By contrast, ABC was so intent on wrapping up the Oscars, it signed a contract last winter to pay $300 million, according to the Hollywood Reporter, to keep the Academy Awards show through 2020.
The Oscars ceremony is traditionally TV's second-highest-rated show every year after the Super Bowl. The Emmys' ratings, on the other hand, can't compete with a mediocre episode of NCIS.
That's because the show is usually dull, and the awards are so peculiar. Critics try every year to predict the winners, but it's a losing game. When somebody does guess right, it's generally for reasons that do not bring glory on the Emmy voters (see Kathy Bates or Chris Colfer below).
Still, it's time to try once again, and hope springs eternal because, each year, one or two of the awards create surprise by hitting the nail on the head.
Here are the nominees in the major categories, with some speculation about who should win and who will win.
Outstanding drama series: Mad Men, Dexter, The Good Wife, Game of Thrones, Friday Night Lights, Boardwalk Empire.
This is a marvelous list that demonstrates that television, on its good end, is better today than it has ever been and that Emmy nominations have gotten more innovative in recent years.
Alas, the winners are frequently the same old thing, which means that Mad Men will knock off the daring choices, Thrones and Lights, and that the best one of them all, Boardwalk Empire, will get overlooked, too.
Outstanding comedy series: Glee, Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, Parks and Recreation, The Office, 30 Rock.
