These Emmy Awards are not a popularity contest

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These Emmy Awards are not a popularity contest
By Scott Collins, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 22, 2008
When the 1960s period piece "Mad Men" won the Emmy for outstanding drama series at Sunday's 60th annual Emmy Awards, it made history in at least two ways. It became the first basic-cable program to take top series honors. But it also added a more dubious mark: Compared with previous Emmy series winners, "Mad Men" is by far the least-watched, with an average of fewer than 1 million viewers tuning in during its first season last year. That's a fraction of the audience of even NBC's ever-ratings-challenged "30 Rock," which again took the comedy prize this year.

Oprah Winfrey said at the outset of the award telecast, "Nothing connects us quite like television."

The sentiment may be hard to argue with, but it's out of step with the times. Anyone who bothers to look at the ratings can see that prime-time TV is no longer the great connector it once was. It may be the only remaining medium that can still unite 30 million people for, say, a broadcast phenomenon such as "American Idol." But disproportionate amounts of attention online, in print and among TV academy voters are now devoted to niche programs such as "Top Chef," "Damages" and "Mad Men