2017 Emmys

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Sabin
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Re: 2017 Emmys

Post by Sabin »

Don't watch enough TV for the Emmys to resonate with me. The only way I could be more pleased to see Lena Waithe win her Emmy for writing is if I could stand that show.

I don't watch any dramas aside from a couple of episodes of 'Stranger Things' but I was happy to see Elisabeth Moss win. Despite the fact that she is becoming a reliable staple of independent film, I had fears that she would never win anything for her years of work on 'Mad Men.'

I've only seen one half season one of 'Atlanta,' but Donald Glover is such a ridiculously multi-talented individual that it's very fitting he win an Emmy for directing himself. Very happy for him and his show.

I don't watch 'Veep' but I have no doubt I would love it. It would be great to see Pamela Adlon or Ellie Kemper win while they have a chance, but it seems like everyone in the industry is just so happy for Julia Louis-Dreyfus that (with the exception of Amy Poehler) it doesn't seem like anyone has minded showing up to lose. She's an inspirational figure for young actresses against being cursed or pigeon-held.

And happy for 'Saturday Night Live,' but more specifically the widening of the Variety categories to include sketch. In my childhood, it seemed like the show flirted with a desire for cancellation every few years. I don't know when those voices stopped. Maybe it was the arrival of Tina Fey or the digital shorts that launched it permanently into the twenty-first century. But Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump, Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton, and Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer wasn't just Must See TV. It was catharsis. Their impact couldn't be denied even in the face of honoring Carrie Fisher.
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CalWilliam
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Re: 2017 Emmys

Post by CalWilliam »

I'm glad for Elisabeth Moss and Ann Dowd, both of them deserving, even though the former should have won before for Mad Men hands down, but I think that The Handmaid's Tale is quite an overrated show. I haven't read Atwood's novel, but the series is monotonous, repetitive and shallow in terms of how the subject matter is developed, we never get to understand how the world imploded or how that new regime functions, at least in a deeper level. The characters are completely uninteresting, everything in service of a supposedly grand and thought-provoking idea, and given the impressive visuals and production design it all appears to be more memorable and profound than it actually is, at least in a subconscious state of mind.

John Lithgow's performance is one for the ages, as is Claire Foy's. They manage to grasp the audience's understanding in the most unforgettable way. The Crown is exquisite, though. How many Churchill's are still going to be rewarded? Who cares for Gary Oldman now?

I am more team Reese than Nicole, and I agree that Skarsgaard didn't do anything special to deserve the Emmy, considering his wonderful competition.
The Night Of should have received more attention. Ahmed developed a haunting character arc, but Turturro was even better.
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Re: 2017 Emmys

Post by danfrank »

I don't watch enough television to say definitively who should have won in any category, but I was happy to see Riz Ahmed win for his terrific performance in The Night Of. And I don't know that it was the best writing in the world, but I loved seeing Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe win for the touching Thanksgiving episode of Master of None. Waithe's acceptance speech was just beautiful.
Okri
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Re: 2017 Emmys

Post by Okri »

Heh. I'd be shocked if HBO let anyone not submit themselves for consideration.

I don't mind that "San Junipero" was submitted as a solo movie. Truthfully, it's so different in tone from other "Black Mirror" episodes it stands out like a sore thumb.
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Re: 2017 Emmys

Post by Big Magilla »

Candice Bergen was indeed a class act, but she was nominated seven times and won five before she gracefully withdraw from competition. Julia Louis-Dreyfuss had to wait for her ninth nomination to break Bergen's record number of wins.

I've always felt the idea of actors submitting their work for consideration was tacky in the extreme. The work should speak for itself.
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Re: 2017 Emmys

Post by OscarGuy »

I think Black Mirror submitted two or three of its episodes as "movies." And whether you like what Sherlock does or not, "The Lying Detective" is one of their finest episodes to date and that's saying a great deal.

The only reason Louis-Dreyfus gets to claim the most Emmys for a single character record is because Candice Bergen won four and then refused to submit herself again saying she wanted others to have a shot at winning. That's a real class act.
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Re: 2017 Emmys

Post by dws1982 »

Mister Tee wrote: I guess everyone's good and sick of Veep/Julia Louis-Dreyfuss winning, but, from what I've seen of it (at other people's houses, as I don't have HBO), it's still a quite funny show.
Season six is probably the "weakest" since the first season, but that's more an indication of how great seasons two through five were. The main problem with season six was that with Selina (Louis-Dreyfus' character) a private citizen, there was no real way to keep the cast together like they were in the first five seasons, and the show really got a lot of mileage out of that group interplay. (It's a joke that they've never won the SAG Ensemble award.) The Best Actress Award is hugely repetitive, but sheerly in terms of quality it's pretty much impossible to argue with. I think this puts Julia Louis-Dreyfus up there with Cloris Leachman with a record eight acting Emmys. (Leachman has an additional Daytime Emmy award, and Louis-Dreyfus has three for producing.) This also puts Louis-Dreyfus ahead of Candice Bergen and Don Knotts for the most wins for an actor playing the same character.

