With last night's show on NBC, the current broadcast contract for the Emmy Awards came to an end. Prior to last night, there had been quite a bit of speculation that the networks had long since grown weary of paying to broadcast what amounts to a commercial for the superiority of cable television. Further there were those that wondered if another dominant night for cable might make them hesitant to renew their contract for the Awards. So it's with that in mind that we look at last night's results... Cable v. Network. Future v. Past. Boobs and curse words v. no boobs or curse words. (For the purposes of this article, I will only be counting awards that occurred during the broadcast, as the point of the dispute is over the Awards broadcast itself.)
Cable
Top Network: HBO (7 Wins)
-HBO goes to the top on the back of a strong showing in the Miniseries/Movie category (with Temple Grandin, You Don't Know Jack, and The Pacific). Seeing as they always dominate these categories (and TV movies and Miniseries don't seem to be network priorities) this shouldn't matter too much.
Most Awards for a Cable Series: Tie. Mad Men and Breaking Bad (2 Wins each)
-Not a sweep for AMC by any stretch of the imagination, but the fact that they won four HUGE categories (Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Writing for a Drama, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama, and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama) can't have the networks happy.
Biggest Surprise: Top Chef unseating The Amazing Race as best reality competition.
-This category doesn't truly help Cable at all as Bravo is owned by NBC. Still awesome to see Top Chef finally get a well deserved award.
Total Cable Awards: 19 Wins
-Including all of the dramatic acting awards save supporting actress (Archie Panjabi of CBS's The Good Wife)
Network
Top Network: ABC (3 Wins)
-The Networks split a lot of awards but ABC won three and three big ones with Modern Family (Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy).
Most Awards for a Network Series: Tie Glee and Modern Family (3 Wins each)
-Glee's wins in Supporting Actress, Guest Star, and Direction aren't quite as glamorous as Modern Family's top line wins, but they still speak to the Academy's willingness to embrace new network comedies, which hasn't seemed to be the case in recent years.
Biggest Surprise: Jim Parsons finally getting his due for The Big Bang Theory.
-Conventional Academy wisdom would have pointed to another win for Alec Baldwin or Tony Shalhoub, but thankfully Jim Parsons under-appreciated work as Sheldon finally gets recognized in the Lead Actor category.
Total Network Awards: 12 Wins
-With a strong showing in Comedy, the Networks more than held their own this year.
Conclusion
So as you see, it seems to be a pretty safe bet that the Emmys will continue to be broadcast on Network TV. With new network shows running strong in the Comedy categories, it is most certainly in the networks best interest to showcase their stars. I'm sure they are disappointed to be dominated in the Dramatic categories, but that has been the case for a while now (and judging on the early word about the network drama pilots, it seems they are still a few years off from truly competing with the big boys.)
