A Hollywood Reporter commentary is taking aim at the Emmys' outstanding animated program category, arguing that entrenched veteran shows are crowding out fresher, more original work. This year's nominees include The Simpsons, now 37 seasons deep, South Park at 28 seasons, Rick and Morty in its ninth season, and Bob's Burgers, which just wrapped its 20th season. According to the piece, The Simpsons and Bob's Burgers have been nominated every year since the Obama administration.
Missing from the shortlist, the article notes, are newer titles including Owen Dennis' dark sci-fi series Among Us on Paramount+, Raphael Bob-Waksberg's time-jumping family series Long Story Short on Netflix, and Joe Cappa's Adult Swim series Haha, You Clowns, described as a single-dad delight. Two nominees do offer some variety: Smiling Friends, Adult Swim's take on a nonprofit and the meaning of doing good, and Star Wars: Visions, which uses a range of artists and styles, though the piece suggests both feel token additions unlikely to win.
The commentary lays out several proposed fixes. First, it calls for the Emmys to stop awarding individual episodes rather than entire shows — a practice the piece says disadvantages newer, stranger series that need multiple episodes to click with viewers, unlike the rest of TV Academy convention. Second, it argues against what it calls "international ghettoizing," pointing to Bluey as one of the best shows on television in the past decade with a wide American audience, and calling for a way to make it eligible for the primetime Emmy. It also urges scrapping the rule that "Eligibility in animation is for programming that targets an audience age 13 and above," saying it no longer reflects how people actually watch TV.
Finally, the piece criticizes the fact that Phase II voting for the category is restricted to the animation branch of the TV Academy rather than opened to the full membership, calling animation one of only two realms with that limitation. It suggests this narrow voter pool leads members to favor shows made by people they know or have worked with, reinforcing nominations for long-running series. The article notes a colleague, David Canfield, previously raised a similar point about international ghettoizing on the live-action side. The piece originally ran in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine, accompanied by an illustration from Brian Taylor.
