For Better or Werts : TV Worth Watching

BET AWARDS: Let's Stay Together? (Or maybe not)

Any awards show that gives Al Green a lifetime achievement award is good-to-go in my book. But for how long beyond this week's Green bash should the BET Awards continue?

Sure, the star-studded evening (Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET, BET; repeating Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m.) provides plenty of celeb sightings, musical performances, comedy zingers and fashion policing for the glam-gawkers in all of us. And what else is on TV these days anyway? Here's a free night of flush ratings for a fringe cable channel.

But the point of something like the race-reliant BET Awards seems long since past. It's not like black performers are overlooked by the Oscars/Emmys/Grammys anymore. BET's proceedings have begun to seem insularly congratulatory and a bit self-serving for both the channel and the honorees.

BET's isn't the only "awards" show that meets that definition, of course. VH1 Honors, Bravo's A-List Awards, MTV's several hundred variations on this theme (videos, movies, et al) -- they're all just an excuse for dress-up-and-dress-down opportunities in a culture that can't just-say-no to celebrity excess. More of them every year are imagined into existence by lower-level cable channels desperate to grab a slice of the glam. (You don't see HBO creating "awards" shows out of whole cloth.)

So maybe it's time to retire these statue-shoving soirees, in an age when mushrooming showbiz celebrations have pretty much devalued the concept of industry honors. (Seen the sinking ratings for the Oscars lately?) But that's just wishful thinking. These awards shows aren't going anywhere. Stars get seen. Designers get worn. Paparazzi get pix. Ratings get juiced. The appetite seems endless, if ultimately self-defeating.

Hey, is there an awards show for awards shows yet?

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Diane Werts has been glued to the tube since she can remember, growing up in a household where the TV came on first thing in the morning and stayed on till bedtime and beyond. She worked for the USA Film Festival, then for The Dallas Morning News writing about everything from Shakespeare to macrame art to rock music (and has the hearing loss to prove it). She moved to New York's Newsday to edit their glossy TV magazine, then returned to writing about television, specializing in its stranger permutations. She's a past president of the Television Critics Association.

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