Dear Gossips,
The Golden Globe nominations were announced yesterday, and on Thursday, it’s the Critics Choice Association’s turn to announce the film nominees for their 2024 honors (I am a voting member of the CCA). Something is different for the CCAs this year, though, which is a category shuffle that resulted in the popular and celebrated series Last Week Tonight with John Oliver withdrawing consideration for the CCAs.
The CCAs use nominating committees for the television honors (which I did not participate in this year), and out of an apparent desire to align with the Emmys, the CCA comedy committee, which also considers talk shows, decided to specify that “only shows that ‘involve conversation’” are eligible for the talk show category. This is primarily late-night shows and The Daily Show, which features a prominent interview segment. Last Week Tonight does not have a prominent interview/conversation component, so it was not eligible for the talk show category.
However, the CCAs did not implement a new category, which the Emmys did when they split their talk category into two new categories in 2015, creating the Outstanding Talk Series and the Outstanding Variety Talk Series categories. Lacking a category for variety shows, Last Week Tonight was recategorized as comedy series, which means it would compete against series like Abbott Elementary and The Bear (obligatory “The Bear is not a comedy” comment). In the end, the Last Week Tonight producers decided to withdraw from CCA consideration this year.
No one is out here trying to make their telecast longer, but obviously the CCAs will have to do something next year. Indeed, THR’s report includes that “the CCA leadership recognizes the awkwardness of this situation and will be re-evaluating its categories ahead of the next awards cycle”. We’re either going to need a category for non-talk variety series, like the Emmys, or go back to the old way of including those series alongside the more traditional talk show format.
I’m for two separate categories because they’re separate formats with separate objectives and comparing them is inherently unfair, but again, no one is trying to make their telecast longer. I’d be surprised if we actually add another category. But for this year, at least, it means the Last Week Tonight chokehold is abated—they’ve won the last three years—which leaves the field open for this year’s crop of nominees, including Hot Ones and John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s in LA. Although, let’s be real, it will probably just go to The Daily Show. Again.
Live long and gossip,
Sarah