WB Miffed Over Buffy Emmy Snub

July 13 -- Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of the most critically acclaimed shows on TV, but once again it's zero for five in Emmy consideration.

Despite a lavish Emmy campaign from the WB on behalf of star Sarah Michelle Gellar (who has a Daytime Emmy from her soap opera days) and this season's much-praised episode "The Body," in which Buffy deals with the death of her mother, the show didn't net one nomination.

The WB is particularly miffed since it's lost its chance to bask in Buffy's glory: The network's most acclaimed show was won by UPN in a high-stakes bidding war.

Also overlooked was another critical fave, Gilmore Girls, which rated better at the last Screen Actors Guild awards, where lead Lauren Graham received a nomination.

In fact, the WB didn't get a single Emmy nomination in any category for any show. Adding insult to injury is the fact that rival network UPN racked up 10 nominations, eight alone for Star Trek: Voyager.

"If Catcher in the Rye were released today, Academy members would look at the book and consider it a dime-store paperback," railed WB Entertainment President Jordan Levin to Variety about the perceived oversight. "The academy is totally out of step with the viewing public. Every report I heard this morning listed the same old boring shows."

Levin, who's an academy member, said he thinks there's a "reverse ageism" among voters, adding, "[The voters] are making the Emmy Awards irrelevant."

Although TV Academy chairwoman Meryl Marshall-Daniels concedes that "the WB has some superb programming," she tells Variety that it's hard to unseat the dramas that were nominated for best series — which are the same contenders as last year — ER, The Practice, Law & Order, The West Wing, and The Sopranos.