SHE'S COME A LONG WAY; STATUETTE DIDN'T ALWAYS REFLECT POPULAR TASTES.

Byline: Keith Marder Daily News Television Writer

When the industry first decided to congratulate itself with a golden trophy, the trinket had no clout.

Hardly anyone even knew what an Emmy was, let alone why they should care.

Fifty years later, the Emmy has become one of the most influential characters in Hollywood, going from nonfactor to icon.

And the viewing audience is finally sitting up, or reclining on an easy chair, and watching.

As TV's talent honors its own tonight at the ``50th Annual Prime-time Emmy Awards'' (7 p.m., KNBC, Channel 4), the industry will look back at a half-century of changes.

Where we once had three channels, we now have an average of more than 50 per household. The tightrope of all-live programming has evolved into mostly taped, slickly edited fare. And a business that struggled to find investors is now a multi-billion-dollar enterprise.

And with time, the Emmy has established itself as a guidepost for quality - not only within the industry but also with the fickle viewing audience.

It wasn't always that way.

In the mid- to late '70s, Nielsen ratings prove that viewers favored escapist shows such as ``Happy Days,'' ``Laverne & Shirley,'' ``Three's Company'' and ``Mork & Mindy,'' while weightier shows such as ``The Mary Tyler Moore Show,'' ``All in the Family'' and ``Taxi'' were named Outstanding Comedy.

``There was a complete disjunction between ratings and Emmys at that time,'' said Robert Thompson, director of the study of popular television at Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Journalism.

Maybe the viewing audience wasn't convinced that the voting members of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences knew what the rest of America considered good entertainment. Maybe they didn't care. Witness that Jackie Gleason, a comedy legend, never won an Emmy. Jack Paar, David Janssen and John Goodman never were recognized for their exceptional contributions to the medium. Quality shows like ``Roseanne,'' ``Family,'' ``St. Elsewhere,'' ``Twin Peaks'' and ``The Twilight Zone'' all have been passed over by the golden girl.

It's the nomination process that keeps a lot of deserving people and products from getting that special nod, said Thomas O'Neil, author of ``The Emmys'' ($19.95; Perigree Books).

Of the shows that do clear the nomination hurdle, the best of the lot usually wins.

``The main problem is the nomination stage,'' O'Neil said. ``Lower-rated shows don't get noticed. Blue-collar shows don't get noticed. Shows like `The Drew Carey Show' or `Everybody Loves Raymond,' the Beverly Hills set just doesn't understand those shows.''

Once past the nomination stage, however, the voting process often takes away biases. Unlike the Oscars, which are voted on by the entire motion picture academy, the final Emmy voting is done by peer panels (directors for directors, actors for actors, and so forth) ranging from six to 75 members. And, generally, voting is done simultaneously at a swank hotel.

O'Neil attributes the tendency for votes to swing toward more sentimental fare - ``Frasier,'' for example, has consistently beat out ``Seinfeld'' - to the fact that women are more likely than men to vote.

``Men are too busy playing golf in Hollywood to sit on a panel in a hotel room,'' he said.

Maybe it was the increasing prominence and pageantry of the Emmy awards show. Maybe viewers were just looking for some guidance in the ever-growing field of television program choices. Whatever the reason, by the mid-'80s, Emmy's influence had gained ground.

The big gap between what the industry thought was grade-A material and what the audience wanted to spend its night watching was starting to close.

When ``Hill Street Blues'' debuted, it gained a great deal of critical acclaim but had abysmal ratings, Thompson said. Three years later, ``L.A. Law'' hit the scene, won a bunch of Emmys and was a modest hit. ``ER'' followed in 1994 and not only won a lot of Emmys but is one of the most popular shows of all time.

``From 1981 to 1997,'' he said, ``we have been on this march, a slow but sure move to quality. The Emmy, combined with good demographics, saved `Hill Street' long enough for audiences to find it. That led to a birth of an entire renaissance of American television - a renaissance that the Emmy Awards played a significant part in.''

In the past 20 years, winning the coveted trophy has even been credited with extending the lives of memorable series.

``I don't think that losing an Emmy award has ever killed a show, but I think winning one usually has a minor, and sometimes, a significant effect,'' Thompson said.

Shows such as ``Cheers,'' ``Hill Street Blues,'' ``Cagney & Lacey,'' and ``Picket Fences'' have held off cancellation with the help of an Emmy.

``The audience has become more sophisticated,'' said Meryl Marshall, president of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. ``People do have the tendency to stay with what is familiar or comfortable. An Emmy at least makes the audience take a second look.''

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5 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) Celebrating television's prime-time standard-bearer

Emmy Turns 50

Photo illustration by Dionisio Munoz/Daily News

(2) Despite his popularity then and now, ``The Honeymooners'' star Jackie Gleason never won an Emmy.

(3) Critics praised ``Hill Street Blues'' on its debut in 1981, but viewers weren't nearly as enthusiastic.

(4) Jack Paar, seen with Debbie Reynolds, is another television legend who was passed over for an Emmy.

(5) The long-running series ``Cheers'' held off cancellation with the help of an Emmy.