The Wire never won an Emmy. Indeed, it was only ever nominated for two. I'd say awards are the least of Dexter's worries.
I agree that Dexter's co-workers need to be more actively integrated into the story next season. LaGuerta and Angel have rarely been used in an interesting way, and when they were shunted off to their own personal drama last season it was easily the worst running storyline.
I'd also prefer it if they dropped the big bad formula, and if they dropped it permanently. As the writers have said, it's hard to drop John Lithgow. I'd also like the serial killer of the season format to be dropped, too. How many have hit Miami? The third season could have dropped the serial killer thread and the ultimate changes would have been negligible.