Emmys 2011: 10 Reasons Why 'American Idol' Should Win

FOX

We want justice! Now is the time to reverse the TV crime of the century, the academy's refusal to honor America Idol with the Emmy for outstanding reality-competition program. Here are 10 good reasons why it's too important for Emmy to keep ignoring:

1. Nobody has been such a winner in reality. For seven straight years, the most-watched prime time show on TV was an episode of Idol, a record.

PHOTOS: Emmy Nomination Snubs, Shockers and Surprises

2. No winner has been such a loser in the sometimes success-despising, prestige-seeking fantasy world of the Emmys. Granted, Idol won seven Emmys for things like "outstanding editing of clip packages." But it also set a near-record for consecutive unsuccessful nominations, 22 (ended by a technical direction win in 2007). It's up for eight Emmys this year. The one it must win is the big one, quick, before the Idol era is over.

3. Thanks to the influentially rude Simon Cowell, it’s now perfectly OK to insult people to their faces. This is the only good thing that's happened in recent history.

PHOTOS: 2011 Emmy Nominations

4. Thanks to Idol's success since his exit, the show is a delightful insult to Cowell. Everybody thought it would sink without him, but with new judges Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez it soared instead, like a drab, unpromising Idol contestant who startlingly bursts into flame and fame in the spotlight.

5. You can't stop the music by withholding Emmy love. Think of Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry, Adam Lambert -- without Idol, none of these top-selling artists would be household names and America might still be listening to Creed and Limp Bizkit.

PHOTOS: 'American Idol Live' Tour in Pictures

6. Where would the music industry be without Idol? The show has sold 50 million albums and 250 million iTunes downloads along with 3.4 million concert tickets in 10 years. Now shows like The Voice and X Factor should only hope to see the same results -- or even a fraction.

7. Even its losers are winners. Katharine McPhee failed to win and has been signed to four different labels since being on the show, but she’s still hot as ever. Witness: the new NBC show Smash.

PHOTOS: The Hollywood Reporter Cover Stories

8. Rival Dancing With the Stars has worn out its dance floor and its welcome. And So You Think You Can Dance should be grateful Cat Deeley got nominated as host and just forget about winning outstanding reality-competition program. Plus, where would producer Nigel Lythgoe be without Idol? Someplace nasty.

9. The Amazing Race already hogged the award 12 times, and already got deposed by Top Chef last year, so it's history and should be content to remain so, vis a vis the top prize. Top Chef's 2010 win meant it was time for a change, and now it's time for another change -- an Idol win. And Project Runway may be coming off a great season too, and maybe it's actually as terrific as Idol. But it's lost seven times, so what's one more?

10. Ryan Seacrest has logged nearly 500 hours of TV time just on Idol alone, shouldn't that count for something?