Emmys, it’s time to check yourself before you wreck yourself.
The early numbers are telling us the 2019 Emmy Award telecast was a flop, down 22 percent from last year’s discouraging 10.2 million, which is less than what a weekly episode of “NCIS” garnered in its 16th season.
Various production choices — no host (unless you count Homer Simpson), crummy disco music, a puerile announcer — are partly to blame. But the main problem is the award itself. The Emmys don’t mean much to the American public because last night’s big winners — “Game of Thrones,” “Fleabag” and “Chernobyl” — are done, off the air, out of production, kaput. Sure, you can go back and watch them on HBO on Demand or on Amazon, but you’re not likely to.
The difference between the Emmys and the Oscars — which, to be fair, have also lost a lot of ground as a live television event — is that in many cases, viewers can still go to the theaters to see the winning films and performances in the days and weeks following the ceremony, especially if there was a sweep, surprise win or amazing acceptance speech. So many films are released in November and December of any given year in that final Oscar push that it’s impossible — unless you’re on some media gravy train and get invited to the free screenings — to see all the films in contention.
The Emmys really exist to promote the new fall season of shows, which starts tonight, and goose the ratings of traditional network series such as “This Is Us.” This is a very old — some might say antique — business model, dating back to the “Here’s Lucy” days. Otherwise, the Emmys would be on in June or July, after the conclusion of the regular TV season, when people’s memories of the nominated shows are fresh. At the end of the summer, people are scratching their heads to remember something like “Escape at Dannemora,” which aired in November 2018 and did better at the awards given out in early 2019, such as the Golden Globes, SAG and Critics Choice.
At the rate things are going, viewership for the Emmys is slipping dangerously close to that of the Tony Awards, which drew a pathetic 5 million this year. For any three-hour live event to command an audience these days, producers have to give the audience a lot more than what was served up at Sunday night’s Emmys.
How about some stars? The cast of “Game of Thrones” doesn’t count because they stand there and look silly. How about some glamour? Did you see those “fashions”? Yikes. How about some professionalism? Taraji P. Henson couldn’t even remember her stage patter when giving out an award with “Empire” co-star Terrence Howard.
The Television Academy acknowledged many first-time winners who are young last night — Jodie Comer, 26, Julia Garner, 25, Jharrel Jerome, 21 — and this may help the show from completely ossifying.
But the prospect of the Emmy Awards being delegated to TBS or the E! channel is not an exaggeration anymore. Their heyday has come and gone.