2015 Emmys: Why ‘Ink Master,’ ‘Amazing Race,’ ‘Survivor,’ ‘The Quest’ deserve Reality Competition nods

We’ve now moved into a personal favorite category for us when it comes to the Emmys … or at least one that we really get a lot of fun out of skewering the TV Academy for. Was there a time when they legitimately cared about the Reality Competition category? Maybe, but they haven’t shown it in years. We’re not so much quibbling with them giving trophy after trophy to a great show like “The Amazing Race,” but they sometimes don’t even try to nominate something new.

While we know that there are only so many deserving shows out there (hence the lack of honorable mentions), we did at least get two shows in here that would be first-time nominees.

“The Amazing Race” (CBS) – It’s hardly news to nominate the Emmy juggernaut, but give us a few reasons why it shouldn’t get the love. While this past season with the blind-date twist was not the best, season 25 before it was one of our personal favorite seasons in years. The race still gets your blood pumping in a few that is extremely rare.

“Dancing with the Stars” (ABC) – It’s another familiar nominee, but at this point the show has become such a well-oiled and well-produced machine. While “So You Think You Can Dance” does produce at times better performances, it doesn’t often generate the same sort of fun that we see here.

“Ink Master” (Spike) – It’s probably one of the more intense, combative skill-based reality shows that you are going to find, but yet at the same time there are still these artistic creations that come out of it. The bizarre dichotomy here is something that we do find particularly enticing about watching this series.

“The Quest” (ABC) – We still love this series very much and miss it dearly. It was basically the world’s most ambition live-action role-playing game, where real people were thrust into a fictional world. If you haven’t seen it yet, we recommend that you go out there and try to find an episode or two. It’s just pure fun.

“Survivor” (CBS) – The original and still one of the best. Ironically, we don’t think we’re coming off the two best seasons of the show at all, but even good “Survivor” is better than most of the other stuff out there. To us, it is still baffling how the show has scored so few nominations over the years.

“The Voice” (NBC) – Singing shows just aren’t what they once were, but this is pound for pound still the best. For all of its issues (mainly the Battle Rounds), the Blind Auditions are still some of the genre’s most exciting few minutes, and they at least give the artists some creative flexibility.