a great voice cast including Jessica Walter, Chris Parnell, and H

Transcription

PRESS_D-TV Line_EMMY 2011#1.indd 1
5/31/11 7:22:35 AM
- 2011 OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES OVERVIEW -
LINING UP TO
RACE AROUND EMMY’S
LAUGH TRACK
C
BY NELLIE ANDREEVA/DEADLINE & MICHAEL AUSIELLO/TVLINE
ompetition for Emmy nominations among this year’s Outstanding Comedy Series contestants is no laughing matter. The showdown between two
20th Century TV hits is more intense than ever, with Modern Family showrunners Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd trying to score their second
consecutive Emmy win, while Glee executive producer Ryan Murphy is hoping
to edge them out. That is, if one or more of a duo of up-and-comers—Community
or Parks and Recreation—don’t act as spoilers.
Then again, past Emmy stalwarts 30 Rock or The Office could resurface. Or
Showtime’s bold, female-skewing dramedies Nurse Jackie or newbie The Big C
might seize the spotlight. And don’t rule out the possibility of CBS’ The Big Bang
Theory finally scoring a nod in its fourth season, or How I Met Your Mother receiving recognition in its sixth. And then there are the underdogs. As The Middle’s coshowrunner Eileen Heisler (with DeAnn Heline) says about ABC’s Wednesday
night lineup, “We’re really grateful to Modern Family for bringing attention to
family shows. We’ve benefitted from their success, but I think it takes a little longer for people to realize the next door neighbor in The Middle is edgy and wry.”
If Modern Family does repeat, no ABC sitcom has managed that feat since
Taxi more than 30 years ago. Of course, NBC’s 30 Rock won three years running.
30 ROCK
Although the NBC hitcom’s three-year winning
streak ended last year (done in by ABC’s freshman
breakout, Modern Family), it remains an industry
darling—with good reason. While not as consistent as its earlier seasons, its comedy quality never seems to wane. So, without ever actually going
away, it could be primed for a comeback. But the
show, which celebrated its 100th episode this season, may also be mistakenly placed in the “been
there, done that” category, even with red-hot writerproducer-actress-author Tina Fey at the helm. But if
the Academy revisits NBC’s quirky workplace comedies, they just might opt for the newer Parks and
Recreation or Community.
THE BIG BANG THEORY
As popular as this CBS smash is, it has yet to be
Emmy nominated despite originality in its scripts
and ensemble. Kudos to the producers for broaden20
THE AWARDS EDITIONS
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And Frasier took home a record five in succession between 1994 and 1998. So it
can be done. But that doesn’t mean Modern Family’s Christopher Lloyd thinks
it’s a shoo-in. “Among certain segments of the blogosphere who first anointed
the show that everybody is supposed to be watching, there’s another rush to
declare that it stinks now. And then there will be others who’ll want to say ‘I
told you so’ when it wins again.”
There’s general agreement it would take a miracle for any freshman
broadcast network comedy to crash this year ’s top comedy series’ Emmy party, with the possible exception of Fox’s Raising Hope. Though there’s a sliver of
daylight for a newbie cable show like The Big C, despite the fact it’s a dramedy.
Cable continues to make inroads in the comedy series categories, evidenced
by Showtime’s Nurse Jackie capturing eight Emmy nominations last year, including one for top comedy; with Showtime’s Weeds as well as HBO’s Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm landing series nods in recent years. This year,
TVLand’s Hot in Cleveland has Emmy buzz. But only one cable comedy has
ever won: HBO’s Sex and the City in 2001.
Here’s our assessment of the chances for this year ’s comedy series in
alphabetical order:
ing the cast this season and stepping up the romance
for Mayim Bialik’s and Melissa Rauch’s roles, especially after Jim Parsons was acknowledged as last
year’s Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
winner for nerd-chic hilarity. If you’re going to vote
for a Chuck Lorre show this year, this one’s decidedly less baggage-laden than Two and a Half Men, which
lost its Sheen.
CHUCK
Forever floating on the renewal bubble (it will live on
for a fifth and final short season of 13 episodes next season), Chuck has a well-earned reputation as The Little
Show that Could. But, plucky as it is, the unlikely spy
yarn remains a significant Emmy long-shot. Besides,
NBC already has a couple of potential sleeper contenders at the ready in Parks and Recreation and Community.