Worth noting that all three Lead Actress winners also won an additional Emmy as producers of their shows.

Kind of glad to see Stranger Things get blanked at the main show. Honestly, if we're going to give Emmy nominations to youth-oriented genre pieces, Arrow and The Flash--two shows my nephew has got me into--at their best are worlds better than Stranger Things. (And they "get" the sensibility of DC Comics, and comics in general, in a way that the DC movie universe generally fails to do, but that's another post.) But they don't come with that veneer of 80's genre movie nostalgia that Stranger Things.

Haven't watched The Handmaid's Tale, but I knew it would win once it got Writing and Directing. One of the two wouldn't have been too big of a deal--first year series win one of those awards a lot. But winning both was an indicator that the voters were really going to go for it. I do have some questions about how long it can maintain quality--my understanding was that it was initially envisioned as a one-and-done adaptation of the novel and was only renewed for a second season after it became such a big thing. I'd love to see it go on and be a quality show for a long time, but it wouldn't surprise me to see it crash.

Glad to see Lithgow win (something I never thought I'd say), and overall I was pleased with the Movie/Miniseries awards as well. Might have given Supporting Actor to Michael K. Williams, but I did like Skarsgaard. The Black Mirror award is one of those frustrating things that there's no good solution to, similar to past nominations and wins for Sherlock. Sherlock is an ongoing series, but it's three ninety minute episodes per season, not enough to be eligible in the regular series categories, so they submit one episode as a TV movie. Black Mirror had six episodes, which was enough to be eligible, but it's an anthology with different casts and stories each episode, so they (again) just took one and submitted it as a TV movie. (And then you've got single season anthologies, like Fargo, which is a different story each season.) I get that there may not be a good solution, but by the logic of this Black Mirror award, The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents would've been competing in the TV movie categories back in the 60's.
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Re: 2017 Emmys

Post by Big Magilla »

I have HBO, but for some reason I've never watched an episode of Veep. I tell myself I should at least check it out, but for some reason I never get around to it.

I never heard of Black Mirror either. Turns out it's a British channel 4 science-fiction series, producing episodes since 2011 much like the better known Sherlock. It's now on Netflix in the U.S.

I haven't been able to take Margaret Atwood since Surfacing and avoided the 1990 film version of The Handmaid's Tale like the plague, but will catch up with the mini-series when I can binge watch it. Very happy for Elisabeth Moss and Ann Dowd, though.

I have no argument against any of the winners, though as I said in my review of Big Little Lies, the best one in it was Iain Armitage, Euan Morton's son who played Shailene Woodley's son. I thought he might be a one-time wonder, but then he turns up as the star of the incoming Young Sheldon, the prequel to The Big Bang Theory for which he could turn out to be the youngest nominee and winner at next year's Emmys.

I thought the show itself was pretty lame. I did think the opening song was fine, but the rest of Colbert's shtick was nothing more than filler. Cicely Tyson looks amazing for a woman approaching her 93rd birthday, but she's probably past her ability to memorize lines even with the aid of a teleprompter which she obviously has difficulty seeing. She kind of reminded me of Bette Davis' last appearance at the Oscars thirty years ago when she fumbled through the presentation of the Best Actor award to Paul Newman.
Mister Tee
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Re: 2017 Emmys

Post by Mister Tee »

Agreed, the DJ was annoying from start to finish -- you had the instant awareness he was going to be the same all night, and there was nothing you could do to change that.

Second time today I've felt totally out of it -- first, not having heard of Harry Dean Stanton's movie, and now having never heard of Black Mirror: San Junipero.

Happy for Riz Ahmed representing The Night Of. Mostly fine with Big Little Lies, except Skarsgaard -- really didn't think he found anything special in the role. Couldn't begrudge either Kidman or Witherspoon as lead actress, and of course they both won as producers.

Haven't seen The Handmaid's Tale, but happy enough for Elisabeth Moss, after all the years she got nothing for Mad Men. And Ann Dowd, who proves you can rise to prominence very late in life. Oh...and seeing Margaret Atwood up there was very cool.

