^{Credit: Avatar: The Last Airbender (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 2008-2009 eligibility cycle.

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

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

The Nominees Were…

American Dad!: “1600 Candles”  

Robot Chicken: “Robot Chicken: Star Wars II”

The Simpsons: “Gone Maggie Gone”

South Park: “Margaritaville” (Winner)

The Nominees Weren’t…

With only twelve submissions, there were just four nominees, one less than usual. After a five-year absence, King of the Hill returned to the race in 2008 with “Death Picks Cotton.” “Serves Me Right For Giving General George S. Patton the Bathroom Key” was a follow-up to that episode, as Hank is tasked with flushing his father’s remains down a toilet. This would be one of the last opportunities to nominate King of the Hill, as its final episodes were quietly burned off shortly after this Emmy cycle. Of course, that wasn’t truly the end. King of the Hill recently made a comeback with its fourteenth season, which just might bring it back to the Emmys. Fox still accounted for half of the nominees this year, with American Dad! and The Simpsons.

Adult Swim got nominated for "Robot Chicken: Star Wars II." Cartoon Network’s night block couldn’t nab a second nod with The Venture Bros., which submitted Season 3’s “The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together Part One.” Cartoon Network also submitted newcomer Batman: The Brave and the Bold for “Legends of the Dark Mite.” That episode was scribed by Paul Dini, who previously brought Batman: The Animated Series its first Emmy with the classic “Heart of Ice.” Another newbie was Star Wars: The Clone Wars for Season 1’s “Trespass.” Despite embracing Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars series, the Primetime Emmys never went for the CG version, which eventually got some love at the Daytime Emmys. Although The Powerpuff Girls ended its initial run in 2005, “The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!!” brought creator Craig McCracken back for a tenth anniversary special. While not nominated here, McCracken got his due in another category.

HBO tried to break into the race with The Life & Times of Tim, the network’s first original animated program since the Emmy-winning Todd McFarlane's Spawn. The Steve Dildarian-created series was never an Emmy favorite, although HBO had better luck the following year with The Ricky Gervais Show. Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World concluded its two-season run without an Emmy to its name. Speaking of ending shows, Avatar: The Last Airbender sadly didn’t warrant a farewell hug for “Sonzin’s Comet, Part 3, Into the Inferno.” While “Margaritaville” was a worthy win for South Park, Avatar should’ve been nominated and won.

After getting nominated for “City of Walls and Secrets” in 2007 and winning an Individual Achievement Emmy for Sang-Jin Kim’s work on "Lake Laogai,” Avatar missed out the following year for “The Puppetmaster.” “Sonzin’s Comet” is still regarded as one of the greatest series finales ever. Its absence is among the biggest oversights in the category’s history. That said, Nickelodeon didn’t do Avatar any favors by only submitting Part 3 of “Sozin’s Comet.” The finale was a four-part epic that played like a feature film. While “Into the Inferno” was a highlight, it was only a fraction of the story. If the network knew how to campaign, they would’ve submitted the entirety of “Sozin’s Comet” in Outstanding Animated Program (One Hour or More). On that note…

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

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

The Nominees Were…

Afro Samurai: Resurrection

Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends: “Destination Imagination” (Winner)

The Nominees Weren’t…

With entries dwindling, the writing was on the wall for the More Than One Hour category. 2009 would be the final nail in the coffin, with only six submissions and two nominees. Dead Space: Downfall, based on the survival horror game, was initially released straight-to-video, although a subsequent Starz debut qualified it for Emmy consideration. Over three decades after The Year Without a Santa Claus, the Rankin/Bass classic received a sequel with A Miser Brothers' Christmas. While this follow-up was produced through Warner Bros. Animation, it remained faithful to the original’s stop-motion roots. Mickey Rooney even returned as Santa Claus. Although it didn’t make the Emmy lineup, A Miser Brothers' Christmas received an Annie nomination. That’s more than can be said about Little Spirit Christmas in New York, which got an empty stocking.

Underfist: Halloween Bash received an Individual Achievement Emmy for Andy Suriano’s character design, but it too failed to score a competition nomination. This special was intended to set up a spinoff series set in the Billy & Mandy universe. Due to a change of leadership at Cartoon Network, creator Maxwell Atoms soon exited. This was also around the time that Craig McCracken left Cartoon Network, although he went out on a high note with Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends winning for “Destination Imagination.” While McCracken already had an Individual Achievement Emmy for the episode “House of Bloos,” this was his first competitive win. It also marked the first Emmys for Lauren Faust and Rob Renzetti.

“Destination Imagination” beat the only other nominee, Afro Samurai: Resurrection. Shigemi Ikeda was nonetheless awarded for his art direction on Afro Samurai, making it the first anime to warrant an Emmy. For the record, Avatar: The Last Airbender is not an anime, despite the clear Eastern influence. That said, this race would’ve been far more interesting if “Sozin’s Comet” had been submitted here. It’s unclear whether Nickelodeon or Avatar’s creators decided to enter only one-fourth of “Sozin’s Comet” in the other category. In any case, it might’ve cost this landmark finale an Emmy.

Outstanding Short Form Animated Program:

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

The Nominees Were…

Phineas and Ferb: “The Monster of Phineas-n-Ferbenstein”

SpongeBob SquarePants: “Dear Vikings”

The Nominees Weren’t…

Last year, Camp Lazlo and Chowder were the only nominees. Camp Lazlo won, although it wasn’t eligible this year. While Chowder couldn’t pull off back-to-back nominations with “Panini for President,” background painter Joe Binggeli was recognized in the Individual Achievement category for the episode “Shnitzel & The Lead Farfel.” Individual Achievement Emmys also went to character animator Elizabeth Harvatine for Moral Orel (“Sacrifice”) and background painter Chris Roszak for The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack (“Sea Legs”). Yet, Moral Orel and Flapjack both went unnoticed in Short Form Animated Program. So did the short-lived Adult Swim series The Drinky Crow Show, Justin Hilden’s The Roadents, and The Sarah Silverman Program: Animated Webisode.

While Phineas and Ferb squared off against SpongeBob SquarePants, there was no winner. Neither nominee got the 50% approval to take home the Emmy. The Disney and Nickelodeon crews didn’t realize this until the end of that year’s Creative Arts ceremony. They sat through the entire show, waiting for their category to be called. Both creative teams left the ceremony confused, learning the bad news shortly after. They say it’s an honor just to be nominated, but in this case, it felt like a slap in the face to everyone.

Eligible Animated Shows That Weren’t Submitted:

Family Guy: Instead of Outstanding Animated Program, Family Guy went all in on getting a Comedy Series nomination. It worked out, as Family Guy became the second cartoon to break into the comedy race after The Flintstones almost fifty years earlier. Family Guy ultimately lost to reigning champ 30 Rock, which Seth MacFarlane and company fully expected. They even expressed this in a series of videos, inspiring the title, "Where's My Emmy?" Having Family Guy in the running for comedy finally opened the animation race to MacFarlane’s other show, American Dad! for “1600 Candles.”

Spaceballs: The Animated Series: Fans of the 1987 comedy classic like to pretend this series doesn’t exist. So, no surprise that the creators didn’t bother submitting it for Emmy considerations. I’ll take my chances with Spaceballs 2: The Search For More Money. 

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the previous installments of Where’s My Emmy? covering 2007 and 2008.

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1 and 2. Available Now!