The Emmy Awards - Their Importance to Television (2024)

The Primetime Emmy Awards are bestowed to people in recognition of excellence in the television industry. In combination with the Grammys, the Oscars and the Tonys, the Emmys form the four central American entertainment awards. As of 2020, only fifteen performers have win all four awards and achieve the honour, with John Legend becoming one of the most recent performers to do so. The Emmys are regarded as the epoch of television achievement and, as a result, are highly coveted by television actors and creators. Here’s a brief overview on how the Emmys came to be and their overall importance to the American television industry.

Contents hide

Where it all began

Eligibility

Emmy Award records

Most wins for one series in a single year

Most wins for a Drama series

Most wins for a Comedy series

Most wins for an Animated program

Most nominations for a network in one year

Most wins for a performer for the same role

Most wins for acting in a Drama series

Criticism

Where it all began

The Primetime Emmy Awards were first given out in 1949 and were simply referred to as “the Emmys.” However, in 1974, the Daytime Emmys were created and, consequently, the word “primetime” was added in order to differentiate the two. The awards are given out annually by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Eligibility

There are many important rules that television shows must adhere to in order to be eligible for Primetime Emmy nominations. To be considered “national primetime”, the show must air between 6pm and 2am, and be available to at least 50% of the United States. A program cannot be entered into both the Primetime and Daytime Emmy awards.

Entries must be submitted by the end of April. However, this doesn’t mean that the show must air before this time. In fact, programs can air the following month in May when the eligibility period ends. For individual award categories, generally only one episode is needed for the submission.

Voting process

Once all the ballots have been collected and collated, they are then sent to Academy members in June. All members can vote for nominations in the best program categories; however, they are only required to vote for the nominees in their respective categories. The nominations are then formulated from the voting data, before the final voting poll is released to members again to determine the eventual winner (this occurs in August).

Emmy Award records

The Emmys have a rich history, with many amazing shows having built their credibility and quality off the back of award wins, like the Emmys. Here are some of the most amazing Emmy records for specific shows, genres and performers (you’ll recognise many of these names):

Most wins for one series in a single year

The Emmy Awards - Their Importance to Television (1)

In 2015, HBO’s ground-breaking television show “Game of Thrones” set the record for the most wins in a single year for a specific program, with 12 Emmy wins. They repeated this feat in 2016 and 2019.

Most wins for a Drama series

Given the fact that “Game of Thrones” won 36 Emmys in 3 separate years, it’s no surprise that they would hold the record for most wins for a Drama series. When the show concluded in 2019, it finished its record-breaking run with 59 Emmys.

Most wins for a Comedy series

On the other hand, the most wins for a Comedy program was set by the acclaimed sitcom “Frasier”, which was a “Cheers” spin-off. Starring Kelsey Grammar in the lead role, “Frasier” concluded in the mid-2000s with 37 Emmy wins. The show also holds the record for most wins in a final series for a Comedy, when it took home 6 Emmys in 2004. It also holds the record for most wins for Outstanding Comedy Series with 5 (which it won consecutively from 1994-1998). It now shares this honour with “Modern Family”, which won the award from 2010-2014.

Most wins for an Animated program

It should come as no surprise to anyone that “The Simpsons” holds the record for the most wins for an animated program. With 34 Primetime Emmys, 11 of which are for “Outstanding Animated Program”, the world’s favourite sitcom family has been delighting audiences for over 30 years. In 1992, “The Simpsons” took home the most Emmy awards for an animated program of all time, with 6 wins. It’s now the longest running American sitcom of all time.

Most nominations for a network in one year

In 2019, HBO accrued a record-breaking number of nominations: 137, which can largely be attributed to the success of “Game of Thrones” during the 2010s. HBO has also been responsible for financing and developing shows like “Veep”, “Silicon Valley”, “Westworld” and “Barry”, all of which have had great success at recent Emmy ceremonies.

Most wins for a performer for the same role

Julia Louis-Dreyfus broke records when she won six consecutive Emmys for her acclaimed portrayal of Selina Meyer, a fictional United States Senator who becomes Vice-President of the United States in the program “Veep”.

Most wins for acting in a Drama series

This is an honour that is held collectively by arguably three of the greatest television dramas of all time: “Breaking Bad”, “The West Wing” and “The Sopranos”. Each program won 9 Emmys for the acting efforts of their cast members. Bryan Cranston’s portrayal of Walter White in “Breaking Bad” saw him win 4 Primetime Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (three consecutively between 2008-2010 and in 2014).

Criticism

Like all award shows, the Emmys have received their fair share of criticism. In recent years, viewership of the awards show has dropped significantly, with the 71st Emmys (2019) pulling in the lowest viewership numbers since the annual awards began monitoring viewer numbers in 1990. Dwindling viewership numbers have been attributed to poorly improvised and scripted comedy routines and the fact that the program has gone “host-less” in recent renditions.

Moreover, the increasing monopolisation of award nominations, usually at the hands of HBO and/or Netflix, has also meant that lesser known programs from smaller networks aren’t getting the same coverage or respect as the larger, more established television programs. Because streaming is becoming the new norm for multimedia consumption, it’s also harder for the Emmys to furnish a connection with younger generations, who can’t simply “stream” the Emmys award show (unless you have Hulu, which limited geographically), but instead need to tune into the Fox channel in order to watch it.

