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Buffy/Emmy/Rant
Jul. 19th, 2002 09:39 amOK, sometimes I will use my LJ for stuff of little consequence. Sue me.
Yesterday, they announced the nominees for the Emmys. I can't comment much about most of the nominees for major awards, as I watch almost noe of them. I hear good things about 24 and Alias, though, so it's nice to see these new shows get some recognition early. But...
Once again, Buffy is left out in the cold. Aside from makeup and hairstyle nominations, the one nod towards the show's high point, "Once More With Feeling," is a nomination for something called musical direction. Nice, but that's it. No nomination for choreography, none for writing, and worst of all, nothing in this category:
...Music and Lyrics: "A Mackie Rag" (The Carol Burnett Show "Show Stoppers"), CBS; "I Wish Every Day Could Be Christmas" (The Fairly OddParents), Nickelodeon; "You've Got a Lot to See" (Family Guy), Fox; "The Best Kind of Answer" (Judging Amy), CBS; "Ode to Branson" (The Simpsons), Fox...
I didn't even know this category existed. It's probably new, or else The Simpsons would have won this award many times. I can't imagine how not one song, not one of those glorious songs, was nominated. I guess the Carol Burnett nomination is a lifetime achievement deal, and maybe the same can be said for the Simpsons number. Even so, how could the Emmys ignore the musical?
The answer? Easy. First, it's on UPN. No show from UPN or the WB has ever been nominated for a major award, and Joss' writing nomination two years ago for "Hush" is the biggest thing yet for either network.
Second, though, and more important, it's SF/fantasy. That's how you can explain Jennifer Garner getting nominated after one season (though some count Alias as fantasy) and Sarah Michelle Gellar not being nominated yet. Time after time, with the notable exceptions of the original Trek and X-Files, SF/fantasy gets ignored, or just gets techncial awards. Patrick Stewart never got nominated. Avery Brooks didn't, either. Peter Jurasik didn't. James Marsters and Anthony Stewart Head, David Boreanaz and every great guest star on Buffy and Angel haven't been nominated. And I suspect that Michael Rosenbaum can be the best Lex Luthor we've ever seen for the next six years, and he'll get nothing, too.
It shouldn't grate on me after all this time. I should know that we are not part of the mainstream, no matter how many blockbuster SF films rake in the dough, no matter how many times Spielberg returns to SF after doing something more "serious." There hasn't been a successful fantasy or SF series on the major networks in years, and there isn't likely to be one. And we should be thankful that Star Wars and ET and Fellowship were nominated for best film in OscarLand. That's simply the way things are.
Yet I persist in insisting that they shouldn't be that way. Especially when we're talking about Joss Whedon, who has stretched the boundaries of what TV can do without resorting to foul language, sex and violence, who has taken some rather silly or hackneyed ideas - high school soap opera, vampires, musical episodes - and reshaped them into something great. Yes, Buffy slipped last season, but I'd rather watch second-rate Buffy than any of the "acclaimed" shows that dominate the Emmys (except maybe 24, still want to see that). And that is why every July, like clockwork, I rant.
Someday, someday someone in TVLand will recognize the artistic value of SF/fantasy. But till then, we grit our teeth and wonder why.
Of course, odds are I'm mistaken.
Yesterday, they announced the nominees for the Emmys. I can't comment much about most of the nominees for major awards, as I watch almost noe of them. I hear good things about 24 and Alias, though, so it's nice to see these new shows get some recognition early. But...
Once again, Buffy is left out in the cold. Aside from makeup and hairstyle nominations, the one nod towards the show's high point, "Once More With Feeling," is a nomination for something called musical direction. Nice, but that's it. No nomination for choreography, none for writing, and worst of all, nothing in this category:
...Music and Lyrics: "A Mackie Rag" (The Carol Burnett Show "Show Stoppers"), CBS; "I Wish Every Day Could Be Christmas" (The Fairly OddParents), Nickelodeon; "You've Got a Lot to See" (Family Guy), Fox; "The Best Kind of Answer" (Judging Amy), CBS; "Ode to Branson" (The Simpsons), Fox...
I didn't even know this category existed. It's probably new, or else The Simpsons would have won this award many times. I can't imagine how not one song, not one of those glorious songs, was nominated. I guess the Carol Burnett nomination is a lifetime achievement deal, and maybe the same can be said for the Simpsons number. Even so, how could the Emmys ignore the musical?
The answer? Easy. First, it's on UPN. No show from UPN or the WB has ever been nominated for a major award, and Joss' writing nomination two years ago for "Hush" is the biggest thing yet for either network.
Second, though, and more important, it's SF/fantasy. That's how you can explain Jennifer Garner getting nominated after one season (though some count Alias as fantasy) and Sarah Michelle Gellar not being nominated yet. Time after time, with the notable exceptions of the original Trek and X-Files, SF/fantasy gets ignored, or just gets techncial awards. Patrick Stewart never got nominated. Avery Brooks didn't, either. Peter Jurasik didn't. James Marsters and Anthony Stewart Head, David Boreanaz and every great guest star on Buffy and Angel haven't been nominated. And I suspect that Michael Rosenbaum can be the best Lex Luthor we've ever seen for the next six years, and he'll get nothing, too.
It shouldn't grate on me after all this time. I should know that we are not part of the mainstream, no matter how many blockbuster SF films rake in the dough, no matter how many times Spielberg returns to SF after doing something more "serious." There hasn't been a successful fantasy or SF series on the major networks in years, and there isn't likely to be one. And we should be thankful that Star Wars and ET and Fellowship were nominated for best film in OscarLand. That's simply the way things are.
Yet I persist in insisting that they shouldn't be that way. Especially when we're talking about Joss Whedon, who has stretched the boundaries of what TV can do without resorting to foul language, sex and violence, who has taken some rather silly or hackneyed ideas - high school soap opera, vampires, musical episodes - and reshaped them into something great. Yes, Buffy slipped last season, but I'd rather watch second-rate Buffy than any of the "acclaimed" shows that dominate the Emmys (except maybe 24, still want to see that). And that is why every July, like clockwork, I rant.
Someday, someday someone in TVLand will recognize the artistic value of SF/fantasy. But till then, we grit our teeth and wonder why.
Of course, odds are I'm mistaken.
