A recalibration of two Primetime Emmy Award classes guarantees to widen the sector and, to quote one ripple impact, give Saturday Night Live higher competitors in what had been often known as the Variety Sketch Series race.
For six years in a row (and 6 out of the eight years because the Variety Series class was bifurcated into Variety Talk Series and Variety Sketch Series), NBC’s SNL has taken residence the prize for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series.
But for the previous two years, the Outstanding Variety Sketch Series class has fielded solely two contenders: SNL and HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show. (And in 2020, there have been simply three nominees, including in Comedy Central’s Drunk History.)
In the Variety Talk Series class, in the meantime, HBO’s Last Week Tonight With John Oliver has gained for the previous seven years, vying towards the likes of The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Late Night With Seth Meyers, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, The Late Late Show with James Corden, Full Frontal With Samantha Bee and Conan.
But a altering up of those classes for 2023 — now titled Outstanding Scripted Variety Series and Outstanding Talk Series — paves the best way for SNL to face extra challengers, and actually might power Last Week Tonight With John Oliver to compete towards NBC’s long-running sketch comedy collection.
Per the Emmys rule modifications, a Scripted Variety Series is outlined as “a variety program that is primarily scripted, or loosely-scripted improv, and consisting of discrete scenes, satire, 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.”
Meaning, the primarily scripted Last Week Tonight may now need to compete as a Variety Series.
Conversely, a Talk Series is outlined as “a program where a significant portion of the running time consists of unscripted interviews or panel discussions between a host/hosts and celebrities or personalities. In general, these celebrities or personalities change for each episode, the interviews or discussions usually take place in a studio (or studio-like) location, and are primarily for entertainment, as opposed to documentary, purposes. 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.”
What do you make of the modifications above? Do you look ahead to SNL‘s six-year streak being challenged? And are you bummed about Last Week Tonight‘s seven-year streak probably ending?
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