Fox Announces Emmys Won’t Have a Host This Year

The Primetime Emmy Awards will look a little different this year when the telecast airs on Sept. 22 on Fox. For the first time since 2003, the award show will operate without a host. Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier relayed the news during the Television Critics Association press tour on Wednesday.

Collier noted that their were discussions during the planning stages of who would host with a few names coming up, but there was never any offers put forth. The network decided going down the no host path allowed for more creativity in what figures to be a jam-packed show.

There are many significant milestones likely to be designated time during the broadcast. Fox likely will dedicate a segment for the 30th anniversary of one of their biggest shows to hit the television screen, Beverley Hills, 90210. There’s also a few other notable achievements, such as Friends and ER both celebrating 25 years and Seinfeld taking in their 30th year anniversary.

Game of Thrones will also figure to be heavily in the forefront after their decorated seven season run came to an end this year.

“Our job is to assess how to elevate the program in the year we’re lucky enough to broadcast it,” Collier noted. “What’s interesting to me this year is how many shows we’re saying goodbye to. You have to look at the trade off. If you have a host and an opening number, that’s 15-20 minutes that you don’t have to salute the shows.”

Collier reiterated that it “would be a really strategic use of the Emmys to not have a host.” Fox is hoping that the extra time from not having to cut back and forth to a host will allow for each show to get its fair share in the spotlight.

Earlier in the year, the Academy Awards flourished without having a host. The broadcast saw its ratings improve from the year before with Collier mentioning how that result did catch their eye after the numbers came in.

Last year, the duo of Michael Che and Colin Jost hosted the show on NBC. Stephen Colbert (2017, CBS) and Jimmy Kimmel (2016, ABC) took the reins the years prior. The last time the Emmys appeared on Fox in 2015, Andy Samberg was tagged as the host.

This year will mark the 71st year for the telecast. The debut of the show was hosted by Walter O’Keefe in 1949.