Emmy FYC: Kristin Scott Thomas in "Fleabag"

Team Experience will be sharing FYCs as the Television Academy votes on Emmy nominations over the next two weeks. Here's Ben Miller...

I have an appreciation for a skilled performer’s ability to shut up.  Watch the scene in Doubt between Viola Davis and Meryl Streep.  Once Davis gets going, Streep knows to step aside and let Davis do her thing.  Fleabag creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge does the same thing with Kristin Scott Thomas in her standout scene in the third episode of Fleabag’s (pretty much perfect) second season.

After chasing down Thomas’ Belinda to take back an award, the main character spends some time drinking and flirting at a bar, listening to Belinda speak about the patronization of women in business.  Then comes the speech --sit back and enjoy...

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Sylvia Miles (1924-2019)

by Nathaniel R

Two time Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee and party fixture Sylvia Miles died yesterday, three months shy of her 95th birthday. The NYC native rose to fame as a cult figure, a pioneer of Off Broadway plays, part of the Studio 54 scene, and a rather daring actress. She was often seen with Andy Warhol (eventually starring for him in Heat, his randy 1972 picture, with Joe Dallesandro) never quite going mainstream. Both of her Oscar nominations, for example, came from very brief gritty performances, at least in Oscar terms...

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Emmy FYC: D'Arcy Carden for "The Good Place"

Team Experience will be sharing FYCs as the Television Academy votes on Emmy nominations over the next two weeks. Here's Eurocheese

First thing’s first: If you haven’t been watching The Good Place, you’ve been missing out. The comedy is one of the most creative shows on TV today, where every episode feels like it can head in absolutely any direction. It’s genuinely surprising, fun, inspired, and a complete mind-fork. If you need to binge watch a show that will bring you pure joy, this is it. I say all this because this plea will have *spoilers*, so if you know nothing about the show, please just watch it.

The third season took a little bit of time to get going, but focusing on the “test” put before our heroes opened up a lot of opportunities for character growth...

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April Foolish Predictions #9: Supporting Actress

by Nathaniel R

Oscar predictions in the supporting categories are notoriously difficult to do this far in advance. That's largely due to the lack of information, since most pre-publicity for movies focuses on leading roles rather than ensemble players. With a dearth of early information, the Supporting Actress chart was agonizing to make but fun, too, since it foretells a year full of actressing wonders. There's sure to be at least a handful of brilliant performances to come and some that we haven't even imagined yet. Whether or not the future brilliance piques the interest of voters is another matter entirely. 

After gazing at the foggy crystal ball, we opted for a lineup that's entirely free of previous winners and mostly newbies at that. Let us know what your hunches are, too, won'cha?

See also: Prediction Index chart

Nathaniel's Ballot: Supporting Actress

Another chart! This afternoon, Best Supporting Actress in which we find a desperate Polish call girl, a formidable astronaut's wife, a life-saving night nanny, and two survivors/mothers, one creating her own makeshift family, the other trying to save hers for her future grandchild.

Awards Pg 1: Director, Screenplay
Awards Pg 2: Acting NEW
Awards Pg 3: Visuals
Awards Pg 4: Sound
Awards Pg 5: Extra Acting Categories
Awards Pg 6: Character Prizes
Awards Pg 7: Best Individual Scenes

Note: Despite the late-late arrival of these awards they are generally drawn up in list form before the Oscar nominations so they're not unduly influenced by the Academy's decisions. It just takes forever to get them posted and often to argue with myself over the 5th and 6th slots, a murderously awful/arbitrary distinction which should not mean "best" / "also ran" but somehow does. (Only Actress and Picture left to go before we can wrap up with the medals.)