Awards News

Either choice comes with an Emmy catch-22. Enter in the comedy category, and your show's animators are shut out. Submit in the animation field, and your scribes aren't eligible to compete in the comedy writing category.

This year, "Family Guy" has finally figured out a way to work around those rules. The show is submitting itself for outstanding comedy series consideration -- and simultaneously entering its hourlong "Star Wars" parody, "Blue Harvest," as a special in the outstanding animated program category.

"We found a way to dip into both wells," says "Family Guy" exec producer Chris Sheridan. "This way the animators can get their recognition with a nomination, and at the same time our writing staff cannot only be put up against the other half-hour primetime shows but they have an opportunity to be nominated for best writing."

"Family Guy" has yet to win in the animated category. And although shows like "The Simpsons" have submitted in the comedy category in the past, so far no animated show has ever scored a nomination in that field.

Sheridan expresses frustration that Emmy voters are willing to accept hourlong shows with dramatic twists (such as "Desperate Housewives") in the comedy category but seem opposed to recognizing animation (even though those shows are written in the same style as live-action comedies).

"A show like 'Ally McBeal' was funny, but it's such a different style," he says. "To be even more nitpicky, how can you compare 'My Name Is Earl' with 'Two and a Half Men'? It's two different styles of production and writing."