The Television Academy recently re-organized the rules regarding Emmy eligible shows (daytime and primetime) to be based around genre and not airtime anymore. Now, the Academy is at it again with another rule change saying that the runtime has been eliminated for criteria when considering a drama or a comedy for an award.
According to Deadline, the rule change comes as an answer to the long controversy over supposed comedy series winning drama awards, and vice versa, because they contain more dramatic elements than comedic, with series like Shameless and Orange is the New Black changing their genre mid run.
The Academy also is instigating a “no double Oscar-Emmy dipping rule”. This simply means that any television movie that is registered on the viewing platform for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be deemed a theatrical release and is no longer eligible for a television award.
“This year our Awards Committee has worked with industry colleagues to further define program eligibility for the Emmy competition,” said Frank Scherma, Chairman and CEO for the Television Academy to Deadline. “We’ve made great strides in differentiating what is eligible for our respective competitions, in concert with ongoing changes in content development and distribution.”
Another big change comes for limited series runs. According to Deadline, The Academy is now requiring that shows categorized as a limited series have a definite end to the story arc. They also added that if a limited series were to return for a second season, that season’s story must contain no returning characters from the first season and not require viewers to have seen the first season to understand this new iteration.
Television networks have not released any official responses on the categorial changes.