Emmy Awards 2012: ‘Homeland’ wins a vindication for Showtime

Showtime has come a long way since the days of “Red Shoe Diaries.�

Once best known for rock concerts and semi-soft-core movies and television shows, Showtime now has a trophy-filled case it can boast about.

With “Homeland� taking home Emmy Awards for lead actor, lead actress and drama, the premium cable channel has shaken once and for all the perception that it is an also-ran to its bigger rival HBO as well as to other more broadly distributed cable networks such as AMC and FX.

If that’s not enough, President Obama has said “Homeland� is one of his favorite shows.

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Although Showtime has tasted Emmy glory before — Edie Falco won for lead comedy actress for her work in “Nurse Jackie� two years ago — Sunday night’s dominance of the drama category puts the network on a higher plane.

The triumph of “Homeland� is the culmination of a strategy put into place several years ago by the network to boost its ratings and number of subscribers through original programs. Borrowing a page from HBO, Showtime has spent aggressively to create original fare, and it has paid off with ratings and critical acclaim. Besides “Homeland,� Showtime’s “Episodes,� “Dexter,� “Nurse Jackie� and “Shameless� have all scored with critics.

Showtime currently has about 21 million subscribers, compared with HBO’s 28 million. The Emmy glory will no doubt give its marketing efforts a boost. AMC has seen the value of its channel increase greatly as a result of its hit dramas, including “Mad Men� and “Breaking Bad.� FX has also grown in popularity because of its shows such as “Sons of Anarchy.�

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