An Emmy Nomination for a 14-Second Performance?

The dust had barely settled down on the latest Emmy-related scandal, primarily revolving around the fact that such hit shows as 'Lost' and 'Desperate Housewives' have been given the cold shoulder this year. But now a new controversy is in the making, meaning the nomination for Best Supporting Actress that Ellen Burstyn got for her appearance in HBO's 'Mrs. Harris'.

Burstyn is a good actress and a one time Oscar-winning and it's not the fact that she was nominated the one that sent American press through the roof but her very performance. Because it lasted an overall of amazing 14 seconds, in which she uttered 38 words. Basically, Ellen's featuring in the series, retelling the story of diet doctor Herman Tarower, is neither spectacular nor out of the ordinary.

As one enraged columnist puts it, she doesn't scream, or yell or gesticulate: she just stands on a chair smoking and talks about her former relationship with the doctor. Her character doesn't even have a name, appearing at the end only as 'Former Lover # 3'.

On the other side, representatives from the Academy state that the nomination is legitimate, as there is no time limit on-screen to separate one candidate from another. And Burstyn did not submit her name herself, HBO did it after paying, of course, the due $200 admission fee. They say that the 'popular vote' vouches for the legitimacy of the nomination, as she was selected from more than 41 actresses.

But the voices coming from the media are claiming otherwise, maintaining that this just goes to show that, more often than not, actors are selected on the basis of their previous work and not on the one that they are chosen for. And, considering that Ellen starred in 'The Exorcist' and 'Requiem for a Dream', it has been suggested that the voters did not even watch her in 'Mrs. Harris' before voting. Ergo, the new voting system is, quote, 'a mess'.