I’m still trying to recuperate from the loss of Margo Martindale in the category of Guest Actress in a Drama, as well as the loss of Nathan Barr for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music. ‘The Americans’ only got two nominations for its freshman season and they lost both categories. Admittedly, this article is fueled by my disdain because after all, ‘The Americans’ lost. But aside from my bitterness, I can’t really appreciate this year’s Emmy awards due to another thing, it has become less and less relevant after the years has passed.
I’m not saying that the Emmys is not a big thing, it is. I can only imagine the joy of winning TV’s biggest award and I’m not saying that winning is a simple feat. I totally respect the TV industry, the actors, writers, directors, and everyone who make this whole thing possible. The problem that I have is with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for being stubborn enough to put the same shows, the same actors, in the same categories year after year.
TV today has been great. Due to the fact that cable channels are now making original content, the envelope has been pushed to limits we’ve only dreamt before. This revolution was not snubbed by the Emmys, they followed the trend and included cable shows to their nominations and I applaud them for that. The current trend is shows that has been made by Netflix that people can stream and binge watch on their computers. ‘House of Cards’ has been nominated this year and the Academy will be branded as fools if they don’t include ‘Orange is the New Black’ next year. Yes, they follow the trends, the problem is, new and deserving shows don’t make it to the roster. The prime example is ‘The Americans’ which already won a Televesision Critics Award. Another great show that has been snubbed is BBC’s ‘Orphan Black’ starring the excellent Tatiana Maslaney who played different clones with different unique personalities. A show with Russian spies who act as Americans and a show with a lead who plays different clones were snubbed at the Emmys. Let that sink in for a while.
To be fair, the Emmys is doing its best in trying to please everybody. This year, ‘American Horror Story’ got the most number of nominations while ‘Louie’ has just been getting Emmys left and right for 2 years straight. Both shows are from FX which shows that the Academy has still great taste. But I would watch it better if they included the newer shows next year.
Yes, I’m pissed that ‘The Americans’ lost this year, but the Academy better start making changes next year with the nominations. They need an overhaul, hopefully they’ll realize that the key to making things more exciting, is to appreciate the new shows that the people are actually talking about.
The Emmys are chosen by the secretaries of the most powerful people in Hollywood. The people that are supposed to vote are to busy with their self important lives to actually vote, so they let their secretaries, or assistants do the voting. At that point it becomes a popularity contest (vote for your friends). The Emmy’s (and the Oscars as well) have little to do with quality, and more to do with who is in the right social group.