More than 150 showrunners signed a petition criticizing the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ plan to pre-tape eight of 28 Emmy award presentations, Variety.

The list of signers includes Damon Lindelof (“Lost”), Carol Mendelsohn and Naren Shankar (“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”), Matt Berry, Marc Cherry and Bob Daily (“Desperate Housewives”), Matthew Weiner (“Mad Men”) and more.

The petition decries the decision to remove writing awards from the live Sept. 20 CBS telecast, calling it “a fundamental understatement of the importance of writers in the creation of television programming and a symbolic attack on the primacy of writing in our industry.”

But exec producer Don Mischer said that the Emmycast must change, or risk becoming a niche event, banished from primetime, because viewers don’t see their favorite shows highlighted.

–Elizabeth Jensen