Poor Johnny Carson. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, he used to get furious with Emmy chiefs when "The Tonight Show" kept losing best variety series. Or worse: it wouldn't even get nominated. It reaped bids in 1964, 1966 and 1967, but got skunked in 1965, 1968, 1969 and 1970. After a while, it didn't look like "Tonight" could ever win, probably because Carson's intentionally silly chat show competed against slick, scripted variety programs like "The Carol Burnett Show," which usually trounced.

But then, suddenly, Emmy hopes brightened when the TV academy separated talk shows into a separate category. Alas, "Tonight" lost to "The David Frost Show" in 1971, then to "The Dick Cavett Show" in 1972. In 1973, "Tonight" got snubbed completely. In 1974, talk shows were again bunched with variety series. "Tonight" nabbed a nom, but lost to "The Carol Burnett Show."

Enough! Carson finally got fed up and furious. When "Tonight" nabbed a bid again in 1975, he decided to slap the TV academy right back and issued a damning public declaration refusing the nomination.

The academy felt the sting. Carson was beloved in Hollywood and across America, so Emmy chiefs conspired to cook up some way, any way, to get "The Tonight Show" an Emmy. In 1977-78, they created a new category for program achievement/special class, nominated "Tonight" and it finally prevailed. Then, in 1978-79, "Tonight" did so again.

There's a cruel double standard applied to the repeat Emmy victories by "The Amazing Race" and "The Daily Show" — both of which have swept their categories (best reality program, best variety series, respectively) seven times in a row.

When "Race" prevailed, amazingly again (it's never lost this category in the seven years of its existence), there was grumbling back in the press room. No one suggested it didn't deserve to win. The harrumphing was all about, "Oh, it won again? Isn't enough enough?"

"Survivor" host Jeff Probst even had the lousy manners to say, "Maybe 'Amazing Race' should do what Oprah did and pull itself out of competition." Moments later "Amazing" producer Bert Van Munster was asked by reporters if he'd do just that. He replied, "I'm going to discuss it with my committee here, but it's unlikely."

However, when "The Daily Show" won again, none of the journalists seemed to mind, and nobody mentioned the Oprah option. Why?

The answer's obvious. Journalists think Jon Stewart is cool, so no one has the guts to suggest — out loud — that he should bow out. Daring to utter such a thing would risk instant ambush, flogging and crucifixion by peers. But if the basis for complaining about repeat victories is monotonous repetition, then both shows should be held to the same standard, shouldn't they?

If you wish to argue that "The Daily Show" deserves to win and "Amazing Race" doesn't (and no one I know has made that argument publicly), then consider this: A good case can be made that "The Daily Show" didn't deserve to win this year. It beat a nominee that was universally acclaimed to be one of the most relevant, important and brilliant programs of the past TV year: "Saturday Night Live" not only had a superb season, creatively speaking, but its riffs on U.S. presidential politics starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were the water-cooler talk of the nation. Did "The Daily Show" really deserve to beat that? Of course not. So how did it happen?

There are quirks of human nature that can be routinely observed as factors behind who wins Emmys. Let's start with Stewart's category: best variety series. Programs with multiple hosts seldom win Emmys. We see that all the time at the Daytime Emmys, where just a few weeks ago, for the first time in this TV award's history, a show with multiple hosts ("The View") finally won best talk show. That same voting bias hurts "Saturday Night Live." The show hasn't won this category since 1993 and that may be one of the reasons. Showbiz awards are all about hugs. When voters look over a ballot, they're more inclined to want to wrap their arms around one person than lots of people.

But there are four solo people emceeing the other four nominees in this category. One of them is just too mean. Even as much as he's liked and admired, no one, let's be honest, wants to hug Bill Maher. In fact, he's Emmy's biggest loser, with 22 defeats, no wins. David Letterman has always been a bit mean, but he's warmed up through the years. He used to win here frequently, but he's been pushed aside ever since Stewart emerged as the new Letterman, the new cool dude with snarky 'tude sitting behind a desk on TV.

There were lots of loud gasps of shock among Emmy watchers when the Oscars' opening tune beat Justin Timberlake's and Andy Samberg's "Mother Lover" from "Saturday Night Live" for best song. But why should anyone be surprised? Watch it again below.

