The Emmys are in -- no, not the just-completed 1999 awards, but the 20th Century awards.
We asked the University of Memphis to convene a panel of television critics and scholars from around the nation, to nominate and select the best television programs and stars of the century. Their results are both surprising and controversial.
The envelopes, please:
- Nominees for Best Dramatic Series of the Century are: "Hill Street Blues," "Playhouse 90," "Philco/Goodyear TV Playhouse," "St. Elsewhere" and "The Twilight Zone."
And the winner is: "Playhouse 90" (CBS 156-61).
According to University of Memphis professor Dr. Marvin Bensman, "Playhouse 90" launched or furthered the careers of many outstanding actors, actresses, writers and directors, including Paddy Chayevsky, Rod Serling, Jack Palance, Agnes Moorehead, Rip Torn, Art Carney, Burt Reynolds and Martin Balsam.
Wichita, Kan., critic Bob Curtright says, "'Playhouse 90' introduced serious stage drama to people in the heartland, like myself, who had no other ready source."
The panel also singled out "Roots" (ABC for eight nights 1977) as the Best Mini-Series of the Century. "Roots" was based on the novel by Alex Haley.
Michael Hill, editor of the Washington Post's TV Week, says, "Few programs of any kind have sustained the size and depth of its audience, an audience that was both black and white. 'Roots' did as much as any program to stimulate racial discussion across color lines and prompted many Americans of varying ethnic backgrounds to begin researching their own roots."
- Nominees for Best Dramatic Actor of the Century are: Ed Asner, Dennis Franz, James Garner, E.G. Marshall and Sam Waterston.
And the winner is: James Garner.
Garner, whose nearly 50-year acting career includes the light dramatic series, "Maverick" and "The Rockford Files," also won much critical acclaim for his heavier dramatic roles in TV movies, such as "Promise," a film about a man caring for his schizophrenic brother, and "Heartsounds," a movie about a doctor dying of heart disease.
The Chicago Tribune's Julia Keller says Garner's "casual demeanor masks what is, in character after character he plays, a deeply intense moral sense. He looks at life with the bemusement of somebody who knows the worst of which humans are capable, but who yearns, inexplicably, for the best, too."
- Nominees for Best Dramatic Actress of the Century are: Tyne Daly, Julie Harris, Helen Mirren, Diana Rigg and Cicely Tyson.
And the winner is: Helen Mirren.
"Of her character in (PBS's) 'Prime Suspect,'" says Keller, "I always thought, 'I wouldn't want to work with her or for her, but I'm glad she's on the job.' She's one of the few actors who can display intelligence -- that is, actual thinking going on behind the eyes -- without looking like a pretentious egghead."
- Nominees for Best Comedy Series of the Century are: "All in the Family," "I Love Lucy," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "M*A*S*H," and "The Simpsons."
And the winner is: "M*A*S*H" (CBS 1972-83).
This controversial show about a medical unit in Korea turned into an anti-war comedy about Vietnam. It and we would have been better served had it kept to its superbly written humor and avoided shallow pontificating.
- Nominees for Best Actor of the Century in a Comedy are: Sid Caesar, Bill Cosby, Jackie Gleason, Bob Newhart and Carroll O'Connor.
And the winner is: Jackie Gleason.
Gleason, known as "The Great One" both for the size of his body and the size of his talent, starred in "The Jackie Gleason Show" (CBS 1952-70), which spawned his most famous sketch, "The Honeymooners."
Curtright describes Gleason as "one of the pioneer geniuses of early TV. He created enduring characters, including the quintessential everyman hero, Ralph Kramden. He and Ralph celebrated the American dream."
"Jackie Gleason was a man who was famous for not liking to rehearse, for being very spontaneous, and yet you look at it and it's just comic mastery," says the Akron Beacon's Rich Heldenfels.
- Nominees for Best Actress of the Century in a Comedy are: Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Mary Tyler Moore, Tracey Ullman and Betty White.
And the winner is: Lucille Ball.
"In truth she was a hard-headed, realistic businesswoman, who excelled in both verbal and physical humor," Bensman says. "She broke the TV stereotype of what an American married couple could be."
The Washington Post's Hill adds, "And, of course, she was drop-dead funny."
-- Jack Anderson and Douglas Cohn are columnists for United Feature Syndicate.
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