Emmy Category Analysis: Fantasy Costumes

by Cláudio Alves

From 2015 to 2017, fantasy and sci-fi costumes were awarded alongside period stylings at the Emmys. Then, in 2018, they got their own category. Unlike the category for contemporary costumes, this one's fond of repeats. At least, it was fond of Game of Thrones, which won the race thrice. For the past two years, though, this has been a category where the TV Academy honors big superhero productions. Watchmen and Wandavision are our most recent winners, and either Loki or Moon Knight could continue the trend. That being said, the biggest boon to a show's chances in this race seems to be its overall popularity across the board, in which case, What We Do in The Shadows might have a chance…

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RIP 'Uhura' and 'Ursula' actresses, Nichelle Nichols and Pat Carroll

by Nathaniel R

Normally we wouldn't pair an obituary but within 24 hours we lost two actresses of the same generation who both helped create an inarguably iconic character with a three syllable name starting with U. What were the chances? After the jump, tributes to Nichelle Nichols and Pat Carroll...

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Showbiz History: "The Trouble with Tribbles" and "The Wilhelm Scream"

8 random things that happened on this day, December 29th, in showbiz history

1933 Ernst Lubitsch's pre-Code threesome romantic comedy Design for Living starring Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, and Gary Cooper opens for the last weekend of the year as does the musical romantic comedy Flying Down to Rio starring Dolores del Rio. The latter film is best remembered for being the first onscreen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in (gasp) supporting roles. 

1939 'Hollywood's Greatest Year' concludes with opening weekend for the Jimmy Stewart/Marlene Dietrich western Destry Rides Again, the classic period romantic drama The Hunchback of Notre Dame (2 Oscar nominations), and the musical Swanee River (1 Oscar nomination)...

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Showbiz History: Star Trek transforms, Little Women opens, Nicholas Hoult strips

You spoke and asked us to keep doing this series but we have to simplify so it won't be as deep divey. We still hope it's fun for you -Editor

4 random things that happened today, December 7th, in showbiz history

1979 Star Trek: The Motion Picture opens in movie theaters, the first major move in transforming the shortlived 60s tv show into an undying franchise. 

1990 Mega-blockbuster Home Alone was enjoying its fourth (of an astonishing twelve!!!!!!) weekend atop the box office charts while two future classics and two of the best films of the year opened in limited release...

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Posterized: Promotions to Film for TV Casts

With Downton Abbey (2019) in theaters today and already threatening a sequel let's talk movie spin-offs of TV shows. TV shows have been adapted into feature films for as long as we can recall, but up until the 21st century it was more common for feature films to be adapted into TV shows.

Examples of TV series getting their own theatrical film outing with the original cast intact dates back to, we think, Dragnet (1954) and Batman The Movie (1966), both of which had one theatrical release during their TV runs. But it was fairly rare until recently and it has usually only happened after a television series has wrapped. A large part of this becoming more common obviously has to do with the narrowing gap between how audiences experience TV and film. On a less obvious and more theoretical level we suspect its due to the even newer cultural trend of immediate / perpetual nostalgia. It used to be that there had to be a bit of distance before the populace got collectively teary-eyed with longing but... no longer! 

Batman got a movie in the summer of 1966, even though it has just premiered on television in January of that same year.

You can now be wistful for things you experienced just the year or even a few months before and demand that they come back to you in the closest approximation possible. 

Let's look at some examples of this increasingly popular trend leading up to Downton Abbey (2019). How many of these spinoffs have you seen? The posters are after the jump...

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