SAG Acceptance Speeches, Ranked

by Nathaniel R

SAG Awards are often a good swift night. There's no dawdling around with filler, there's not much in the way of montages, but there are clips, acceptance speeches, and a parade of celebrities. In short, we're into it. The most sublime inspired combo in terms of presenter pairings was the evil twinnage of Jenna Ortega and Aubrey Plaza. (Whoever thought of that deserves a 20% raise.)  But what SAG is all about is the acceptance speeches.

They come one after the other, a veritable parade of gushing. This ranking was done on the fly from memory so... I do not stand by it should you want to fight in the comments. Nevertheless why not share the acceptance speeches? (the ones we could embed at least). Let's look at the speeches  from least best to best best...

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Best of the 80th Golden Globes. Plus: Complete Winners List

by Nathaniel R

Colman Domingo presenting "Best DIrector" to Steven Spielberg

An awards shows on a Tuesday night? Chaos. But we kinda liked it. As the 80th Golden Globes evening began on the red carpet we learned (among other things) that red was the color of the moment, Jenna Ortega choreographed her own (viral) dance for Wednesday, Letitia Wright's favourite movie is I Tonya (of all things!) and Margot Robbie can cry on cue as precisely as Nelly does in Babylon. The night that followed was hit and miss. The hits were familiar: the palpable joy that so many stars expressed at being back in rooms together, the sight of very enthusiastic and possibly drunk tables (Abbott Elementary, Banshees of Inisherin, The Fabelmans and Everything Everywhere All At Once showcased most prominently), and as ever moving speeches, and even a few stellar presenter “bits”.

There were misses, too, including at least four absent winners (Zendaya, Costner, Seyfried, Blanchett) which always brings the mood down...

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More Thoughts on "The White Lotus: Sicily"

SPOILER ALERT:  DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU HAVE VIEWED ALL SEVEN EPISODES.

by Eric Blume 

One of the things that separates The White Lotus from many other TV programs, which are usually divided amongst several writers and directors, is that the show has a very, very specific point-of-view.  Even though other great television series (Succession, Severance, etc.) have a unified tone and the individual episodes are kept in harmony by the showrunner, it’s a different thing to have the same person actually writing and directing every episode.  Mike White views the universe and views characters comically.  He sees the world as an outsider does, with an arched eye towards human behavior, and he sees people as funny and full of contradictions.  He also lends to White Lotus a truly gay sensibility, in terms of the way he frames his actors, the way he films male and female bodies, and the way his empathy shifts between characters in a roundelay of surprising reveals, each character granted grace notes, psychology, and humanity... 

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White Lotus Season 2 - Mike White Sticks The Landing

By: Christopher James

Season two of HBO’s Emmy winning anthology series The White Lotus ended with a bang on Sunday night. This season brought a new cast of characters to the Sicily location of the White Lotus hotel chain, save for Jennifer Coolidge reprising her role as Tanya, a depressed heiress, from season one. Much like season one, the season begins with a dead body. This time discovered by the deliciously flighty Daphne, played by season MVP Meghann Fahy. While season one was a rumination on class, season two was more of an Aperol Spritz - it was a delectable piece of sexy fun dramatizing the ways sex is used for social and economic currency. The season finale wrapped up all of the storylines, including that mysterious death, in an episode packed with sex, intrigue and its own fair bit of filler. 

Major Spoilers Ahead. Don’t read further if you have not seen the final episode.

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Emmy Category Analysis: Supporting Actress in a Limited Series

by Cláudio Alves

If you need proof that the current Emmy voting system is broken, you need to look no further than the Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series race. Despite having seven available slots, only two shows appear in the lineup. Unsurprisingly, they are The White Lotus and Dopesick, two of the year's biggest frontrunners. Allowing voters to check an unlimited number of names on their ballots means that the most popular and acclaimed programs will dominate, no matter the specifics of the category. Unfortunately, this takes away slots to honor MVP achievements in less buzzy shows.

For predicting purposes, it also muddies the waters...

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