Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 12, 1990 TAG: 9003143275
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"Them" refers to televised award shows, and Hall would know. She's the program director at Roanoke's WDBJ-TV (Channel 7). It's an affiliate of CBS, which carries more award shows than any other network or cable channel.
"There's an award for just about anything you do," Hall said, "especially in Hollywood. Those people are always giving each other awards."
For audiences, Hall said, the awards often are of secondary importance. Many people watch the shows to be entertained and to see the stars.
"It's the pageantry," she said. "It makes for good visual television."
Marianne Sauvage of George Schlatter Productions agrees. Her company produces the American Comedy Awards, which will air on ABC March 19.
"Our aim is to do a funny show as much as the awards," she said.
Within the entertainment industry itself, the awards are all of interest. Some feel that awards bestowed by industry peers are more important than awards decided by the entertainment consumer. Others disagree. It pretty much depends on whom you get on the phone.
Award shows come and go, making it hard to say how many there are at a given time. But it's easy to come up with 20 well-known shows that are either broadcast by the networks, shown on cable or syndicated widely to individual stations.
Among them, six or seven stand out. They are the Academy Awards for movies, the Emmy Awards for television, the Grammy Awards for music and the Tony Awards, which recognize work on the New York stage and are the only nationally telecast theater awards.
John Leverence of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences - source of the Emmys - calls those four "the awards family."
Beyond the family, the best-known televised awards probably are the Country Music Association Awards, the Golden Globe Awards and the People's Choice Awards, which were telecast on CBS Sunday night.
CBS is king of the networks when it comes to carrying prominent awards shows; it has four of them. But ABC has the king of the shows: the annual Academy Awards. It gets the best ratings, according to Nielsen Media Research, and the Oscar is the most prestigious of the various movie awards.
"It's the zenith of any award a person in the industry can get," said Bob Werden. That's what you'd expect to hear from a spokesman for theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and sciences, which Werden is, but he's only stating the obvious.
"The Oscars are the most valued award," said a Screen Actors Guild spokesman who asked not to be named. What makes them valuable, he said, is credibility: Those who vote on the awards are "the cream of the crop" in the movie industry.
Movie work also is recognized by the People's Choice, Golden Globe and America's Choice Awards - all of which have their own shows - but none has the luster of the venerable Oscar.
The People's Choice Awards show is one of the most popular. It ranked third among network entertainment award shows in 1989, according to Nielsen. Winners are selected by a Gallup Poll. Also consumer-determined are the America's Choice Awards, which is determined by poll of cable viewers and cable guide subscribers.
The 47-year-old Golden Globe is bestowed by vote of the 85-member Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Next to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, "we're the oldest awards show in town," said association president Yani Begakis.
It's noteworthy that he mentioned the academy in the same sentence with the Golden Globes, because that's what people in the business tend to do. The Golden Globe is widely regarded as a bellwether for the later Academy Awards.
It's happenstance, according to Begakis.
"Our choices are our choices, their choices are their choices," he said. "It comes close if the product is good."
Others are less sure. The SAG man suspects the Hollywood Foreign Press Association of sniffing the air for Oscar trends and making its awards accordingly, thereby giving them greater credibility.
He admits, however, that the Golden Globe show is popular and well-attended by nominees. "It's funky," he said. "You can let your hair down a little more."
The Golden Globe Awards are carried by Atlanta "superstation" WTBS to cable viewers all over the world. They recognize achievement in television as well as in the movies - as do the Emmy, People's Choice, America's Choice and the Awards for Cable Excellence, or ACE Awards.
The "choice" awards, as their names imply, are determined by the entertainment consumer. Sometimes they're called "fan-selected" awards. The Emmy and ACE Awards are determined by people within the industry.
The Emmys are better known and for that reason are the more coveted. There are Emmys for cable achievement, but most of the awards are for work in broadcast television. The awards show is carried by the fledgling Fox Broadcasting Co. - which in many parts of the country is available, ironically, only on cable.
The ACE Awards are made by the Washington-based National Academy of Cable Programming. They are limited to original cable programming, and the awards show is carried each January by a dozen or so different cable channels.
