No Acceptance Speech
The world salutes genre in 2000... but what of 2001?
      by Rachel Hyland

Actually, no, consider that taken back. After all, perennial ham actor John Lithgow, in the perennially bad 3rd Rock from the Sun, was nominated again this year, and is even a past winner of an Emmy for his work in this tragic series. (Though no self-respecting genre fan can consider it watchable, it is about aliens on Earth, and so must technically count.) Co-star Kristen Johnson is an Emmy winner for her histrionics as Sally, while Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Tommy), who's been praised just for being so gosh-darned cute, hasn't won any awards for the series, and he's the only one of them who almost should've.

Best hair? Half the cast is bald!

The longest running, most successful, and often most controversial genre show ever -- namely, Star Trek, in all its forms -- has been nominated for over 120 Emmys in its thirty-some year history, and only one of those wasn't a technical one... The Next Generation was nominated for Best Drama Series in its 1994 final season. Babylon 5's intricate plotting, exceptional characterization and outstanding writing earned it eight nominations in its five years: four were, of course, for make-up; another was for hair. And cool (or once cool) shows like Millennium, Space: Above and Beyond, Cupid, The Pretender and Now and Again share more than the fact that they were all beloved of evangelical fans and yet got canceled; they didn't win a single Emmy between 'em. And genre fans have to wonder: how come? Surely there could have been at least the dreaded hair award for Miss Parker's coiffed locks? But, no, The Pretender was never even an option in that category.

Unlike Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which has received that accursed, and frankly undeserved, nomination twice already. Up for a total of nine Emmys in its four-year run, it has taken home two: one for make-up (again with the make-up!), and one for Christophe Beck's haunting "Becoming" score. And then, of course, there was the writing nomination...

2000 Emmys

Though an argument could be made for The West Wing being genre through the Alternate Reality loophole, we all know that that is just reaching. (Like when we make Gladiator genre just so we can drool over Russell Crowe some more.) CBS' mini-series Jesus was also nominated, and the same rule could probably apply -- or it could even be eligible under the fantasy statute. Ditto Touched by an Angel, which has previously been given Emmy noms for actors Roma Downey and Della Reese -- though thankfully there has been no such satisfaction for that guy with the Starsky hair -- and was nominated again this year for the guest spots by Kirk Douglas and Kathy Baker. They must be so proud.

The Slayer, ready for some vengeance.

But the real genre excitement lately was, of course, "Hush." Written by Joss Whedon, directed by Joss Whedon, and featuring some of the best performances on TV, it was nominated for Best Writing in a Drama Series. And, as we all know, it just didn't win. The fact that this innovative, original and, let's face it, brilliant hour of television -- featuring 29 minutes without anyone actually talking -- was even nominated is considered quite a coup, but we so wanted it to win, didn't we? Despite a heavy promotional push and a fabulous buzz surrounding the episode, our Joss was still allegedly out-written by those damn over-achievers at the White House. And yet "Hush," it is almost universally agreed, was a great episode -- certainly the best episode of Buffy's Season 4, a season that offered many... uh... unusual premises. (Orgasm wall! Orgasm wall!) An episode, also, that featured the best use of mime ever from all parties concerned (Hey, didn't Oz say that no one deserved mime? What, did they just abandon his philosophies after he left? That seems cruel.)

As cruel as Joss not winning. In fact, thus far, the coolest Emmy kudos Buffy has received was in 1999, when an on-line poll conducted during the telecast rated TV's 10 most memorable moments, and in fourth place came the touching scene they called "Buffy won't let Angel die." You know, when she whacks him across the face so that he gets cross, vamps out, and feasts on her blood... uh, it's actually a lot more romantic than it sounds. And it certainly was memorable.

Right up there with some of the most memorable moments in cinema...

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