prep and produce another big show. And we’re excited about it. And I think after we’ve seen the list of nominees today, we’re going to be in for a really exciting telecast this September.
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DEADLINE: I wrote a piece a few weeks ago predicting this could be a big year for new Oscar winners possibly winning an Emmy, too. Turns out Robert Downey Jr. and Da’Vine Joy Randolph did get nominated, and so did a bunch of the Oscar nominees. It proves there is really no dividing line between movies and TV anymore in terms of attracting talent.
ABREGO: I think it’s just shows you again where the industry’s headed in terms of these incredible multihyphenates who just want to tell these incredible stories, and so they lean into what platform makes more sense, makes the most sense for their story. And we were fortunate enough to get a lot of that on television.
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DEADLINE: The campaign season seemed bigger or at least as big as ever this year with streamers especially engaged, building out venues to showcase their contenders, and lots of money being spent. After pandemics and strikes, are things getting better?
McINTYRE: I know, it’s been building. I think that it kind of started back in 2018 and ’19. I think when we started to see a lot more investment. The pandemic took it away a little bit. You know, we had just as many FYC events this year as we had last year. So even though we might have seen fewer submissions, we are still seeing a very vested interest from the industry in the awards and in making sure that their content gets seen. And it’s really a great service to all of our members to open their eyes to a lot of different content. It’s interesting you talk about it from a monetary perspective. We actually did see them being a little more judicious I think this year, in terms of kind of their spend, they were not as lavish as they’ve been in the past, with some of the food, etc. And, you know, we took away gifting and other things a couple of years ago to try to curb some of that.
For us, it needs to be about the content. Let’s put on a great panel, so that the members can really see what is the content, who are the creatives that are creating this content, and so they can really judge based off of that, not necessarily on who spent the most on the catering for a particular show? Right? For us it is really about the industry’s engagement, and we are really happy with the fact that the industry acknowledges that we are the premier award. People still want it. And to your point about ratings, I think you know, we actually can show, and we’ve heard from our partners, it still matters. You get an Emmy nomination, and numbers shoot up across all of the platforms. So are they watching in the same numbers as they used to on the live show itself? Maybe not, but they’re certainly consuming the viral bits online. They are paying attention to kind of that curated list of these are the shows that you should be watching. And that pays off, I think, for all of our partners.
DEADLINE: The show is on ABC this year. They had the Oscars and numbers were up and it was well-received. They know how to do it. Can you share what your plans are?
ABREGO: We’re excited. Jesse and his team are incredibly talented, so connected to pop culture and in the industry, with a lot of really good ideas. I can say that the meetings we have in preparation just are so much fun because some of the themes and bits and the things we’re exploring and hoping to finalize here in the days to come are really exciting.
DEADLINE: Do you have a host in mind. It is ABC but Jimmy Kimmel just did the Oscars and he is taking the summer off so it won’t be him.
McINTYRE: What we really liked about the 75th was that it was a true celebration of all of television. And we loved having a host (Anthony Anderson) who really kind of got into that too. So I think, you know, working with Jesse Collins, that’s kind of been our thing. We don’t want to replicate the 75th but we like that idea that we’re here to honor these great shows, but we’re also here really just to celebrate television, its connection to our audience.
DEADLINE: Shogun which leads the nominations was originally a Limited Series, but suddenly there were questions when it started to emerge that perhaps it was being renewed as a series and there was talk about what FX was doing even as the submission deadline passed. So it ended up being submitted as a drama series and it obviously has worked out for them. What was the Academy’s position on all this?
McINTYRE: I think we have taken a much more deliberate approach to the limited series category and the drama series category over the past five to seven years. We know there’s been questions about that, but, you know, it is something that we pay attention to. We have done it in the past. We made American Horror Story move over to the drama series category when it had continuing characters. White Lotus had to move over when it had continuing characters. For us, it was about Shogun, created as a mini series. It was going to go into the limited series category, unless and until they decided they were going to continue that story. And I would say kudos actually to making that decision now, as opposed to, what has historically happened, and going as a limited series and then, guess what, they renew it (afterwards). This time they made that decision early on. Hey, it was a phenomenal series, so I can understand why they did it.
DEADLINE: Speaking of Limited Series, you have expanded both Comedy and Drama series categories to eight nominees but still keep Limited Series or Anthology to just five. It is a shame to see so many worthy entries this year bypassed for a nomination there. The quality is exceptional. Why not expand the category?
McINTYRE: I think that it is something that has been deliberated. As you said, Pete, I think it’s always something we will talk about a little bit more. It’s interesting to talk about an expansion when we’re actually seeing a kind of a contraction in the number of shows but I think that’s what we seem to hear every year, limited series is the most competitive. It just keeps getting more competitive. You know, throughout the strikes, I kept thinking we’re going to start to see a dearth of projects, and yet, more and more limited series just kept launching. It seems like that is where you’re seeing a lot of stuff. So, you know, I think we hear you. I think Cris is going to keep hearing more and more of these things come into his mailbox to say, ‘have you considered?’ And we will put it in front of the awards committee and the board and have them discuss it.
ABREGO: And debate it. This is constantly evolving, the awards, roles and categories, I think that’s what we’re really always paying attention to. And just personally and professionally, you hear Limited is something that no platform is looking for anymore, but they continue to work and really, really drive and have success audience-wise, and so who knows where it ends up. But what I know, in my short tenure, one of the things that I really impressed with, with the academy and teams, is how constantly we’re evolving, discussing the awards and traction, staying as contemporary as possible with what’s happening in the industry.
DEADLINE: Do you ever tell producers they are in the wrong category? The Bear got a record 23 nominations for Best Comedy Series today more than any other one in a single season in Emmy history , and it won 10 Emmys last year in that category, yet many believe it is not a comedy and shouldn’t be there.
McINTYRE: You know, we tried that, didn’t we? At one point we said ‘if you’re half hour, you’re comedy’, ‘if you were an hour, you were a drama’. And we found that it ultimately didn’t work, because if you petitioned, almost invariably, you got moved. So look the Television Academy membership gave it 23 nominations for comedy. They certainly seem to think it was appropriate in the categories that they nominated it in. And I think, you know, we are very much a creator-led industry, and if the creator of a show says, it’s a short, dark family drama-comedy, well, I think we go with that.
DEADLINE: Cris this is your first year as Chair of the TV Academy. How do you feel about the general health of the Academy and what are you looking for in your reign?
ABREGO: I’m six months in, and I’m incredibly happy with where things are at, and I’m even more excited about the future and the things we’re looking down the road, but then really it’s one of the things we’re talking about, to your point, is in terms of telecast and other events, and just really our relevance to the industry, and into the public. And so we have a lot of ideas. We had a really successful retreat in March with the Governors, and really put a lot of brainstorming towards the work ahead. So I’m excited about it. I’m looking forward to the future of the Academy.