THE BIG C
With lead Laura Linney considered a shoo-in for an
Emmy nod, a side effect is that her show’s chances of
breaking into the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy
race likely increases as well. Question is, did they increase enough? Is the TV Academy ready to honor a
dark comedy centering on a woman’s battle with cancer? Perhaps it’s time. If so, there could be two Showtime noms in this category for the first time, assuming
Nurse Jackie repeats. Says showrunner Jenny Bicks,
“It’s not going to be an easy fight for us.”
COMMUNITY
What is arguably NBC’s most innovative comedy
shoots high creatively but has yet to land commensurate ratings. Critics, however, have been quick to sing
the show’s praises, perhaps loudly enough to help get
it noticed by Emmy voters. Remember when Fox’s Arrested Development used critical praise to trump low
viewership? Showrunner Dan Harmon likens Community’s comedy to “Krispy Kreme—we just have to get
it into people’s mouths.” Or, in the case of Academy
voters, into their DVD players.
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COUGAR TOWN
In its third season, the wine-soaked “Friends for grownups” really came into its own as an ensemble comedy
rather than just a Courteney Cox vehicle. And it’s even
poking fun at the icky title that long ago ceased to
have anything to do with the series premise. Nonetheless, it’s probably not ABC’s Wednesday night show
with the most heat in this comedy category because of
Modern Family.
EASTBOUND & DOWN
This back-to-first-base comedy about a washed-up
baseball player enjoys the prestige of HBO and the
marquee value of Will Ferrell as a producer. But it’s
perhaps too raunchy for older TV Academy voters.
Given that producer-star Danny McBride says this
forthcoming third season will be its last, Eastbound &
Down likely will strike out Emmy-wise.
ENTOURAGE
After landing nominations in the top comedy category for three years running, HBO’s Hollywood insider
send-up didn’t make the cut the last go-round. If shut
out again, it’s because Academy voters have moved
on from an aging series that returns for its shortened
eighth and final season on July 24th. It didn’t help
when news leaked out in May that HBO pulled it from
broadcast syndication by Warner Bros. Domestic TV.
EPISODES
If the television industry’s insiders love anything more
than laughing, it’s laughing at itself (see 30 Rock, Curb
Your Enthusiasm). And there’s been buzz about how
this Showtime Brits-out-of-water comedy reinvented
Matt LeBlanc. But, even if he might, the series probably doesn’t have a high enough profile yet to garner
an Emmy nod.
FAMILY GUY
In 2009, the Fox show that wouldn’t die became the
first animated series in nearly half a century to win an
Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series.
But it was shut out the very next year. So expect the
next TV Academy recognition for Family Guy around
2060. One question mark is whether the toon’s unique
in-your-face way of campaigning for Emmy helps or
hurts to sway voters. Then again, this is the comedy
series category.
GLEE
There’s virtually no way this innovative Fox musical comedy won’t be nominated this year (although
Season Two has lost some momentum) after conventional wisdom declared a toss-up whether it or
Modern Family would win in 2010. Voters could well
decide that, this time around, they’ll recognize their
other favorite. Especially when co-creator Ryan
Murphy is wearing his heart on his sleeve and demonstrating almost daily to industry insiders how
much he hopes to get gold.
HOT IN CLEVELAND
TV Land’s women-of-a-certain-age comedy is riding
high after its SAG Awards nomination and its surprise win for the ubiquitous Betty White. But it’s still
an uphill climb against shows from bigger networks.
Aside from a possible nomination or win for White
in the Outstanding Supporting Actress category, this
traditional three-camera sitcom remains unapologetic
about the show’s old-school approach.
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
Nominated only once for Outstanding Comedy Series
(in 2009), this low-profile CBS series seems destined
to have to pin its Emmy hopes on Neil Patrick Harris again. (No other cast member has ever been recognized.) But the writing is better than it has to be, and
the series has more heart than hype. Academy voters
should take a closer look.
IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA
This FX comedy over six seasons has developed an
enviable hipster rep, but hasn’t managed to score a
nomination—worthy and outrageous as the show is.
Barring some extremely effective campaigning, that
seems unlikely to change this year. FX still has never
scored a nom in the comedy category and only (once)
Damages for top drama.
THE MIDDLE
Although being paired with Modern Family has been a
ratings boost for ABC’s other family comedy, this Midwestern, next door neighbor is also overlooked. Yet,
this is a solid series in its own right, even if more traditional, so maybe that tide will begin to turn. “It probably is a little bit more challenging when you are doing a show about normal people,” says Eileen Heisler,
co-creator and co-showrunner with DeAnn Heline.
