• Variety, Wednesday, June 3, 2009 9:30 AM

There's no place to go but up for the prime time Emmys. CBS and the TV Academy have several ideas to breathe new life into the awards show.

Among the possibilities: fewer awards handed out during the program and a return to a traditional host. Other changes might be to move some categories into the Creative Arts Emmy ceremony and to give CBS and the producers flexibility in deciding which categories should appear, depending on their nominees. The buzz is that this year's host will be Craig Ferguson, who scores critical acclaim on the "Late Late Show."

Last year's Emmy ceremony on ABC is considered the low point of the award show's 60-year history. It was hosted by five reality hosts, who were all onstage at the same time and joked about being unprepared. "I would return some dignity to the process," says USA Today critic Robert Bianco. "On a night when you're trying to honor the best in the medium, put the snark away."

Read the whole story at Variety »