In the great debate of whether animation is for kids or for kids and adults, the adults have it … at least when it comes to the Primetime Emmys, overseen by the L.A.-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). These days, Primetime Emmy voters routinely nominate adult-themed animated series for the Outstanding Animated Program category.
The reasoning behind this, like a lot of Emmy categories, comes with a backstory.
The Emmys began in 1949, and honors for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Children’s Programming were first given out the following year. The category was originally open to both daytime and primetime programming—The Huckleberry Hound Show became the first animated program to win that race in 1960. Then in 1974 the inaugural Daytime Emmys ceremony were broadcast. With its own categories for children’s programming, it would soon come under the jurisdiction of the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS).
Brian Sheesley, a former Academy Governor who is an animator, director, and producer, explains that while the Primetime Emmys (known then as the Emmy Awards for Nighttime Programming) still had a children’s programming category, this new ceremony sent most animated programming associated with kids’ TV vying for the Daytime award. In 1985 the Daytime Emmys added a category for Outstanding Animated Program. By this point the Primetime Emmys covered 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., so the majority of kids’ animation inevitably landed in this daytime category.
The Simpsons images courtesy of 20th TV Animation.Over in the primetime world, ATAS added Outstanding Animated Program in 1979, with its first winner being The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Although this category was open to any animated program that aired in primetime, the winners tended to be kid-centric fare like the Garfield and Charlie Brown specials… that was, until The Simpsons first won in 1990. Although there were still some wins for programs targeted at younger viewers after that (Batman: The Animated Series in 1993; Pinky and the Brain in 1996), the past 30 years have mostly seen adult animated programs win this category.
But with today’s increase in streamed programs that don’t fit into traditional time slots, not to mention that the old guidelines for time slots are no longer used, Sheesley says NATAS formed the Children’s and Family Emmy Awards in 2022. All children’s categories from both the Daytime Emmys and the Emmy Awards—Primetime is no longer an official part of the name—were moved to this ceremony.
Back when Sheesley joined the ATAS Governors’ ranks in 1999, he says there was talk of just having an all-animation Emmys. This was dropped because the International Animated Film Society already had the highly respected Annie Awards which began in 1972.
“We don’t want to get kicked to the kids’ table in the living room. We want to be in the main dining room’s kids’ table,” Sheesley says.
Ironically, after all of this, some of the most notable primetime shows with the most nominations for Outstanding Animated Program are, in fact, about kids and their families.
In the Running
We love to celebrate a good Emmy win, but we also appreciate the significance of being nominated. Here we shine a light on the most-nominated Guild shows for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program.
The Simpsons
20th TV Animation
31 Nominations
Mmm… Emmys.
It should surprise no one that the long-running (and game-changing) animated series The Simpsons is both the most-nominated—31 in total—and the most winning with 12 Emmys. This year’s nominee, “Night of the Living Wage,” not only features a parody of the live-action series The Bear, but it’s also an example of how the show never shies away from political and social issues. In this case: taking on an abusive work situation with a union strike.
Consulting Producer David Silverman, whose many past roles on the show have ranged from Storyboard Artist to Supervising Director, credits the show’s longevity to its ability to weave pop culture references in with good old-fashioned, quality storytelling. And despite that a bulk of those references are slipping into the past, the series “has this ongoing, evergreen, renewing appeal to people who [weren’t] around when the show first premiered,” he says. In fact, he’s frequently told that viewers—especially families with elementary school-aged kids—will even now watch The Simpsons from the very beginning.
Bob’s Burgers images courtesy of 20th TV Animation.Bob’s Burgers
20th TV Animation
13 Nominations
Anyone who’s worked in a restaurant will talk about how important it is to stay on your toes—and that doing so can create some truly hysterical moments. Bob’s Burgers, about a family working in (and living above) a burger shop, encapsulates all of this, no doubt contributing to the fact that during its 14-season (so far) run it has garnered 13 nominations and two wins.
Brian Loschiavo started out on the show as a Storyboard Artist and has worked as a Retake Director and Director since 2014. What he loves about working on Bob’s Burgers is surely what makes viewers feel the same way. He says the rapid pace of the show and its ability to change genres, such as doing sci-fi one episode and horror the next, means he “never got to the monotony” of working within the same universe for so many years.
“They’re slightly different but still feel like living in the Bob’s world,” he explains of each new adventure, adding, “I love the characters so much that I’ve got my headphones on all day and I’m just listening to the same audio over and over.” And no matter how many times he hears it: “It’s still funny. It still makes me laugh.”
Futurama images courtesy of 20th TV Animation.Futurama
20th TV Animation
8 Nominations
This comedy series about a going-nowhere pizza delivery guy from the 1990s who ends up in the future has been on for eight seasons across three networks. It also has eight nominations and two Emmy wins.
And, at this rate, Crystal Chesney-Thompson is going to be on Futurama even when she’s just a head floating in a glass jar. As the Director for the (now on Hulu) series, she’s been with it in various iterations, starting out on the (then Fox) series’ third season as a Layout Artist back when computer technology was so primitive that she was drawing on paper to coordinate audio recorded on cassette.
As for the show’s staying power, “the reason we’ve had so many seasons of this show is that we’ve developed this really iconic design language,” she says. She also credits the writers with “cracking these scripts that are extremely relevant and referring to pop culture.” The final element in this winning trifecta? “It’s a story about the future,” says Chesney-Thompson. “We’ve got this limitless scope. [And] we just get to keep designing and adding to this deep library of [artwork] we’ve already made.”
King of the Hill images courtesy of 20th TV Animation.King of the Hill
20th TV Animation
6 Nominations
Titular King of the Hill patriarch Hank Hill may not be up for ditching his white T-shirt and cans of Alamo for a night of prestige at the Emmys. But the proud seller of propane and propane accessories is beloved enough by the Television Academy that his show received six nominations (with one win) during its 13 years on Fox.
“The episodes, a lot of them, they’re little movies,” Supervising Director Wes Archer says. “They have a well-thought-out story arc with incredible writing. When people see the show, I think they really appreciate that they are watching this little slice of a world that they recognize from real life.” For his part in accomplishing this, he says he’s “always striving to keep the camera work at eye level and very motivated by the story.”
As Archer and his team gear up for a new take on the series that will premiere on Hulu, he says: “We don’t want to change up the style too much. The characters are older, and the stories are going to focus on a different life stage, [but] it’s being illustrated and directed in the same style so that people recognize the show when they tune in.”
SpongeBob SquarePants images courtesy of Nickelodeon.SpongeBob SquarePants
Nickelodeon
5 Nominations
Who lives in a pineapple under the sea and has an awful lot of Emmy nominations?
The Nickelodeon series SpongeBob SquarePants has five nominations for Outstanding Animated Program—one of the few kids’ shows to receive so much Primetime Emmy love (along with love from the Daytime Emmys and the Children’s and Family Emmys).
So what makes a kid with a sponge for a head so appealing? “There’s a contradiction built into his character that makes him really funny,” says Kaz Prapuolenis, who has worked as a Writer and Storyboard Director on the show and its movies, as well as helping to develop the spin-offs Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years and The Patrick Star Show.
As a character, SpongeBob is a lot of fun. “He can bounce off walls,” Prapuolenis explains. “You could take him apart and he comes back together again. It’s almost like he’s a perfect little cartoon character engine.” But when it comes to his longevity, Prapuolenis likens SpongeBob to Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp persona: “His optimism is completely absurd; any other person would not be that optimistic.”