This Emmy victory, by the way, was a great vindication for Oscars host Hugh Jackman, who couldn't receive his own, separate Emmy nomination like many past Oscar emcees back in the days when there used to exist a category for best individual performance in a variety show. Unfortunately, the TV academy zapped that race this year and bunched the hosts with producers of variety specials. If the special wins, they all share in the victory, but I think that's a lousy idea. Maybe Emmy voters thought so too by rewarding his song (if not Jackman personally) here.

As my Envelope colleague Pete Hammond points out, the Oscars suffered some tough Emmy slights this year. This victory is vindication for the whole Oscarcast team, which did a terrific job. Such a snub isn't typical, however. Among all programs, the biggest winner of all Prime-time Emmy Awards is that TV special airing the Academy Awards.

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It was a lot of fun when Tina Fey ("30 Rock") went all nuclear on The Envelope during her Golden Globes acceptance speech this year. But she's still hurling rocks. Sunday night, backstage at the Emmys, moments after "30 Rock" won best comedy series, a journalist asked if her victory was really a "nail-biter," as she said during the acceptance speech.

"Yeah," she said, "The Internet is always wrong. So when I heard we were the favorite on the Internet, I thought, 'Oh, no! We're dead!' "

Since this is the only website that pools Emmy predictions and we're a site Tina knows well (she said at the Globes that we're one of the few sites she likes to hang out at — see the video here — while snooping in our message boards, which she blasted in her acceptance speech), it's probably safe to say that she was largely referring to The Envelope again at yet another awards show. So here is our reply to Tina.

We're "always wrong," Tina? In 2007 and 2008, we correctly predicted "30 Rock" would win best comedy series, and last year we foresaw your victory as best actress and Alec Baldwin's as best actor. This year we correctly forecast repeat victories by "30 Rock" and Baldwin, but, yes, we did get one major prediction wrong in the laugh lineup. We believed you'd repeat at best lead actress. However, we warned loud and clear that Toni Collette ("United States of Tara") was poised as a spoiler because Hollywood voters are such suckers for multiple-personality roles.

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The Emmy Awards telecast on CBS scored an 8% hike in viewership (13.3 million) over last year, reaping an 8.7 rating/14 share. Here's how those numbers compare to previous years, according to TVByTheNumbers.com:

9/21/08 - ABC - 8.2 rating/13 share (12.3 million viewers)
9/16/07 - FOX - 8.4 /14 (12.9 million)
8/27/06 - NBC - 10.6/17 (16.1 million)
9/18/05 - CBS - 12.5/20 (13.7 million)
9/19/04 - ABC - 9.4/15 (13.7 million)
9/21/03 - FOX - 11.8/19 (17.9 million)
9/22/02 - NBC - 13.5/21 (19.9 million)
11/4/01 - CBS - 11.4/16 (17.1 million)
9/10/00 - ABC - 14.2/23 (21.7 million)
9/12/99 - FOX - 11.7/19 (17.4 million)

Neil Patrick Harris may have lost his supporting actor race for "How I Met Your Mother," but he sure was a winner as host of last night's Emmy Awards. Following last year's fiasco with the five reality show host nominees as emcees of the Emmys, Harris was hailed by the TV critics as a welcome change.

And the awardscast itself came in for praise as well. Veteran producer Don Mischer delivered on his commitment to bring coherence to the Emmys by grouping the awards by genre. After nixing his plan to "time shift" some of the presentations of Emmy Awards, Mischer and company came up with a show that sailed along for three hours and three minutes. 

Writing for Reuters, Frank Scheck said, "Neil Patrick Harris did a standout job, starting with the hilarious opening number, during which he showed his musical talent, and continuing with his mock outrage over losing to Jon Cryer. Harris was affable, charming and simultaneously self-deprecating and comically self-aggrandizing."

For Frazier Moore of the AP, "the Emmycast with Harris in charge not only was remarkably stylish, fun and brisk but could even make viewers forget last year's disastrous format with five hosts, none of whom could rise to the occasion."

Luchina Fisher of ABC thought, "Harris, who was producing as well as hosting the show, kept it moving along. But it's not clear whether he'll be able to boost ratings, which have been sagging over the years for all the awards show. One thing is for sure, though, his fellow performers agreed that he was a hit." 

"The Amazing Race" has had one amazing Emmy run. The CBS travel competition continues its lock on the reality competition series Emmy with this seventh consecutive win – it has yet to lose since this category was introduced in 2003.

And Jeff Probst repeated as reality show host for his work on "Survivor." He won the inaugural award in this category last year, though, as he acknowledged tonight, he was also a loser then as one of the quintet of reality nominees who doubled as Emmycast hosts.