Mark Harris points out that Robert Guillaume in Benson, more than 30 years ago. is the only previous black actor to win for comedy lead prior to Glover. And, as Sterling K. Brown pointed out, it's 19 years since Andre Braugher won, the last black actor in drama. (In fact, I was shocked to note that Bill Cosby's breakthrough wins in 1966 and '67 and James Earl Jones once in the 90s are the only other lead black actor winners, ever. Even the Oscars have done better than that.)

I thought Colbert's opening was pretty good, though I'm not OK with letting Sean Spicer joke his way out of months of disgraceful behavior. (Later calling him The Wizard of Lies wasn't enough to undercut this.) And, like most awards show hosts, Colbert seemed to vanish after the first hour. It makes one more appreciative of how present Jimmy Kimmel was at the Oscars this year.

I guess everyone's good and sick of Veep/Julia Louis-Dreyfuss winning, but, from what I've seen of it (at other people's houses, as I don't have HBO), it's still a quite funny show.

McKinnon and Baldwin winning seemed zeitgeist choices. As did a lot of the winners.

Fun to see such tributes to the Nine to Five gang, and Norman Lear/Carol Burnett. And bless Anika Noni Rose for nursing Cicely Tyson through a sort of painful moment.
Last edited by Mister Tee on Mon Sep 18, 2017 11:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
Aceisgreat
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Re: 2017 Emmys

Post by Aceisgreat »

That commentary nitwit needs to be tarred and feathered...
Last edited by Aceisgreat on Sun Sep 17, 2017 10:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Kellens101
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Re: 2017 Emmys

Post by Kellens101 »

Here are my "Should Wins" for each category

Best Comedy Series: Atlanta
Best Actor in a Comedy: Jeffrey Tambor
Best Actress in a Comedy: Pamela Adlon
Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy: Louie Anderson
Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy: Kathryn Hahn or Judith Light

Best Limited Series: Big Little Lies
Best Actor: Riz Ahmed
Best Actress: Nicole Kidman or Reese Witherspoon(can't decide, both were fantastic)
Best Supporting Actor: David Thewlis
Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern

Best Drama Series: Better Call Saul or Handmaid's Tale
Best Actor in a Drama: Matthew Rhys
Best Actress in a Drama: Elisabeth Moss
Best Supporting Actor in a Drama: John Lithgow
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama: Ann Dowd
Last edited by Kellens101 on Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Big Magilla
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Re: 2017 Emmys

Post by Big Magilla »

anonymous1980 wrote:What happened to the other thread?
Nothing happened to it. You put it in the theatre forum. I would move it, but I forgot how. :?
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2017 Emmys

Post by anonymous1980 »

What happened to the other thread? Oh, well. Here are my final predictions:

DRAMA SERIES: Stranger Things (Netflix)
COMEDY SERIES: Veep (HBO)
LIMITED SERIES: Big Little Lies (HBO)
MADE FOR TV MOVIE: Black Mirror: San Junipero (Netflix)
VARIETY TALK SERIES: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)
VARIETY SKETCH SERIES: Saturday Night Live (NBC)
REALITY/COMPETITION SERIES: RuPaul's Drag Race (LOGO)
ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES: Kevin Spacey, House of Cards (Netflix)
ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES: Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu)
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES: John Lithgow, The Crown (Netflix)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES: Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger Things (Netflix)
DIRECTING IN A DRAMA SERIES: Jonathan Nolan, Westworld ("The Bicameral Mind") (HBO)
WRITING IN A DRAMA SERIES: Peter Morgan, The Crown ("Assassins") (Netflix)
ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES: Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent (Amazon)
ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep (HBO)
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES: Louie Anderson, Baskets (FX)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES: Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live (NBC)
DIRECTING IN A COMEDY SERIES: Donald Glover, Atlanta ("B.A.N.") (FX)
WRITING IN A COMEDY SERIES: Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe, Master of None ("Thanksgiving") (Netflix)
ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES/MOVIE: Ewan MacGregor, Fargo (FX)
ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES/MOVIE: Nicole Kidman, Big Little Lies (HBO)
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES/MOVIE: Michael K. Williams, The Night Of (HBO)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES/MOVIE: Michelle Pfieffer, The Wizard of Lies (HBO)
DIRECTING IN A LIMITED SERIES/MOVIE: Steven Zaillian, The Night Of ("The Beach") (HBO)
WRITING IN A LIMITED SERIES/MOVIE: David E. Kelley, Big Little Lies (HBO)
DIRECTING FOR A VARIETY SERIES: Don Roy King, Saturday Night Live ("Host: Jimmy Fallon") (NBC)
WRITING FOR A VARIETY SERIES: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
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