I applaud the Academy for staying relevant and recognizing innovations to the genre … yet it does become a slippery slope of easing into that culture of ‘everyone gets a trophy just for showing up’. With only four network dramas competing, it’s a little disingenuous seeing them ALL duke-it-out for Best Drama, Best Writing, Best Directing, etc. As recently as 2009 (pre-cancellations of GL, ATWT, AMC and OLTL), at least half the shows could legitimately rise to the top tier while the remainder sat it out. Now EVERY show gets a nom in EVERY category; just doesn’t feel as much of an honor for some reason.

ok

Well the musical performance Emmy is just to boost ratings for the Emmy show by ensuring some big name in music might be performing or attending– it is designed to draw in viewers who do not normally watch or care about daytime, but might watch for the big name musical star– shameless self interest on that new award

Adding a lifetime award for behind the scenes is long overdue–

Splitting the digital acting awards into male and female is in keeping with the other acting awards, and I predict as the medium expands those awards will expand into the supporting and younger categories as well

But..will any of the Singers nominated show up to get their emmy??

Geoffrey and Mary, I agree with your points. Back in the day, there were shows that didn’t get nominations because they didn’t deserve them. Or, they deserved them and all the politics prevented it. Whatever the reason, when it was more of a competition, it was more of an honour. But still, I don’t think the nominees and winners mind. After all, it means nothing to the career trajectory of the individual. With an Emmy and a quarter, they can make a phone call at a payphone. It is just a night of celebration and self aggrandization, and it means a lot that the awards are voted on within their own industry.

And Mary, you said that the song category is just to ensure some big name people will show up. You said it in kind of a negative tone. Maybe you didn’t mean it that way, but that’s how it read. I say, WHY NOT? Why not try to grab some top name talent to appear on the show, maybe sing their Emmy nominated songs, maybe get the ratings for the show up so it may be broadcast on an accessible network.

The only minor quibble I have is that most of the online shows are not technically daytime…they are anytime. I don’t watch online shows, but aren’t most of them such that you either subscribe to watch, or stream to watch? They are different in subject matter, different in language, some much more risque. I am all for these people being recognized, and applaud the committee for trying to stay relevant. However, I think giving them their own special categories might be a way of including them but not really including them? Am I making sense? Why not allow those shows to compete against traditional soaps? Primetime Emmy’s don’t separate cable from network shows, and cable has been dominating for several years because network tv is in a slump that it doesn’t seem likely to recover from. It would be bracing and shocking if one or more of the four daytime soaps did NOT receive a nomination. It may also be a wake up call for daytime soaps to be more creative, to hire better writers, to realize that old recycled soap plots are just not cutting it anymore. It would be cool to see an online soap win over a network soap, and I don’t even watch online soaps. All My Children and One Life to Live were allowed to enter in the regular categories…after they made the switch to online ventures. I realize these are pioneering times, and change to rules takes time. Just some thoughts.