The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for Variety Series is awarded to one television series each year. After being grouped together for decades as Outstanding Directing for Variety or Music Program, categories were divided for series and Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special in 2009.
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:
Totals include nominations for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming.