TV Tuesday: Awards

[yourlibrarian]

With the Emmys and various other award shows now behind us, which TV show do you feel has been sadly overlooked when it comes to industry awards? Why do you think that is?

Comments

[jo]

Generally, anything sci-fi/fantasy gets ignored. They might get noms for technical awards, but in terms of acting/best show categories, nada. There are the occasional exceptions, e.g. Game of Thrones, but it's the only one I can think of in recent memory that got recognized beyond the tech awards. Although I did notice that both Star Trek Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks were both nominated for something... Critics' Choice Awards, I think this year. Neither won, of course.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, there's a long history of those getting overlooked. I was listening to an NPR segment this morning where they were discussing the Oscar nominees and how comedies rarely get recognition there. Of course there's also a "gaming" of the nomination system, as someone mentioned how The Bear got nominated as a comedy.

The reporter said that in some ways that spoke to the increasing sophistication of TV shows, where they are less likely to be just one thing, like sitcoms or police procedurals. It does make one wonder where the line is drawn. I've heard people refer to Buffy as a comedy -- and while there have been comedic episodes and even the most dramatic episode had humor in it, I've never thought of it that way.

[jo]

Alan Sepinwall has a good piece on the "Emmy Problem", as he calls it: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-recaps/emmys-2023-recap-the-bear-succession-beef-better-call-saul-anthony-anderson-1234947194/

[shadowkat]

The Emmys are weird.

There's too many television series - so it is humanely impossible to watch all of them. Also foreign submitals are prohibited. You can have a program in another language but it must also have English subtitles or dubbing available, and it must be made in cooperation with a US studio or agency. Go here for the Rules, You can't be nominated for an Oscar and an Emmy for the same program, performance, and in the same year. It's for television programming only.

As a result - critically acclaimed mainstream series get nominated. And usually just US series - since it is a US based award. You're not going to get anything that isn't mainstream or hasn't won other awards, or isn't raved about by various television critics nominated. That's not possible. If it premieres on say the CW or back in the day the WB or UPN, it's not getting nominated. If it's science fiction or fantasy, unless it hits the mainstream like X-Files or Game of Thrones, it's not getting nominated.

Add to all this - we're comparing apples and oranges, none of these shows are alike. The Bear is nothing like Abbott Elementary or Only Murders in the Building, it's unlikely viewers who love The Bear are going to necessarily love the other two. Also, I wouldn't call the Bear a comedy, more a dramedy or a drama.

I honestly don't think we need or should have awards shows. It's mainly marketing - but for series that frankly don't need it. And while they were allegedly celebrating 75 years of television - so many television series were left out of the mix. Far better ones than the ones included.