Emmy time-shifting dead

So much for the TV Academy's primetime segregation plan.

The Academy has agreed to present all the primetime Emmys live after a storm of criticism from writers and directors. The eight categories that the Academy intended to edit down to save time will be presented along with the other categories on Sept. 20.

UPDATE: The Writers Guild of America East, demonstrating their innate ability to capture the moment and touch our hearts with evocative prose, have released a statement reacting to the decision:

"This is good news. We're pleased the Academy listened to the writers' concerns."

Hmm, okay, not so much then.

More from THR's Nellie Andreeva:

"This decision was made to mend relationships within the television community and to allow executive producer Don Mischer to focus his full attention on producing the creative elements in the telecast," TV Academy chairman-CEO John Shaffner said in a statement. "Our goal is to celebrate the year in television, honor excellence and this year's great achievements with the support of our industry colleagues and our telecast partner, CBS."

Last month, Mischer proposed and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' board of governors voted to approve a time-shift of eight awards.

The proposal included best movie and best miniseries; writing for drama series and writing for movie/miniseries; directing for movie/miniseries and directing for variety, music and comedy series; and supporting actor and actress in TV movie/miniseries.

"We try to make the Emmys more relevant to mainstream viewers while honoring the choice of the Academy properly and appropriately," Mischer said at the time.

But the move drew strong criticism from WGA, DGA, SAG and several networks, including HBO. More than 100 top TV writer-producers issued a protest against the decision.

Now the TV Academy and Mischer have to find another way to boost the ratings for the Primetime Emmy ceremony, which hit an all-time low last year.