2023 Primetime Emmy Awards to Be Postponed: Reports

Fox has decided to postpone the 75th Emmy Awards due to ongoing strikes by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, according to multiple reports. The show was originally set for Sept. 18. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is pushing for a November airdate, while Fox, which is airing the show this year, is pushing for a January airdate, according to Variety, who was first to report the news. A final decision isn’t expected to be announced until early August. 

Vendors for the 75th Primetime Emmys have been told that the ceremony will not air on Sept. 18.

Jesse Collins Entertainment is set to produce the upcoming Emmys. A host has not yet been named. The Creative Arts Emmys, originally slated to take place on Sept. 9 and Sept. 10, would also be postponed.

This will be only the second time that the Primetime Emmys hasn’t aired in late August or September since 1977, when the show moved from its traditional May airdate to coincide with the start of the new television season. The 2001 show was postponed twice, first due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and then to the start of the war in Afghanistan. The show, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, finally aired on Nov. 11. (Fox, ABC, CBS and NBC have aired the Emmys in rotation since 1995. CBS carried the 2001 show.)

A move to January 2024 would put the Emmys in one of the most crowded times on the awards calendar. The Golden Globes are set for Jan. 7, followed by the Grammys (Feb. 4) and the BAFTA Awards and the People’s Choice Awards (both Feb. 18).

Final-round voting for the 75th Primetime Emmys is taking place between Aug. 17 and Aug. 28, which means that the results may be determined and sealed for more than four months before they are finally revealed. This echoes the 2021 and 2022 Grammy Awards, which were each postponed due to COVID surges. Final voting concluded in the first week of January in each year, but the results weren’t announced until March 14, 2021 and April 3, 2022, respectively.

Nominations for the Primetime Emmys were announced on July 12, less than 48 hours before the SAG-AFTRA strike began. The five shows with the most nominations were Succession, The Last of Us and The White Lotus, all on HBO; Ted Lasso on Apple TV+; and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Prime Video.

The shows on the legacy networks (CBS, NBC and ABC) with the most nominations were Saturday Night Live on NBC, Abbott Elementary on ABC and Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love on NBC.

Numerous music stars are nominated this year. Rihanna and Elton John are vying for outstanding variety special (live) with The Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show Starring Rihanna (Fox) and Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium (Disney +). If Elton wins, he becomes an EGOT.

Lizzo is nominated for outstanding variety special (pre-recorded) for Lizzo: Live in Concert (HBO Max). She earned her first Primetime Emmy last year as an executive producer of Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls (Prime Video), which won as outstanding competition program.

Dolly Parton is nominated for outstanding television movie for Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas (NBC). The country icon won her first Primetime Emmy two years ago in the same category for Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square (Netflix).

Weird Al Yankovic is nominated for outstanding original music and lyrics for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (The Roku Channel), which received eight nominations, including outstanding television movie.

The Emmy Awards telecast went forward in 1980, despite a strike by members of the Screen Actors Build. Only one actor – Powers Boothe – showed up at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Sept. 7, 1980, to accept his award. He won outstanding lead actor in a limited series or a special for playing suicide cult leader Jim Jones in the miniseries Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones. (CBS).

Acknowledging his choice to attend the Emmys, despite the strike, Boothe said in his acceptance speech, “This is either the most courageous moment of my career or the stupidest.” That was his first and last Emmy nomination. He died in 2017 at age 68.