In finally starting to get with the times news, it has been announced that online voting will be available to TV Academy members for the upcoming 66th Primetime Emmys. Following in the footsteps of the Oscars, which introduced an online voting option just last year, the Emmys are looking for easier ways for the Academy to vote. The TV Academy pretty much went and copy and pasted the plans used by the Movie Academy including meetings between the two and both using the same company (Everyone Counts) for the undertaking. Paper ballots will still be available for those who wish to opt out of the online program.
While I will give them credit for trying to modernize things, in the long run this won’t really mean much to anyone outside the Academy in the long run. The fact that they didn’t offer online voting until now was not the reason the Academy is considered out of touch. The Academy is considered out of touch due to nepotism and a lack of connection to the modern TV audience, neither of which will be fixed by any online component.
To the Emmys credit, they are much more in tune with today’s viewer then their cousin the Oscars, but that really isn’t that hard to do considering just how far away from popular opinion the Oscars have been multiple times. Do not misunderstand me, I do believe the Academy should exist, just viewing some of the winners of the last People’s Choice Awards proved to be enough evidence for that. I support the Emmys as they try to update themselves and stay relevant in the world, but they still have a long way left to go.
So do you people think online voting will make a difference for the Emmys? What do you think the Emmys need to do to stay with the times? Let us know in the comments below!
Via Deadline
