My previous assertion that the Television Academy hates sci-fi was not disproved by the 59th Annual Emmy Awards, broadcast Sunday night on Fox.

The disappointment was twofold. At the high-profile end, expectation ran high at the end of the season last spring that Masi Oka would be a shoo-in for Outstanding Supporting Actor for Heroes. But people haven't been talking about Oka, and Heroes for that matter, quite so much lately, and the award went to Terry O'Quinn from Lost. (Although I normally don't think of Lost as a sci-fi show per se, it's at least a close cousin, and therein lies some consolation.) In the Outstanding Drama category Heroes also lost out to The Sopranos, and while the HBO mob phenomenon is still generally a sterling combination of solid writing, direction, and performance, I also think this was a classic case of a We're (Sniff) Gonna Miss You Emmy.

Oka did get a brief moment in the sun during the prime-time broadcast anyway, switching to his techno-geek persona to present the award for Creative Achievement in Interactive Television.

The behind-the-camera awards were also a let-down. Though the nominations included several richly-deserved nods for Battlestar Galactica and Heroes in the writing, directing, effects, art direction, sound mixing, and editing categories, there was only one win: Battlestar Galactica won for Outstanding Special Visual Effects, for the visually stunning "Exodus, Part 2."

This effects award was the only statue out of all of the categories – prime-time and creative – that went to a science fiction or fantasy show in the entire slate of 2007 Emmy Awards. The writing and directing awards went to The Sopranos; sound mixing went to CSI, while art direction went to Rome and editing went to Dexter. I have nothing against any of these shows, but the Emmys need to allow sci-fi out of the special effects ghetto. The writing and production values on Battlestar and Heroes are as strong, if not stronger, than any of these programs. They deserve recognition.

Side note: The Sopranos may have rubbed out the competition in some top categories, but oddly enough the cast was totally blocked: James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, and Aida Turturro were all beaten out by James Spader (Boston Legal), Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters), O'Quinn, and Katherine Heigl (Grey's Anatomy) respectively. Perhaps annoyance over the Sopranos finale robbed the show of a clean sweep. And hey, James Spader is the original Daniel Jackson from Stargate, so – no, I'm reaching.

One bright note is that the 2007 fall season looks fairly strong for sci-fi and fantasy, with a lot of interesting names on both sides of the camera. So next year's Emmys might be a different story.

Full lists of prime-time and creative honorees can be found that the Emmy website.

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