The Folks Behind the Emmys Are Trying Something New This Year: No Host
The 2019 Primetime Emmy Awards will take place this Sunday, September 22, from 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET in Los Angeles.
Following in the footsteps of this year's Oscars, the Emmys will not have a host, and will also not feature an opening number or monologue.
Emmys producer Charlie Haykel teased that they will use the extra time to honor some of the shows that ended this year, like Game of Thrones and Veep, "in some interesting and memorable ways."
The seemingly endless saga of the 2019 Oscars' search for a host, after Kevin Hart stepped down, culminated in the controversial decision to go without. Having reportedly struggled to find anyone willing to take the gig, the Academy made the divisive decision to go without a host at all, for the first time in 30 years. Though reactions to the news were mixed, the ceremony ended up going just fine, and its ratings improved from last year's dismal numbers. All of which had people wondering: is this going to become the norm?
Maybe so. The 2029 Emmys, which will take place this Sunday, September 22, will also be host-free. While this is less of a dramatic shift than it was for the Oscars—it's only been 16 years since the Emmys last went without a host—it's still a huge decision, and one that's likely to influence other awards ceremonies if it's a success.
“The conclusion was reached that this year, because we were highlighting so many shows going away, that it would be useful to save the time," Fox CEO Charlie Collier explained to journalists at the Television Critics Association press tour in August. “You have to look at the trade off. If you have a host and an opening number, that’s 15 to 20 minutes that you don’t have to salute the shows.”
Emmys producers Ian Stewart confirmed to The Wrap that they never offered the host gig to anyone or searched seriously for a host, instead agreeing from the outset to go without. "We never actually went out to anyone,” Stewart said. “If you do decide to go with a host, which is a legitimate decision, then if they do a 10- or 12-minute monologue then you sort of have about 14 minutes left in the show to do other things that isn’t giving out awards."
Producer Charlie Haykel also promised that the show will put that extra time to good use, hinting that they will use it to honor some of the huge shows that ended this year like Game of Thrones, The Big Bang Theory, and Veep “in some interesting and memorable ways, to be a little coy."
Past Emmys hosts have included Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, and most recently SNL's Michael Che and Colin Jost. And while it's too early to tell whether the Emmys will stick with their new host-free plan or return to a more familiar format next year, the Oscars are reportedly likely to continue without a host. Welcome to the new normal!
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