The ceremony was held on a night other than Sunday for the first time since 1976 (the 28th Primetime Emmy Awards were also staged on a Monday that year, May 17).[2] The ceremony's unusual date – a Monday night in late August – was due to two factors, primary being NBC's commitment to Sunday Night Football; since acquiring the National Football League's Sunday night game package in 2006, NBC, when it is their turn in the four-network rotation to air the Primetime Emmy Awards, usually schedules the ceremony for the Sunday before Labor Day weekend, to avoid conflicts with SNF in mid-September (when ABC, CBS or Fox normally air the ceremony).[Note 1] NBC's ideal date on the 2014 calendar for the ceremony (Sunday, August 24) led to the other scheduling factor — MTV's Video Music Awards, which were set for that night more than a year in advance[12] (and would be staged in the L.A. area as well, at The Forum in Inglewood). On January 28, 2014, rather than go head-to-head with the VMA's, NBC announced that the ceremony would take place on Monday, August 25.[2] The move would allow NBC to commit to a preseasonSunday Night Football broadcast for the 24th (a game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Arizona Cardinals); it also ensured the tradition of staging the Primetime Emmy Awards the weekend after the Creative Arts Emmy Awards (that ceremony was already set for August 16).[2]
The ceremony's weeknight date and start time – 5:00 p.m. (PDT) in Los Angeles, California – led to concerns of rush hour traffic gridlock in Los Angeles' downtown core at the time of the ceremony; to help alleviate the concerns, the ATAS worked with Los Angeles city officials to map out street closures and red carpet staging areas, as well as include travel instructions (including which routes to take and where to park) in attendees' ticket packets.[13]
Changes in categories and balloting
On November 14, 2013, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced that it would implement online voting for its members to select the nominees. However, online voting to determine the winners would not be used until 2015, and winners for this year were voted on via paper ballots.[14]
There was also an increase in the number of longform nominees in writing, directing and performing categories for miniseries/movie (from five to six nominees) as well as a change in their final voting procedures.[15] Additionally, a 2% rule was adopted in the comedy and drama series categories, wherein, a seventh nominee can be added to the respective categories if its total first-round votes are within 2% of the sixth place series.[15]
Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold:[17]
Jim Parsons, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series winnerJulia Louis-Dreyfus, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series winnerBryan Cranston, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series winnerJulianna Margulies, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series winnerBenedict Cumberbatch, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie winnerJessica Lange, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie winnerTy Burrell, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series winnerAllison Janney, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series winnerAaron Paul, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series winnerAnna Gunn, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series winnerMartin Freeman, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie winnerKathy Bates, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie winner
Despite its departure from its normal telecast schedule, the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards received 15.59 million viewers, the second-largest viewership in eight years.[22][23]
Footnotes
^The last time a ceremony had to be scheduled around football was the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards, which NBC aired on Sunday, August 29, 2010.
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