72nd Primetime Emmy Awards

The Governors Award was presented to Tyler Perry and The Perry Foundation "in recognition of their unparalleled contributions to shaping the television medium" and for their "inclusion, engagement, employment and other philanthropic initiatives".[21][22] The award was moved to the main telecast from its usual presentation at the Creative Arts Emmys.[23]

For the purposes of the lists below, "major" constitutes the categories listed above (program, acting, directing, and writing), while "total" includes the categories presented at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

Several rule changes were announced in December 2019. First, episodes that were scheduled to air after the eligibility period closed, known as hanging episodes, were eligible for awards if they were made available on a member-accessible platform, such as the Television Academy's streaming platform, before May 31, 2020. Otherwise, those episodes would be eligible at the following year's ceremony. For limited series, all episodes had to be made available before May 31, or the series as a whole would have to compete the following year. Other changes included the elimination of DVD screeners to save money and waste, as well as a limit on actors playing the same character across multiple series – only one performance for that character could be submitted in a given year. Programs broadcast during prime time hours as an extension of daytime series were no longer eligible, and self-published programming had to be vetted to determine if it was "suitably competitive".[63][64][65]

In March 2020, the deadline for hanging episodes was extended to June 30 due to production delays stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic; the nomination and voting periods were similarly delayed. All shows were still required to premiere before May 31 to be eligible for the 2020 ceremony.[66] "For Your Consideration" events were initially moved from live settings to virtual events due to the pandemic,[67] but were later suspended entirely.[66]

On June 17, 2020, it was announced that the number of nominees in the Outstanding Comedy and Drama Series categories had been increased from seven to eight, regardless of the number of submissions. The number of nominees had last been increased in 2015, from six to seven. The Television Academy cited a 15% increase in submissions as the reason for the change. In other categories, a sliding scale based on the number of submissions would be used to determine the number of nominees; paired performance categories, such as supporting actor and actress in a comedy, would have the same number of nominees. The changes led to the elimination of the "2% rule", where submissions within two percent of the fifth-place nominee would also receive a nomination.[68][69][70]

On August 6, alongside the announcement of the Creative Arts ceremony dates, four categories were moved from the main ceremony to Creative Arts ceremonies: Directing for a Variety Series, Writing for a Variety Series, Variety Sketch Series, and Television Movie. This left 23 categories to be presented at the main ceremony. Additionally, the Governors Award was moved from its usual presentation at a Creative Arts ceremony to the main ceremony.[50]

The broadcast received generally positive reviews from critics.[71][72] Time's Judy Berman called the ceremony "one of the most enjoyable awards shows in recent memory" thanks not to one major decision but instead due to the many details that succeeded. She felt Kimmel's turn as host provided some energy and consistency, even as his performance was simply okay.[73] Linda Holmes of NPR also noted that the broadcast "wasn't just watchable; it was ... pretty good", with the remote setup providing a level of intimacy and unpredictability missing from other awards shows.[74] IndieWire's Ben Travers called it "a memorable, entertaining, and technically immaculate awards show", praising the technical team and the decision to favor live speeches over recorded segments.[75]

Mike Hale of The New York Times was more critical of the ceremony, remarking that the Emmys "continued [their] trend of feeling out of tune with the way most of us watch TV". He added that the remote appearances and pretaped portions evoked nostalgia for "the hothouse atmosphere and occasional breakdowns" of live ceremonies, with spontaneity replaced by "stage-managed banality".[76] Hank Stuever, writing for The Washington Post, found that the ceremony "more than met the challenge that the pandemic handed it" but failed to inspire any permanent ideas for changes to the awards show format.[77] Robert Lloyd remarked in the Los Angeles Times that the show "felt solid enough to accommodate the occasional technical difficulty", adding that because almost everything was unprecedented, it was "minute for minute more interesting than these long nights of self-celebration usually are". He found that Kimmel was the right host for the event, providing "a walking dose of normality" to the proceedings.[78]

The ceremony was watched by 6.36 million viewers in the United States, falling below the previous year's ceremony to become the least-watched Emmys telecast in history. It achieved a 1.3 rating among adults ages 18–49, also a record low.[79] The ceremony faced competition from both an NFL broadcast and, for the first time, a playoff game for the NBA.[1] Additionally, the ceremony lacked a red carpet show leading into the ceremony, which may have affected viewership.[80]

Following the nomination announcement, the Television Academy was criticized for its lack of transgender nominees. Several cast members and affiliates of the FX drama Pose, which is set in New York City's LGBT ballroom scene, criticized the Television Academy for excluding its many transgender stars from the acting categories.[81][82] There was similar criticism from affiliates of the HBO series Euphoria, for which transgender actress Hunter Schafer did not receive a nomination despite critical acclaim.[83] However, despite these snubs, Rain Valdez became the second transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy for acting, receiving a nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series.[84]

Further criticism resulted from the lack of Latino nominees. While there was a record number of black nominees, there was limited recognition for shows starring Latino casts and only one Latino or Latina nomination in any acting category (Alexis Bledel for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series). The Congressional Hispanic Caucus called the lack of nominations a "demoralizing disappointment for the U.S.'s largest minority group".[85][86] When the Los Angeles Times reported the criticism using the terms "Black" and "Latino" separately, it was itself criticized for failing to recognize Afro-Latinos.[87] John Leguizamo boycotted the Emmys because of its lack of Latino nominees, remarking, "If you don't have Latin people, there's no reason for me to see it."[88] Before the nominations were announced, Porter suggested that his Pose co-star Mj Rodriguez, who is transgender and Afro-Latina, was not receiving recognition because the Television Academy's members "don't know how to adjudicate the performance" and so simply exclude it.[89]

The Emmys also faced criticism from the Asian American community, leveled because Asian Americans only made up one percent of the nominees. The relative lack of nominations was attributed to both the small number of shows featuring Asian Americans and the perception among some voters that such shows are niche or foreign.[90] Mindy Kaling, creator of Never Have I Ever, criticized the Emmys for not nominating the series for any Emmy categories despite its success, suggesting that it was overlooked because "Sometimes a show like ours will always seem ethnic or niche to a certain group of people."[91]