Emmys 2021: What Major Changes Were Made to September Awards Show?

When Cedric the Entertainer starts the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, things will look a little different again for viewers at home. After going all-virtual in 2020, the Emmys will be an in-person event, but will not be anything like the 2019 ceremony. Back in August, the Television Academy announced its plans for the show, which will take place outdoors at the Event Deck at L.A. Live, near the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles out of an abundance of caution during the coronavirus pandemic. 

On Aug. 10, the Television Academy shared that “following discussions with health and safety experts,” they have decided to limit the number of individuals who will be allowed to attend the upcoming ceremony, according to The Hollywood Reporter. With these guidelines, nominated teams of three or more will be limited to four tickets per nomination. As far as who will be able to attend the event in person, the Television Academy is leaving that up to the respective nominees to determine. In their announcement, the Academy stated, “Unfortunately, this means not all nominees will be able to attend this year’s awards.”

While this won’t have a big impact when it comes to acting nominations, it will certainly affect those who work behind the scenes on shows such as The Crown, Ted Lasso, and Saturday Night Live, all of which have earned numerous nominations across the board. Many of these shows, and, in particular, late-night programming, have larger writing staffs that are typically nominated for the awards. However, due to the changes, these show’s teams will have to decide which nominees will be allowed to attend to represent them.

This is not the only change that the Television Academy is implementing for the ceremony. All Emmy Awards ceremonies will now take place at the event deck at L.A. Live, which is located behind the Microsoft Theater. This will enable the Academy to utilize “indoor/outdoor” seating in order to provide for socially distanced seating. In the Television Academy’s statement about these changes, they noted that they were making these updates to the ceremonies in light of the rising amount of COVID-19 infection amid the rise of the delta variant.

“The health and safety of our nominees is of paramount importance,” the Television Academy stated. “Conversations are ongoing, and we will provide further information as it is available.” These changes also affected the Creative Arts Emmys, which took place last weekend. The Emmy Awards will take place on Sept. 19, beginning at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. It will also stream on Paramount+.