Sunday night I had one eye on the TV for the Primetime Emmys and one eye on TweetDeck, where I saw a number of tweets asking why Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill weren’t being recognized at the awards show.
Historically, the teen drama genre has gone unrecognized at the Emmys, except for in 1995 when Milton Berle was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his appearance as Saul on Beverly Hills 90210.
The closest the genre has come to similar-sized recognition was Beverly Hills 90210’s and Jason Priestley’s multiple Golden Globe nominations in the early and mid-90s.
There’s a lot of theories out there as to why the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences – the organization responsible for the Emmys – continually chooses not to recognize the genre, but I’d like to hear your thoughts.
Why do you think the teen dramas have received just one Emmy nomination over the last 20 years?
TeenDramaWhore 
I guess it’s because the shows tend to get less recognition and usually have a smaller audience base, so they get passed over as nominees. Teen dramas are exactly that: aimed at teens although we as fans all know that a wide range of people watch them, those on the outside tend to ignore them and so often they don’t register as legitimate hit dramas. Perhaps if they branched out and advertised to a wider demographic they may achieve some awards next year. I dunno, I’m just speculating, but having relatives who work in television has showed me that there is a lot of stigma surrounding the genre, which is sad, because it’s actually produced some pretty amazing television over the years.
In my opinion there are very few teen dramas that could be considered Emmy worthy, such as the current Friday Night Lights, or old ones like My So Called Life or Freaks and Geeks. As much as I enjoy Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill, I see them as a different kind of entertainment. I don’t think the people involved in this kind of shows are delusional enough to think they’re going to be winning Emmy’s anytime soon. That’s not to say that there can’t be some great acting in this kind of shows, sometimes even better that of many adult dramas (Leighton Meesters can act circles around half the cast of Grey’s Anatomy any day of the week) but because of the stigma attached to this kind of shows it’s a safe bet to say that the day a teen drama wins or is even nominated to an Emmy is not on the forseeable future.
I think it’s because many people, specifically the older generations (like some serving on the Academy) don’t believe that anything good can come out of teen dramas. They speculate, based on their own views and traditions, that teens don’t know anything, and are only up to know good. So, therefore, what teens want to watch (teen dramas) must not know what they’re talking about and are also up to no good. I can understand that mindset to some degree (I know teen dramas like to show/talk about racy issues that make some grown-ups squirm in their seats), but plainly put I just think they don’t have faith that a teen based show can give the entertainment world anything more than party, sex, and catfight scenes. On the other hand, I can’t 100% stand behind the teen genre because, let’s face it, their tends to be some wild storylines that don’t serve any point (IMO) other than to just ‘be’. So you can’t expect a show to win an award if there plots and storylines aren’t worthy. Maybe the Academy doesn’t bother to watch teen dramas because they already have this image in their head; maybe their thinking “What can they show me that I haven’t already seen?”. This is obviously a sad stigma as the Academy looses out on some of the important themes, performances, and episodes that actually did have/could have had immense potential in Award categories. (The one episode in mind that has WINNER written all over it for me is OTH’s Season 3 shooting episode. A living piece of art if I ever saw one IMO). I guess until a new teen drama comes into the picture with strong, meaningful storylines that do more than show off teens drinking, having sex, and pulling each other’s hair out, the Academy won’t take a second look at the genre……
This and the sci-fi/fantasy genre are the most snubbed genres in the Emmy’s.
Story-wise, teen dramas and sci-fi shows can be at par with their adult drama counterparts, especially the latter which always boast of high production values and all. The Academy just need to look beyond the stereotype of these genre shows and see the very stuff that makes a program Emmy-worthy.