Emmy shines for the best of television
(CNN) -- Everybody has an opinion about what's on the boob tube. But for the record, the opinion that matters when it comes to prime-time television is that of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
It's the Academy that's responsible for the annual Emmy awards, the industry's highest recognition of prime-time television talent.
The first Emmys were presented in 1949, soon after the Academy was founded to promote television's "cultural, educational and research aims," as a way to encourage quality in the fledgling medium.
The statue of a svelte winged woman, proffering what looks like a hollow ball but actually is an electron symbol, quickly became a show-business icon. The name is a feminized form of "Immy," a nickname for the image orthicon tube that equipped televisions of the time.
Six Emmys were presented that first year, and shows had to be produced in Los Angeles to be eligible. But that rule gave way in short order to broader competition, as the medium exploded in popularity. The awards ceremony was first broadcast nationwide in 1955.
There are actually several sets of Emmys, awarded by two separate groups. This stems from a long-standing rivalry between Los Angeles and New York industry people that led to the organizational split in 1977.
The award categories were divvied up at that time. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, in Los Angeles, presents the prime-time Emmys. The New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences handles the rest, including those for daytime, sports and news and documentary shows.
Cable television started to participate in the A.T.A.S. prime-time Emmy competition in the late 1980s, though it already had its own CableACE Awards (Awards for Cable Excellence) by then.
Since the beginning, a big part of the excitement surrounding the Emmys concerns losing as much as winning.
In a persistent quirk shared by awards such as the Academy Awards, some of the most popular shows and stars have never managed to secure a statuette. And while some shows over the years have been saved by winning an Emmy, others won it only after being canceled.
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ATAS/NATAS c1997 Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
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