Emmy Awards move to January, placing them firmly in Hollywood’s awards season

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The strike-delayed 75th Emmy Awards have a new date — one that places them squarely within Hollywood’s awards season, for a change.

Fox announced Thursday that the Emmys will air Jan. 15 from the Peacock Theater at LA Live in downtown Los Angeles. The show will air on the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday.

The timing means that the Emmys, which honor the best shows on television, will air weeks before the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which honors film and television actors. Numerous other shows like the Golden Globe Awards, which haven’t been confirmed for a return to network television, and the Critics Choice Awards, also are held in January.

The ceremony will happen roughly four months later than originally planned.

While the move is a bit of a throwback — the first Emmys, where only six awards were handed out, were held in January 1949 — the show traditionally airs in September, a slot that once heralded the upcoming fall television season. But that timing dates back to when broadcast television dominated — both in viewership and Emmys contenders — in a way that has been effaced by cable television and streaming services.

A person with knowledge of the plans but not authorized to speak publicly told The Associated Press last month that the show, originally scheduled for Sept. 17, would be moved because of the ongoing strikes by film and television actors and screenwriters.

HBO is the leading nominee heading into the ceremony, with three of its series — “Succession,” “The Last of Us” and “The White Lotus” — racking up 74 nominations. In all, HBO received 127 nominations.

Because of the dual strikes, actors and writers cannot campaign for their shows or do promotional interviews. The writers strike is now in its 101st day, longer than the 2007-2008 stoppage — and no end is in sight.

No host has been announced for the ceremony, which will celebrate the Emmys’ diamond anniversary.

The ceremony has grown into a two-weekend affair, with many nominees in craft and guest acting categories receiving their awards during the Creative Arts Emmys, which will be held a week earlier on Jan. 6 and 7. An edited version of that ceremony will air on Fox on Jan. 13.

The Emmys will be executive produced by Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay of Jesse Collins Entertainment. Collins has become a go-to producer of Hollywood awards shows and other spectacles, producing the Grammys, Oscars as well as the acclaimed 2022 Super Bowl halftime show featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Mary J. Blige in a hip-hop celebration.

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