New Television Academy Industry Panel Releases Emmy Awards Category Decision on "Shameless", "Jane the Virgin" and "Glee"

The Television Academy has released the first decisions by a new industry panel established to determine Emmy Awards series category eligibility.

The nine-member panel, which includes five industry leaders appointed by the Academy Chairman and four appointees by the Board of Governors, has determined that the following three series are eligible to enter the competition in the comedy series category: Shameless, Jane the Virgin, and Glee. A two-thirds vote of the industry panel was required to reach each decision.

Each of these three series will compete in the comedy category for all other awards, including performer, writer, director, etc.

The Academy's Industry Panel was announced last month to formalize the process for evaluating series category eligibility. A producer, network or studio may elect to submit a 60-minute series as a comedy or a 30-minute series as a drama on their application. The Industry Panel then watches the programming and evaluates if the series is predominately a comedy or drama. If at least six of the nine members of the Panel determine that the 60-minute series is a comedy or the 30-minute series is a drama, that program is then eligible in that category.

Nominations for the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards will be announced the morning of Thursday, July 16.

The Emmy Awards, hosted by Emmy Award-winning writer, actor and comedian Andy Samberg, will air live coast-to-coast on Sunday, September 20 (8:00 – 11:00 PM ET live/5:00 – 8:00 PM PT live) on Fox.