Awards are based on viewing and academy-supervised screenings by judges from among the ranks of critics and television production people. The integrity of its nomination and voting process is a point of pride within the cable academy, according to spokeswoman Carol Vernon.
There is a separate Emmys program for daytime television, which rotates among the networks. This year, it will be carried by ABC on June 28. A popular facet of daytime television also is recognized in the annual Soap Opera Awards, which are produced jointly by Soap Opera Digest and Dick Clark Productions. Voting is by readers of the digest. NBC carries the daytime show in January.
At least nine major awards shows are devoted to music, and music is a prominent part of many other awards shows including the consumer choice programs. There are general music awards show and shows specifically for gospel, country music, rock and even music videos.
This year's gospel awards, called the Doves, will be given by the Gospel Music Association April 5 in a show to be carried by The Nashville Network (TNN). Winners are determined by association members, according to spokesman Mike Atkins of Nashville.
Not surprisingly, the video awards show is on MTV. Despite the fact that MTV is one of the few music video channels and the awards show is an MTV production, spokeswoman Andrea Smith said it's not a self-serving exercise.
As evidence, she cited Neil Young's "This Note's for You" video. Though banned for a time from MTV, it was given first prize.
Rock has its own "International Rock Awards Show," this year's edition of which will be on ABC on June 6. Those who win its "Elvis" statuettes are selected by vote of rock industry insiders including the artists themselves.
The rock awards are two years old. The Grammys are 32 - and, in the view of International Rock Awards spokeswoman Amy Gray, "a little bit stodgy."
Maybe so, but K92 disc jockey Linda Silver says the Grammys are "the most prestigious" of the music awards. That view is shared by Pat Baird of Broadcast Music Inc., who said it's "the highest award in the industry" and the one that has the "most commercial effect."
That's not to say other music awards are scorned. Far from it.
"Awards are valued based on their nature and the quality of the vote," said Bill Ivey, chairman of the board of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which is the source of the Grammys. "Others may be coveted for different reasons, but they're still coveted."
"An award is an award is an award," said Jenny Bohler, spokeswoman for country singer Reba McEntire. "They're all important."
McEntire was named favorite female vocalist in last year's "Viewers' Choice Awards" on The Nashville Network, and Bohler said the singer regards that fan-selected award as favorably as any other.
"Those are the people who go out to concerts and buy records and listen to the radio," she said.
Brenna Davenport of RCA Records agreed. "It's good to be acknowledged by peers," she said, "but a fan-voted award really cuts to the base."
Country music fans have the luxury of two awards shows. One is put on by the Nashville-based Country Music Association, the other by the Academy of Country Music in Los Angeles. In both cases, the awards are decided by members of the organizations.
The Country Music Association probably is the more established. Roanoke disc jockey Steve Akers of WJLM (J93) said its awards are the most prestigious in his view.
"I don't do those comparisons," said Bill Boyd, executive director of the academy. "Both groups serve a very useful function in the industry. Country music is more than large enough for them both."
Full results of the award presentations listed in bold are carried in the Extra section of the Roanoke Times & World-News. Abbreviated reports are carried about other major awards.\ JANUARY
American Black Achievement Awards - CBS
American Music Awards - ABC
Golden Globe Awards - WTBS
Awards for Cable Excellence (ACE) - WTBS and other cable channels
Soap Opera Awards - NBC
\ FEBRUARY
Grammy Awards - CBS
\ MARCH
People's Choice Awards - CBS - March 11
Soul Train Music Awards - WGN, WDCA, WVFT - March 14
American Comedy Awards - ABC - March 19
Academy Awards - ABC - March 26
America's Choice Awards - March 27
\ APRIL
Dove Awards - TNN - April 5
Academy of Country Music Awards - NBC
\ JUNE
International Rock Awards - ABC - June 6
Emmy Awards (daytime) - ABC - June 28
TNN/Music City News Country Music Awards
Tony Awards - CBS
\ SEPTEMBER
Emmy Awards (prime time) - FBC (Fox Broadcasting Co.)
MTV Video Music Awards - MTV
\ OCTOBER
Country Music Association - CBS
by CNB