Source:Now Playing magazine
As the Emmy voting season gets underway for the TV industry, the question among genre fans is inevitably raised: "Why isn't my favourite show nominated - again?!" The answer is easy: It's because it's a genre show.
Variety is running an interesting story on this topic today, where it discusses the ghettoization of sci-fi programming. Take the most obvious case nowadays, that of the Sci Fi Channel's Battlestar Galactica, a critics' darling and ratings hit that nonetheless doesn't stand a Cylon's chance in hell of getting any non-technical awards.
"Sci-fi movies and novels have always been considered second-class material," says Ronald D. Moore, executive producer of Galactica. "You start with the premise that it's science fiction, it's called Battlestar Galactica, and it's on Sci Fi Channel. It has a lot of obstacles to overcome before anyone's even seen the show."
The trade paper goes on to say that the network is serious about its Emmy campaign for the show, though they note that "it's interesting that the promotional DVD booklet the cabler sent out goes through 14 pages of critics' quotes before the show's title appears." Moore does think that the genre is receiving a bit more respect than it did when he worked on Star Trek: The Next Generation, which finally received a drama series nomination in its last (fairly awful, by the way) year.
Variety adds that when a show plays like a drama with a bit of sci-fi or horror throw in here or there, it tends to do better with the Emmys. Lost won for best drama series last year, after all. But they don't have Vipers on Lost, do they?
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