There's being snubbed, and then there's being slamed against a wall head-first.

Buffy, always a bastion of exceptional writing and in a genre of its own, usually has one exceptional episode per season, pushing its own bar even higher. In 1999 that episode was "Hush" which was quite justifiably nominated for the 'Best Writing in a Drama' Emmy award, remarkable because over 75% of the episode took place with no dialog at all. It didn't win, but it's an honor just to be nominated.

In 2000, the breakout episode was "The Body," detailing the aftermath of the death of Buffy's mom. Sadly it didn't get the nomination which, in my opinion, it richly deserved.

That's fine though. Votes are votes; democracy in action.

Last year, "Once More, With Feeling!" was absolutely outstanding. In my mind, and in the minds of many others I've talked to, the best Buffy episode ever, and very possibly the best hour on TV in 2001.

People were talking about Buffy's first 'real' (read: not in makeup or music) Emmy with confidence. UPN was so proud of its new acquisition (having taken over the series from WB just that season) that they spared no expense in including, along with the customary 'for your consideration' ad in industry-mag Variety, a complimentary DVD of the episode. The DVDs sold on eBay for prices ranging from $120 to upwards of $600 just for that episode.

Emmy nomination forms went out to voters earlier this month, with a list of the episodes being put forward for nomination in each category, and inexplicably "Once More, With Feeling" wasn't on the list.

This isn't sour grapes or whining: Each show on television gets to put forward what they feel is their strongest episode and that gets presented to voters for conideration. OMWF was supposed to be on the list, and the Emmy coordinators made a typographical error.

Now, after being made aware of their error, the Television Academy has sent out postcards letting constituents know the procedure for retroactively changing their vote, but the process is considerably more difficult than the original voting, and industry experts forsee that a reasonable percentage of those who would otherwise have voted for OMWF won't bother to change it after the fact, if they even take notice of the junkmail-like postcard.

Losing in a fair vote is one thing. Losing because your show just doesn't have enough visibility is another, but both are par for the awards course. Being left off a ballot by a clerical error, though: that's simply fucked up. It's 2002, and voting still sucks. What will it take to have a peer review be a standard step in the ballot creation and certification process?