The process is a maze of committees and panels and juries. A great season can mean nothing unless you choose sample episodes wisely. And most winners probably don't even realize that 95 percent of the eligible voters didn't even cast ballots in their category.
Warning: the Emmys voting system, which officially kicked off this week with the posting of eligible entries on the official website, makes the Motion Picture Academy's preferential system of vote-counting seem like child's play.
"It's a very complex and weird landscape here," admits John Leverence, the senior vice president of awards at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Think of it (this is our metaphor, not his) as a freewheeling, constantly-adjusted cousin to "Dancing With the Stars" (where the judges scores are combined with the popular vote) and the Grammys (with an array of special panels and rules that restrict voters to a small number of the dozens of categories).
It's hard to explain the whole thing, and the rules tend to change frequently, but here's a basic rundown:
First, unlike the Oscars or the Grammys, entries cost money. Fees range from $200 to $600 for individual-achievement entries, and $400 to $800 for program entries. (Academy members get one free entry, and half price on the second.) In contrast to awards where the overseeing body determines the category in which an achievement belongs (such as Oscar voters' choices of lead or supporting actor and actress, or the Golden Globes' determination of comedy or drama), the Emmys allow each show's producer to determine the appropriate category.
But beware, because if a producer enters his show in the comedy category and it grows increasingly serious in ensuing years, there's no going back: in the eyes of the Emmys, once a comedy always a comedy.
Once the eligible programs are determined, ballots are posted on the Academy website. This year, more than 4,000 separate programs or achievements qualified.
Many of the categories simply list the show and potential nominees, but others include descriptions of the achievement under consideration. In the acting fields, for instance, lead and supporting contenders are listed by name, character name, and show, but guest actor candidates can supply a description of their performance:
Members will receive Scantron voting sheets in the mail by June 10, and they'll have until June 24 to return those sheets to the Emmys' accounting firm, Ernst & Young.
Every one of the TV Academy's more than 15,000 members is eligible to vote for the best program categories, which include Outstanding Drama Series; Comedy Series; Variety, Music or Comedy Series; Miniseries or Made for Television Movie; Reality Show; and Reality-Competition Show. In each category, they can cast a number of unranked votes (usually five, but sometimes as many as 10) for shows they think deserve attention; the programs with the largest number of votes receive nominations.