Read about Cannes Film Festival.

The Emmy Awards - Their Importance to Television (2024)

FAQs

The Emmy Awards - Their Importance to Television? ›

The awards are intended as an incentive for the continued pursuit of excellence for those working in the broadcast journalism and documentary filmmaking professions. Each year a call for entries is made available to a wide cross section of the national broadcast and online news and documentary community.

Why are the Emmy awards important? ›

The Emmy Awards salute excellence in national primetime programming, presenting top honors annually at both the Creative Arts Emmy Awards and Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Awards ceremonies, as well as the Emmy Awards telecast.

Are Emmys just for TV shows? ›

The Emmy Awards are the highest honor for work in television. The Television Academy's various awards ceremonies cover shows and programs on all the major networks, plus cable channels (since 1988) and streaming services (since 2013).

What do the Emmys promote? ›

It recognizes excellence in television with the coveted Emmy® Award. Regional Emmy® Awards are given in nineteen regions across the United States. National Awards are given for Children's and Family, Daytime Entertainment, News & Documentary, Community Service, Sports and Technology & Engineering.

What is the Emmy Award given for? ›

The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with their own set of rules and award categories.

Do the Emmys matter? ›

The Emmys matter to networks because the Emmys matter to talent,” the veteran marketing exec says. “They want to work at networks where they can advance their careers. Getting awards recognition is an important part of that.”

What is the value of an Emmy Award? ›

The dazzling golden trophy may look extremely valuable but iN material terms it is fairly modest. Much of the 128-ounce trophy is largely made up of copper and nickel, dipped in liquid gold. CNBC estimates that they cost between $300 and $400 to manufacture.

Are the Emmys a big deal? ›

The Emmys, while no stranger to costly lobbying, are usually pretty safe (and smaller in scale) in their usual September slot. The awards are a big deal for those who care, sure, but they are entirely free of the hard, culture-defining associations of Oscar season.

What does Emmy stand for? ›

The first Emmy Awards ceremony was held in 1949. The name of the award derives from the term immy, short for image-orthicon, a camera tube used in early television production. It was changed to the name Emmy since the statuette is in the form of a winged female figure meant to depict one of the Greek Muses of art.

What happens when you win an Emmy? ›

For winning an Emmy, an actor gets no prize money. Instead, recipients receive the Emmy statuette, which is a symbol of recognition for their outstanding contributions to the television industry.

What are some facts about the Emmys? ›

Emmy Awards are named after “Immy,” an abbreviation for the image orthicon tube, an early camera. It was later changed to “Emmy.” The first Emmy Awards were presented on January 25, 1949, at the Hollywood Athletic Club and were for Los Angeles programming only. Six awards were given.

What is the mission statement of the Emmys? ›

We recognize outstanding achievement, we encourage the pursuit of excellence and promote the highest standards of quality in professional, technical and personal achievement in the arts and sciences of television by conferring the industry's classic, and most coveted peer recognition symbol of distinction, the Emmy.

Who do the Emmys recognize? ›

The Emmy® Awards

The Daytime Entertainment Emmy® Awards has been honoring excellence in all fields of daytime Broadcast production for over 48 years. The Emmy® is awarded in various categories, including acknowledgements for series, performers and all other technical and creative areas.

What did Taylor Swift win an Emmy for? ›

Taylor Swift

Swift is a multi-Grammy winner, but she is also an Emmy recipient, per Entertainment Weekly. In 2015, she took home outstanding creative achievement in interactive media — original interactive program for her AMEX Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience, which she starred in and executive produced.

Who decides who gets an Emmy? ›

Emmy nominees are voted on by members of the Television Academy, which consists of professionals in the television industry. The voting process involves two rounds: the nomination round and the final voting round. In the nomination round, members nominate individuals or shows in various categories.

What is the difference between an Emmy and an Oscar? ›

The Emmys, or Emmy Awards, are accolades bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in the television industry. They are akin to the Oscars for film, the Grammys for music, and the Tony Awards for theater.

What's more important an Emmy or an Oscar? ›

The Emmy Awards differ greatly from the Oscars as the Oscars recognize cinema and the film industry. The Oscars are considered one of the most prestigious award shows in the world, and they are presented each year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

What does the Emmy represent? ›

Recent News. Emmy Award, any of the annual presentations made for outstanding achievement in television in the United States. The name Emmy derives from Immy, a nickname for image orthicon, a camera tube used in television.

Are the Emmys more important than the Golden Globes? ›

Within the entertainment industry, the Golden Globes are considered second in importance both to the Academy Awards (for film) and to the Emmy Awards (for television), and the televised awards ceremony is a comparably lavish affair. For each medium, Golden Globes are given in several categories.

What happens when a show wins an Emmy? ›

Each winning entry receives one (1) gratis statue. All individuals with an Emmy® Award-eligible credit vetted by NATAS Administration will be able to order a Recipient statue. One name may be engraved per statue. The name approved in credits is the name that will be engraved on the statue.

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