MODERN FAMILY
This ABC hit hasn’t lost a bit of its luster since its victory last year. So, barring an upset, it remains not just
a surefire nominee, but the show to beat. And that
leaves co-showrunner Christopher Lloyd nervous. He
observes, “No one wants to be the one in charge when
the show starts to flip and when people start to say,
‘Meh, it’s seen better days.” But that day is nowhere in
sight with those edgy scripts and that ensemble cast.
NURSE JACKIE
Coming off of last year ’s nominations and win for
star Edie Falco, the Showtime black comedy ought
to be a lock to repeat for a nod. That is, unless
it’s knocked out of the running by the cable net-
work’s newer dramedy, The Big C. Linda Wallem,
co-showrunner with Liz Brixius, wants “people to
know it’s a comedy. I think it’s a comedy born of
the absurdity. We have characters that couldn’t exist in a drama.”
THE OFFICE
NBC’s workplace comedy has been recognized every year since its debut when it took home the prize.
But factor in Steve Carell’s swan song, and it’s a real
contender for a comeback win and not just a surefire
nod. Which would be a coup, according to former
Office writer-producer and Thursday night neighbor
Parks and Recreation co-creator Michael Schur, after
a coupla years of Academy voters writing off The
Office as “old news.”
PARKS AND RECREATION
Last year Amy Poehler snuck into the Outstanding
Lead Actress in a Comedy race. Continuing that
slow-but-steady build this season, the show itself
could get in the game for the first time. The prevailing industry wisdom is this is the sleeper to watch
out for. Unless TV insiders continue to think that,
because it was first contemplated as a spinoff and
has the same handheld documentary style, this is
The Office in a different setting.
RAISING HOPE
Although most of the Fox hit’s raves have focused
on Martha Plimpton, the scene-stealer actually anchors Gregory Thomas Garcia’s rock-solid family
comedy. Voters who check it out for her ought to
be pleasantly surprised by the series quality of the
whole. It’s the only first-year network comedy series with any sort of legs at all, but it doesn’t have
an awards high-profile.
UNITED STATES OF TARA
Emmy voters love Toni Collette, and she won the
Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy in
2009 and was nominated again the following year.
(Says series creator Diablo Cody regarding Collette:
“Any actress playing nine characters is perhaps at an
advantage when awards season rolls around.”) But
the series itself vies against fellow Showtime titles
like The Big C and Nurse Jackie, and its recent cancellation won’t help.
WEEDS
Though this arch Showtime series is as well-respected
as its acting ensemble, Emmy has only nominated it
once for Outstanding Comedy Series (in 2009), and no
cast member has ever won. This late in its run, that
lack of momentum is going to be difficult to overcome.
And it doesn’t seem like the pay channel is going to
campaign hard for it.
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CHRIS LLOYD + STEVE LEVITAN =
MODERN FAMILY MEN
BY DIANE HAITHMAN
C
hristopher Lloyd is co-creator and co-showrunner with Steven Levitan of last year’s Emmy
winner for Outstanding Comedy Series, Modern Family. But he didn’t go onstage to accept
the accolade. This recipient of eight Emmys for
his work on comedy series including Frasier and The
Golden Girls prefers to stay in the shadows and let his
chatty partner bask in all the public limelight. Now,
Lloyd breaks his silence and talks for an interview one
TV publicist claimed was harder to nab than “a sitdown with Osama”:
DEADLINE: First off, do you prefer to be called Chris
or Christopher?
CHRISTOPHER LLOYD: I honestly don’t care.
I’m Christopher professionally, but of course that
creates confusion in the minds of many with actor
Christopher Lloyd. He not only shares my name,
but we lived on the same street three blocks away
for many years, so there was no end to the confusion
for our mailman.
DEADLINE: Obviously, I first have to ask why do you
rarely speak publicly about Modern Family, and why do
you let Steve Levitan do all the talking about it?
