LOS ANGELES--There's no business like show business. Yesterday they told you that you won't go far, next day on your dressing room they hang a star.
And vice versa.
This year, ABC snagged several Emmy noms for Grey's Anatomy, but last year's winners Lost and Desperate Housewives weren't even nominated in the categories they had won. Speaking Tuesday at the TV Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, California, ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson offered a novel approach to the age-old problem of Emmy nominations.
"I've talked to [TV academy chairman] Dick Askin, and next year you guys get to do the nominations," McPherson said to the laughter of the assembled TV press corps.
This year, the Academy put in place new rules governing nominating shows for Emmy consideration. Now, instead of academy voters simply casting ballots, the top choices will then go to "blue-ribbon" panels who will decide which ones out of the pool will be given nominations.
The results have surprised many. Last year, Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman walked away with the award for best actress in a comedy series. This year, after a season that underwhelmed critics and fans, none of the leads are nominated, and McPherson thinks that's unfair.
"For one year Desperate Housewives to win best actress and for the next year not to be nominated, I think that's a problem," he said. "I hope the academy looks at the changes they made and realizes they aren't all good, and goes back to the old system."
McPherson expressed dismay that last year's best drama winner Lost, which didn't suffer the same critical fallout as Housewives, wasn't even nominated this year.
"Clearly [the oversight] is because of the new system, I would assume," McPherson theorized. "And it's sad for a show like that. It's one of the best shows on the air, maybe one of the best shows of all time."
McPherson put the blame for the omissions on the blue-ribbon panels.
"I've heard 'Well, maybe the blue-ribbon panels hadn't ever seen Lost,'" he said. "Well then, to me, that means there's a problem with the panels."
Showtime president Peter Greenblatt echoed McPherson's sentiments.
"I think this new system is as flawed as any I've seen in an awards competition," Greenblatt told The Hollywood Reporter in July. "It feels like the electoral college to me as far as being outdated... At some point, they need to try to stop reinventing it every year and give one setup a chance to establish itself."
Other notable omissions from Emmy consideration this year include Jason Lee for My Name Is Earl, Hugh Laurie for House, Gilmore Girl Lauren Graham, and Kristen Bell, TV's teen detective Veronica Mars.
To vote for your favorite Emmy contender, check out TV.com's Emmy feature.
Comments (18)
Lost was really awesome this season, you can't deny that. It is also the most original series currently airing.
I agree that the academy should have chosen ABC's Lost and Fox's House, I wanted best actors run-off between Hugh Laurie and Mathew Fox. Although, I like lost as a drama, Hugh Laurie expresses his wit and personality better, so he had a very good to chance to win best actor. Think about his acceptance speech at the golden globes multiplied by "42" times the wit.
I can't help but wonder why such a simple question is so hard to provide an answer for. Why weren't they nominated?... ummmmmm... ever think it's because the shows aren't good enough to be?
Hmm...Lost was a bandwagon for everyone last year. This year, they lose interest for no reason...
I thought Lost Season 2 was 20 times better than the slow-burning crap of the first one. The Emmy folk are morons anyhow.
Snub confuses Network?
Didn't they realise that Lost got delusions of grandeur and blew it BIG TIME this season?!
and I don't see the attraction of 'Grey's Anatomy'? what, another hospital show? and I thought ER was boring me; 'House', on the hand, is excellent. What can you? Hugh Laurie is amazing and holds the show briliantly; just as Patrick Stewart held 'Star Trek:TNG' for 7 years - really, sometime there is nothing better then an old fashion British actor..
Lost & DH were not as good, but still up there;
However, I am seriously pissed off about CIC & Invasion being cancelled. It's so annoying! I loved those shows!
eh, that's American TV for you. The pull out a whole season, cancel the show - and leave you hanging there. disguasting!
Lost definitely wasn't as good in season two as it was in season one. I could care less if DH goes off the air tomorrow. I think one of the best shows on all of television though is Veronica Mars. It's sad it doesn't get nominated, but at the same time, it's on a network that won't even exist come September.
You should watch what you want to watch and like what you want to like. If a show (Desperate Housewives) wins any award it's not going to make me start watching it. So, likewise, if a show DOESN'T win an award (or isn't nominated), it isn't going to make me stop watching it. And I think the majority of the television viewers out there will feel the same. That is to say, I don't think Lost will lose any ratings over this. It will only make the awards look less prestigious, which, you know, isn't really a bad thing.moreless
I don't much about the ABC president McPherson, but Showtime's president Peter Greenblatt is a serious tool. "Changing the rules"? Is he seriously kidding or is he really that big of a hypocrite? Is that why he continually cancels "new hit shows" he greenlights on Showtime after only a couple of seasons?He is so evil that he actually wanted to acquire the rights to revive 'Arrested Development' just so he could strangle the life out of it with his own bare hands, cut open its' lifeless belly and crawl inside it to linger, perhaps hoping to absorb some creativity from the still warm intestines within the show's carcass. Now that's a world class "candy snatching" champion.It's not a race, you rating-craving idiots. Look how much better original programming is on cable networks (or the WB or UPN, for that matter)! There's competition there as well, but they're not as desperate as the suits at any of the big four networks. Stop running around in panic and take not of the harmonic life outside of the networks.If they can stomach it; I mean, a good share of the shows on cable networks were turned down by the network suits before they went on to succeed in a smaller yet more liberal market. Tasty.moreless
Since when do you all think that these, or any other awards are about quality? It's about popularity, now suffice to say Lost should have been in there, but i don't think Desperate Housewives should have.
I agree with lingctus, but I love Lost.
It's a shame it wasn't nominated for best Drama, but it's nothing to whine about.
lol, what everyone else said......
Audience seem to get tired of ABC's shows really fast, I think that's the reason DH and Lost are not nominated, and the same thing might happen to Grey next year.
LOST wasn't even that good this season, and I was told the same about DH. It ain't a big deal. Ya won once.
Dear ABC,
Shut Up! You are whining about the nominations, how about African American shows and actors that have been ignored for years. Just because most black shows aired on UPN doesn't mean they should be ignored there is more to UPN than the sorely missed Star Trek.
You don't see black shows, Veronica Mars or Smallville complaining.
I agree that it's no big deal if you got nominated one year and the next year you get nothing, but wasn't it suprising when none of the <i>Best Actress</i> catogory came from Desperate Housewives? It's clear that you guys haven't seen Marcia Cross - her performance has been the best for the past year on the show. In fact, she's the best actress I've ever seen until now. It's really a shame that she wasn't even nominated - not only her fans will tell you that; everyone else will tell you the same thing.
um...BOO HOO..its called other networks released BETTER shows....just because you win or are nominated one year...does NOT mean you are a shoe in for then enxt year....quit blaming the system & look inward @ the writers/directors/producers who maybe didnt put in the whole 110% needed!
okay I really hate this ABC guy. I mean don't complain its just an award, god he sounds like a sore loser.
Lost got really tiring this season, you can't deny that. It is also the most unoriginal series currently airing.