Peak TV bonanza complicates Emmy goal of honoring the best

msn.com:

Emmy Awards? Save your breath. They and other ratings successes failed to make a dent in nominations for Monday's ceremony. Instead, the haul went to shows that are critical darlings or possess a higher degree of cool, “Stranger Things" and “Squid Game” among them.

While it may be frustrating to fans, industry experts consider such omissions a sign that television's most prestigious honor is doing its job, or trying to, in the daunting age of “peak TV” overload. “When the Emmys were created more than 70 years ago, there were so few shows.

The public was familiar with what was being nominated," said TV producer-writer William Rosenthal. That remained the case for most of the 20th century, but today it's "a whole different game, with more than 500 series, and also international series. ”Netflix's “Squid Game” is a case in point, a South Korean drama that's the first non-English language nominee for top series honors.

The dystopian horror story is competing with seven other acclaimed shows, including “Succession” and “Severance. ”The crush of programming means that even worthy shows struggle for recognition. “You would have thought this bounty of quality would have been wonderful for the Emmys, but it's become one of their most significant challenges,” said Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University’s Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture. “What happens when an award that was originally designed to pick out the high points in what was called the ‘idiot box’ suddenly has more high points than they can possibly know what to do with?”Which begs the question: Given the many options splintering the TV audience, how can an awards show draw a crowd?The ceremony isn't limited to spotlighting only nominated shows,.