Emmy's List: Trivia by the Numbers

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Ever since a Los Angeles ventriloquist named Shirley Dinsdale won the first Emmy Award — for "Most Outstanding Personality" — in 1949, the Emmys have been a near-constant source of frustration and contention, from shock omissions to Monday-morning arguments over the watercooler.



Don't believe it?



Here's a quick run-through through Emmy's list over the years:



• One for the (trivia) books: The name "Emmy" is a feminization of the nickname "Immy," an abbreviation of the image orthicon tube, which is part of a TV camera. Now you know.



• In 1958, in a bid to differentiate actors from the characters they play on TV, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences created two new categories: "Best Continuing Performance in a Series by a Woman Who Essentially Plays Herself," and its similarly titled male equivalent.



The idea was to coronate Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy, but the plan backfired: Dinah Shore won the award instead.



The category was retired soon thereafter and replaced by today's more succinct "outstanding lead [actress/actor] in a comedy/drama." Still clunky, though. How 'bout "best actor?" No, wait, another award show has thought of that already.



• Another funky grouping, "individual achievement in entertainment," was created in part to cut down on the already unwieldy number of categories. The intention may have been pure, but the results were decidedly odd: In 1965, symphony conductor Leonard Bernstein found himself competing against The Man from UNCLE's David McCallum. Bernstein won; McCallum lost. And the Emmys returned to their original program.



• Barney Miller won the Emmy for best comedy in 1982 — after ABC canceled the show.



But wait, there's more. Tony Randall once won a best actor award for The Odd Couple — when that show, too, was canceled.




"I just wish I had a job," Randall said, in one of the more honest Emmy acceptance speeches from over the years.



• Lonesome Dove is considered one of the finest television achievements of its day — only it didn’t win the Emmy for best miniseries that year. War and Remembrance won instead. Remember War and Remembrance?




• What do the following TV shows have in common: Roseanne, Maude, The Odd Couple, The Twilight Zone, Dallas, St. Elsewhere, The Honeymooners and Six Feet Under?



Yep, you guessed it: None of them won an Emmy for best comedy or best drama.



• There are overlooked shows, and then there are overlooked performers who appear in those shows. Here's a list of TV stars who never won an Emmy during their working careers, despite appearing in some of the most significant TV programs of their generation:



Andy Griffith,



Jackie Gleason,



Michael Landon,



Larry Hagman,



Jerry Orbach,



Jason Alexander, and



Angela Lansbury.





Hugh Laurie's in good company.



Nominations don't always translate into awards. In fact, a large number of nominations can be a downright jinx sometimes.



Miami Vice landed 15 nominations in 1985, but won just one major award. And not for Don Johnson's thespian talents.



Moonlighting racked up 16 nominations the following year, but won just one award — for editing.



Twin Peaks was nominated for 14 Emmys in 1990, but only won a pair of awards: costume design and editing. Baby needs a new pair of shoes.



• Frasier holds the record for most Emmys, with 37. The West Wing holds the record for most Emmys won in a single season, with nine (in the year 2000).



Frasier holds the record, too, for most wins in a single season for a TV comedy, with five.



According to Jim has a long way to go before it matches those totals, no matter how long it stays on air.



The West Wing, Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law hold the record for most best-drama Emmys, by the way: four apiece.



And ER is the record holder for Emmy nominations, with 122. Cheers, the leader until last year, is second, with 117.



• The Emmys have never won an Emmy for best award show, in part because the telecast isn't eligible. That would be too much, even for self-congratulatory TV types.



• More caffeine, please. The record for the longest Emmy telecast was set in 1987, when the telecast flirted with the four-hour mark before being put out of its misery.



Folks who have to get up in the morning Monday can only hope this is one rerun they won't see again in their lifetime.



On with the show