Primetime Emmy Awards To Combine Lead, Supporting Acting Categories for Movies ... - Collider.com

Last year, the Emmys merged their miniseries and made-for-TV movies categories into one award, a decision which fell under the Emmy’s “Rule 14,” allowing consolidation where there are fewer than 14 submissions in a two-year period.  John Leverance, the Academy’s Senior Vice President of Awards, said “It’s kind of a respiratory system: You breathe in, you breathe out, you expand here, you contract there.”

This year, the cinch belt is being pulled tight once again.  The Emmys are planning to combine the lead and supporting acting nominations into the now-named Outstanding Actor in a Miniseries or Movie and Outstanding Actress in a Miniseries or Movie categories.  Each of these will include six nominations, whereas the formerly separate categories had five.  For more on the repercussions and pitfalls of the change, hit the jump.

News of this Emmy category change comes courtesy of The Wrap.  Unfortunately, supporting actors are the most likely get left off of the dance card with the combination, especially since the miniseries category is starting to look like the Oscars â€" Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Ed Harris, Woody Harrelson, Clive Owen, Robert Duvall, Rachel Weisz and Ralph Fiennes among many, many more all had high-profile roles on TV this year.

Still, the newly combined categories have raised the stakes and, hopefully, will create some more (sorely needed) excitement in predicting the winners (and even at this point, the nominees. Despite the former dearth of material in prior years, the general amount and level of quality in miniseries made both here and imported from Britain may be at an all-time high). It won’t hurt, either, that Downton Abbey will be moved to the Best Drama Series category this year, opening the way for someone other than the incredibly deserving Maggie Smith and her Edwardian cohorts to sweep it all.