What a mess
And Pitt & Robbie's eye-popping new trailer
What to know
Succession, White Lotus, and Ted Lasso top a disastrous Emmys… The show could not get out of its own way. I try to not be cynical or snarky about award shows any more, but this was a real mess. The production was bad (where was the stage? why do comedy bits between announcing nominees and winners? Montages that honored medical and police dramas? Really?), the directing was bad (The cameras could hardly follow the disparate action. Why keep returning to the awful announcer?), the writing was bad (so many weak, flat, generic jokes). Kenan Thompson made an effort under the circumstances, but even his many talents couldn’t save this confused and poorly crafted production.
It seems like the Oscars and Emmys are getting worse every year, but this was a low point even on that sliding scale. Why do award show producers think they need to reinvent the wheel every time?! Just do a straightforward show, get good writers to craft non-cringey, simple bits, and get out of the way of the acceptance speeches. These shows should be there to honor the medium (whether it be film or television) with honesty that reflects the current state of the medium and caters to the true fans.
Scott Feinberg has a really spot-on analysis of the ‘grave danger’ the Emmys are facing. The telecast brought in a record-low audience. We no longer live in a monoculture, it’s time our award shows accept this fact. Hopefully the TV academy considers some changes. 🏆You have to watch Sheryl Lee Ralph’s acceptance speech… Despite the train-wreck, the Emmy winners themselves kept the show watchable. This Abbott Elementary star chief among them. What power and emotion. The one thing the Emmy producers got right was allowing nominees to submit their thank-you’s ahead of time and then displaying them as text on-screen. That freed the winners up (theoretically) to be more meaningful in their speeches and not just rattle off a list of names. Ralph showed how successful this could be and why more award shows (cough cough the Oscars) should consider it. 👏
Squid Game’s Lee Jung-Jae becomes first acting Emmy winner from a non-English show… The series’ creator Hwang Dong-Hyuk also won for directing — and like he said, it shouldn’t be the last time a non-English series is honored at the Emmys. 🦑
Quinta Brunson became the 2nd ever Black woman to win writing for a comedy series Emmy… I was shocked that Abbott Elementary didn’t take Outstanding Comedy, but satisfied that Brunson did get to take the stage at least once. 🍎
Paramount might sunset Showtime streaming service… And fold it into Paramount+. This makes sense in the ever-competitive streaming wars. Paramount is already bundling the two within Paramount+, might as well just make it one thing. This news is particularly ironic after Kenan Thompson’s joke at the Emmys about Yellowjackets being hard to watch because it’s on Showtime. 🏔
Barry likely to end with season 4, says Henry Winkler… That sounds about right to me. I can’t believe Bill Hader lost the directing award last night. 🎭
Succession’s Brian Cox calls out Billions for being “past its sell-by date”… An unnecessary dig, but not incorrect. 😏
Legendary director Jean-Luc Godard has died at 91… Great write up from Variety on the influential director’s career and impact. 🇫🇷
What’s new
Atlanta s4 — Sept 15 | FX/Hulu comedy series | 🍅
Los Espookys s2 — Sept 16 | HBO comedy series | 🍅
The Woman King — Sept 16 | Drama in theaters | 🍅 100%
See How They Run — Sept 16 | Comedy thriller in theaters | 🍅 73%
Confess, Fletch — Sept 16 | Comedy in theaters and VOD | 🍅 90%
What to watch
Trailer: Babylon - Dec 25 in theaters
Written and directed by Damien Chazelle, starring Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li, Jean Smart, and Tobey Maguire.
Is this the same Damien Chazelle who made La La Land? This makes that look like a bedtime story. Chazelle appears to be ripping a maximalist page out of Scorsese’s Wolf of Wall Street playbook—or at least this trailer wants you to feel that way—while he also cashes in on echoes of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. Fast, hard, and aggressive has worked for Chazelle in the past (certain stretches of Whiplash come to mind) but this looks like it could fall off the rails at any second and crash land into a pool of hollow stylization and absurdist excess. Case in point, the snake. Then again, maybe flirting with the edge is exactly what Chazelle is trying to do? Regardless, add this to the pile of can’t-miss prestige flicks coming our way this award season.
For all past ‘what to watch’ recommendations, see the full list here!