Note: Sitcom fans may want to check out my "Top 100 Sitcom Episodes of All Time" project.
For your viewing pleasure, and because I didn't realize it would take so long, I've posted below in-living-color representations of the most Emmy-winning shows of TV's first six decades. You can click on each one to embiggen.
I counted the winners of the seven major Emmys on both the comedy and drama side: best series, best lead and supporting actor and actress, best direction, and best writing. The categories were pretty fluid before 1966, but I counted equivalent categories where possible, and I added the sporadic awards for best action, mystery, and western series in the 1950s (when anthology series won all of the "drama" awards).
There are some interesting patterns and changes over the years, which I may explain further if there's interest. Of course, there are often two or three series that get a ridiculous number of awards each decade. Another note: A lot of cheesy series picked up Emmys in the 1960s and 1970s (The Big Valley, Mannix, The Bionic Woman, etc.) because there were so few good roles for women in those years that the bar was pretty low in their acting categories. Thankfully, that hasn't been the case more recently.
The inclusion of Father Knows Best is not a mistake; one year Robert Young won the Emmy for best dramatic lead in a series, beating Gunsmoke's James Arness.
I can't figure out what happened to the formatting on this one, especially "Hazel." You remember the Emmy-winning "Hazel," don't you?
Note: Despite some top-notch (but hardly cutting-edge) writing and directing in its early years, The Andy Griffith Show won awards only for Don Knotts's portrayal of Barney Fife (five times!) and Frances Bavier's method acting as Aunt Bee (once).
At 36%, Mary Tyler Moore represents the biggest share of the pie in any of these charts. Second place is a tie between All in the Family in the same decade and The Dick Van Dyke Show (co-starring Mary Tyler Moore) in the '60s
Taxi got more major Emmys during the '80s, but Cheers continued to add to its pile in the '90s. Overall, Cheers got 20 Emmys to Taxi's 15, but since Cheers ran more than twice as long as Taxi, the cabbies have bragging rights. Not that it was an unfriendly rivalry: Cheers was arguably a sequel to the slightly grittier '70s sitcom, having been created by two frequent Taxi writers (Glen Charles and Les Charles) and having the same principal director (James Burrows). And Ted Danson was cast as the lead in Cheers after a guest shot on Taxi as a tempermental hairdresser.
Note: All of Night Court's major Emmys went to John Larroquette, who won best supporting actor four years in a row.
The cult of David E. Kelley, and law dramas in general, peaked among Emmy voters in the 1990s. Kelley was a producer or principal writer for Picket Fences, L.A. Law, The Practice, and Chicago Hope, which together won more than one-third of the major drama Emmys over the decade.
Combine the Mary Tyler Moore Show numbers with the Dick Van Dyke Show numbers (on which she co-starred) and you can see why MTM is receiving the SAG Lieftime Achievement Award this year.
Posted by: Chris VanHaight | September 17, 2011 at 05:39 PM
It also helps that Mary Tyler Moore promoted its supporting cast more than any sitcom had before. Five of Mary's co-stars won Emmys (Ed Asner, Ted Knight, Valerie Harper, Cloris Leachman, and Betty White). Only Cheers had so many different winners, but it ran four years longer. Mary's generosity in giving her co-stars screen time -- unlike, say, Lucille Ball -- must have made her popular with the rank and file in Hollywood.
Posted by: Robert David Sullivan | September 17, 2011 at 06:01 PM
Cool charts. Must have taken a long time!
Posted by: Rolando Teco | October 06, 2011 at 06:06 PM
You forgot the #1 Most Emmys of ALL TIME awarded to a television series: "Seasame Street" (as of 2009, won 118 Emmys).
Posted by: Wiz | March 09, 2012 at 11:09 AM