NEW YORK — Hoping to expand the appeal of the Emmy Awards, producers of the Sept. 20 telecast plan to truncate the presentation of many of the movie and miniseries awards in order to spotlight more popular television programming.
The winners of eight Emmy categories will be named approximately 45 minutes before the broadcast begins at 5 p.m. PDT, allowing producers to air edited versions of their acceptance speeches later in the program. That will free up time in the telecast to highlight shows such as "American Idol" and "CSI" that attract large viewership but little critical acclaim.
The board of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences approved the change Wednesday night in an effort to increase the relevancy of an award show whose nominees are increasingly from cable shows with small audiences.
"We're trying to make the Emmys more relevant to mainstream viewers, while honoring the choices of the television academy properly and respectfully," said Don Mischer, the executive producer of this year's three-hour telecast, which is airing on CBS.
But the change drew protests from some cable networks and the Writers Guild, which complained that their members were being slighted so the program could pander to popular shows that otherwise wouldn't have a presence on the telecast.
HBO, which has 18 nominations in the eight categories that Mischer has proposed to tape, was particularly irked.
"For a show that has always recognized the best in the television industry, it now seems to be increasingly focused on recognizing broadcast network television," the premium cable channel said in a statement. "That is unfortunate given the range and caliber of talent represented in these categories which are being singled out for time shifting."
Mischer insisted that the categories that will be taped will not be given short shrift.
"I really don't look at it as a second-class position," he said.
The move comes after last year's widely panned Emmys show drew one of the award program's smallest audiences in two decades. Just 12.3 million viewers tuned in for the production on ABC, which was co-hosted by a bevy of reality show hosts. A record low number of 18-to-49-year-olds watched the program.
Mischer said that "alarmed everyone, including the TV academy," which hired a research firm to study why interest in the show was waning.
