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About a year ago this time, when buzz started to build on who could be potential Emmy nominees for the year, I wrote somewhere at length about how I thought the chances of "Battlestar Galactica" getting nominated had more to do with how it's scheduled than how much it wows those who have a part in the nomination process.

I tried to find that story because it had some amazing data that took me hours to put together. But I couldn't find it. And that's sad because I simply don't have the energy after my 90-minute SyFy Radio marathon Wednesday night to look it up again ... but it would so support this column.

I think that 2008 is the year that "Battlestar Galactica" will go beyond acting and directing nominations and actually get at least one high-profile Emmy nod. And all of it stems from my belief that as long as you're showing new episodes in May, it's almost impossible for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to ignore you.

In my example, where it might be hiding in cyberspace, I took the nominees of like five previous years and showed that in every single case, the show broadcast episodes into May, which is right before the nominating period begins for the Emmy. I'm not sure if it's simply short-term memory by the Academy, or if it's just a coincidence. But if you're a series that didn't show any episodes in May, you're not going to get nominated for Outstanding Dramatic Series. That doesn't mean if you do show episodes in May, like "Battlestar Galactica" is doing for the first time next month, that you're automatically in. But it does seem like your chances go up.

It's not a science more than it is a happy coincidence. Even "The Sopranos" was showing episodes into May despite not being on a broadcast cable channel, and "Battlestar Galactica" came closest to broadcasting May episodes last year when its third season went into the late weeks of March. And what happened then? Ronald D. Moore and Felix Alcala were nominated for their writing and directing work.

So to be honest, I don't know if scheduling "Battlestar Galactica" later in the spring will help that much. But the SciFi Channel show did receive some buzz for it being the last season, and that usually gets the attention of the Academy before.

But as TV Guide's Matt Roush stated in his column recently, and what many of us have known for years, the biggest obstacle to an Emmy nomination for "Battlestar Galactica" isn't its schedule, but more of the fact that it's a serialized drama (which rarely gets recognized past their first seasons), and it carries both the name "Battlestar Galactica" and space ships. Sadly, the Academy has little to no patience for that, not even enough to give it a chance.

I find that sad, because if there is any show on television that is deserving of an Emmy nomination at the very least, it's "Battlestar Galactica." I felt the same about "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in the early 1990s, too, and the Academy finally did nominate the show for Outstanding Dramatic Series in 1994 after its final season. But the television landscape was so different then.

What's funny is that it hasn't always been this way. The original "Star Trek" was nominated in this category in 1967 and 1968 (of course, there was far less competition then). But that's about it.

So Emmy, it's time to wake up and realize that just because this show carries the name "Battlestar Galactica" which is associated with the 1978 show (which still irks me, because the 1978 show was actually pretty good back in the late 1970s, even if the mainstream feels it has gotten cheesier over time), and is set in outer space, it doesn't detract from the fact that this is by far one of the most well-written, well-produced, well-acted television show with the most amazing special effects ever created for the small screen, and it needs attention.

As far as the whole name and space thing:Get over it! And nominate this show for the major Emmy categories it deserves. Which, by the way, is every single one a dramatic series can be nominated for.

SyFy Radio

We were supposed to have Darren Sumner on the show from GateWorld this past week, but the phone lines went down, and I ended up having to do the entire 90-minute show ... myself. It's a show that is actually pretty funny as you slowly hear my voice deteriorate as I have to keep talking and talking without a single break anywhere (there are no commercials).

But you should go to www.BlogTalkRadio.com/SyFyRadio to listen to that show in our archives (in its entirety) because I spend a good 10 minutes talking about Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and how she threatened Airlock Alpha with a lawsuit. It's worth listening to, as well as me reading author Peter David's odds on who will be the 12th Cylon.

We premiere our call-in show SyFy Sunday this Sunday at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT, and we have Joe Beaudoin Jr. from Battlestar Wiki on next Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.

Also, great news! We have confirmed "Trouble with Tribbles" writer David Gerrold as our special guest for a show coming up May 21, so make sure you listen in as I'm sure it will be fascinatiing!

SyBits

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Have a great week, and don't be a stranger!

Michael Hinman, a cult leader twice awarded "Best Kool-Aid Drinker," is the founder and site coordinator for Airlock Alpha, writing out of Tampa, Fla. He can be reached at mhinman@airlockalpha.com