"At the end of the day," he says, "people in TV probably would rather be popular than honored. But if they can have both, that would be ideal."

With that in mind, the examples of highly popular spinoff shows present an interesting study in those two disparate goals. "Law & Order""Law & Order" has been hugely successful so far, spawning spinoffs "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," with another on the way, yet they all face the danger of oversaturation when Emmy ballots are cast. The same phenomenon is present with "CSI," "CSI: Miami""CSI: Miami" and the soon-to-be-realized "CSI: New York."

"We always feel overlooked," notes Rene Balcer, an executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent""Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and one of the driving creative forces behind the original. "In the business, I think there is a tendency to take us for granted."

"Law & Order" began production in 1990. Since then, it has garnered multiple Emmy nominations and has won six, including drama series in 1997, when Balcer was still an executive producer on it. But its spinoffs have not fared as well.

"Law & Order: SVU""Law & Order: SVU" has received four nominations since its inception in 1999, each for a different guest actress. "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," which began in 2001, has received no noms.

"CSI" has won two Emmys, one each in the sound editing and makeup categories, and has been nominated twice for drama series. But the best "CSI: Miami" has done is one nom for cinematography, which it won.

David Bianculli, television critic of the New York Daily News, says that historically, being a spinoff doesn't automatically exclude a show from Emmy consideration. He cites examples such as "Lou Grant," a spinoff of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," and "Frasier," an offshoot of "Cheers."

But the branding of certain franchise shows, plus the nature of the material involved, may work against some of the current crop of spinoffs, he says.

"The procedural stuff is very clever in terms of plotting," Bianculli explains. "But those shows don't seem to be as easy to reward for the voters as showier or less predictable things."

Balcer points out that other bodies have been generous with honors toward the "Law & Order" shows. "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," for example, has been nominated twice for Edgar Awards, given by the Mystery Writers of America. The Writers Guild honored "Law & Order: SVU" earlier this year with two nominations for different episodes.

"I think it's mostly the Academy," says Balcer, referring to the dearth of noms given to spinoffs. "They tend to lump us all together."

Spinoffs or no spinoffs, Emmy nominations tend to be difficult to gather in general. What also may work against spinoff shows in many categories are the repeat honorees who become favorites of the Academy electorate. Call it the Dennis Franz Syndrome. When series, writer-producers, actors, etc., are regularly nominated, it makes it tough for others to worm their way in.

"When a Michael Chiklis breaks into the nominations, that means somebody else has to go away," Rosenthal says. "If you look at the last few years, 'West Wing' has done really well (36 noms over the past two seasons, with six wins) despite the fact that most critics have had some quality issues. At some point, those quality issues should catch up with the voting, and that should free up some spaces.

"But whether these spaces go to the 'Law & Order' and 'CSI' shows, I don't know."

Concludes Bianculli: "I'm surprised when a lot of creative stuff doesn't get noticed."