Poll Results -What Show Do You Think Should Win The Emmy For Outstanding Drama Series?

I totally blew it when it came to my efforts to get a couple of shows reviewed and a new "PTC" article out. I fell ill Monday night and really didn't feel up to much until Thursday, then had a couple of other things crop up unexpectedly on Friday and Saturday. Almost a whole work week shot. Next week had better be better.

I wanted to leave this one to as close to Sunday as I could. For one thing I didn't give it as much lead time as I should have, which is another way of saying that I miscalculated the dates that all 

of the category polls should have run. For another thing I was hoping that we'd get one final vote. Yeah, you got it, we had a tie. At least it's the right tie.

Down to the results. Ten votes were cast, which was better than in most of the other categories. In a tie for fifth place with no votes are Boston Legal and Damages. In a tie for third place with one vote (10%) each are Lost and Dexter. In a tie for first place with four votes each (40%) are House and Mad Men.

For all that this isn't a scientific poll – the sample is too small and the people who have taken the poll are self-selected rather than reflecting an accurate picture of the viewing audience – I think that the result is a strong one. There are some parts of the result that I quibble with. For one thing, though I haven't seen it I think that Damages was probably a far better drama during the previous season than Boston Legal was. I'm rather unsure about Lost and Dexter too. I gave up on Lost and didn't go back, and the second season of Dexter isn't yet available on a cable channel that I have access to. There are however some things that I do know. I know that, unlike most of the other categories, the Outstanding Drama Series category (like the Outstanding Comedy award) is based on the overall performance of a series rather than a single superlative episode. I also know that in Mad Men and House the Academy has selected nominated two series that have rarely have put a foot wrong in terms of producing a string of outstanding episodes. I know that these two series get me involved in the stories they're telling. If I had voted, I think my vote would have gone to Mad Men, not simply because the show is newer than House but because I was a little more interested in the conflicts and secrets of the world of Don Draper and the people at Striling-Cooper than I was in the initial part of this season's House. The pseudo-reality show aspects of House finding his new associates (like any true reality show) didn't really become involving until the group was whittled down to a handful of likely candidates. Once he had them (and Wilson had Amber/"Cut Throat Bitch" who served as a far more entertaining antagonist for House than either Vogler or Tritter) things really picked up leading to a finale that was two of the best hours of TV of the season. The thing is though that while House had a few weak episodes, I would be hard pressed to find a point where Mad Men took a wrong step. But even for me it was close, so this tie in the poll isn't disappointing in the least.

Later today I'll have a summary of the poll results and my own opinions on a few other categories we didn't get into. Then I will – yet again – attempt to "liveblog" the Emmys. I think I've got my technique down now.