LLOYD: I think Steve started out wanting to be a
broadcast journalist, an on-camera guy. He likes doing
things that I don’t like to do. I tend to avoid things like
award shows and panels and interviews, not remotely
because I feel I’m above them or wish to cultivate the
image of the intriguing recluse. I’m just not very good
at them. There are some comedy writers who came up
on the performing side and might welcome those sorts
of events. There are others to whom an auditorium
full of people looks like a welter of angry torch-bearers. I have nothing against the first group but when I
see members of my own tribe in public appearances
sweating like murder suspects and spraying the front
row with Xanax flecks, I wonder why they didn’t
60
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choose, like me, to stay home. Look, the work we do
on the show gets plenty of accolades, and I get plenty
of pleasure from it. But I sense from people that they
get frustrated with me for not being out and about.
But I guess I’m a shy boy.
DEADLINE: What’s the division of showrunning between you and Steve?
LLOYD: He goes off and talks to the camera and gets
every interview, and I stay home and do all the hard
work with the writing staff. We have a large staff of 10
writers including myself and Steve, and we can fairly
easily divide the room in half: he takes four, and I
take four. We generate stories separately, but that’s
early on in the process. Once we get on track, we confer with one another and feel free to intermingle the
groups. A lot of the work with the actors we do separately because we each take every other episode and
see it through to the end. We have a five-day shooting
schedule, 10 hours Monday through Friday, all the
way through the season. That’s one of the more fun
aspects of the job. It would be overkill to have both
of us onstage. Plus, if we did that, I don’t know what
would be happening with the writers back in the
room. Given that we have slightly different styles,
it’s a good system.
DEADLINE: What does an Emmy mean to a show that’s
already successful?
LLOYD: It’s wonderful acknowledgment of what
you’ve done. What comes with that is a challenge not
to repeat yourself, and to keep the show good, and
maybe even to make it better. Continuing recognition says you’ve done that job. No one wants to be in
charge when the show starts to slide and people say:
‘Meh, it’s seen better days.’ But then there are those
shows that go away and come back. Everybody Loves
Raymond was in that category. And I think Cheers. I’m
not an Emmy historian, but there is some fun and
some challenge in a show being thought of as on top,
then a little passé or whatever, and then comes back
and proves everybody wrong.
DEADLINE: After winning in your first season, is the
press gunning for you this year?
LLOYD: Among certain segments of the blogosphere
who first anointed the show that everybody is supposed to be watching, there’s another rush to declare
that it stinks now. You have to accept that’s the cycle
we’re facing right now. And then there will be others
who’ll want to say ‘I told you so’ when it wins again.
DEADLINE: Are there misconceptions about the show?
LLOYD: I think there was too much made about the
gay kiss. People kept asking, ‘When are we going to see
these two guys kiss? It’s a travesty that they haven’t.’
And then there was an episode when they kissed, and
those people felt very righteous that they forced us
into that. That was really a lot of horseshit. We wrote
characters and, clearly, one of them was a little shyer
about public displays of affection. And it made perfect
sense that they weren’t jumping on each other every
five minutes. It was a bit of a tempest in a teapot. And
I guess there was criticism about why aren’t we seeing every ethnicity represented on the show. Well, you
can’t have a show that looks like a Benetton ad. We are
doing our best to tell something that’s real, and over
time perhaps we will.
DEADLINE: Last year, the comedy series nominees included a dramedy like Nurse Jackie as well as a musical
like Glee. Does that heighten or hurt the competition?
LLOYD: It always seems that it would be really
hard for those shows to actually win for best comedy. I mean they could win for an episode, or writing, or a performance. But we don’t write the show
in order to try to win Emmys. We try to write the
show to win viewers, and viewers want that extra
TVLINE.COM
5/31/11 7:23:51 AM
S
dimension. I always say they come for the laughs
and stay for the heart—that’s really when you hook
the viewer. It’s just a smart way of creating something. And if that’s what Emmy voters are looking
for too, then great. There have been certain years
when the voters wanted to reward outside-the-box
shows like when Ally McBeal won, even though it
was not a traditional comedy. But it is a comedy
S
teve Levitan is known for creating TV sitcoms
with varying degrees of success. He’s also
known for speaking out about the networks at
times. But the veteran writer/producer is now
a happy guy at the helm of ABC’s edgy primetime hit
Modern Family, which he co-runs with writing partner
Chris Lloyd for producer 20th Century TV. It won the
2010 Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series: can Modern Family double down for 2011 as well?
DEADLINE: How did you come up with the mix of
characters for Modern Family?
STEVE LEVITAN : We knew we wanted to do
something about family, and we started to realize we
wanted to do something in the documentary form.
