And the Emmy nominees for best reality-competition program will be . . .
On the official Emmy ballot, there are 27 shows competing for outstanding reality-competition program, but the same five have been nominated for the last two years: "Amazing Race," "American Idol," "Dancing With the Stars," "Project Runway" and "Top Chef." And the same one has won all six years since this category was created ("Amazing Race").
So handicapping this Emmy race seems to be fairly simple. Below is my rundown. I'm throwing "Survivor" into the "front-runners" portion because it was nominated here four years in a row (2003-2004) and Jeff Probst won the new award for reality host last year.
Hey, where's "America's Got Talent"? Why didn't producers submit it this year?
REALITY/COMPETITION PROGRAM
(Front-runners)
"The Amazing Race"
"American Idol"
"Dancing With the Stars"
"Project Runway"
"Survivor"
"Top Chef"
(Possible)
"America's Next Top Model"
"The Bachelor"
"Big Brother"
"Biggest Loser: Couples"
"Celebrity Apprentice"
"Deal or No Deal"
"Hell's Kitchen"
"So You Think You Can Dance"
(Longshots)
"America's Best Dance Crew"
"Cha$e"
"The Gong Show"
"I Survived a Japanese Gameshow"
"I Want to Work for Diddy"
"The N's Student Body"
"Party Monsters: Cabo"
"Pretty Wicked"
"Queen Bees"
"Real World/Road Rules Challenges"
"RuPaul's Drag Race"
"True Beauty"
"Wipeout"
Photo: CBS
"Idol," "Dance," "Stars" and "Talent" belong in the Reality-Competition not Variety category.
I used to really enjoy "Amazing Race" but I don't think it has deserved its last couple of wins.
Posted by: JC | June 25, 2009 at 07:35 PM
SYTYCD is so much better than Dancing With The Stars! The dancing, the music and Cat Deeley - the best reality host on television!
Posted by: Joseph | June 24, 2009 at 05:41 AM
My Top 5 for Reality Competition show are:
-The Amazing Race
-American Idol
-So You Think You Can Dance
-Survivor
-Top Chef
My choices for host are:
-Phil Keoghan
-Ryan Seacrest
-Cat Deeley (better host than Tyra by miles)
-Jeff Probst
- Padma Lakshmi
Posted by: Brian T. | June 23, 2009 at 01:05 PM
Why don't "Idol", "Dance", "Stars" and "Talent" submit themselves in the VARIETY category?
Posted by: Terrence | June 23, 2009 at 11:05 AM
I agree - "Deal or No Deal" is a Game Show -- the Emmys ruled that way with "Who wants to be a Millionaire" & stated that Regis had to be nominated by the Daytime Emmy Awards. So nominating Howie for Reality Host is a joke (a bad one the Emmys made last year). Emmy needs to make its mind up & stick with its own rules (thou they change all the time)
Posted by: TORRENCE5 | June 23, 2009 at 08:54 AM
Deal or No Deal is a GAME SHOW. That would be worse category fraud than Dev Patel's campaign for Supporting Actor.
Amazing Race is a juggernaut to be sure. Arguably all these Emmys were what kept it from getting canceled before it steadied in the ratings. Love the show, though, really the only reality show out there actually striving to feed viewers a little culture.
Posted by: Hans | June 22, 2009 at 07:58 PM