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Happy Emmy Day, everyone! It’s been fun dissecting some of the major categories leading up to this fateful evening, where we will finally see who is awarded. Both the Comedy and Drama Series races are some of the most exciting in years. Seriously, it’s been eight years since something aside from Modern Family or Veep has won Best Comedy Series, so anything that wins this year will be a relief. So let’s speculate on who will take the top prizes of Emmy night...
Let’s take a look at the six shows that made the cut for Writing in a Drama Series. As in the Directing categories, writing categories highlight individual episodes rather than overall series, which makes it not uncommon for one show to have multiple nominations. However once "Breaking Bad" and "Mad Men" were off the air, this category has not had any doubling up! This year every slot once again went to a different show, from newcomers, to established favorites, to people in their last round of eligibility.
Let's see the elevator pitches and the stats (we love a good round of statistics) after the jump...
Happy 70th, Emmys! The big awards night won't be held until September 17th (hosted by Colin Jost and Michael Che) but the nominations were announced this morning. The Emmys have so many categories that beware when you see any site that says "full list of nominees." Even the major news outlets (like Variety and all the massive circulation papers) do this while leaving out a shit ton of categories. In other words don't believe it when anyone says "full list". The only place that regularly shares that is the Emmy site itself. Here's the PDF.
The behemoth, once again, is "Game of Thrones" which, after a year off, returns again to its throne of "Most Nominated Show" just barely edging out "Saturday Night Live," "West World" and "The Handmaid's Tale" all of which received 20 or more nominations. I was particularly happy about plentiful nominations for "GLOW" though it's worth noting that these nominations are not from the show as we know it right this second but from season 1 a full year ago.
After the jump the major stuff and a few other categories that we're interested in...
“Shady Thorgy is so shady, she causes drama even after she ______”. Sis, it’s the Snatch Game!
The lead up to this week’s episode was quite understated compared to the hype machine of previous Snatch Games, perhaps a sign that the fanbase has wisely lowered their expectations. But it’s not any celebrity impersonation that made this an episode to remember. What’s the best thing Drag Race could hope for when its fan favorite challenge continues to experience such diminishing returns each season? A mountain full of drama to distract from another underwhelming end result!
• The Cut "I'm rooting for the Lannisters" fun piece on Game of Thrones (which I still read about on occasion even though I haven't watched since season 2) • /Film Guillermo del Toro's official tequila looks like it's from one of his movies • Vulture every Charlize Theron performance ranked. Interesting list though I quibble with the order (as they seem to equate the quality of the movies with the quality of her performance and Theron is precisely the star she is because she is often able to be good even in terrible pictures). Also Young Adult should be #1
• Playbill all star cast lined up for Steve Martin's next Broadway show (after his musical Bright Star), this one's a comedy called Meteor Shower • Browbeat the internet goes wild for old Russ Tamblyn dancing clip from 1956 • Tracking Board Nicole Kidman is in talks to headline a crime thriller called Destroyer directed by Karyn Kusama. Kusama is promising that though it's a genre film it's also "a beautiful character study of an incredible female" • Variety we were wondering when Ruth Negga would start lining up big roles after Loving. She'll star opposite Brad Pitt in the sci-fi movie Ad Astra • Awards DailyThis is Us has lost one of its Emmy nominations, costume design. • The Wrap this piece about Marvel's plans for Spider-Man got a lot of internet pass-around but it really doesn't tell you much other than they're going to make Spidey a thing in all the crossover movies
Two pieces about criticism/discussion of racial politics in movies/theaters right now
• American Theater a thoughtful piece on the counterproductive assault on Broadway's Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. (We haven't yet heard if the show is actually closing following it's poorly handled casting changes but it might... but the producers were apparently considering it) • Birth Movies Death a very navel gazing piece about being an ally and trying to navigate pop culture criticism in the current political climate and intersectional age
Exit Video Handsome talented Aaron Tveit is taking on the classic role of Bobby in another production of Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece (one of them, at least) Company. This one starts in a couple of days in Massachusetts so go if you live near there and report back. Here he is rehearsing...
Monday, September 17, 2018 at 1:00PM ;)
