Barack Obama and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences may both be reaching the same conclusion this month: Change is a bitch.
Any hopes the White House had of true bipartisan reform of health care appear to be slipping away as entrenched interests dig in and turn what should be a robust debate about helping average Americans into a nasty screaming match designed to advance deep-rooted political agendas.
Likewise, CBS and the Academy found their well-intentioned effort to breathe new life into a dying awards show sabotaged by folks who saw an easy way to stir up the Us vs. Them mentality that's dominated so much Hollywood thinking since the runup to the writers' strike.
What can we learn from this sad little episode? And what happens now?
Some talking points:
The likelihood that the Emmys will move to cable, or a single broadcast network, just increased dramatically.
"The problem with the Emmys is that unlike other awards show, no network has ownership of it," said one industry wag.
Indeed, the show is currently a foster child, moving from net to net each year. That means it lacks a single powerful network advocate to fight for changes and stand up to interest groups inside ATAS.
Emmy producer Don Mischer said earlier this month that he was trying to "save the Emmys" as a major TV event. But the death of time-shifting doesn't mean the show will now automatically end up on cable.
It's possible one of the networks might decide to step up and make a bid to gain full, exclusive control of the Emmys -- particularly if ATAS agreed to make the changes it wasn't willing to make this year.
The four networks currently pay $7.5 million per year for the Emmys, according to Variety. Many industry insiders believe the Academy would be lucky to match that figure and could have to settle for less.
The perception that nobody wants the Emmys could convince one of the networks to roll the dice on the show. Even at a reduced rating, the Emmys still offers a decent platform in which to promote new fall shows.
Then there's cable.
FX has expressed interest in the show before, and a group of cable networks could air a simulcast.
HBO would also seem to be a possibility, since the network's coffers allow it to pony up big sums relatively easily. It could open up its signal to all cable subscribers and turn Emmy weekend into an HBO free preview event.
Some in the Academy would worry the show would become far too small-scale if that happened, however.
The Writers Strike may be over. But the battle for control of the public perception of Hollywood continues, as does the politicization of virtually everything.
Consider what happened the news broke last February that ATAS and CBS were considering a plan to give producers the flexibility to drop some awards from the Emmy telecast.
