An Emmy of a question...

[gamed121683]

As most of us here know in 1983 Betty White will forever be in the history books as the very first woman to win the Emmy for best game show host(ess). Now I'm not sure of the competition that year (if anyone here knows though, that would be great) but why do you think she ended up taking home the golden statutette that year?

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'gamed121683\' date=\'Aug 28 2004, 08:57 PM\'] As most of us here know in 1983 Betty White will forever be in the history books as the very first woman to win the Emmy for best game show host(ess). Now I'm not sure of the competition that year (if anyone here knows though, that would be great) but why do you think she ended up taking home the golden statutette that year? [/quote]
 I suspect Betty was a sentimental favorite with the voters as she'd been tied to game shows for 20+ years at that point. She was one of the few good points about Just Men, which despite Betty's efforts, still got canned in thirteen weeks. The eligibility period for Daytime Emmy nominations at that time was March to March, and Just Men ran from 1/3/83-4/1/83. THis enabled Betty to get a nomination the following year, but she lost to Bob Barker.

[Jimmy Owen]

I'd say because she was the best game show host that year.  She already had a couple of primetime emmys by that time.

[Matt Ottinger]

For the record, the other nominees were Dick Clark and Richard Dawson.  Both had won before, and that may have been a factor.