Sure, those statues are lovely to look at, and the phrase “Emmy Award winning…” does roll off the tongue, doesn’t it? But Jeff Hoover, producer at Chicago CW affiliate WGN, has had enough. “I’m done. No more. That’s it,” he writes on Facebook.
Hoover, an Emmy winner, concluded the categories are bizarre, the costs are high, and the significance of the award is questionable. And Chicago media writer Robert Feder clearly agrees, giving the illustrious “Academy” one of the strongest body checks in recent memory:
Local Emmy Awards have always been an exercise in self-congratulations, to be sure, but somewhere along the way they lost their luster — and their relevance.
AdvertisementToday they’re little more than a moneymaking enterprise for the Chicago/Midwest chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which rakes in thousands in membership fees, entry fees, dinner ticket fees, program book fees and additional statuette fees under the dubious claim of recognizing “excellence in our industry.”
It’s nice to win one, I suppose, but don’t forget that Larry Mendte won 27 during just four years in Chicago. (Altogether he claims to have 90 regional Emmys.)
Zing! Do you still enter the Emmypalooza every year? Is it truly all about honoring excellence, or more of a wine-soaked and high-priced back-slapping party?