why Housewives did not win?
from AntBlog701

why Housewives did not win?

Okay, last night's Emmys was a bit disappointing for Desperate Housewives. They did not leave empty handed, but they lost the "best comedy" Emmy awards, as most people were expecting them to win.

Charlie McCollum in Mercury News wrote something quite well.

Why did "Desperate Housewives'' lose the best comedy Emmy it had been expected to win handily? My suspicion is that "Housewives'' was just too much of a hybrid for the traditionalists within the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, who see hour-long shows as dramas and half-hour series as comedies.

Unlike "Ally McBeal,'' the last hour show to win the comedy Emmy, "Housewives'' is as much drama (or melodrama) as it is comedy. Which really makes it neither fish nor fowl when it comes to the Emmys. ("Gilmore Girls,'' which wasn't nominated but should have been, has the same problem.)

That doesn't, of course, explain why the voters then turned around and gave the award to "Everybody Loves Raymond'' instead of "Arrested Development,'' which is clearly a comedy and a very funny one. Look, I liked "Raymond'' and I thought it deserved Emmy recognition long before it got it from the Academy. And its final season wasn't as bad as many farewell tours, when series have stayed around one year past their expiration date.

But winning out over both "Housewives'' and "Arrested Development''? That's just flat out wrong.

By the way, this was have been "Housewives''' best -- and maybe last -- chance for the comedy Emmy. Next year, there will be very stiff competition from HBO's "Entourage,'' "Curb Your Enthusiasm'' and the upcoming "Extras,'' such network newcomers as "How I Met Your Mother'' and "Everybody Hates Chris'' and -- I'm betting -- the American version of "The Office,'' now that star Steve Carell has found movie fame.

> The Emmys, the Morning After: Why "Desperate Housewives'' lost and other mysteries of TV life (Mercury News, 19 Sept 2005)
Related entries: and the winners are... (19 Sept 2005)