Zoe: I don’t plan to watch the Emmys this Sunday and I honestly can’t remember the last time I did. It’s not that I hate the Emmys, by any means. It’s just that I’m so indifferent to them it hardly matters to me.

Part of that is inherent in award shows in general–they have no relevance to my daily life. They won’t affect what I watch and the effect they will have on what shows are available to me is pretty minimal. They’re a showcase of self-congratulation and faux-surprise and that doesn’t appeal to me. A good host, like a Neil Patrick Harris, can turn that around, but nothing about Jimmy Fallon makes me want to tune in Sunday.

Of course, the same can be said of the Oscars, which I will watch, which brings me to my second point: the predicability. Sure, the Oscars hardly go for surprises these days, but even they are more exciting or unusual than the Emmys. While I am usually a huge proponent of TV based off the longevity  depth it can bring, awards are the one area this can be detrimental. The Oscars, by definition, change every year. The Emmy’s can reward the same shows year after year, no matter how long they’ve been on the air or how past their prime they are.

So what do I hope for this year? I hope that Friday Night Lights scoops up as many awards as humanly possible and that Glee wins as little as possible. But, of course, the opposite will happen, just as Mad Men and 30 Rock will likely grab a bunch too. Because the Emmys are something you could almost set your clock to at this point which is why, with some of the best television being produced ever, I won’t care about the awards being handed out.

Scott: Yes, the Emmys definitely belong in the embarrassing Grammys realm as opposed to the shred-of-credibility Oscars realm. Like most useless awards shows, they’re voted on by old industry vets who could give a shit about whatever’s new and exciting in a medium they likely stopped actively working in decades ago. That’s an especially sad state of affairs when it comes to the Emmys, which happen to celebrate a medium that’s currently in a golden age. The voters are hopelessly and notoriously out of date. The peerless first season of The Sopranos roared into TV in 1999 and changed it forever… but Emmy voters gave Best Drama to a ho-hum season of The Practice instead. The Sopranos finally took home the gold five years later… when the show was past its prime and Deadwood deserved it. It’s pointless to list all the great shows that were completely ignored during their runs (ahem… The Shield).

That’s not to say that great actors and shows won’t win; Mad Men is a masterpiece that will probably win Best Drama again and Bryan Cranston is pure perfection in Breaking Bad. But even when good people win, it feels like a combination of trendiness and inevitability instead of Emmy voters spending time with hundreds of hours of great TV and finally coming to the hard-fought conclusion that, while Jon Hamm is masterful as Don Draper and Michael C. Hall brilliantly portrays one of the darkest characters ever on television in Dexter, Bryan Cranton simply cannot be denied, and the challenging decisions he made this season took his performance of Walter White to a whole new level! Instead it’s, “Oh, Glenn Close is in something. I’ll pick her.”

Complicating matters further is the fact that nearly every good show is now on cable and the Emmys are a very expensive event televised on the networks. Five of the seven Best Drama nominees are on cable, and one of the only network nominees won’t be back next year (Lost). As the gulf in quality widens year after year, it’s hard to imagine that the industry won’t start making this an issue.

So am I devoting entirely too much mental energy to something that doesn’t matter in any way, shape or form?

Zoe: You know, as much as we both agree that the Emmys are absolutely beyond pointless, I think at this point in time we are literally the only people devoting mental energy to the Emmys. I mean, sure, the voters probably care a little, but I think you are absolutely on point with your thesis that the few times they have recognized good shows has been more driven by trendiness than by quality (which is why I believe Glee and not the better Modern Family will sweep the thing).

But honestly, I can’t say that the winners even care. I mean, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report treat their Emmys like big jokes and while I’m sure Jon Hamm or Tina Fey or the guys behind Two and a Half Men are flattered to be nominated or win, I doubt it’s their driving force. Their awards might be on the mantle, but that’s about it. Likewise, I think shows can only care insofar as it gives them a gauge for potential renewal or cancellation. If the Emmys have any power, it’s getting to lambast networks for cancelling “Emmy award winners”, which they seem less inclined to do.

I think our wasted mental energy aside, the question that has to be asked of all bloated, pointless award shows is, Can the Emmys be saved or should they just be canned?

Scott: I think we have a natural desire for great stuff to get recognized with some kind of award. That’s why year-end lists are so addictive, and why the Oscars race seems like the most important thing in the world from December until until one minute after the show ends, at which point we all forget everything that just happened (seriously, Sandra Bullock won an Oscar this year?). The Oscars still retain a bit of gravitas despite the fact that Crash won Best Picture, and it’s a shame that there’s not a reputable TV equivalent since there’s currently so much better stuff on the small screen than there is on the big screen. There have only been a handful of notable movies this year — only Inception, Shutter Island (what up, Leo!) and Greenberg come to mind — while TV is churning out greatness every week. We’re only 2/3 through the year and heading into prestige movie season, but I seriously doubt I’ll see any performance that can top Zach Gilford’s on Friday Night Lights, or have my nerves frayed like they were by Breaking Bad‘s third season, or watch a villain as complex and compelling as Walton Goggins’ Boyd Crowder on Justified, or laugh harder than I do at Louie.

As to whether the Emmys can be saved, it seems doubtful. Most of the TV world revolves around routine CBS detective/lawyer/doctor shows, and the people who make those are unlikely to vote for or pay attention to all those series I just mentioned. I guess we’ll just have to start our own awards, Zoe. Let’s call ‘em the ZoSco’s. At least there, I can guarantee that Connie Britton won’t go home empty-handed.

Zoe: I agree whole-heartedly. I guess what gets me down about the Emmys, once I get past my vast indifference, is that I. Love. Television. I mean, as people on the site no doubt know, it’s most of what I write about. And while I see plenty of movies (though my tastes lean more towards stuff with guns than anything else) I don’t participate in them and criticize them the same way.

For me, part of this “Golden Era” of television is about people, through pay channels and increased recognition of television and increased leisure time or whatever, fulfilling this medium’s potential. Television is wonderful because even the shortest season gives you 13 hours with the characters, to grow and learn and explore them. A film–even a good film–is nothing at a mere two. Even procedurals are becoming more about continuity, though is subtler (and smaller) ways than the big gun shows. And that’s great.

What’s not great is that, ultimately, the one award show dedicated to something I love so much, and see so much value in, sucks. And I think only some of that can be attributed to the lackluster or undeserved nominees. I mean, as you noted, it’s not like the Oscars don’t have their share of head-scratching nominees. No, I think the biggest thing is that TV people still feel lesser. Like their chosen media is somehow less important than film or literature or anything else. It’s still OK to slag off on TV and the amount of time we spend watching it.

Is that entirely wrong? No, but it belittles something that has really gone above and beyond recently. I never thought I would be saying this, but if anything the Emmys maybe need to become a bigger deal. To have the sort of pomp and circumstance and breathless anticipation and petty fights that we expect from the Oscars. I don’t think this would make the nominees better, but maybe it would force people who aren’t me or you or other TV critics and fans, to begin to take the whole thing a bit more seriously. At least then we’ll have more people enraged over how robbed Connie Britton is.