Awards Features

There are few sure things in the Emmy race: "The Amazing Race" will win for best reality show, anything sci-fi will be snubbed, and the Academy Awards telecast will score multiple nominations.

Last year, the 79th Annual Academy Awards landed nine noms -- the most of any variety program. The year before, the Oscars also picked up the most noms among all variety competish.

"There's definitely an enthusiasm among the membership as reflected by the voting for the Oscars," says the TV Academy's awards senior VP John Leverence.

According to Leverence, the Academy Awards telecast has garnered 171 nominations in all categories through the years, winning 37 Emmys. In comparison, the Tony Awards have earned 48 noms and 14 wins, and the Grammys 38 noms and 10 wins.

Yet year after year, crix and viewers alike -- not to mention people actually sitting in the Kodak Theater -- grumble about the Oscar show's entertainment value (or lack thereof).

What's more, Leverence says a debate comes up every few years about whether an award show should be honoring another awards show anyway.

"Indeed, there's a certain amount of self-approbation by doing that," Leverence says. "For some, it feels a little bit too close to home, a little bit incestuous, to give Emmys to other people giving awards."

Other than a few exceptions several decades ago, the TV Academy has avoided putting its own kudocast up for an Emmy. But otherwise, the argument has won out that the Academy Awards broadcast reps one of the most significantly produced specials on TV and deserves to be recognized.

"The feeling is the Academy Awards, the Grammys and the Tonys are all major variety/music productions and hence ought to be included in any global evaluation of the best and brightest in TV," Leverence says.

But there are other factors that also explain Emmy's affinity for the Oscars: popularity, proximity and demographics.

Regarding popularity: People may complain about the tedious Oscar ceremony, but they're still watching. The Academy Awards telecast rivals the Super Bowl in terms of event programming and audience size. With so many people tuning in, the lion's share of Emmy voters is bound to be among that aud as well.

"There are fundamentals of the voting rules, in which Emmy voters are told to cast their ballot based on what they've seen and feel is worthy of a nomination," Leverence says. "You've seen the massive numbers that the Oscar show gets. The (TV) Academy membership is watching it."

As for proximity: Not only is it a case of Hollywood players voting on an awards show that rewards Hollywood players, but there's the age-old case of TV types itching to jump into features (a trend that has also started going in reverse).

"There's a certain affinity in terms of the craft between TV and film," Leverence notes. "This is a kind of show that is appealing to people who make TV."

And don't discount the demographic factor: Not only are Emmy voters toiling in the same line of work as those being honored at the Oscars, but the older crowd that makes up a huge percentage of the Emmy voting body is even more likely to watch and appreciate the Oscars.

"That combined advantage of content and demographics dovetails one into another," Leverence says.

As a result, the Oscar ceremony has been nominated for a top Emmy every year since 1993. Until last year, the awards show competed in the outstanding variety, music or comedy special category -- where it awkwardly went up against one-time specials such as music performances and standup routines.

That may explain why, despite its perennial nod, the Oscars haven't actually won a program Emmy since 1991. Voters like the kudocast enough to nominate it, but usually find something a little more special in the one-off competish when it comes time to pick a winner.

Beginning in 2007, to balance the field, award shows such as the Oscars, Grammys and Tonys moved into a "special class Emmy" area award -- one in which they didn't necessarily compete against each other in a winner-take-all manner. Instead, area-awards Emmys can be handed to one, more than one, or none of the nominees.

Still, the Oscars came up short: Only the Tonys managed to win. But the move into the special class category means the Oscarcast has a better shot at picking up an Emmy in the future.

Even though the telecast itself hasn't won an Emmy in nearly two decades, plenty of the individuals who put the show together have. In 2007, the Academy Awards won two, for outstanding music direction and for best art direction in variety/ music/nonfiction programming.

Then there's another, almost annual tradition at the Emmys: The sight of helmer Louis J. Horvitz in a live truck, directing the Emmys, while also accepting an Emmy for his work as director of the Oscars.

"The cult of Louis J. Horvitz," Leverence quips.