Does anyone still care about the Emmy Awards? As Sunday’s awards show wound down, the viewers, or lack thereof, sparked speculation that perhaps the Emmys aren’t all that they used to be. But why? Is it because of the sheer massive amount of different television shows on the airwaves these days that people just can’t keep up? Is it an outdated institution? Or has it always been overrated?
The Emmys were originally created in 1949. The first Emmy was handed out at the Hollywood Athletic Club, and the award was meant to honor shows that only broadcast in the Los Angeles region. Today the Emmy is considered to be the equivalent of the Academy Awards in movies and the Grammys in music. In the 1950s, the Academy of Arts and Sciences expanded the awards show and allowed shows that were broadcast national to vie for the golden statuette. The competition grew, and so did the exclusivity of the Emmy award itself. The Emmy Award shows have split themselves into several different categories, but the most prominent is the Primetime Emmys. Television royalty walks the red carpet around mid-September every year to see if they will leave with the coveted statuette.
But the question remains: does anybody really care about the Emmys anymore? The answer is yes and no. There are many diehard television show fans around the nation that care about whether their favorite sitcom or romantic drama raked in the wins. But in the long run, people generally don’t care if their favorite actor or actress wins an Emmy or not – because they’re still their favorite actors. Hollywood is notorious for ringing out the awards shows in an array of sparkle and color, publicizing the results and spotlighting certain celebrities. The Emmys might be considered another sell-out awards show to some people. Most of the time there are more Emmy snubs that Emmy wins. The fan favorites rarely take the golden statuette home, as evidenced by viewer favorite losses from the most recent Emmy awards – like Glee, Steve Carrel from The Office and extremely popular romantic/horror melodramas like The Vampire Diaries. Shows like Desperate Housewives instead racked up a whopping 15 Emmy nominations and took home 6 wins in 2006.
Most people point out that the relevance of the Emmy Awards is gone. The winners, like it or hate it, seem to be part of a recurring pattern. The little known, little watched television shows win while the popular shows tend to stay out of the Emmy spotlight. Is there a reason for this? Nobody really knows, but many people also consider the Emmy voting system to be broken. It’s impossible to say what the real story is. Certainly the relevance of the Emmys has diminished drastically merely because of the massive amount of awards shows on television in this day and age. The credibility of winning an award is lessened when there are dozens of shows and hundreds of awards handed out. Winning doesn’t mean much.
Jennifer Sanderson is a Cambridge auto insurance agent by day and an entertainment follower by night. You can follow her on Twitter. If you decide you’d like to spend less on car insurance you can compare quotes anytime. The car insurance Cambridge residents deserve is out there, and you’ve just got to compare some quotes.
