Emmy Follow-up: Nominations but Few Wins

Sci-fi and fantasy shows did pretty well in the nominations for the latest round of Emmy awards, racking up 49 nods in all categories. But when it came time to toss around the statues, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences continued to demonstrate a lukewarm appreciation for genre shows.

The highest profile win for sci-fi / fantasy at this year's Emmys, and the only one to be found in the Prime Time show held Sept. 21, was Barry Sonnenfeld, who won Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series for directing the pilot episode of Pushing Daisies ("Pie-lette"). (The big winners for the night were Mad Men, 30 Rock, and the miniseries John Adams.)

Pushing Daisies also won two "creative" awards, announced at the separate ceremony held Sept. 13: Outstanding Editing (for "Pie-lette") and Outstanding Music Composition (for "Pigeon").

The other wins, all "creative," are:

• Battlestar Galactica, Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Series (for "He that Believeth in Me") and Outstanding Special Class -- Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Programs (for "Razor Featurette #4")
• Smallville, Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series (for "Bizarro")
• Chuck, Outstanding Stunt Coordination (for "Chuck Versus The Undercover Lover")
• Tin Men, Outstanding Makeup For A Miniseries Or A Movie (Non-Prosthetic)
• Heroes, Outstanding Interactive Media Programming (for "The Heroes Digital Experience," co-winner)

By my count those 49 nods translated into 9 actual wins – two of which were for ancillary digital media productions rather than actual episodes. Out of 16 nominations for the Sci Fi Channel, two "creative" statues actually materialized. (Between the two ceremonies, awards in 98 categories were given out.) The good news is, none of these are "What the – really?" awards: all 9 of those wins were richly deserved. (The same holds, for that matter, for many of the Prime Time awards: I also watch Entourage, for example, and I was very happy to see Jeremy Piven win.)

Sci-fi and fantasy are carving out a larger and larger presence on TV and in the entertainment media in general, so it's odd that the pervasive influence of genre entertainment is not resonating with the Emmys being actually awarded. It's great that sci-fi and fantasy are getting more recognition in the nominations, but I look forward to the Academy voters recognizing the outstanding direction, performance, and production accomplishments of the growing batch of genre shows on television. Meanwhile, congratulations to Sonnenfeld and everyone at Pushing Daisies for a job well done.