Robin Katz’s resume in television speaks for itself. She’s been an editor on shows such as NYPD Blue and Lipstick Jungle, not to mention a plethora of TV movies. But Katz is adamant she will not be watching the Emmy Awards on Aug. 29; she can’t even recall the last time she did. “I guess it’s strange but I don’t watch it at all,” she says over the phone from her office in Los Angeles. “I’m annoyed because it’s all these pretty people strutting about, and I can just read about the winners the next morning.”
Katz’s sentiments may seem odd for someone so heavily involved in the television industry, but it should not come as a shock. The awards given out on the primetime broadcast only feature acting and series-based categories, omitting a large swath of industry people, without whom these lauded shows would never have seen the light of day.
Despite stagnant ratings and a stale product, the producers of the Emmy broadcast seem to assume the audience is not interested in what the Academy calls its Creative Arts Emmys: awards for people working behind-the-scenes. But, as Katz intones, the audience cannot be interested in something they never have a chance to learn about. “It doesn’t do a whole lot of justice to people working in the business, and it does prolong and keep that ignorance going,” she says. “No one knows because no one sees.”
It is worth noting that a heavily edited broadcast of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards is scheduled to air on E! Television on Aug. 27, although you would be hard pressed to find even a smidgen of promotion on the cable channel’s website.
Lorne Frohman, an Emmy-nominated writer and the coordinator of the television writing and production program at Humber College in Toronto, remembers the primetime broadcast being more diverse, featuring “wall-to-wall awards.” But as ratings became more important, the number of awards was cut back. “It’s a matter of time versus entertainment value,” he says.
Frohman was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in 1985 for his writing contributions to Pryor’s Place, a children’s show featuring comedian Richard Pryor. He finds it strange that the Emmy broadcast has not started to incorporate some of the Creative Arts awards, simply because there are now shows shedding light on the inner workings of the television industry.
“Up until recently, you couldn’t get in the door with a show like 30 Rock,” he says, referring to the immensely popular NBC show that focuses on the production of a late night comedy program. “But now, people are more aware of the various processes, so I’d think it would be a no-brainer to include different categories on the broadcast.”
One of the more glaring omissions on the broadcast is the lack of acknowledgment for casting. The work of a casting director is essential to any program, especially when on iconic shows like Seinfeld or Cheers, neither of which would have been successful without stellar casting choices.
“A casting director is going to bring in people that are going to make or break your show, and, in turn, make or break the actors’ careers,” Frohman says. “I just don’t think the public would get it, unless you explain what a casting director does and there’s just not enough time on an awards show.”
Katz disagrees, and says the audience is being done a major disservice. “If people are interested enough to watch an awards show, you’d think they’d be interested to see who was responsible for different things and what their contributions were,” she says.
According to her, people would also be surprised to know just how much a show can rely on solid editing. The only time people actually notice how a show is edited is when it’s done poorly. “We find the pieces that jump out at you and are real and emotional and then we put them together,” Katz points out. “The nature of editing is not flashy, so people just think the show is shot that way.”
She points to Dexter and Mad Men as current programs with stellar editing, both of which are nominated in the category this year. Frohman also cites the casting work on Nurse Jackie as a personal favourite. It too is nominated, for outstanding casting in a comedy series. “It’s just too bad audiences are being robbed of the chance to recognize such excellent work,” he adds.
The Emmy broadcast is a poor resemblance of the incredible work being done in the television industry. Instead of trying to reach out into different aspects of the industry to grab viewers’ attention, Emmy producers are intent to keep cutting awards from the broadcast, only to replace them with half-witted attempts at grabbing ratings. This year, the award for best reality host will be bumped from the broadcast so George Clooney can be honoured for his charity work for the umpteenth time in his career, despite the fact he has barely worked in television since his departure from ER in 1999.
In the end, it is a sad state when the Emmy broadcast continues to ignore its own members as it is the only stage available to recognize their talents and educate the public on the inner workings of the industry.
“The credits on any particular show go by so fast, it’s impossible for those people to get any acknowledgement,” Frohman says.
Katz is not so optimistic. “The people that are producing these kinds of awards shows will often go to the lowest common denominator,” she says. “It’s just not sexy to feature editing or writing, even on a small scale.”
Thoughts? Sound off below.
The 62 Annual Emmy Awards airs Sunday, Aug. 29, CTV/NBC.
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