Hurray! The 75th edition of Emmy Awards 2023 has been pronounced. And since it’s the year of comedies, the Emmy nomination competition will surely be stimulating! Can we forget the clamor witnessed at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards?

From ‘Ted Lasso’ To ‘The Bear’ And ‘Wednesday,’ The Hottest Category In The Emmy Nominations Is A Comedy:

The writers’ strike is ongoing, and we still need to find out if the Emmy Awards ceremony will take place in September, unlike the hullabaloo created in 2016 for the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. The list of nominees for this edition has been broadcasted. How American Television Works: The Emmy Awards Film has the Oscars, music has the Grammys, and television has the Emmys. The Emmy Awards ceremony will take place in the United States, which will recognize the work and effort of television programs and series, as well as the people who work on them. But how does the voting process work? Those who participate? What chucks are there?

A Little History…

To talk about the beginning of the Emmys, we have to go back to January 1949, when the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS) decided to organize an awards ceremony as part of a strategy to give visibility to the Academy. The first edition was local, awarding only programs and personalities from Los Angeles. In the 1950s, the event was already expanded to a national level.
They soon ran into a problem: there were too many categories and prizes to give out in one night. Then, in 1974, the delivery of the Daytime Emmy Awards began to be celebrated separately, which reward programs that are broadcast during the day. Also, in the 70s, the International Emmy Awards were created to recognize programs from outside the United States.

The 68th Primetime Emmy Awards- A Deal Breaker Ceremony:

Today, there are also Sports Emmys, Regional Emmys, and Student Emmys. Still, the ones with the most international repercussions are the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. The stunning Emmy statuette was designed by a television engineer, Louis McManus. It was intended to represent art (the symbol of a woman) and science (the atom). The same company that makes the Oscars statuettes annually is in charge of its manufacture.

68th Primetime Emmy Awards- A Notch Above!

The ones that interest us are the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards, which, as the name precisely indicates, are reward series and programs broadcast in that time slot. We would discuss most series and reality shows. The ceremony of Primetime Emmy is always held at the beginning of September, just before the television season begins, and its broadcast is made by one of the four general networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC), which rotate yearly. In the years in which it is NBC’s turn, like precisely this one, the awards have to be brought forward to the end of August so as not to coincide with the Sunday football broadcast, which the chain also broadcasts. In addition, and since there are so many categories, the Creative Arts Primetime Emmys statue was created, which awards technical aspects (camera editing, sound, casting, cinematography, music, makeup) in a different gala.
The Primetime Emmys, like the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards, are reserved with more interest for the average viewer. Those are starring series and programs, actors, directors, and screenwriters. Despite limiting themselves to them, we are talking about a gala that lasts around 2 hours, and they rush to announce the winners of 27 categories. Imagine what would happen if all the figurines were given the same night.

How Nominees And Winners Are Chosen:

After announcing the nominees (or even the winners), it is common to read complaints that a series has yet to be included or that an actor needs to be included among the chosen ones. Both famous and critically acclaimed series and some well-known and unknown actors are sometimes among the nominees and sometimes not. It is necessary to understand how precisely these award candidates are chosen.

How American Television Works. Will You Join Us?

One of the most important details to highlight, and that only some know is that the people or the series that want to apply for the award must present themselves as candidates for the nomination. No committee or group of Academy executives will come along and nominate them. Usually, it is the producers or the chains that present their candidates. In addition, and to make the candidacies more visible, it is common to see “For your consideration” ads in specialized magazines and on the Internet.
Special DVD packs are also sent to Academy members. As two minor details, all candidates must pay a small amount to be one. Also, a committee of the Television Academy verifies that they comply with the rules (which have been presented in the correct genre, that fall within the specified period, duration, etc.). You can consult the general rules, the specific restrictions for each category, and the fees that must be paid in this official document explaining the practices for this year’s Emmys.
Now, one of the big problems that the Television Academy has been facing since the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards is how to get the Emmys to be fair and recognize the quality of a series but still needs to pay attention to popularity. The big question is creating a list of nominees to please the general public and specialized television critics. Therefore, the voting system to obtain the candidates for the award is flexible and changes according to the needs every few years. A fundamental change was introduced in 2007, combining a “popular” vote with an “elite” vote.
First, most of the Television Academy members chose ten candidates in each category, the most voted. Of course, with one condition: the scriptwriters could only vote for scriptwriters, the actors for other actors, etc. Everyone could vote in the general categories, which refer to series and miniseries. With this system, the most popular series and professionals were always chosen. With those ten chosen came a “Blue Ribbon Panel” (as they called it), where a committee of experts from the Television Academy ordered the ten series in order of preference. The final list of nominees resulted from a 50/50 combination of the famous and elite lists (before 2007, the final list was drawn up only with the votes of the elite). This explains why series like ‘Mad Men’ or ‘Breaking Bad,’ not very popular but critically acclaimed. Others, like ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ never passed the first popular vote, so they never reached the elite voting phase.

The problem with this system is that those responsible for the Television Academy felt that the public felt less and less identified with the nominations. Yes, they gave opportunities to little-known cable series, but they also left out other people’s favorites, like ‘Lost.’ Suppose we add to this the leaks that there were other years of the lists of the ten finalists in each category and that the panels with the finalists’ screenings were expensive. In that case, it is understandable that the Television Academy was not entirely happy with the formula. For this reason, “Blue Ribbon Panels” were removed from the system in 2009.

We Loved Reminiscing The 68th Primetime Emmy Awards:

Currently, the final list of nominees is drawn up only with the “popular” vote, meaning that of all the members of the Television Academy (scriptwriters, producers, sound editors, stylists, and a long, etc.). The norm of other years is maintained, establishing that each one votes in their category and that everyone votes in the generic ones. The list of nominees comes out of the most voted. If a category has a difference of less than 2% of votes between the last nominee and the next non-nominated series, it is considered a tie, and both become nominated.

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