We wanted to do multiple families, because we both
liked the adult relationships. So then it was a matter
of populating it with multiple families, and the idea
was, how has family changed recently? So let’s start in
the middle with a very conventional, right-down-themiddle family—a working husband, a stay-at-home
mom, and three kids kind of loosely based on my family in terms of the sexes and ages. And then we wanted
to do a gay couple. And we wanted to do something
cross-cultural. And the older father/younger woman
thing because there was nice conflict and tension.
DEADLINE: Other shows are doing the documentary
format, like The Office.
LEVITAN : We made a conscious effort to differentiate ourselves from The Office. We are all big Office fans,
and they really, in many ways, paved the way for Mod-
category, so shouldn’t we be laughing some?
DEADLINE: Has there ever been a case in your TV career where you thought an episode was the best ever and it
didn’t win an Emmy?
LLOYD: I co-wrote the episode where Niles and
Daphne finally get together on Frasier, and we were
nominated and lost to the pilot for Malcolm in the Mid-
ern Family’s success because they got people used to
that form. Who cares if it had been done before, in
terms of the documentary style or the way we shoot
it—if it helped the comedy, we did it. The documentary form itself is such a wonderful device to get to
the heart of a story, cut to the chase of what a character is thinking. You don’t have to work in funky,
awkward exposition.
DEADLINE: How far can you go with the network in
terms of the comedy material?
LEVITAN : They are pretty trusting. When we did
the pilot, we got a couple of notes about some specific jokes that they were very concerned about. And
because the tone of our show is so warm, and people
seem to like the characters so much, they trust our instincts. So they’ve actually been ridiculously reasonable, I have to say. I’m pretty vocal about my dissatisfactions. In a weird way, it kind of highlights how
dysfunctional those past experiences were. We’re in a
good position now. The network is happy, so of course
we get treated well.
DEADLINE: Your reputation is that you don’t listen to
network notes.
LEVITAN :: We get notes from ABC. And 20th TV
weighs in. Chris Lloyd and I are a very strong presence in that process, and we can be a bit intimidating
at times, so we try to discourage people from wasting
our time. But we also try to listen when people have
good ideas. But both of us feel strongly about this: we’ll
never take a note from anybody that we don’t agree
with. We won’t do it to
make somebody happy.
There are a lot of people
chiming in because it is
their job to chime in. And
while they may be very
well meaning and might
have very good things
to say at times, certainly
everything they say is not
going to be right, like everything I say is not going
to be right. So you have
to learn to listen to everything and cherry-pick the
good notes.
DEADLINE: Does it
help to be taller than the
bosses are?
dle. I thought we really wrote a good one, but I understand the voters choosing to award a pilot. When it
came around to Modern Family, I had written the pilot
but I was up against a lot of other very good shows. So I
hoped this grading curve was still in place where you get
extra points for the pilot. Look, we were very blessed on
Frasier with Emmy love. We have been on Modern Family,
too. Hopefully, it all comes out in the wash.
LEVITAN : It probably does, yes. I’m allowed to
lie back a little bit, as opposed to the league of Napoleons of our time. Look, there are some people who
do not handle power well, and I just don’t have a lot
of respect for those people. I said in my WGA speech
the business has gotten so screwed up and mismanaged, that we benefitted. The bottom line is, if you
don’t think there’s a future in network television, then
you should not be in that chair. Because if you don’t
believe in it, certainly your dwindling audience isn’t
going to believe in it, because you are creating a selffulfilling prophecy by playing for margins.
DEADLINE: How different are the networks from each
other in terms of what they want?
LEVITAN : The truth of the matter probably is, despite all the fun that I have at Fox and NBC’s expense,
the quality of one’s experience with a network depends largely on the success of your show. If Modern
Family was not a hit, and was not in the good time
period, and was not being promoted, I might have a
very different feeling about ABC. But it’s hard to be
bitter when there is nothing to be bitter about.
DEADLINE: What TV comedies do you watch?
LEVITAN : I’ve probably seen every episode of 30
Rock, and most of the episodes of The Office. And I even
admire elements of Community; I think the dialogue in
that show is just crackling. In the past, if it was a show
I liked, I would feel bad that I didn’t write and create
it, and if it was a show that I didn’t like, then why am
I watching it? There was really no winning for awhile
there. But now I am at peace and happy, and so I can
really enjoy shows.
DEADLINE: When anything is as successful as this
show, there are going to be imitators.
