Netflix made history last week by becoming the first content creator of non-traditional television to be nominated in a major Emmy category. Political drama “House of Cards” earned nine nods including lead actor in a drama (Kevin Spacey), lead actress in a drama (Robin Wright Penn), and outstanding drama series, while Netflix’ revived Arrested Development garnered three nods including lead actor in a comedy for Jason Bateman.
In 2008, the Academy of Television & Arts changed the rules to include internet video. It will be interesting to see if Netflix wins any of its categories this year, although it could take a while for it to win any of the big categories.
The academy amended its rules to include cable programming in 1988, but it wasn’t until the mid-1990s that HBO began earning Emmys. In the 2000s, HBO enjoyed critical success and numerous Emmy wins with original shows such as “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City,” which cemented its force-to-be-reckoned-with status.
This year HBO earned 108 Emmy nominations, compared to Netflix’ 14 nods.
The television landscape is slowly transforming with the times. Amazon and Hulu are both working on buffing up their original programming efforts. YouTube’s original programming and paid subscription channels are proving sluggish, but with its recent decision to permit ‘artistic’ videos, YouTube execs are consciously making decisions on what viewers want to see and could get the ball rolling in a few years.
The thought of user generated content eventually being able to garner critical attention and perhaps earn an Emmy one day is tantalizing. It will be years before that happens, if ever, but a girl can dream, right? Maybe then, the academy will be awarding Emmys to Instagram videos and Vines.
A Renegade Puppet 