Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Reality or Competition Series
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Reality or Competition Series is awarded to one television series each year. Prior to 2016, specials and series competed together. Outstanding Production Design for a Variety Special now separately recognizes specials.
In the following list, the first titles listed in gold are the winners; those not in gold are nominees, which are listed in alphabetical order. The years given are those in which the ceremonies took place.
Winners and nominations
1970s
Outstanding Art Direction for a Single Episode of a Comedy-Variety or Music Series or a Comedy-Variety or Music SpecialOutstanding Art Direction for a Comedy-Variety or Music Series
| Year | Program | Episode | Nominees | Network |
| 1977 | - | - | - | - |
| 1977 | The Mac Davis Show | "Susan Saint James, The Pointer Sisters, Robert Shields and Lorene Yarnell" | Romain Johnston | NBC |
| 1977 | The Carol Burnett Show | "Glen Campbell" | Paul Barnes, Bill Harp, Bob Sansom | CBS |
| 1977 | Donny & Marie | "Chad Everett and Florence Henderson" | Bill Bohnert, John Told | ABC |
| 1977 | Saturday Night Live | "Host: Sissy Spacek" | Eugene Lee, Franne Lee, Leo Yoshimura | NBC |
| 1978 | - | - | - | - |
| 1978 | The Richard Pryor Show | "102" | Roy Christopher | NBC |
| 1978 | Captain and Tenille | "120" | Romain Johnston | ABC |
| 1978 | The Carol Burnett Show | "The Final Show" | Paul Barnes, Bill Harp, Bob Sansom | CBS |
| 1978 | Donny & Marie | "Red Foxx, Kris Kristofferson and Paul Lynde" | Arlene Alen, Bill Bohnert | ABC |
| 1978 | Saturday Night Live | "Host: Steve Martin" | Eugene Lee, Franne Lee, Lee Mayman, Leo Yoshimura | NBC |
1980s
Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or Music Program1990s
2000s
Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety, Music Program or SpecialOutstanding Art Direction for Variety, Nonfiction, Reality or Reality-Competition Programming
2010s
Outstanding Production Design For Variety, Nonfiction, Reality or Reality-Competition ProgrammingOutstanding Production Design for a Variety, Nonfiction, Reality or Reality-Competition Series
| Year | Program | Episode | Nominees | Network |
| 2016 | - | - | - | - |
| 2016 | Portlandia | "Family Emergency," "Pickathon," "Weirdo Beach" | Schuyler Telleen, Katherine Isom | IFC |
| 2016 | Drunk History | "New Jersey" | Rachel Robb Kondrath, Kellie Jo Tinney | Comedy Central |
| 2016 | Key & Peele | "Y'all Ready for This," "The End" | Gary Kordan, Julie Drach | Comedy Central |
| 2016 | Saturday Night Live | "Hosts: Tiny Fey & Amy Poehler," "Host: Larry David," "Host: Peter Dinklage" | Eugene Lee, Akira Yoshimura, Keith Ian Raywood, Joe DeTullio | NBC |
| 2016 | The Voice | "Live Finale, Part 2," "Blind Auditions Premiere, Part 2," "Live Semifinal Performances" | Anton Goss, James Pearse Connelly, Zeya Maurer, Lydia Smyth, Stephanie Trigg Hines | NBC |
| 2017 | - | - | - | - |
| 2017 | Saturday Night Live | "Host: Alec Baldwin" | Eugene Lee, Akira Yoshimura, Keith Ian Raywood, Joe DeTullio | NBC |
| 2017 | Bill Nye Saves the World | "Earth Is a Hot Mess" | James Pearse Connelly, Lydia Smyth, Stephanie Hines Trigg | Netflix |
| 2017 | Drunk History | "Hamilton" | Chloe Arbiture, Monica Soto, Rae Deslich | Comedy Central |
| 2017 | Portlandia | "Fred's Cell Phone Company" | Schuyler Telleen, Katherine Isom | IFC |
| 2017 | The Voice | "Live Finale, Part 1" | Anton Goss, James Pearse Connelly, Zeya Maurer, Brittany MacWhorter, Stephanie Hines Trigg | NBC |
Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Reality or Reality-Competition Series
| Year | Program | Episode | Nominees | Network |
| 2018 | - | - | - | - |
| 2018 | Saturday Night Live | "Host: Bill Hader" | Eugene Lee, Akira Yoshimura, Keith Ian Raywood, N. Joseph DeTullio | NBC |
| 2018 | Bill Nye Saves the World | "Extinction: Why All Our Friends Are Dying" | James Pearse Connelly, James Nelson, John Calderon, Heather Cantrell | Netflix |
| 2018 | Dancing with the Stars | "Night at the Movies," "Halloween," "Finale" | James Yarnell, Steve Morden, John Sparano | ABC |
| 2018 | Last Week Tonight with John Oliver | "Episode 418" | Eric Morrell | HBO |
| 2018 | The Voice | "The Blind Auditions Season Premiere" | Anton Goss, James Pearse Connelly, Lydia Smith, Zeya Maurer, Stephanie Hines | NBC |
| 2019 | - | - | - | - |
| 2019 | Saturday Night Live | "Host: John Mulaney," "Host: Emma Stone" | Eugene Lee, Akira Yoshimura, Keith Ian Raywood | NBC |
| 2019 | At Home with Amy Sedaris | "Teenagers" | Jason Singleton, Naomi Munro, Kim Fischer | truTV |
| 2019 | Last Week Tonight with John Oliver | "Authoritarianism" | Eric Morrell, Ipek Celik | HBO |
| 2019 | Queer Eye | "Jones Bar-B-Q" | Thomas Rouse | Netflix |
| 2019 | The Voice | "Live Cross Battles Part 1" | Anton Goss, James Pearse Connelly, Zeya Maurer, Brittany Perham-MacWhorter, Emily Auble | NBC |
2020s
Programs with multiple wins
;4 wins- Saturday Night Live
- Cher
- Portlandia
Programs with multiple nominations
;15 nominations
- Saturday Night Live
- MADtv
- The Carol Burnett Show
- The Voice
- American Idol
- Hell's Kitchen
- Tracey Takes On...
- Portlandia
- Dancing with the Stars
- Drunk History
- The Flip Wilson Show
- The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
- Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
- At Home with Amy Sedaris
- Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters
- Bill Nye Saves the World
- Cher
- Donny & Marie
- Engineering an Empire
- Late Show with David Letterman
- The Muppet Show
- Muppets Tonight
- Queer Eye
- The Tracey Ullman Show