As the Primetime Emmy nominations draw near (June 16, I believe), info on many series' 'For Your Consideration' materials is coming to light. Producers, actors, and agents can do just about anything they find necessary to garner attention for themselves and their shows to make sure they're remembered when the noms come out. The most common methods are big, glossy ads in entertainment industry trade magazines (
24's ad from the Hollywood Reporter, for example), and DVD packages sent out to voters. The packages can range from bare-bones (last year,
Lost and
Desperate Housewives, the season's biggest shows, sent two episodes apiece on one DVD in a simple case), clever (the
House DVD and FYC booklet came in
a blood bag), or elaborate (
Everybody Hates Chris shipped out its ENTIRE first season in a
giant milk carton that asks "Have you seen Chris?").
Everyone assumed
Lost would make a big deal about their FYCs last year, but played it cool, with few ads and the aforementioned DVD with only "Pilot, pt. 1" and "Walkabout," probably figuring it was a better strategy to put all their eggs in a few baskets and push for just a few big things instead of going for everything they could. Matthew Fox didn't get in, but the show and O'Quinn got nommed (and Naveen, who I don't even think they pushed for...random).
They took the same approach this year.
Three episodes were included: "Man of Science, Man of Faith," "The 23rd Psalm," and "Dave." Aside from Series, the actors they chose to highlight are mostly obvious. Matthew Fox and Terry O'Quinn were brilliant in "MoSMoF" and AAA gave one of the season's greatest performances in "23rd," but "Dave" puzzled me because Jorge Garcia, even though I think he's one of the cast's best, will never get nominated--the competition's too stiff, even against his own castmates, plus "Dave" was a sucky episode for him. Then I remembered Michael Emerson (Henry).
Everyone I know assumed he was a shoo-in for a nod in Guest Actor - Drama, but one of the rules to be eligible in that category is that you can't appear in more than six episodes. Emerson was in seven, which means they'd have to push him Supporting, but we figured they wouldn't bother. But he
is an Emmy winner (Guest Actor on
The Practice a few years back), so voters will know him, plus he's going to be a regular next season, so it makes sense that they'd invest in getting him recognized. "Dave" is, after all, the one where Henry tells Sayid he's an Other but won't talk because he'll just end up dead anyway, and where he starts mindf***ing Locke about the button. So they're pushing for Emerson.
*MY* big question right now is if they're doing anything to try and get a Guest Actress nomination for L. Scott Caldwell, who did brilliant work as Rose and frankly
should've been nommed
last year. She didn't appear again after her sixth episode, even when it felt like she should (the double funeral and the finale, where Bernard appeared but not Rose), so I
assumed they were trying to keep her eligible for Guest...but she's not in the eps on the FYC disc, and I haven't heard about ads or anything. I'm trying my best to find out more about that.
Thought folks here might wanna know.
*EDIT* I was wrong on the dates. Here's how the current phase plays out:
Week of June 5
Nominating ballots are posted on the Television Academy’s website
June 20
Deadline for returning the nominating ballots to Ernst & Young
July 6
Nominations are announced from the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre, 5:35 AM
crappy
