Esther Zuckerman calls for a moratorium on award-show tributes to the recently departed:
Debating whether or not a dead person deserves to be honored by an institution is a losing battle. Sure, you can make the argument that by including [Glee’s Cory] Monteith the Emmys leave out [Dallas’] Larry Hagman, who arguably had a more lasting impact on the history of TV. You can also make the perfectly respectable argument, like [Today producer Ken] Ehrlich did, that it’s unfair to younger TV watchers to understate the sorrow of Monteith’s passing. (You might also rebut the bringing young eyes to awards shows is what networks and advertisers really want, no matter how they get there.) Ultimately, though, both these arguments hinge on the notion that it’s up to producers to determine the value of someone’s life, and that’s pretty gross.
The Dish 