LEVITAN : I just saw an article about the ‘Modern
Family Effect’ which is pretty surreal. I heard a saying
once that the definition of Hollywood is 10,000 people
running to the spot where lightning just struck. People
tried to recreate Friends for many, many years. It’s so
elusive and there’s so much serendipity that goes into
getting a show to work. It’s not like we cracked the
code, so the next thing we do is going to be just as
brilliant—we got very lucky here, things happened to
come together, and we’re just holding on for dear life. I
am just ridiculously grateful right now. It’s sappy, but
true. For awhile I thought maybe I should start switching over to features, start living that life, because TV
is getting very tiring. But now there’s literally nothing
I’d rather be doing than Modern Family.
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THE AWARDS EDITIONS
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5/31/11 7:24:06 AM
SHOULD EMMY INAUGURATE
A NEW DRAMEDY CATEGORY?
BY RAY RICHMOND
T
In a creative medium that’s increasingly shedding its labels, embracing hybrids, and blurring
lines, many see the Primetime Emmy division
of shows into comedy series vs. drama series
as too confining. And, in the case of numerous
shows, utterly misleading. One solution could be an
“Outstanding Dramedy” category.
Not that the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences want more Emmy categories. Quite the contrary—the powers-that-be keep trying to shed some.
But this year’s shows, like TNT’s Men of a Certain Age,
ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, FX’s Rescue Me, Fox’s Glee and
Showtime’s Nurse Jackie, The Big C, Weeds, Shameless,
and United States of Tara do seem to merit their own
award for shifting seamlessly between dark comedy
and heartrending drama in the same episode.
“The Academy has never known what to do with
us. So they’ve tossed us into a category consisting almost entirely of balls-out comedy,” complains Weeds
showrunner Jenji Kohan. “If you like to sway that
pendulum back and forth between drama and comedy, which is what we pride ourselves on, it makes it
nearly impossible to compete. If I’m a comedy judge,
and I’m looking at Weeds and 30 Rock, and I’m thinking, ‘What made me laugh more during the half-hour,
the show with jokes or the other one?’, it’s really no
contest.”
This year, especially, it seems absurd for a suburban mother’s battle with cancer (The Big C) to duke
it out for an Emmy with ABC’s Modern Family and
NBC’s 30 Rock. But don’t forget that Fox’s Ally McBeal
was the comedy series Emmy victor in 1999, as well as
an example of hour-long shows that have skirted the
lines of comedy and drama. Interestingly, its executive
producer David E. Kelley at awards time in 1996 received a SAG nomination for Boston Legal as a comedy
ensemble. The following year, he earned a SAG nod
for it as a drama ensemble.
Even more confusing, the lead comedy actress
category has been won three of the past four years
by performers in dramedies: America Ferrera in 2007
for Ugly Betty, Toni Collette in 2009 for United States
of Tara, and Edie Falco for Nurse Jackie just last year.
Falco, at that Emmys, spotlighted the inconsistency of
putting performers from such radically different series styles under the same banner when she opined in
the press room backstage that she was “shocked” and
“dumbfounded” to have won a comedy statuette for a
role that “isn’t funny.”
Observes Diablo Cody, the creator-exec producerwriter on United States of Tara, “I think the real issue is
the fallacy that dramatic scenes are inherently harder
to play than broad comedy. Each is using a completely
different set of muscles.”
TV Academy awards SVP John Leverence says
the Board of Governors acknowledges the categoriza-
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tion dilemma and annually reviews the level of support for a dramatic- comedy category or group of categories. But, to date, there has been no groundswell to
do it. “We’ve opted to keep comedy series as an embrace of the full gamut of sitcom plus dramedy,” Leverence offers. “It’s often the case that, in dramedies,
the hub character isn’t necessarily funny, as Edie Falco
so famously noted last year, but the characters serving
as spokes complementing the hub are quite funny, as
they are on Nurse Jackie.”
Newly-named Showtime Entertainment President David Nevins surprisingly isn’t pushing the TV
Academy to immediately institute dramedy into the
Emmy mix, even though he would have the most to
gain from it. “I honestly don’t think that viewers are
crying out for new Emmy categories, and I’m also not
sure that Emmy voters find the issue of comedy vs.
drama all that confusing. To my mind, the fact that a
show like Shameless can be funny and irreverent only
increases its entertainment value as a drama. That The
Big C has the dramatic chops of Laura Linney, only
increases its appeal as a comedy.”
