More Emmy nods, less diversity

More stars! More shows!

The folks who populate TV shows and the series themselves will have more of a chance to get nominated for Emmys, according to a rejiggered rule at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. There will now be six actors and six shows in the top categories, instead of five, for the first time since the awards started in 1949.

So, that's the good news.

The bad news, say some longtime Emmy pundits, is that the lists will be the same-old, same-old. The nominees will be the behemoths of TV, the most popular shows and performers, with little chance for the underdogs.

Nods for such actors, which turned into wins this past fall, as Bryan Cranston, the center of the decidedly off-center "Breaking Bad," and Zjelko Ivanek, the defense attorney whose ethics got the better of him in "Damages," aren't likely to happen. 

That's because of another rule change. It disbands what might sound like a layer of bureaucracy in the form of blue ribbon panels. In fact, though, those groups existed to try to give a leg up to the ratings challenged, the daring, the fresh and the new.

The reason for this change? Money, says the Academy. Lack of backbone, says GoldDerby's Tom O'Neil.

We say that any tinkering with the nomination process that will shut out risk-taking programs and little seen but excellent performances is the wrong way to go.