Another opening, another show: Academy members vote to keep Emmy for theme music

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The Emmy Award for main-title music, whose elimination was recently proposed by the executive committee of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, will stick around, according to Variety and other sources. The question, which was subject to a vote by members of the body’s music branch, has been settled 85-36 in favor of keeping the category. (To increase submissions, it may be expanded to include end-title and miniseries themes, as well.) The change was prompted in part by the changing nature of the TV theme -- they are, broadly speaking, no longer quite the pop tunes of old -- and in part to make way for a new discrete category honoring music for nonfiction programs. (You might imagine the Academy could add new awards categories all the live-long day without having to nix old ones, but that apparently is not how they see it.)

It is true that the themes for many series, especially those on broadcast networks, where the competition for attention is fierce, have been shrunk down and sometimes buried deep within the body of the show. But even the most minimal have their part to play in establishing the tone of a series and creating a sense of occasion:

This is good news.

-- Robert Lloyd

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