When it comes to Reality Competition programs and the Emmy Awards, it has been a clean sweep: The Amazing Race just refuses to lose the award. Whether it is its sweeping vistas, its willingness to let people fall apart without contrivances or twists, or the killer fatigue that the race’s events and pace take on the racers, the show just seems to click with Emmy voters on a variety of levels. However, now we get to answer a bigger question: does it also have the best host?
Much loved by fans of the series, TAR’s host Phil Keoghan is certainly not a household name and outside of providing voiceover narration and end of leg banter he really doesn’t do so much in terms of traditional hosting. While I am a fan of his work (No host’s eyebrows work as well as his in conveying surprise or emotion), he in no way drives the show forward. This is a category built for the people who are in command of a series, whose work makes or breaks the structure of an episode. On this parameter, it is a host like Ryan Seacrest that has the most to gain.
Regardless of one’s opinion of Idol, you have to admit that Seacrest is good at his job: while he was an absolute bomb of an Emmy host largely thanks to downright awful material (He’s not a comedian), the much more spontaneous format of American Idol suits him. Whether it’s arguing with Simon or speaking to the contestants, there is an ease about him that helps Idol flow – I’m not sure if he deserves all of the hype, per se, but below that hype I know there’s a good host there.
Seacrest’s competition for the award is limited, although fairly diverse considering. I don’t know if Keoghan’s understated performances will be capable of getting him into the fold, but the show’s success could carry him there amongst more showy MCs of sorts such as Ty Pennington for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition or Tom Bergeron, who is really quite good when it comes to the improvisational nature of his job on Dancing with the Stars. Tyra Banks and Heidi Klum each have a particularly limited yet vital role to their shows, but I don’t know if they can lay claim to it the same way that someone like Jeff Probst does, who has done great work leading tribal councils and torturing people during challenges for 16 seasons now. I’d say he’s Seacrest’s biggest competition, no question.
However, this all begs a rather important question that Seacrest needs to think about: will his own potential success not absolutely without question guarantee that his show will never win the Emmy?
I think it does.
Cultural Learnings 