2nd Breakfast guesting: 20 Sep 2004

It was Emmy time again and I was invited to talk about the 56th Emmys at Breakfast on Studio 23 (my second time). I like talking to the Breakfast gang -- they're a smart lot. We discussed what's different in this year's Emmys. One notable change is in the way they nominate: instead of voting for the usual top 5 shows per member, they were asked to vote for the top 10. The Emmy organizers have been concerned about the lower ratings on the Emmy awards night. Tradition proved to be the Emmys weakness: years of repeated wins by Frasier, The West Wing, etc have made the awards predictable (read: boring).

The changes produced some unexpected results like Frasier not being nominated for Best Comedy Series, and Joan of Arcadia earning a nomination. My favorite Six Feet Under failed to qualify because it did not air the required number of shows in a season to qualify for the awards. I was rooting for 24, of course, but Breakfast asked me to discuss reality shows instead. And since this was Studio 23, the talk was going to focus on the shows they aired: Survivor and Amazing Race.

I was rooting for The Amazing Race, because I felt it was more interesting than Survivor. This despite the fact that Survivor was the first show where the term "reality show" first became popular. Off-cam, Ryan and I discussed my qualms against Survivor -- that it tended to highlight more of scheming and politicking. In the All-Star series, the producers tried to balance this by showing more positive stuff, like the saccharine relationship that bloomed between Amber and Boston Rob which eventually became a much-publicized engagement.

As an aside, it's funny to note that in an interview with Boston Rob, he said that he used everything -- including friendship -- to win this game. So I hope that doesn't apply to his relationship with Amber. But I'm rambling. I prefer The Amazing Race because it's main vehicle -- the race all over the world -- tends to display more of human spirit and strength than Survivor.

In any case, it was fun to watch the expression on Ryan and Ria's face when I told them that my fearless forecast for the Best Reality Competition Show would be The Apprentice. But I quickly added that I was also rooting for The Amazing Race and The Apprentice. (Amazing Race won).

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