Jul 28, 2013 4 min read

People didn’t pay much attention to the Emmy nominations earlier this month. Why should they? They certainly aren’t planning to watch the sleep-inducing award show in September.

That could all change, though, if the Emmy were treated as a sporting event. All Emmy needs to do is base the nominations on weekly rating wins, set up a playoff system and complicate the elimination process. That ambiguity alone will prompt professional and amateur pundits to dissect possible outcomes. Sure, there’s no quality involved in this process, but everyone would have a pony in the race. And in Las Vegas and elsewhere, the big day could have all the ramifications of football’s famed finale.

It could happen.

When there were only a few major-league sports teams, a one-game or one-series challenge for the championship was the norm. But as leagues expanded, sectional, regional or divisional playoffs joined the season-ending fray, bringing with it millions of additional fans who could believe, at least for one shining moment, that their team could reign supreme.

A few years ago, the Academy Awards wised up and expanded its best picture entrants to up to 10 nominees, some of which were clearly included based on box-office clout – the better to increase interest (and ratings) for the show. The Emmy Awards could do something similar, but in a more spectacular fashion. With at least 500 stations with “something” on, it would be a simple task to create three leagues, with standings based on Nielsen ratings.

At the official end of the television season, the Academy of Arts and Sciences would release its nominations selected by a secret point system derived from the number of weekly ratings victories and bonus points allocated by a TV critics pool. The three leagues would be Network TV/PBS, Cable Television and Premium (pay) Television. A fourth league (Streaming TV, i.e. Netflix) would most likely join the others in a few years.

The public would vote online (one vote per viewer) all summer long, with division winners and one wild-card entry revealed just two weeks before the championship is decided. The two-week interval, of course, gives the media a chance to interview series stars and offers fervent fans an opportunity to make their case on talk shows.

While the most intense debate would no doubt be among reality show fans (“Duck Dynasty” “American Pickers” or “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”), we’ll use the drama and comedy categories for this example. The Network League nominees, by the way, are based on actual Nielsen ratings; we added “Good Wife” and “30 Rock” as probable critics picks.

And the nominees for Drama of the Year are:

Network TV/PBS League – “The Following,” “The Good Wife,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “NCIS,” “Once Upon A Time,” “Revolution”

Basic Cable League – “The Closer,” “Dallas,” “Mad Men,” “Rizzoli & Isles,” “Sons of Anarchy,” “The Walking Dead”

Pay Cable League – “Boardwalk,” “Dexter,” “Game of Thrones,” “Homeland,” “The Newsroom,” ‘Shameless”

The nominees for Comedy of the Year are:

Network TV/PBS League – “Big Bang Theory,” “Modern Family,” “30 Rock,” “Two and One-Half Men,” “Two Broke Girls,” “How I Met Your Mother”

Basic Cable League – “Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “Anger Management,” “Cougar Town,” “Hot in Cleveland,” “Royal Pains,” “South Park”

Pay Cable – “Enlightened,” “Episodes,” “Girls,” “Nurse Jackie,” “VEEP,” “Weeds”

In a prime-time special, the league champions, based on viewer votes, are announced. They are:

Drama – “Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Walking Dead,” “Game of Thrones” and wild-card entry “Sons of Anarchy”

Comedy – “Big Bang Theory,” “South Park,” “Girls” and wild-card entry “Anger Management.”

Over two nights, an episode of each of the finalists is aired on 100 stations across the dial. Viewers then have eight hours to cast their final vote.

On the night of the big reveal, a week-by-week recap of the winners airs, followed by the live announcement of the ultimate champion by none other than Billy Crystal.

After a musical number incorporating all of the nominees, a breathless Crystal announces, “The best drama of 2012-2013 is … ‘The Walking Dead.’ The cast of “Sons of Anarchy” walks out in protest.

Crystal opens the next envelope. “And the best comedy of 2012-2013 is … what? … none of the above. Ladies and gentlemen, by a wave of computer write-in vote, the winner is ‘Sharknado!'”

Didn’t see that one coming.