What The Emmys Showed Us: The Reality Of Television
By fred | September 23, 2008
Now that the Emmys are over, it’s of course the time where everyone look back at what happened and tries to finds what it means for the world in TV land. Now, the show in itself wasn’t really good, I mean we had those five stupid hosts who couldn’t do the work on one. Not only that, but Christ does Howie Mandel ever shut up !??
I’m sorry, but the guy couldn’t stop talking, he was constantly there saying shit again and again and again again, I’m sure many people all over the world up to our Mars enemies were yelling, throwing stuff at and probably even shut down their TV because he wouldn’t stop. Plus, as a result we’ve seen how some bits were dropped, people got their acceptance speech cut off right in the middle, what a mess!
But it’s a fact, it’s the cold reality of television these days : networks don’t care about quality anymore, (most of) the industry doesn’t care about quality anymore.
It’s easy to look at the Emmys and declare, as did Time’s James Poniewozik, that “what the Academy recognized yesterday [is that] the major broadcast networks have gotten out of the ambitious TV-drama business. And since drama is the creatively dominant genre in TV right now, that means the major networks have gotten out of the ambitious-TV business, period.”
Now, while I would agree with this sadly depressing statement, I don’t think we’re actually completely there yet. Oh yes, as those five idiots illustrated, it’s all about reality crap nowadays, not high-profile dramas. Because it is cheaper to produce, and - according to Nielsen - people watch it, many, many people watch it. They favor this shit because America eats it, because American Idol was the number one show last season, and it made Fox the most-watched network.
Easy enough to blame the networks, but we viewers have a part of responsibility in this mess, too, if we allow them to continue to do so. If you watch reality crap, if you keep tuning in to new series on CBS even though they keep disrespecting both their viewers and talents, you’re part of the problem.
Still, I wouldn’t agree that all network gave up already. Yes, as Poniewozik noted, “nearly every drama award worth winning—series, writing and acting—went to a cable series“, but I strongly disagree with his statement that “nor can ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox complain this time that the awards were all unfairly lavished on HBO, with its paying customers and zillion-dollar budgets.”
It’s not that HBO took it all, obviously not, as the winners this year come from FX (Damages) or AMC (Mad Men, Breaking Bad), but it wouldn’t be fair to say there was no quality in drama on network television. Granted, I’m no Mad Men fan myself, but I feel Lost was a lot more deserving after such an astonishing season, just like, while absolutely thrilled for Bryan Cranston, there’s no way anyone can tell Hugh Laurie doesn’t deserve the award as well. And how in the world did Michael Emerson not win ??
But, yes, the conclusion is the same : networks are giving up on quality, they are getting out of ambitious-TV business. Perfect example are CBS or NBC. Yet I think Poniewozik couldn’t be more wrong when he calls NBC’s drama Life a “just-good-enough-to-be-safe drama“. Oh no, Life is so much more than that, Life is a high-quality show, one that deserved to be nominees for Best Drama, just like Damian Lewis should be up there with Hugh Laurie and Bryan Cranston, and Sarah Shahi was the right winner for Best Supporting Drama Actress this year.
Really, Life is that good, and it should have had nominations if not wins in categories for directing and writing as well, because it really was that good for its first season. But, yes, it is true that “cable takes chances and breaks ground [while] broadcast TV is in a holding action“, and that’s why NBC is trying to mess things up for Life.
They want to make it just another cop-drama, nothing but a “just-good-enough-to-be-safe drama“. Just like CBS tried to turn Moonlight into something it was not, just like pretty much all new series on NBC this fall have been thought of. Sadly, when it comes to the big networks, the few truly ambitious dramas are indeed legacies, and if anything close to something fresh comes their way, they’ll do their best to ruin it and turn it into another CSI.
It’s not so much that the big networks have “lost the prestige war“, it’s that they gave up fighting. And if you’re still coming back to them year after year, you’re only encouraging them to keep this up…
Posted in News
Shows: Breaking Bad, Damages, House, Life, Lost, Mad Men, Moonlight
What The Emmys Showed Us: The Reality Of Television
I totally agree with you concerning people who just blindly swallow the garbage network-TV is increasingly doling out, and also agree that they’ll continue this behavior as long as people allow them to. They’ll only consider changing their behavior if they lose almost everything. I, for one - refuse to cater to them. Watching what they did to Moonlight, and then their public disrespect for the Moonlight-fans for complaining… only convinces me that the networks look upon viewers as dumb cattle who will return as soon as they’re bored.
Here’s what they’ve done to viewers with this behavior - there may be some fascinating shows coming out this Fall season, but myself, and quite a few that I know - won’t bother getting involved with them. Why? Because last year’s experience has taught us that just because a show is good and popular with viewers - doen’t mean the network won’t suddenly remove it with no concern for how it’s viewer-base feels! I’ve decided not to torture myself like this anymore - so I won’t tune into them! If their ratings suffer - tough luck! They’re training viewers to stay away from them - THEIR FAULT!