• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, August 14, 2023

Fox and The Television Academy are gambling that the ongoing strikes of Hollywood writers and actors that have halted all scripted production will be over by next January.

The next Emmy Awards -- the 75th -- are now scheduled to air live on Fox on Monday, January 15 -- which happens to be Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Fox and the Academy announced the plan last Thursday.

Thus, the 2023 Emmys will be held next year in 2024. With some occasional exceptions, they traditionally air in September just before the first day of the official fall network TV season. 

The two Emmy partners must believe that not only will the strikes be over and done with by then, but that any lingering anger or bitterness will have dissipated too.

A subhead on the Fox/Academy press release reflects their assumption, based on no evidence at the present time, that the industry’s warring factions will be in harmony once again by the middle of winter.

“Entertainment Industry Comes Together to Celebrate Emmy’s 75th Anniversary with Martin Luther King Jr. Day Telecast,” said the headline.

So, not only is the industry coming together, but they will do so on the day we celebrate the work and legacy of Dr. King, say the Emmy partners.

The January 15 date for the Emmys represents a four-month delay (from mid-September) for the show. 

To give Fox and the Academy their due, five months from now (mid-August) should be ample time for agreements to be reached in the strikes, despite the current discord.

Fox and the Academy have built a considerable length of time into their plans because the awards show depends heavily on the nominees actually being there -- the writers, naturally, but more importantly, the stars of the shows.

The delay gives the nominees even more time than usual to start preparing their wardrobes and acceptance speeches.

They all know who they are. The nominations were announced in full on July 12. Remember? “Succession” was the year’s most-nominated show, with 27 nominations. 

How could you forget? One answer to that question might be: Nobody cares. Or more to the point, fewer and fewer people care about the Emmys anymore.

At this point in this TV Blog, I will spare readers of one of my usual screeds about the dwindling audiences for the Emmys in particular, and televised awards shows in general.

Like Fox and the TV Academy, I too have high hopes for the Emmys, but low expectations based on recent years.

Still to come: The highly anticipated annual announcement of the Emmy host, pending the resolution of the strikes, of course.