Just finished watching the Emmies and—although not a comprehensive run-down of who won what—here are some impressions of the evening. Eugene Levy and his son Dan Levy (“Schitt’s Creek”) hosted and did an excellent job.
SHOGUN, ET. AL.
While I do realize that “Shogun” set a record for the number of nominations, I have not seen it and will now have to find the time to take it in.
For me, given my admittedly not-comprehensive viewing of the nominees, I most enjoyed seeing “Baby Reindeer,” “Hacks” and “Ripley” win multiple awards. The Writer/Director/Lead Actor of “Baby Reindeer,” Richard Gadd, had one of the most inspiring remarks of the night (for me), upon accepting one of the three awards (Lead Actor in a Limited Drama or Anthology Series), which was this: “If ‘Baby Reindeer’ has proven anything, it is that the only constant is good storytelling that speaks to our times.” As a failed writer who attempts to speak to our times, thanks for that, Mr. Gadd. Co-star Jessica Gunning, who was fabulous in her role, was also present and won (Best Supporting Actress for a Limited or Anthology Series). It was nice to see Gadd wearing a kilt.
HACKS
Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder in “Hacks”.
As for the “Hacks” win, I was present at the sneak peek of this year’s “Hacks” at SXSW. The love and sense of community in the room eclipsed even the time that “This Is Us” cast came to town; in all honesty, I was not as big a fan of “This Is Us,” but everyone else in the room was. You could feel the love, just like this year’s season preview of “Hacks.” Jean Smart had some serious health issues that delayed filming. I was fearful that the series might die if she did. I truly enjoy her comic timing. It’s so nice to see a woman over forty with the lead in a wonderfully written humorous show. [If you haven’t watched it, get on that!] Hannah Einbinder, daughter of “SNL’s” Laraine Newman, portraying her young assistant needs to win an Emmy soon, however, as she is just as good in this two-woman series. This one I applauded loudly with its 16 nominations (48 overall).
THE BEAR
I enjoyed the dig at “The Bear” as not really being a comedy series. As a sometimes Chicago resident, I really tried to get “in” to the series. I just could not. I’m not that interested in watching people cut up vegetables. To me, the potential plot trajectory was easy to figure out. We watched about five of them and stopped. I really like Jeremy Allen White (Lip in “Shameless”), however, so maybe we will try it again. Not sure I have it in me, but it’s worth a shot.
KATHY BATES
Kathy Bates is going to reprise “Matlock” and she has lost tons of weight since I met her at the Texas Filmmaking Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Austin a few years ago. I enjoyed her quip about how it was hard to get a date after “Misery.” There was also a jab at how the network is aiming the series at old people.
RIPLEY
Steven Zaillion, who directed “A Civil Action” (1998), “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (2011) and many other memorable films won for this series based on “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” “A veteran go-to script doctor in the industry, Steven Zaillian has contributed, uncredited, to screenplays on a number of projects over the years. They include Patriot Games (1992), Crimson Tide (1995), Twister (1996), Primal Fear (1996), Amistad (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Black Hawk Down (2001), Road to Perdition (2002) and Body of Lies (2008). He was also called upon in post-production to rewrite some scenes for re-shoots of Salt (2010). Zaillion wrote four screenplays for feature films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Awakenings (1990), Schindler’s List (1993), Gangs of New York (2002) and Moneyball (2011). Of those, Schindler’s List (1993) won Best Picture and earned Zaillian an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.”
With that pedigree as a writer, I sat up and watched every episode of the series “Ripley” on Friday night and he won tonight. It is based on the book and film that starred Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow (1999). It took me until 4 a.m, to make it to the final installment, which was exceptionally clever.
I came away with this observation about Italy: I CAN’T CLIMB THAT MANY STAIRS!!! As I watched character after character (policemen, victims, suspects, etc.) struggling to carry luggage up huge staircases (the elevator was always broken) I quickly abandoned any thought of strolling through the storied streets of Rome or Venice. Of course, I have been there a few times in my life, but my left knee was in better shape then. I didn’t injure it in the bicycling accident until 1997.
