Did shows like ‘True Detective,’ ‘American Horror Story’ lead to an Emmy shift?

After a few years of having the Miniseries and TV Movie categories lumped together at the Primetime Emmy Awards, we are pleased to tell you tonight that there is a massive changing of the guard. For the first time since 2011, these two categories are once again going to be split.

What was the biggest catalyst for this? Really, it can be attributed to the massive comeback of “event series” in the past few years. “American Horror Story,” regardless of whether or not you really want to consider it a miniseries, was a pioneer in that. Then, you have shows like “Sherlock,” “Luther,” “True Detective,” “Bonnie & Clyde,” and the upcoming “Crossbones” on NBC that are looking to take advantage of this new format. Many shows, like “Under the Dome,” are also billed as miniseries at one time until it is figured out whether or not they have the staying power to earn a second season.

For the time being, we’re down for the change … provided of course the resurgence of miniseries still keeps going strong. In the end, we do feel like it will, mostly because this is a format that many big-name actors are comfortable with doing. Matthew McConaughey is a good example of that. While you may not have convinced him to do a 22-episode show with a multi-year contract, signing him up to do eight episodes of a show that he can then leave behind and do other things is very attractive, especially for a network like HBO.

It will be interesting to see what the nominations look like now for the Emmys later this year, and we’ll of course have plenty of commentary about it at that time.

Photo: HBO