Seeing the Daytime and Primetime Emmys as Equal Could Help Great TV Survive

In short, the Television Academy oversees the Primetime Emmys we watch on TV every September. So anything primetime TV — plus streaming series, and the craft categories presented at the Creative Arts Emmys — falls under the Los Angeles-based organization.

The group used to be part of the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, but in the 1970s, the groups split up because the West Coast chapter felt the East Coast arm was getting preferential treatment. In the divorce, the NATAS got the Daytime, Sports, and News and Documentary Emmys, plus all the regional Emmys except for Los Angeles (which falls under the Television Academy). Related Stories Is Skipping Film Festivals Really the 'Safe' Option? 'The Odyssey' Has Set the Bar for 2027 Oscar Contenders, but Are Its Stars Bound for Awards Glory?

So while the statuettes have remained the same, the stature of the ceremonies began to differ. Hence why the "30 Rock" joke about Whoopi Goldberg only having a Daytime Emmy to complete her EGOT hit so hard. NATAS has televised some of its awards before, but not to the scale of the Primetime Emmys, which rotate an annual primetime special between the four broadcast networks.

While the reunification talks are still in the early stages, the two organizations said the Governors of the Television Academy have extended their terms by one year to oversee as much of the deliberation as possible. The two groups also put out a joint statement saying, "Television remains the most powerful medium we have to shape culture and prompt conversations that define us — no matter the size of the screen. With the business of television undergoing such a monumental transformation, this is the right moment to explore a reunification of our Academies, providing our members and our industry with a bolder voice advocating for them and a stronger partner to navigate the future with them."

Recent history has shown that good things happen when the groups do come together. The Children's & Family Emmys exist, in part, because the Television Academy ceded its children's categories to NATAS in 2021. That ceremony contributes to how beloved shows like "Heartstopper" on Netflix or "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" on Disney Plus, which fans may worry are either too niche or too expensive for networks to keep making, continue. Regardless of which ceremony, it's useful marketing to put "Emmy winner" in front of the title, and tout how a network's title dominated at a prestigious awards show.

NATAS also recently ceded its game show categories to the Primetime Emmys, including Outstanding Host for a Game Show, which was won by Keke Palmer, Jimmy Kimmel, and Pat Sajak for his final season of "Wheel of Fortune." More importantly, in 2024 the academies made their applications much more streamlined so that new members of either academy were enrolled into both organizations.

Though the word "consolidation" most often has a negative connotation in Hollywood, this reunion seems to serve the greater purpose of putting television as a whole on the same pedestal. Take a look at the categories honoring late night , and one can see that entire genres of TV are dying because they do not have Emmy wins, or even nominations, to compensate for their decline in ratings — a decline representative of the steady fall in TV ratings across the board year to year.

Bloomberg just reported that the number of TV shows being produced has been cut in half in just four years. TV shows have been canceled left and right to the point where the meme of Netflix only allowing "fourth and final" seasons has been cut down to suggest the streaming service can barely see a show through two. If there is a protected class, it's Emmy-winning shows. For example, "Mad Men," "Breaking Bad," "30 Rock," "Succession," etc. — many of the shows considered to be the best series of the 21st century — were far from being commercial hits, but because they were Emmy juggernauts, they could stay on the air and end on their creators' terms.

Those final seasons also had their highest ratings because audiences caught up on the series through the word of mouth those Emmy wins helped provide. So if this possible reunification of the TV academies results in all Emmys being seen as equal, and more series with the words "Emmy-winning" in front of them, there's hope for fewer great TV shows falling through the cracks just because they were not a huge, out-of-the-gate commercial hit.

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