Dubious TV awards abet and encourage winners’ mediocrity

Every year, awards are handed out by well-meaning groups for “outstanding” achievement on television. Alas, a number of those awards groups’ “honors” don’t go to the right people – so, instead of motivating truly exceptional TV workers to keep doing their best, they end up aiding, abetting and encouraging stellar but mediocre TV talents to continue doing their worst (after all, they cheekily argue, they keep winning awards for it, don’t they?!).

Naturally, the people or groups handing out those dubious and counterproductive “awards” are incensed when their well-meaning efforts are criticized. How dare we question their choices, which they make sincerely as concerned viewers, and with no strings attached?

Standards

Well, because we care about standards for the TV industry, which have been sadly and sometimes even shockingly diluted in the last decade. If awards motivate excellence, why is our TV workers’ quality output so low? – There’s a huge disconnect there, and one of the reasons is the fact that some people have been getting those awards for the wrong reasons.

Can anything be done to salve and mitigate this sorry situation? First, if you’re going to put up a new TV awards group, make sure that you’ve got more than good intentions going for you.

Do you and your fellow jurors know how TV works, beyond what you see on the screen? Are you aware of the psychology of television, the subliminal tricks of the trade?

Impressionable

Are you versed in the responsibilities, professional standards and caveats of the industry, especially when it comes to protecting impressionable young viewers?

If so, why are there “awardees” whose programs communicate wrong values like bigotry, superstition, conspicuous consumption, colonial mentality, exploitation of the poor, diseased and victimized – etc.?

Why are trophies for “excellence” bestowed on personalities who report the news with bombastic flourish and dramatic volume, instead of thoughtful discernment and analysis? Why honor dramatic shows that mistake bathos for pathos? Why award comedies that promote slapstick and crassness instead of wit?

If we can’t tell the good from the bad and the ugly, why come up with well-meaning but standards-lowering “awards” at all?

A final thought: A key way to legitimize many TV awards is for the groups handing out the “honors” to give them only to specific programs and channels, not to individual TV talents, as is the current practice.

Focus

The excessive focus on individual work and so-called “achievement” is a major reason why the awards process has become so subjective and ego-centric.

Let’s face it, some on-cam talents actually do relatively little actual work in terms of content, so why should they be “honored” for what the real workers, the off-cam talents, have accomplished? – Why, indeed?