#How the Emmys’ Date Change Could Impact Oscar Season

How will this week’s decision of the TV Academy to delay the 75th Emmys from Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, until Monday, Jan. 15, 2024, due to the ongoing writers and actors strikes, impact the already-crowded fall awards season?

On one level, it shouldn’t at all, given that the dates for final Emmys voting are not being impacted by the postponement of the telecast — TV Academy members will be casting their ballots between August 17 and August 28, as was always the plan — meaning that Emmys campaigning will be long over.

But at the same time, the Emmys, now taking place on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, could become a spot where Oscar contenders will want to be seen, given that the Emmys telecast will now fall within the Oscar nomination voting window of Jan. 11 through Jan. 16, with SAG Awards final voting starting shortly thereafter on Jan. 17.

Fox, which is broadcasting this year’s Emmys, may find it easier than broadcasters usually do to enlist big movie stars to present at the ceremony. And, as it turns out, a number of prospective Oscar contenders are expected to be there anyway, given that they are also Emmy-nominated. Among them: Jeremy Allen White, Emmy-nominated for The Bear and Oscar-contending for The Iron Claw; Jesse Eisenberg, Emmy-nominated for Fleishman Is in Trouble and Oscar-contending for When You Finish Saving the World; Jessica Chastain, Emmy-nominated for George & Tammy and Oscar-contending for Memory; Jesse Plemons, Emmy-nominated for Love & Death and Oscar-contending for Killers of the Flower Moon; Alexander Skarsgård, Emmy-nominated for Succession and Oscar-contending for Lee; Michael Shannon, Emmy-nominated for George & Tammy and Oscar-contending for The Bikeriders; and Nathan Lane, Emmy-nominated for Only Murders in the Building and Oscar-contending for Beau Is Afraid.

One other beneficiary of the date change may be the Critics Choice Awards, which honors the best of film and television. Long dated for the evening of Sunday, Jan. 14, it usually draws strong attendance from big-name talent. But, says one awards consultant who works on high-profile film and TV awards campaigns, “More top series talent may show up to Critics Choice now because they’ll definitely be in town for the Emmys.”

Observers of those Sunday and Monday ceremonies, and even nominees themselves, may have trouble keeping track of which season of their TV show they’re being recognized for, given that the Emmys will be judging TV work done between June 1, 2022 and May 31, 2023, while the Critics Choice Awards will be judging work done within the 2023 calendar year. For example, you could potentially see The Bear’s second season recognized at the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday night and then its first season recognized at the Emmys on Monday night.

The rest of the awards season, leading up to the 96th Oscars on Sunday, March 10, 2024, is, as always, largely scheduled around the NFL playoffs leading up to Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday, Feb. Feb., 2024 — games are currently scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 13; Sunday, Jan. 14; Monday, Jan. 15; Saturday, Jan. 20; Sunday, Jan. 21; and Sunday, Jan. 28. Other dates are still to be announced — and could look very different this year than in years past.

The 81st Golden Globe Awards, under new management, have staked claim to the date of Sunday, Jan. 7, but don’t yet have a broadcasting deal, having parted ways with their longtime broadcasting partner NBC after the last edition. “I feel like they have to do it whether or not they find a broadcast partner,” said an awards consultant, “because if they don’t then they just don’t exist.”

The 30th SAG Awards are set for Saturday, Feb. 24, and, a year after they went without being televised for the first time, they will be moving to Netflix, becoming the first major awards show ever to go out via a streamer. Will there be “commercial breaks” even if there aren’t commercials, or will we see a streamlined awards show? That’s just one of many questions about how it will work.

The next day, Sunday, Feb. 25, the 39th Spirit Awards will take place in the afternoon and the 35th Producers Guild Awards will be held in the evening. Last year was the first time the Spirit Awards weren’t broadcast live on basic cable (they were instead streamed live on the YouTube channels of Film Independent and IMDB), and no new TV deal has been announced. The PGA Awards are never broadcast.

The 76th Directors Guild Awards has not yet been dated at all.