the buzz log

Top Snub? Most Overlooked?

Whatever the category is called, there needs to be something to address grievous wrongs. Quality nominees did make this year's 60th Primetime Emmys, but voters didn't even look down when they walked over the corpse outline of "The Wire,"  possibly one of the finest shows in television history. By escaping Emmy notice for the fifth (and final) year in a row, the HBO drama may be one of the most wronged shows in tube times.

Yes, Buddy TV pointed out the show again got a well-deserved nomination for its writing, making for an interesting category. Still, amongst the annual handwringing over snubs, the New York Daily News called the show "bafflingly invisible" among the Emmy line-up, the San Francisco Chronicle deemed its absence "surrealy absurd," and The Hollywood Reporter called "a moment of silence" for the wholesale carnage, which included overlooking the actors. An infuriated MSNBC contributor compared the choice of a much-nominated "Boston Legal" over "The Wire" to lauding the Miami Dolphins over the New England Patriots. And Gawker put it plainly: The show that dared take on crime, poverty, public policy, government corruption, and media corporations "was robbed."

Not that critics didn't see this coming: Newsweek predicted snubs, among them young James Hector for best supporting actor (drama). But it's not too late. If one takes the cynical view of the Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award as a make-up award for dissing deserving personalities, why not one for a TV show? Or an outright "Do-Over" Award, so a program can have a chance beyond its run?

Glum fans will have to nurse their disappointment with the final DVD set due out August 12, which includes a retrospective of the first four years. Meanwhile, its creator and former Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon may start another run for HBO: He moves from America's grimmest city to a post-Katrina New Orleans. That'll be one pair that will be hard to ignore.