Some television history was made with yesterday’s Emmy nominations. For the first time, two basic cable series, FX’s Damages and AMC’s Mad Men, scored best dramatic series nods, officially cementing the channels further up the dial as serious original programming players to be reckoned with. What’s more stunning was not only that Mad Men scored the most drama nominations of any program at 16, but that it is in a field of six shows — up from the usual five. That says to me that the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences wanted to recognize the period piece about the early days of Madison Avenue so badly that they boosted the field rather than cut something else. (Although the continued presence of the sophomorically stupid Boston Legal in this category baffles me to no end.)
I’ve blogged before about basic cable’s recent evolution from second-tier exhibitor of reruns and edited-for-television movies to full-blown networks with original shows that are now serious buzz and ratings competition for the broadcast stalwarts of NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX. First came the ratings and now come the accolades. (Otherwise known as the Tony Montana Principle: “In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women.” Well, in this case the women would actually be Emmys, but you get the idea.) This is proof that any business — no matter how historically dominant the big players might be — can be shaken up.
The Emmy nominations also continue to provide further proof of the diminished clout of HBO post-Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Sex and The City, etc., and that rival Showtime has largely stepped in to take its place. For the first time in 10 years, the network didn’t have a contender in the Best Drama category. Instead, Showtime’s serial killer drama Dexter scored a nod. HBO is still represented in the Best Comedy category with nominations for Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm, and it also did well in the Made for TV Movies — Recount, which I liked but, man, was that a painful experience to relive — and Miniseries categories. In fact, in the latter, HBO’s John Adams, the biopic about the second US president was the most nominated program of them all, scoring a whopping 23 nods.
Some other pleasant surprises this year: the return of Lost to the Best Drama category after it regained its footing with an outstanding fourth season; continued love shown to The Office for Best Comedy (when work gets bad, I have only to look as far as Dunder Mifflin and say, “At least I don’t work there.”); that they gave props to three of the funniest characters on TV with noms for How I Met Your Mother’s Neil Patrick Harris (”Legendary!“) and Entourage’s Jeremy Piven and Kevin Dillon (all manner of quotes I can’t repeat on a family website).
Perhaps the biggest surprise was the Academy’s willingness to shake things up this year. The Emmys have long been criticized for nominating the same shows and performers over and over again, regardless of quality, and rightly so. It was always very difficult for new blood to break into the race, but this year turned that story on its head. Sure, there’s still some same ‘ol that is expected and boring (Mariska Hargitay and Tony Shalhoub for the millionth time), the mind-boggling “Whys?” (the aforementioned Boston Legal and its hammy actors, Two and a Half Men, and, I’m sorry, but I just don’t get 30 Rock), and the inevitable snubs (Friday Night Lights, never even a bridesmaid much less a bride, and where are my Desperate Housewives in any of the acting categories?). But overall the Emmys finally seem to be getting it more right than not.
Now we just have to see if it holds up when the statues are handed out.
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