Can 'Battlestar Galactica' finally conquer the Emmys?
As "Battlestar Galactica" makes its final voyage on the Sci Fi Channel this Friday night, many award-watchers wonder if it may land in a top Emmy category at long last.
Despite being hailed as one of TV's greatest dramas of recent years, "Battlestar Galactica" has been nominated only as high up as for its writing (twice, losing in 2007 and 2008) and directing (losing in 2007). It's other 11 Emmy bids were all in the technical categories, resulting in two wins, both — as you might expect — for visual effects (2007, 2008).
Last year, fans believed that "Battlestar Galactica" might finally have appeared on the Emmy radar when star Mary McDonnell — surprise — made the top 10 list of semifinalists for the lead actress race, but she didn't get nominated and probably didn't have a prayer.
Several years ago, the Emmys created judging panels that were designed to give lower-rated series like "Battlestar Galactica" a fair shot competing against the Nielsen titans by having judges screen sample episodes. But just when McDonnell made that top 10, TV academy chiefs changed the rules last year to diminish judges' input by half when they mixed their scores on a 50/50 basis with the results of the original popular vote. Ridiculous! That defeated the whole purpose of the panels' existence, and Emmy leaders did it for the worst possible reason: They couldn't take the heat when the producers of "Lost" screwed up the year before, submitted a lousy sample episode to judges in the best-series race and the show got snubbed, triggering screams from America's top TV critics.
This year, to save money, the Emmys killed off the panels completely and probably all hope that "Battlestar Galactica" could get the notice it deserves as it competes for the last time. "Probably" because, let's assume, given the show's low ratings, that McDonnell just made the bottom rungs of her category's top 10 after a popular vote of the academy's acting branch. If she actually landed in the sixth or seventh position, she might come back this year, considering the Emmys are expanding the number of nominees in the top acting and series slots to six or seven.
When the show gets snubbed again by the Emmys, expect to hear lots of loud, hypocritical cries of outrage from journalists, who've done the same thing themselves over and over. Despite members giving "Battlestar Galactica" roaring reviews, the Television Critics Assn. has never given it any award. That will probably change this year, but don't count on it winning best drama series. In the past, TV critics flogged the Emmys for neglecting "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "The Wire" but snubbed them too in the drama-series race. Once those shows left the airwaves, they stuck them with the absurd TCA heritage award, which is pretty much a consolation goodbye kiss.
How deserving is "Battlestar Galactica" for real awards notice?
Matt Roush of TV Guide has declared that the series "transcends genre," hailing it as "one of TV's boldest and best dramas."
Mary McNamara of the L.A. Times says, "'Battlestar' is one of Those Shows, the kind that have conventions and multiple pages in Wikipedia, the kind that viewers watch and rewatch, parsing character and discussing themes as if it were 'Finnegans Wake' or 'Absalom, Absalom!' It is to the Sci Fi Channel what "The Sopranos" is to HBO, a show that defied all expectations and became that rarest of beasts: a big, fat hit with a cult following."
Check out the L.A. Times' "Battlestar Galactica" photo galleries here and here. See Jevon Phillips' Show Tracker commentary too.
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Photo: Sci Fi Channel
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The emmy's, grammy's, and Oscars are a joke.
The industry gave awards to Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake while Pink Floyd recieved its first grammy in the 1990's. In all honesty I think that to conscious consumers these award shows are just corporate shams with arcane rules and politicized results.
Posted by: Gabby Hoosier | March 21, 2009 at 10:25 PM
For JimR. Seemingly you are one of the few that didn't care for the show. Oddly enough there appear to be a overwhelming majority that did. If you didn't enjoy the series why would you continue to watch it. Perhaps you can get started writing something worthwhile and then we can critic you. Good luck!
Thanks for your input Lisa
Posted by: Stephen | March 21, 2009 at 01:14 PM
Poor writing are you kidding me? The show was well written and acted. The production great. I came late to the party and got the past seasons from Netflix watching the stories back to back. I will miss the show, it is too bad that the emmy is based on popularity. Lots of folks watch horrible shows, that is why SNL is still on the air when it stopped being funny in the 90s. A series can not be good with poor writing unless you are the type that likes picture books.
Posted by: Lisa | March 17, 2009 at 10:33 AM
Actually i don't think ratings have much to do with winning Emmys. Mad Men cleans up and no one watches it. I think it comes down what is considered cool at the time and Sci-fi is never cool no matter original or how brilliant. It is never going to win a prestige award.
Posted by: Cheryl | March 17, 2009 at 08:25 AM
If "the Wire", which was a more acclaimed TV serie, didn't make it at the final season (Even when TW did it in the top ten)... Why BSG will do it? Maybe a mention at top ten and even a McDonnell nomination (still unlikely with her competition this year: Close, Arquette, Jones, Paquin, Hunter, Hartigay, Sedgwick, Field and other names) but nothing else (Unfortunally for many people). And again, we have "Friday Night Lights"...
Posted by: Boy878 | March 16, 2009 at 09:39 PM
Haven't you heard? It's SyFy now. Fraking dumb or plains stupid, I don't know.
Posted by: Ben, a french guy in LA | March 16, 2009 at 04:11 PM
Star Trek: The Next Generation got best drama series nom, maybe BSG can do the same.
Only, TNG had huge ratings.
Posted by: Mike | March 16, 2009 at 03:40 PM
The Emmys have proven themselves pretty worthless in this regard. BSG got a Peabody, they routinely cover topics that 24 and its ilk take the easy way out on, and they're brilliantly acted. I don't know what to tell all those people who hear "sci fi" or "spaceship" and immediately check out.
I'd love to say the Emmys should be bringing these niche shows to the audience's attention, but it's all too clear they're afraid of pissing off the herd.
Posted by: Grace | March 16, 2009 at 03:17 PM
Ron Moore also got a writing nod for the Season 3 opener "Occupation/Precipice", but lost predictably to THE SOPRANOS
Posted by: vicmackey187 | March 16, 2009 at 02:44 PM
Maybe it never gets nominated because Ron Moore doesn't use budget from his show to curry favor and doesn't waste money on "nominate me" ads.
These awards aren't relevant because they award friends and and through bribery. The "Peabody" award that actually is an award given to relevant written material means much more than a stupid "Emmy". The problem is that this great cast deserves to be invited to the party and they never have been which is bullsh*t.
Posted by: BHM1304 | March 16, 2009 at 02:07 PM
The poor writing will kill any chance of an Emmy. The writers are lost, having missed the opportunity to tell the great story they instead have spent the final season focusing on internal conflict and the self destruction of the remaining humans. This was a well done series that suffered from poor writing throughout.
Posted by: JimR | March 16, 2009 at 01:40 PM
BSG has been nominated for directing. Felix Alcala if I don't recall.
Posted by: locke | March 16, 2009 at 11:33 AM