Here are TV faves that don't deserve Emmys

Here are TV faves that don’t deserve Emmys

A friend of mine is an official Emmy voter, so right now he’s getting all sorts of fancy boxed sets of tapes from all the networks who want him to nominate their shows and actors. Since I would never try to influence his vote by harassing him until he agrees to choose my favorite shows (yeah, right), I thought I’d offer the networks themselves a helpful guide of which shows and actors they should STOP submitting. The Oscars are exciting because it’s a new group of movies and people every year (with the exception of Tom Hanks), but the Emmys have a deathly veneer of sameness to it — thanks to Perpetual Nominee Syndrome.

Here are a trio of nomination hogs who should just take themselves out of the running, already:

Jenna Elfman, ”Dharma & Greg” (ABC)
She’s been nominated three times and there’s a reason she’s never won: Elfman depicts her flighty, flaky, fun-lovin’ Earth mama character with an acceptable but one-note performance that varies little from season to season. Maybe now that ”Dharma & Greg” is delving into more ”adult” territory (the season finale had the titular couple dealing with a marriage crisis) Elfman will be able to give her character a modicum of depth. But not, I expect, enough to earn an Emmy.

”Frasier” (NBC)
They’ve been nominated every year since 1994, and they’ve won five times in a row (1994-1998). Yes, yes, it’s a remarkable achievement, it’s unprecedented, blah, blah, blah… it’s also boring. How about hanging it up, Dr. Crane, so there can be more than one wild-card slot in the Outstanding Comedy Series category (usually populated by the following: ”Frasier,” ”Everybody Loves Raymond,” ”Ally McBeal,” ”Sex and the City”)? If you ask me, Emmy voters should just give the statuette to ”Friends” — which has been nominated four times but never won — so they, too, can turn the slot over to some new blood.

Dennis Franz, ”NYPD Blue” (ABC)
For the love of God, hasn’t Franz been honored enough for his portrayal of cantankerous Detective Andy Sipowicz? The actor been nominated seven (!) times, and he’s won four of those years. He’s been a tortured drunk, a tortured widower, and probably a tortured drunk widower (after nine seasons, I can’t keep track anymore). In other words, Franz is good at being tortured — we get the point! Throwing more Emmys at him is just beating a dead horse — and robbing worthy actors (like perennial nominee Anthony Edwards) of the recognition.

What do you think? Who else has been over-Emmy’ed?