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American Idol is a powerhouse of ratings. The Emmy telecast -- not so much. In fact, last year's show was down 13 percent in viewers from the previous year. How can Emmy grab a little of that Idol magic? Perhaps by hiring the guys behind Idol. Which is just what FOX has done. Idol producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick have been tapped to executive produce the telecast for The 59th Annual Emmy Awards, which will air on Sunday, September 16 (8-11 PM ET) from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
FOX Entertainment President Peter Liguori said, "Nigel and Ken have consistently raised the creative bar with their innovative work on American Idol and we believe they will continue to do so during their first Emmy telecast."
Personally, I'm not a huge fan of award show telecasts. To me, they are giant snoozefests. It's simply not exciting to watch people get awards or give boring speeches (unless someday I am invited to give a boring speech and then it will be extremely exciting). Until that day, I'm just an outsider looking in. And I find it ironic that in rooms full of the best entertainers in the world, award shows like the Oscars and Emmys can't find a way to entertain the folks at home.
Call me a party pooper, but I'd rather skip the long, drawn out show, and catch the list of winners online the next day. With so little entertainment value, I'm actually amazed that the Emmy telecast draws as many as 16.2 million viewers. In my mind, that's not too shabby. Unless, of course, you're comparing it to the 33 million who routinely show up twice a week for Idol.
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