I’ll say it upfront: We don’t need more Emmy categories. Between the two Creative Arts Emmy Awards and the Primetime ceremony, there are already 123 awards set to be handed out next month. And that’s just from the L.A.-based TV Academy; New York’s NATAS passes out hundreds more in daytime, children’s & family, news, sports and more. And then there are the local Emmy chapters all over the country, handing out trophies as well.
We live in Peak Emmy times. So take this all with a grain of salt: I do wonder if the 1950s Academy was onto something when it recognized certain scripted genres.
Back during the original Golden Age of Television — generally considered the mid-to-late 1950s — the then-infant medium fielded so many series (and on just three networks!) that the Emmys for scripted series were not just divided into comedy and drama. In 1955, there were Emmy awards for outstanding situation comedy series and outstanding dramatic series, but there were also categories for Western or adventure series and mystery or intrigue series — the latter of which was won by NBC’s “Dragnet.”
A year later, in 1956, there was an action or adventure series field, won by ABC’s “Disneyland,” beating “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “Dragnet,” “Gunsmoke” and “The Line-Up.”
“Maverick,” James Garner (1957-1962)
Courtesy Everett Collection
There were at least 25 Westerns on the air in 1959, so much so that the genre had a solo category; ABC’s “Maverick” beat “Gunsmoke,” “Have Gun, Will Travel,” “The Rifleman” and “Wagon Train” that year.
After that, the TV Academy cut back on those genre-based categories to streamline the Emmy ceremony, and for several decades after that it seemingly worked: In scripted, half-hours were comedies and hour-long series were dramas.
The dawn of the cable age blew up those distinctions, of course, and then the streaming revolution annihilated it. Now, there are so many different types of comedies and dramas that it has become a perennial debate. Is “The Bear” a comedy? A drama? Neither? What is genre?
This year, there 228 series submissions across drama, comedy and limited or anthology, which means there are still plenty of contenders if Emmy were to subdivide categories. So let’s imagine, for a moment, it’s 1957 and the Emmys have found new ways to categorize like-minded shows.
There are definitely enough science-fiction series for its own category, such as “Andor,” “Black Mirror,” “Paradise” and “Severance.” Or, maybe “Paradise” would go in a political thriller category with “The Diplomat” and “Slow Horses.”
What about an outstanding crime drama or procedural drama field? Just look at the broadcast network schedules; that category could be a way to finally get Dick Wolf’s “Law & Order” universe back on the map, the “NCIS” franchise in play and “9-1-1” in the mix. And more importantly, give the traditional Big Four networks a place to compete.
Relationship dramas? Multi-camera comedies? This year, there probably would be room for a category devoted to shows parodying Hollywood. We’re probably opening a Pandora’s box here, but when you think about hot TV genres that don’t make it to the Emmy race, look no further than Christmas and holiday movies. There are so many entries on networks like Hallmark, Lifetime and the streamers that you almost need multiple outstanding made-for-TV holiday movie fields.
And then there’s the Taylor Sheridan-verse. The fact that “Yellowstone,” “Landman” and its ilk are some of the most popular shows on television, yet can’t catch much of a break with nominations, has been a source of frustration in his world. Would an outstanding primetime soap opera category change that? Is Sheridan inspiring a revival of that long-dormant Western series Emmy category?
As we’ve mentioned in this column before, it’s odd these days to have so many limited/anthology series categories when limited and anthology are not genres — they’re just one way of delivering a story that could be comedic or dramatic. Or a story that could be science fiction, romance, horror, crime, Western or adventure.
I’m not sure we want to make it 1957 again through science or magic, but it’s fun to imagine how those Emmy gatekeepers would handle today’s genre explosion.
