^{Credit: Nickelodeon} 

Doing research for my book, Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows, I came across numerous valuable research materials. Among the most fascinating finds were several Primetime Emmy submission ballots for Outstanding Animated Program. When voting for the Primetime Emmys is underway, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) posts the submission sheets online for everyone to see. Once voting is closed and the nominations are announced, the submission sheets disappear from the ATAS website. Few have bothered to preserve these submission forms. After all, who cares what got submitted for Emmy consideration if it didn’t get nominated? Awards junkies like me, that’s who.

Outstanding Animated Program is an especially interesting category. Rather than submit an entire season to the Primetime Emmys, animated shows enter a single episode from the past year. These submissions are a reflection of what the showrunners believed was their best foot forward. Whether or not it resulted in a nomination or win, it’s worth considering every submission. That’s what we’re going to do in this ongoing series, Where’s My Emmy?, break down the animated shows that were submitted for Emmy consideration, yet didn’t get nominated. A special thank you to Julie Shore of the Television Academy for helping me track down this submission sheet from the 2007-2008 eligibility cycle.

Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour):

^{Credit: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS)}

The Nominees Were…

Creature Comforts America: “Don't Choke To Death, Please”

King of the Hill: “Death Picks Cotton”

Robot Chicken: “Robot Chicken: Star Wars”

The Simpsons: “Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind” (Winner)

SpongeBob SquarePants: “The Inmates of Summer” / “The Two Faces of Squidward”

The Nominees Weren’t…

The most glaring omission is Avatar: The Last Airbender for “The Puppetmaster,” one of the show’s most unsettling half-hours. After getting into this category last year with “City of Walls and Secrets” and receiving an Individual Achievement Emmy for Sang-Jin Kim’s animation in “Lake Laogai,” Avatar appeared to be in the club. Apparently, there was only room for one Nickelodeon show this year. The Animation Peer Group favored Team SpongeBob over Team Avatar. Nearly twenty years later, though, Avatar remains one of the century’s most influential animated series. Only now do the masses seem to be realizing this with The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender set to hit theaters in 2026.

As usual, Fox was well-represented with nominations for The Simpsons (the category’s ultimate winner) and King of the Hill. It’d be the final nomination for the latter, although with a revival on the way, maybe another nomination is on the horizon for the Hills. Family Guy wasn’t submitted here, with the crew opting to enter the “Blue Harvest” special in the More Than One Hour category. This could’ve freed up space for American Dad!, which submitted the James Bond parody “Tearjerker.” Alas, Seth MacFarlane’s often overlooked second child maintained its double 0 status. 

Although Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends received an Individual Achievement Emmy this year for Ben Balistreri’s character design on “Mondo Coco,” “The Bloo Superdude and the Magic Potato of Power” couldn’t break into Outstanding Animated Program. While the Cartoon Network brand missed out, its night block, Adult Swim, finally had a certified Emmy contender with Robot Chicken: Star Wars scoring a nomination. That love didn’t extend to Adult Swim’s other offerings. The ballot says that The Boondocks submitted “The Story of Gangstalicious,” but that Season 1 episode would’ve been eligible during the 2005-06 Emmy cycle. Based on the description, the crew must’ve submitted the Season 2 follow-up, “The Story of Gangstalicious Part 2.” Adult Swim’s Moral Orel also submitted the second chapter of a story: “Nature Part 2.” Along with Moral Orel, Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World was another stop-motion series that didn’t make the cut. Between Robot Chicken and Aardman’s Creature Comforts America, though, it’s not as if the category was scarce of stop-motion.

Like Family Guy, South Park competed in the More Than One Hour race with “Imaginationland.” While South Park is still a cash cow for Comedy Central, their other animated shows have historically struggled to click with Emmy voters. The short-lived political satire Lil’ Bush unsuccessfully submitted “Big Pharma,” ending its two-season run without any nominations. Also at the end of its rope was Drawn Together, which couldn’t get nominated for Season 3’s “Drawn Together Babies.” The creators had hoped “Drawn Together Babies” might inspire a spinoff, but Comedy Central wasn’t interested.

Disney completely blanked this year with shows like Yin Yang Yo! and The Replacements. Although its pilot had been nominated a few years earlier, Kim Possible couldn’t bring things full circle with the series finale, “Graduation.” Kim Possible held the record as Disney Channel’s longest-running animated series until it was surpassed by Phineas and Ferb, which submitted Season 1’s “Dude! We’re Getting the Band Back Together.” That episode did inspire an Emmy-nominated song, "I Ain't Got Rhythm,” while the Phineas and Ferb theme song got nominated for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music.

Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or More):

^{Credit: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS)}

The Nominees Were…

Family Guy: “Blue Harvest”

Justice League: The New Frontier

South Park: “Imaginationland” (Winner)

The Nominees Weren’t…

This was always a two-horse race between South Park and Family Guy, with “Imaginationland” coming out on top. Justice League: The New Frontier was lucky just to fill the third slot. Notably, the other five submissions, Animal School Musical (My Gym Partner's A Monkey), Ben 10: The Secret Of The Omnitrix, Chill Out Scooby-Doo!, The Class Of 3000 Christmas Special, and Superman: Doomsday, all had a Cartoon Network connection.

Outstanding Short Form Animated Program:

^{Credit: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS)}

The Nominees Were…

Camp Lazlo: “Lazlo's First Crush” (Winner)

Chowder: “Burple Nurples”

The Nominees Weren’t…

Cartoon Network had better luck in the inaugural Outstanding Short Form Animated Program lineup, the only nominees being Chowder and the winner Camp Lazlo. Had the group etched out space for more than two nominees, maybe Cartoon Network could’ve gotten some love for The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and Squirrel Boy, both of which had recently wrapped up. SuperNews!, which aired on the Al Gore-co-founded Current TV, was among the only other submissions that actually aired on television. Most of the submissions were web series, although several had TV roots. Comedy Central was behind four submissions: Judge Fudge, Lil’ Bush: Post Show Q&A, Sarah Silverman Program Animated Shorts, and 5 On with Alan Whiter, the latter of which inspired the series Ugly Americans.

A personal favorite of mine is Pale Force, a collaboration between cartoonist Paul Noth and comedian Jim Gaffigan. The series was essentially the latter’s elaborate way of trolling his buddy Conan O’Brien, who Gaffigan voiced in the most falsetto of pitches. O’Brien was nonetheless a good sport whenever Gaffigan debuted a new Pale Force episode on his late-night show. Despite the late-night connection, Pale Force previously competed at the Daytime Emmys. In 2007, it was nominated for Outstanding Broadband Program - Comedy, losing to The Office: The Accountants.

That same year, fellow web series It’s JerryTime! won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Broadband Program - Variety. Where Pale Force had the backing of Jim Gaffigan and NBC, It’s JerryTime! essentially had no budget. Brothers Jerry and Orrin Zucker produced the series on the side while managing Ozone Inc, a broadcast design company. The Primetime Emmys didn’t have a category for web animation at the time. Outstanding Short Form Animated Program opened the net to primetime, even if neither Pale Force nor It’s JerryTime! could secure nominations.

Although they might not have been nominated for Emmys, some of the submissions were recognized at the Webby Awards. The bite-sized film parody series 30-Second Bunnies Theatre, which creator Jennifer Shiman essentially produced alone, won two Webby Awards for Online Film and Video/Animation and People’s Choice. The sci-fi series Afterworld, which found a following on MySpace, received a Webby nomination. Justin Hilden's The Roadents, chronicling the misadventures of two guinea pigs in a 1983 Winnebago, was a Webby honoree for Best Use of Special FX/Motion Graphics. Another Webby honoree, Y'All So Stupid, was created for SuperDeluxe.com, which soon folded into AdultSwim.com. The sketch comedy troupe Olde English developed the viral video Akon Calls T-Pain for Super Deluxe as well.

The Emmy ballot also includes The Professor Brothers from former South Park writer Brad Neely, Showtime’s The Ghastly Truth About Life In The Middle Ages, and the best of Uglystepchild.com, another site that no longer exists. I couldn’t find much about The Team other than a bare-bones IMDb page listing five episodes. That’s still more than I could track down about Tad or War Games, which seemingly have no digital footprint. If they got submitted for Emmys, though, they must be out there, right?

Eligible Animated Shows That Weren’t Submitted:

Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Once again, Aqua Teen wasn’t entered, although its fifth season might’ve stood a shot at a nomination in the new short form category. Funnily enough, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters was submitted for Oscar consideration around this time. It wasn’t nominated.

Code Geass: Adult Swim started airing the English dub of this all-timer anime series during the 2007-08 Emmy eligibility cycle. Anime is rarely submitted for Emmy consideration unless it has somebody like Samuel L. Jackson attached, i.e. Afro Samurai: Resurrection. One look into Lelouch’s eyes might’ve been enough to persuade voters, however.

Code Monkeys: Any millennial who grew up watching G4 surely has a soft spot for Code Monkeys, an 8-bit send-up of 80s game culture. The first season would’ve been eligible for Emmy consideration, although it’s not like awards were ever a priority for G4.

Friday: The Animated Series: Not a huge surprise since the series only lasted eight episodes, aired over a two-month period. The show doesn’t even have its own Wikipedia page. Being based on a cult comedy movie, though, MTV at least could’ve tried to get Ice Cube an Emmy.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the previous installment of Where’s My Emmy? covering the 2006-07 submission ballot.