For the first time in its history, the Emmy Awards held a ceremony to specifically honor children and family content — the fastest-growing genre that the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awards, according to theemmys.tv.
Over the past two years, the industry has seen a 23% increase in children/family programming, per theemmys.tv. On Dec. 11, the inaugural Children’s and Family Emmy Awards celebrated several of these new works — including the Disney+ movie “Sneakerella” and Netflix’s “The Baby-Sitters Club,” which both boast a remarkable 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Overall, Netflix and Disney+ came out as the big winners in the ceremony, each claiming 23 and 14 awards, respectively. Major streamers and networks like Apple TV+ and Nickelodeon each snagged two awards, while Hulu and Paramount+ earned one apiece.
And then there was BYUtv.
Competing alongside streaming and network juggernauts, BYUtv managed to win its first national Emmy Award — the only nonmajor streamer/network to secure a victory.
BYUtv wins Emmy Award for ‘The Canterville Ghost’
BYU won its first national Emmy for “The Canterville Ghost” — a contemporary adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s short story — beating out shows like Disney Channel’s “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” and Netflix’s “The Baby-Sitters Club” in the category for outstanding makeup and hairstyling.
A collaboration with BBC, “The Canterville Ghost” is “set in leafy 21st-century rural England,” and “sees American tech billionaire Hiram Otis buy Canterville Chase, unaware that the contents include a malevolent family ghost, Sir Simon de Canterville, who has been haunting the premises for centuries,” according to a news release shared with the Deseret News.
“This is Oscar Wilde meets ‘Downton Abbey,’” said Will Trotter, executive producer for BBC Studios Productions, in the news release. “It’s bursting with gothic horror, romantic comedy and pathos. We are thrilled to be working with BYUtv on such an uplifting drama for the whole family, and we hope it brings much laughter to BYUtv audiences.”
The four-part limited series, which premiered October 2021, features “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Anthony Head and James Lance from “Ted Lasso.” It is available for streaming on byutv.org.
BYUtv’s history with the Emmys
BYUtv has won dozens of regional Emmy Awards over the years, according to a news release shared with the Deseret News. But “The Canterville Ghost” marks BYUtv’s first national Emmy win.
The network’s first national Emmy nomination came in 2020 for the show “Welcome Home,” “which gives home makeovers for struggling families,” per the news release. This year, BYUtv earned two national Emmy nominations in the inaugural Children’s and Family Emmy Awards, which honored programs that typically would have been a part of either the primetime or daytime Emmys.
In addition to BYUtv’s win with “The Canterville Ghost,” BYUtv’s show “Ruby and the Well” earned a nomination in the category for outstanding music direction and composition for a live-action program.