Like reanimated corpses clawing out of their graves to walk the Earth as zombies, dead TV shows lurched to the forefront of the Emmy nominees announced Thursday, with canceled programs dominating the most coveted acting awards.
ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost” were virtually shut out in major categories, while the network’s medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy” received 11 nominations after being almost ignored a year ago.
Beside those surprises, Thursday was mostly a roundup of the usual suspects, particularly the canceled ones.
A change in the nomination process was supposed to breathe new life into what many critics believe has become a repetitive and predictable Emmy process.
The change involved the entire membership of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences voting on nominees. But instead of the top five vote-getters being nominated, the top 10 shows and top 15 in the performance categories were sent to blue-ribbon panels who picked the final five.
The idea is that by expanding the field of prospective nominees, the final list would be more inclusive.
And having panels who actually see the shows increases the chance that the truly worthy, rather than the best known, would be honored.
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The major beneficiary of the new, improved zombie vote was NBC. Two of its shows that were axed this spring after years of fading ratings and notices, “Will & Grace” and “The West Wing,” garnered six major acting nominations.
Other canceled shows that scored big in the acting categories were HBO’s “Six Feet Under,” Fox’s “Malcolm in the Middle” and ABC’s “Commander in Chief.”
Fox’s drama “24” capped what some deemed its best season yet with a leading 12 nominations. The TNT mini-series “Into the West” was the top nominee, with 16 bids.
The HBO mini-series “Elizabeth I,” with Helen Mirren, was next with 13 nominations.
Castaway drama “Lost” and suburban satire “Desperate Housewives”–which critics accused of a sophomore slump–were shut out of categories they dominated last year.
They both failed to get best-series nominations, an award that “Lost” won in 2005.
The sole acting nomination for “Lost” was a guest-actor bid for Henry Ian Cusick, who plays ill-fated hatch-tender Desmond. Alfre Woodard, a “Desperate Housewives” newcomer, was nominated for supporting actress while Shirley Knight received a guest-actress bid.
The Emmy Awards are scheduled to air Aug. 27 on NBC, with Conan O’Brien as host of the ceremony at L.A.’s Shrine Auditorium.
Emmy nods by network
Longtime Emmy powerhouse HBO was the front-runner with 95 nominations, followed by ABC with 64, CBS with 47, NBC with 46 and Fox with 41. [AP].