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When it comes to Emmy voters, they like what they like.
The shows they picked last year are more often than not the shows they will pick this year.
), so it wasnt a huge surprise when it won.
Moreover, only 17 shows have ever even been nominated.
This kind of rubber-stamping shows up in a lot of the reality categories.
This category which has existed since 2014, when the Outstanding Reality Program category (i.e.
So, what explains this uncommonly rigid voting pattern in Reality Competition?
Part of it is that reality shows just keep going.
IfGame of Throneshad lasted 20 years, the Emmys might still be voting for it.
But Ive always wondered how much industry intransigence has to do with this.
Adding a Reality category to the Emmys felt like capitulation to theFear Factorwatching hordes.
There is one possible hope for a category shakeup in the form of PeacocksThe Traitors.
The all-reality-stars second season was enough of a cultural flashpoint that Emmy voters might just pay attention.
And vibes-wise, it does feel likeAlan Cummingcrashing the Emmys red carpet in a turquoise tartan sash is inevitable.
Davis(and even under-rewardingPoker Facelast year).
ATraitorsnomination, while welcome, would only change the Reality Competition lineup by 20 percent.
Bar voters from selectinganyshow thats previously been nominated.
But it doesnt have to be.
But Im never going to quit hollering about it.
And if the Academy wants to take some advice this year, weve got some suggestions at the ready.
1.Claim to Fame(ABC)
1.
Im sorry, isThe Amazing Racedelivering TV likeTom Hankss niece(by marriage!
IsThe Voicegiving you Franklin (nee Frankie) Jonas in sweater after enviable sweater?
This is the best play-along-at-home show since we all decided to vote for Sanjaya that one year onAmerican Idol.
2.The Golden Bachelor(ABC)
2.
One good thing about the Emmys reality-TV stubbornness is that it never fell for the insincere charms ofThe Bachelor.
3.Squid Game: The Challenge(Netflix)
3.
(Then there were allthose reportsof shivering, poorly cared-for contestants.)
4.Alone(History Channel)
4.
Theres room for more sweaty wilderness reality competitions beyondSurvivor.
Very few things in reality television are as unique asAlone; even fewer achieve its real highs.
5.Blown Away(Netflix)
5.
The reality-competition category has included shows that involve singing, dancing, cooking, and designing clothes.
But not once has the Emmys recognized a program where people make shit out of glass.
Sounds pretty timely to me.
6.Physical: 100(Netflix)
6.
The human body is capable of astonishing things, of effort and physicality and strength that is nearly incomprehensible.
Those subversions make the viewer wonder what, exactly, winning takes.
Is it a particular kind of athletic ability?
Jen Chaney, Roxana Hadadi, and Nicholas Quah contributed submissions.
