Late-night TV shows are disappearing from screens, and the Emmy Awards have been forced to take action in response.
On Wednesday, the Television Academy announced that the Outstanding Variety Talk Series and Outstanding Scripted Variety Series categories will be merged into a single Outstanding Variety Series category, a decade after the Academy split the two. That could see Saturday Night Live, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel all jockeying for a single trophy.
The Academy cited a multi-year decline in the number of eligible nominees in the two previous categories as the reason for the change. Since 2020, the Scripted Variety category has seen three or fewer nominees each year, largely populated by SNL and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Last year, there were only five total nominations across the two categories.
The merger follows a broader decline in the late-night TV landscape, fueled by anti-talk-show rhetoric from President Donald Trump.
In July, CBS announced the departure of late-night’s consistently most-viewed host, Colbert, now slated for May 21. The Emmy-winning host reached a wide audience for his political satire, often targeting the president.
The announcement came just three days after Colbert’s parent company, Paramount, settled a multi-million dollar lawsuit with Trump, which Colbert called at the time a “big fat bribe.”
In his acceptance speech at the 2025 Emmys, Colbert acknowledged the end of his decade-long run at CBS.
“I want to thank CBS for giving us the privilege to be part of the late-night tradition, which I hope continues long after we’re no longer doing this show,” Colbert said to uproarious applause. “And if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor.”
In September, ABC suspended the year’s second most-viewed host, Jimmy Kimmel, for inflammatory monologue jokes about Charlie Kirk. At the president’s urging, FCC commissioner Brendan Carr threatened to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! broadcaster, ABC’s, local broadcast rights.
ABC reduced Kimmel’s suspension to three days and renewed his contract through next year, but only after significant audience uproar.
Starting in 2015, the Academy split the Variety Series category to accommodate the evolving talk-show landscape, which included both interview and sketch-based formats. Under those rules, weekly shows like SNL and Last Week Tonight competed for a new award, while Colbert and other, more traditional nightly talk-show hosts competed in their own category.
The new rules, which the Academy attempted to implement in 2020, automatically split categories if they exceed its 20-submission threshold. Last year’s Emmys received only 19 submissions across both categories. The new category has also been redesigned to allow multiple winners, as each show now competes against itself rather than its peers.
“In addition, the Academy is reclassifying the Outstanding Variety Series category as an area award, which could result in multiple Emmy winners. In an area award, nominees are judged individually on their own merits. Instead of Emmy voters selecting one nominee to win, voters must answer for each nominee: “Does this nominee merit an Emmy? Yes/No,” the Television Academy wrote in their press release.
Nominees now have to reach a 90% “Yes” threshold among voters to win.
The Variety Series category has existed since the 1950s and has featured unprecedented win streaks. Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show won the award 10 consecutive times from 2003 to 2012, and John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight has won 10 in a row, despite being juggled between the two Variety Series categories.
Emmy nominations are slated to be announced in July, with the award ceremony airing in September.
