'CSI' Showrunners Protest Emmy Time-Shifting

Members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) West have signed a petition to protest the time-shifting of several awards during the upcoming broadcast of the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards on September 20.

Last week, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS) announced that eight awards would be given away 45 minutes prior to the live telecast. These awards will be videotaped, and video clips will be included during the telecast. "Our job is to make an entertaining show that appeals to the maximum number of people but, most importantly, maintains the integrity of the Emmy brand," Don Mischer, the executive producer of the ceremony, said in a teleconference on Thursday.

Members of WGA West circulated a petition that received more than 150 signatures protesting the pre-taped awards. The petition reads:

We, the undersigned showrunners and executive producers of television's current line-up of programs, oppose the Academy of Television Arts and Science's decision to remove writing awards from the live telecast. This decision conveys a fundamental understatement of the importance of writers in the creation of television programming and a symbolic attack on the primacy of writing in our industry. We implore ATAS to restore these awards to their rightful place in the live telecast of the 2009 Emmy Awards.

Showrunners for two members of the CSI franchise signed the petition. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation executive producers Naren Shankar and Carol Mendelsohn added their signatures. Pam Veasey and Peter Lenkov, showrunners for CSI: New York, also signed the petition.

The original information is from Variety and the Associated Press.

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