The TV academy's awards chief John Leverence believes that the Emmy's new nomination process is a success. While he disagrees with those of us who say that the list of top 10 finalists for best comedy and drama series and top 15 vote-getters for best lead actor and actress should be made public, he dangles fascinating clues about what landed on those lists before judging panels narrowed down contenders to the final nominees that will be announced next Thursday, July 6.

The goal of the new voting process is to give programs on smaller, oft-snubbed networks a better chance to be weighed equally against shows on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and HBO after the 14,000 members of the Academy of TV Arts & Sciences vote using a popular ballot. We asked John how many of these networks had their programs viewed during the panels held last weekend at the TV academy's offices in North Hollywood: FX, UPN, WB, TNT, USA, Sci-Fi and Showtime. He replied, "Candidates from all but one of the networks you cited were screened at the Blue Ribbon Panels. Of the 11 categories screened, they are represented — in the majority of them with multiple candidates — in 8 categories, i.e., 75 percent of the winners in these 8 categories could be from the networks (except one) that you cited."

The 11 categories included best comedy and drama, lead actor/actress in a series plus special effects, cinematography and variety performance. If you wish to guess how the smaller networks were represented in those races, join the dish in our forums — CLICK HERE!

Note to John: Click the above link at your own peril. Our greedy forum Envelopers are, of course, yelping for more clues!

Photo: A private joke for John Leverence. The rest of you — butt out!
(Harvard Library)