Having devoted most of Friday night to finishing off “Ripley,” I was happy to see Zaillion win. The end of the series was masterful, and the series was much different from the book or the film based upon it. It was a much more successful new look at an old property than the recent revival of “Presumed Innocent” from David Kelley. But “Ripley” is shot in black-and-white so be warned.
CANDACE BERGEN
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Candace Bergen.
It was nice to see Candace Bergen again. She got in a good dig at former VP Dan Quayle and how he had criticized her character of Murphy Brown on her hit TV show for giving birth without benefit of marriage. She commented that no current Vice President would criticize her for having a child. She ended her (veiled political) remarks with “Meow,”
OUTSTANDING REALITY COMPETITION
This winner (“The Traitor”) won for Peacock and Allen Cummings, the host, picked up the award. He’s literally one of only two celebrities in my 20 years of covering the Chicago International Film Festival who came to Chicago years ago and was rude to we “little people” (press). I won’t bore you with the details, but I did not clap when he won, even though I enjoyed his work on “The Good Wife.” The only one who was worse all those many years ago has since died, so that makes Allen Cummings the worst, for me.
LAST WEEK TONIGHT
John Oliver won for the Outstanding Scripted Variety Show, which had 6 nominations this year and has amassed 67 total nominations. It was a well-deserved win, but the bit about Lorne Greene of “Saturday Night Live” having been nominated 85 times without winning was a comic jewel. There was also a similar bit about being nomiated 17 times without a win for a woman I think was Padma Lakshi (although, without a scorecard and in this category, not sure.)
OUTSTANDING TALK SERIES
“The Daily Show,” with 4 nominations, saw Jon Stewart (who only appears on Mondays) take the podium. Jimmy Kimmel, who was also nominated in the category and lost, got in a good zinger when he said something to the effect of, “I thought you said you were retiring.”
WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
This one went to someone named Will Smith for “Slow Horses.” “Slow Horses” is British and stars Gary Oldman. We needed captioning to watch it and tried hard to do so, without success. I wondered if Will Smith was going to slap anybody. (Oh. Wait. Wrong Will Smith).
My failure to know much about “Slow Horses” (other than that it is supposed to be good, like “The Bear,” but we couldn’t get into it), leads me to admit that I don’t know who Lamore Morris is or what show by Noah Hawley he stars in, except that he beat out Robert Downey, Jr., for the statue and he almost could not be gotten offstage. Seriously, he did not appear to have prepared any kind of “thank you” and it showed. All I can say is, “So many shows; so little time.”
JODIE FOSTER
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It was nice to see Jodie Foster win for her spooky role on “True Detective: Night Country” (even though the plot eventually defied logic and collapsed under its own weight ) but I have to admit that the thing that struck me the most about seeing her again (besides the fact that she had bare arms that looked toned and muscly) was that she publicly kissed her female Significant Other as she rose to accept her award. That is after beaucoup years of being mum about her status as a lesbian raised by a lesbian mother. There was also an award (The Governor’s Award) given to a man nobody knew, Gary Berlanti, for his LGBTQ support and activities,
Berlanti came to the microphone and made a very heartfelt statement about being gay in America in the bad old days. It made me happy that we do not live in the Russia or Iran or Iraq that actually makes it a crime to be gay (and, in some cases, executes such individuals) and reminded me of a powerful documentary I saw years ago at CIFF entitled “Be Like Others.”
Berlanti’s win and trip to the stage led me to hope that he would put in a pitch about voting for the candidate who promoted acceptance of all races, colors, creeds and sexual orientations. He missed that opportunity, although John Leguizamo got in some very relevant remarks about how nice it was that Latino actors (et. al.) are now getting to play the roles that they were born for, i.e., people of whatever ethnic persuasion the script required. Rita Moreno’s documentary “Just A Girl Who Decided to Go For It” stressed this aspect of movies of yore, and Leguizamo mentioned Natalie Wood being cast as Maria in the original “West Side Story,” by name (as well as Marlon Brando and others being cast for roles that should have gone to the minority portrayed.)
Ask yourself which presidential candidate or ticket would be most likely to welcome minorities and promotes inclusivity and vote accordingly. It will be interesting to see and hear the reactions of networks like Fox to tonight’s Emmy ceremony.