Clipgasm: How ‘Drive’ made Emmy history

One day not so far in the future, every show nominated for an Emmy will have appeared on the Internet and the Internet only. But the clip above has made history, or at last an Emmy footnote, by being the first.

The Starting Line is an unlikely history-maker, coming from Fox’s Drive, a show that sped in with a lot of hype but crashed and burned after only two episodes. The three-minute clip introduces the characters as cars speed down a busy highway. Only 50 seconds actually aired on TV. The entire special effect was only ever seen on Fox.com (and YouTube, above)– making it the first Internet clip nominated for a Primetime Emmy (the uncensored Dick in A Box doesn’t count).

The clip took a year and a half to produce. And it took a big loophole in this year’s new Emmy rules to get nominated. Drive was ineligible for an Emmy because it was axed before six episodes aired. But by streaming the scene on the web, The Starting Line was eligible as a special, and competed in the special visual effects category for miniseries, movies and specials – as a Fox.com show.

So Drive goes up against HBO’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, TNT’s Nightmares & Dreamscapes, ABC’s The Path to 9/11 and Discovery Channel’s Secrets of the Deep.

–Tabloid Baby