By the way, that Emmycast opening number, "Put Down the Remote," was penned for this year's host, Neil Patrick Harris, by Tony winners Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman ("Hairspray"). Shaiman also wrote the special material sung by his good pal Bette Midler as Johnny Carson's last guest on "The Tonight Show" in 1992 – she won the now-defunct individual variety performance Emmy for her efforts.

And speaking of variety, there was not much of it in that genre this year. "The Daily Show" also made it seven in a row as top variety music or comedy series and reclaimed its hold on the VCM writing award after a two-year break. It first won that race in 2001 and then from 2003 to 2006. However, it was bested by the scripters from "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" in 2007 and then "The Colbert Report" last year.

The two biggest Emmy Award upsets of the night came in supporting categories. No pundit on the planet picked Ken Howard for his featherweight role as the tycoon who ditches Jessica Lange in "Grey Gardens." He beat big grandstanding performances by "Little Dorrit" stars Tom Courtenay and Andy Serkis. Makes me wonder if the voters in this category actually watched all eight hours of "Dorrit." Easily, Courtenay gave the best dramatic performance in this race, but his big scenes came near the end of the mini.

I'm glad "Dorrit" won best mini. I'm a sucker for Charles Dickens adaptations, but I had suspected that most Emmy voters wouldn't watch it so therefore would be tempted to pick "Generation Kill" instead because of its political relevance, being about U.S. combat in Iraq. Maybe voters in this category actually watched "Dorrit" because there were only two nominees in this race — instead of five like supporting actor. There are different judges deciding each category.

Cherry Jones wasn't expected to win supporting drama series actress for her role as the U.S. president in "24," but her victory is sweet kudos recompense considering the poor dear recently lost out on an Oscar nomination when Meryl Streep stole her role in "Doubt," which earned Jones a Tony when she performed the role on Broadway. But how the heck did Jones beat both Rose Byrne ("Damages") and last year's champ (and double Oscar winner), Dianne Wiest  ("In Treatment")?

Jon Cryer's win was a bit of a surprise, but we knew he was in the running. He submitted a good episode of "Two and a Half Men" ("Sir Lancelot's Litterbos") to Emmy judges, and his silly, slapstick character is in the tradition of past wins by David Hyde Pierce ("Frasier") as a put-upon TV brother. (Here is a full list of episodes submitted to Emmy judges by nominees as examples of their best work.)  

Ian McKellan ("King Lear") was picked by most pundits to win lead actor in a TV movie/miniseries, but the victory by Brendan Gleeson ("Into the Storm") makes sense considering Albert Finney ("The Gathering Storm") won this category in 2002 for taking on the same role as Winston Churchill during World War II. Over the last 20 years, most winners here portrayed real-life people.

Most pundits were picking Aaron Paul ("Breaking Bad") to win supporting drama actor, but we all had Michael Emerson ("Lost") in second place. Paul probably lost because voters held his character's backstory (he peddles drugs to kids) against him.

For the last few years, Bill Maher has reigned as Emmy's biggest loser, but now he just increased his losing streak with the defeat of "Real Time" to "The Daily Show" for best variety series. Maher is a producer, so he shares in his show's latest Emmy defeat. He's now lost 22 times without a win.

Bill Maher's Emmy snubs date back to a 1995 nod for "Politically Incorrect" as outstanding variety, music or comedy series. ("The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" won that year for the only time.) Maher's ABC show brought him 11 nominations in total – producing (eight), writing (two) and hosting (one).

As Maher's losses are mostly for producing and writing, Angela Lansbury's record of 18 losses as a performer remains safe for some time. Last September, Bill Maher told Gold Derby that he's cool with being the biggest loser of TV's top award. We huddled up at the Toronto International Film Festival last year to discuss his documentary "Religulous."

The big stunner backstage at the Emmys was a comment by "Survivor" star Jeff Probst, who just won best reality TV host for the second year in a row. When asked by reporters what he thought about "Amazing Race" winning best reality/competition program for the seventh consecutive year, he said, "Maybe 'Amazing Race' should do what Oprah did and pull itself out of competition."

Moments later "Amazing Race" producer Bert Van Munster was asked by reporters if he'd do just that. He replied, "I'm going to discuss it with my committee here, but it's unlikely . . . . It was very intimidating to win for the seventh time."

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