Why are the Daytime Emmy noms on 'The View'?
Good question. Back in the ol' TV days (when Dr. Phil was still groveling at Oprah's knee and Martha Stewart was still an uncracked icon), the Daytime Emmys telecast would rotate among ABC, CBS and NBC. But NBC backed out a few years ago when it got out of the soap biz more or less ("Days of Our Lives" is its last stalwart) and TV ratings plunged, making the awards show a dubious business venture. Ever since Susan Lucci finally won in 1999, the ratings have dropped more than half.
Now the ceremony telecast flip-flops between ABC and CBS, and something miraculous happened last year. After plunging to an all-time low of 6.1 million viewers in 2006, the Emmycast jumped to 8.3 million last year (up 37%) — its best numbers since 2004. What happened? In 2006, ABC telecast a dragging, three-hour awards ceremony during May sweeps when competition was fierce. Last year CBS pushed the show back to June and held a breezy two-hour show right after a highly hyped rebroadcast of Bob Barker's final episode of "The Price Is Right."
The nominations used to be announced — just like the Oscars and prime-time Emmys — during the morning programs like "Today," "Good Morning America" and "CBS Early Show." Often all three networks would interrupt their programs to toss to views of the news conference.
But now that the Daytime Emmy show is the property of only two networks, there's less cross-industry interest in hyping a program to be aired later by a rival. With ABC having it this year, it'll be, firmly, an ABC thing. And to grasp hold of it hard, the network has moved the noms announcement from the early hour, when everyone's watching before they go to work, to the later morning, when the only people tuned in are those who watch "All My Children" and "General Hospital" (both ABC shows). Its audience is more targeted and this way ABC can devote a full hour to the noms. Check out "The View's" website — CLICK HERE
Take a look at how the categories for the daytime non-drama shows have changed in recent years. Last year's invented Morning Show Category included every kind of show that aired before noon. News, variety, information, arts.
This year, the same group got divided into 3 categories. Just trying to get certain shows Emmys because they're always shut out? The more Emmys the better? the more entries, the more entry fees?
Posted by: jenni | April 30, 2008 at 10:06 AM