When the two TV academies shifted all game show eligibility to the Primetime Emmys starting this year, they couldn’t have predicted how timely it would be. Game shows had already been experiencing a renaissance in primetime, particularly during the summer months. But the genre will be front and center in primetime this fall — especially on ABC — as the writers’ strike delays most scripted fare.
Up until now, game shows that aired before 8 p.m. competed in a dedicated category at the Daytime Emmys (where “Jeopardy” has won six times over the past decade). Meanwhile, the Primetime Emmys lumped game shows that ran after 8 p.m. in with competition reality series like “Survivor” and “Top Chef.”
Now, a pure game show category that includes both daytime and primetime shows in one place could shake things up. Fremantle’s John Quinn, the exec producer and showrunner on CBS’ “Let’s Make a Deal,” NBC’s “Password” and ABC’s “Press Your Luck,” is giddy over the move. “To get a category for game shows, as well as game show hosts, in primetime is the biggest deal in the world to a game show guy like me,” he says. “It’s my Super Bowl.”
Quinn is excited because this finally gives primetime gamers like “Press Your Luck” a real shot at an Emmy nomination. “It’s all the buzz in my game show world,” Quinn says. “How is this going to shake out? Who’s going to be nominated? Is it going to be ‘Jeopardy’ and ‘Price Is Right’ because they’re up every year? Or can one of like the newcomer primetimers do it?”
The decision to move the outstanding game show and outstanding game show host categories — which had been a part of the Daytime Emmys since that awards show launched in 1974 — to primetime comes out of an ongoing realignment of genres and categories across the various Emmy shows.
Game shows are actually nothing new at the Primetime Emmys; in the 1950s, a category known as “best audience participation, quiz or panel program” awarded series like “What’s My Line?” and “The $64,000 Question.” And as a reminder how timeless these formats are, earlier editions of shows like “The Price Is Right,” “Password” and “To Tell the Truth” were all nominated back then.
Whether it’s fair to pit higher-budget, weekly primetime game shows vs. daily, lower-budget daytime shows is one question. But the move also means a change in how many producers will actually take home a trophy, as the Primetime Emmys has a cap on how many people on a given show can win the award. That might be an adjustment for daytime production teams used to everyone getting a trophy.
The Academy also had to clarify what qualifies as a game show. Per the Academy, three boxes must be ticked: The show has to be largely studio based. (That rules out “Wipeout,” for example). It has to be mostly mental challenges — quiz shows, and not only physical. (Not “American Ninja Warrior.”) And it has to be self-contained, with the only carryover being a returning champion. It can’t be an arc of episodes leading to one winner. (That’s why “Survivor” isn’t a game show.)
That still leaves some grey areas. Netflix’s “Is It Cake?” is a self-contained game show when judges determine whether something is cake or not. But it’s also a baking show — which ultimately makes it more of a competition show than a game show.
We won’t have a good idea of how well the new system worked until nominations come out, and we find out which show actually wins. In the meantime, it’s just exciting to finally see game shows get their due. Says Quinn: “The idea of going to a Primetime Emmy event feels like I’m like getting invited to the big kids table.”