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Here’s a brief promotional spot for the 40th Emmy Awards, broadcast by FOX on Sunday, August 28th, 1988. It was the second year in a row that FOX aired the Emmy ceremony; the network first aired the Emmys in 1987.
FOX was nominated for several awards but didn’t win any. The 40th Emmys were the first to allow cable programming to be nominated.
My favorite moment on the first Emmy Awards telecast on Fox was when Jay Leno deadpanned, “You know, next year, we’re on the DuMont network.”
C.
…and does anyone recall exactly how long Fox’s initial Emmy telecast lasted? I do- FOUR HOURS. Subsequent editons were “tightened” a bit….
C. Says:
August 30th, 2010 at 11:13PM
My favorite moment on the first Emmy Awards telecast on Fox was when Jay Leno deadpanned, “You know, next year, we’re on the DuMont network.â€
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In a way, the Emmy’s finally did make it to the DuMont network, as many of the starting FOX affiliates were former DuMont affiliates that survived as independents from the mid-’50s through to the start-up of the FOX network.
The year before FOX aired ‘The Emmy Awards’, NBC had the special and garnered a 23.1HH/36% on Sep.21/1986. On FOX, which didn’t have a strong affiliate line-up in those days, got a terrible 8.8HH/14% on Sep.20/1987.
The 1986 Emmy edition on NBC was the last time the Emmy’s would break through the 20.0HH Nielsen threshold, and the last time a broadcast of ‘The Emmy Awards’ to get a share in the +30% range.