Emmy counterprogramming is a familiar venture -- and a totally failed one. Variety has it that the Paley Center is working with network TV to come up with an alternative award show to the Emmys. The idea feels absurd, but the ceremony has mainly honored cable series in recent years, even though it always airs on NBC, ABC, Fox, or -- like this year -- CBS. Thus, the networks feel obligated to save a little face with a new statue handout. The problem is, the "Emmy alternative" has been attempted before, and always to little avail. The American Film Institute's awards, The TV Guide Awards, and the American Television Awards have all tried and come up short. Movieline believes the "un-Emmys" could be a real success, but only when the following suggestions are heeded.
Rule #1: Don't emulate the Emmy handout.
Recreating the Emmys -- even without considering the aforementioned precedents -- is a bad idea. The spectrum of knockoff award shows has long ingrained skepticism in viewers, and critics would kill a knockoff forever before ratings did. Worse, no news outlet would grant an Emmy imitator the same glut of obsessive coverage. The key is not to honor Best Drama, or Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy/Musical, or Best Miniseries Editing; the crux of Paley's honors should stand apart from the Emmys. Frankly, they should strive for a ceremony where viewers don't even think about those trophies during the proceedings. A general copycat would be worse than dubious; it'd be meaningless.
Rule #2: Honor a single person.
It sounds more Kennedy Center than Paley Center, but the "tribute" award ceremony is a relatively untapped market on network TV. It could be argued that the reputation of such events have been hindered by the Oscars' Irving Thalberg Award, a painstaking, lengthy part of an already epic ceremony. But once that exaltation is separated and given its own time slot, the event has room to be funnier and less traditional than a series of podium ramblings. Think Comedy Central's Friar's Club Roasts, but sans stand-up humor. I'd love to watch a show where current network stars pay tribute to a great like Betty White -- the universally lovable type who your Alec Baldwins, Steve Carells, and Modern Family casts could gamely deify.
Rule #3: Dress it down.
Why spring for red carpet trappings when a more casual, even improvisational style is just as engrossing? Network TV boasts a lot of stars who work best in an unpolished atmosphere: How I Met Your Mother's cast; 30 Rock and The Office's cast; the entire Matt Groening thinktank. Putting these greats into an environment where they can remain unpretentious and unscathed by the barbs of Joan Rivers and Ryan Seacrest seems like the least embarrassing option for everyone.
Rule #4: Make the performers perform.
Instead of hearing Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin blather about Betty White's contributions to TV, let's see them update segments inspired by The Mary Tyler Moore Show, or update segments from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, or point out White's influence through a live 30 Rock sketch. This way, we see what we like about network TV stars (their showmanship) while being reminded of what network TV matters (its illustrious history). A Golden Girls update starring Amy Poehler, Kristen Wiig, Rachel Dratch, and Mindy Kaling? A Match Game reworking with Jane Kaczmarek as Brett Somers and Neil Patrick Harris as Charles Nelson Reilly? It could just be hokey -- but done with gusto, a lack of pretension, and some actual comic instincts -- it could be more watchable than another expect windfall for Mad Men.
Rule #5: Cap it at an hour and a half.
Most award shows bear the onus of an imprecise running time. But with an award show honoring a single recipient, producers can track ceremony length with greater ease and obliterate the one problem the Emmys will always have: endlessness. To quote White's late husband Allen Ludden: "The password is brevity." And the Paley Center has a real fine chance of cashing in.
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Networks plot Emmy rival":http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118012997.html?categoryid=14&cs=1&ref=bd_tv [Variety]