LOS ANGELES (AP) – Last year, Emmy organizers parlayed an unexpected HBO offer into a big raise from the four broadcast networks that share the awards broadcast.

Now the TV academy has a chance to offer up its own surprises. When Emmy nominations are announced Thursday, voters could single out shows that make up in artistry what they lack in ratings or familiarity.

The result would be a livelier, less predictable ceremony in September and proof that the academy is expansive in its willingness to consider all comers. It’s also a chance to improve television itself.

Yes, ever-popular “Law & Order” had a solid season and might snag a record 12th bid (it’s currently tied with “Cheers” and “M-A-S-H” for most consecutive best-series nominations). Put it up against academy faves such as three-time best drama winner “The West Wing” and you have yet another Emmy rerun.

Even a nominee can recognize enough is enough. Candice Bergen, who won five best-actress trophies for “Murphy Brown” between 1989 and 1995, finally withdrew in 1996 as a nominee.

Class move, but not one that started a trend. And the academy is unlikely to make a policy change that would forcibly retire series or actors from competition.

But voters have the obligation to look beyond the familiar and single out the innovative.

Instead, they “often make shows wait a year or two until they embrace them,” said Tom O’Neil, author of “The Emmys” and founder of Goldderby.com, which tracks awards predictions.

That’s fine for a program such as CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” which didn’t receive a best-drama nomination until its second year but was an immediate ratings success.

For deserving series such as HBO’s “The Wire,” ABC’s “Life With Bonnie” and WB’s “Gilmore Girls” a nomination is more than a vanity boost. It means well-deserved attention and more viewers. In some cases, it may even mean survival.

Some of the very best of television has been helped, if not outright rescued, by Emmy’s display of affection. “All in the Family” is a case in point.

The groundbreaking series was ignored by viewers after its January 1971 debut. By the time the Emmys aired four months later (they were then held in May), the show looked like a lost cause, O’Neil recounts.

Series co-creator Norman Lear persuaded Emmy producers to include stars Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton in an opening skit that exposed their characters and the sharp-edged sitcom to viewers.

“That kicked off a night in which ‘All in the Family’ won best comedy series, an acting award for Stapleton and another award, an award they gave then, for best new series. Lear said it put the show on the map,” O’Neil said.

Other worthy series given an Emmy boost include “Hill Street Blues,” “Cheers,” “Cagney & Lacey” and “The Practice.”

“If the academy were quicker to getting around to embracing worthwhile shows, they could save more of them,” said O’Neil.

“Life with Bonnie” star Hunt has had other worthwhile sitcoms, especially “The Building,” fold. An Emmy nod could mean the difference for her latest effort, O’Neil said.

TV academy members have been making strides.

HBO’s “Sex and the City” broke through academy conservatism with a best comedy series award and “The Sopranos” quickly grabbed acting trophies for stars James Gandolfini and Edie Falco (the show has yet to win a best-drama award; chances are this could be the year).

Both those series had the advantage of major buzz, an influence on voters, O’Neil said.

More surprising were last year’s honors for “The Shield,” an unorthodox and dark police drama. It was a breakthrough winner, the first basic cable show to receive a major award (for star Michael Chiklis) as well as bids for writing and directing.

The honors helped draw more young, advertiser-favored viewers, created sponsor loyalty and boosted ad rates, said FX spokesman John Solberg.

“It’s a bona fide badge of quality,” he said.

Moviemakers can closely calculate the value of a gold trophy. When “The Pianist” received seven Academy Award nominations last March, the audience took its cue. Ticket sales for “The Pianist” rose more than 72 percent on the weekend after the nominations were announced. After star Adrian Brody and director Roman Polanski received their Oscars, the film’s receipts jumped 138 percent over the previous weekend.

A more interesting Emmy contest could boost the ceremony as well as the shows that are honored.

Last year the Emmys attracted about half the TV audience that watched the Oscars, although people spend far more time with television than movies and, conceivably, feel more invested in it.

The Academy Awards have an element of glamour and star power the Emmys can’t hope to match. But the annual freshness of the movie contest has to be a factor in viewership.

ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC are paying $52 million over eight years for the broadcast rights to the Emmys. Viewers invest three hours. Is a little more excitement too much to ask?



On the Net:

http://www.emmys.org

http://www.goldderby.com

AP-ES-07-14-03 1309EDT



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