The craft of writing for late-night television is back on track to getting the high recognition that it deserves. After the award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series was decided to be taken out of the running as a category for the Primetime Emmy Awards by the Television Academy, there has been a bit of a change of heart. Now, late-night television writing is back in the awards pool.
The 2024 Emmy Awards are set to air on January 15. Recently, on November 30, according to Deadline, the TV academy announced that the award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series would be given out by the Creative Arts Emmys rather than the Primetime Emmys. It was also announced that the category of Outstanding Variety Special would stand in its place. Once this decision had been made, there was some understandable backlash from the writers as it sparked WGA and a ton of late-night television hosts to campaign to get the category back in its rightful spot.
The faces of late-night that decided to help out included Stephen Colbert (The Late Show With Stephen Colbert), Jimmy Fallon (Saturday Night Live), Colin Jost (Saturday Night Live), Jimmy Kimmel (Jimmy Kimmel Live!), Seth Meyers (Late Night With Seth Meyers), Trevor Noah (The Daily Show), John Oliver (Community) and Jon Stewart (The Daily Show). These stars, along with the WGA called upon writers to “express your feelings” about the academy’s decision that was made “without any justification or defensible reason.” According to Deadline, the WGA felt that this change was “misguided given the essential role writers play in the creative process of variety series and generating value for this industry.”
After the WGA sent out an official petition, there was a massive amount of signatures (more than 1,400) to ensure the category’s return. On January 3, it was finally announced that the category would return to the Primetime Awards.
The 2024 Primetime Emmy Awards are airing on January 14, 2024 on CBS.