“We wuz robbed” is a uniquely American expression with dubious origins and paternity, but some think it was born in the early 1930s at either a boxing match or a baseball game. Spike Lee used it as the title of his 2002 movie.
Last Monday, “we wuz robbed” was used to describe the unfairness of the criteria used by the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to award primetime Emmys, which could be renamed “Streammy (streaming) Awards.”
How, it was asked, could broadcast television, with all of the restrictions imposed on it by at least three governmental organizations (stymieing creativity), possibly compete with online and pay-TV services that are totally unbound by rules and regulations?
At the September 17, 2018 70th Emmy Awards, Netflix won seven Emmys, HBO took home six, and Amazon nabbed five. It is doubtful that anyone was surprised that broadcast television picked up just two Emmys, and that basic cable earned six.
What was also considered unfair, was that those winning streamed shows got critical acclaims, but were not seen by the large audiences that follow broadcast television, as consequence the live telecast on NBC network got a lower ratings than in the past years.
It is VideoAge‘s opinion that there should be different Emmy categories for regulated and unregulated telecasts.
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