But Showtime also has seen Emmy comedy breakthroughs for idiosyncratic half-hours, not only by
Falco and Collette, but by top comedy series nominations for Weeds in 2009 and Nurse Jackie last year. Nurse
Jackie co-showrunner Liz Brixius saw 2010’s multitude
of Emmy nominations for her show as a “huge vindication, because it meant that the TV Academy voters could see it’s got its own kind of humor.” Agrees
Nurse Jackie co-showrunner Linda Wallem, “It’s cool to
see the comedy nominations not just be sitcoms anymore and how diverse the category can be now. It’s
like a wonderful island of misfit toys.”
Big C showrunner Jenny Bicks agrees that creating a dramedy category for the sake of darker fare like
her show isn’t necessary. “I feel like the category itself
has morphed, and the voters right along with it. That
being said, do I think it will be tough for us to ever win
an Emmy? Yeah. And I get that.”
TVLINE.COM
5/31/11 7:24:35 AM
F O R
Y O U R
C O N S I D E R A T I O N
O U T S TA N D I N G C O M E D Y S E R I E S
“Patricia Heaton shines as
the perpetually frazzled mom
to three hilarious and bizarre kids…”
– Entertainment Weekly
“…a bright, sharp,
terrifically cast family
comedy…”
– USA Today
TM & © 2011 WBEI. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
WBFYC.COM
A LAST EMMY CHANCE FOR
THE OFFICE’S
STEVE CARELL
BY RAY RICHMOND
I
t hasn’t happened during his first five tries, not even in 2006 when his NBC
sitcom The Office earned an Emmy for top comedy series. Carell was favored
that year to win Lead Actor in a Comedy as well. But instead, it went to Tony
Shalhoub for USA Network’s Monk. And then to Ricky Gervais for HBO’s Extras
in 2007; to Alec Baldwin for NBC’s 30 Rock in 2008 and 2009; and last year, to Jim
Parsons for CBS’ The Big Bang Theory. Carell was nominated each time.
Which brings us to 2011, and Carell’s last opportunity to bring home the
Emmy as the doofus boss Michael Scott, in a role originally played by Gervais
on a series originally conceived in Britain. Will this be Steve’s year? If it’s based
solely on merit, yes, according to The Office showrunner and fellow performer
Paul Lieberstein who says, “He certainly
deserves it. I don’t think anyone on television has done as much as Steve has for
The Office. No one has consistently driven
both comedy and heart the way he has
from moment to moment on this show.
He can draw you in with tears and, at the
same time, make you laugh with a joke. You can go to him as the biggest buffoon
and the smartest guy in the room on the same page and make you believe both of
them. He’s just so enormously talented that he has my vote.”
Much depends on episode selection and his acting in it—not perceived past
slights. The presumption is that he’s submitting either: his proposal to Holly (Amy
Ryan); or, the super-sized farewell entitled “Goodbye, Michael,” which showed
Carell giving a nuanced, even subdued, performance. Also in his favor is that he’s
well-liked within the industry for being a good soldier and an upstanding guy who
fulfilled his full contractual obligation to The Office, despite emerging as a feature lead years before. He no doubt could have gotten out of his TV deal early
10
THE AWARDS EDITIONS
DEADLINE.COM
if he’d pushed it. But he stayed the course and did the right thing. That loyalty
can’t help but work in his favor right now.
So he has some momentum on his side, and certainly much sentiment, and
maybe even a little embarrassment in the fact that he hasn’t been honored with an
Emmy yet. This character he’s playing is one for the ages, and the TV Academy is
sensitive to the possibility that yet another generation will look back in disbelief
that Steve Carell, like, say, Jackie Gleason, never won TV’s top prize for that.
But the voters are notorious for refusing to buy into that whole “last
chance” idea, no matter how overdue a performer may be perceived. John
Goodman was nominated seven consecutive times for Roseanne without winning, and didn’t even earn a nomination
for that sitcom’s final two seasons. Jerry
Seinfeld was nominated in vain during
five consecutive years for Seinfeld, including for the show’s widely watched
wind-up. And Martin Sheen received six
nominations over the course of The West
Wing and never won, not even in the show’s much-buzzed swan song.
Standing in Carell’s way are a long list of competitors, especially Baldwin and
Parsons— winners of the prize in the lead acting category the past three years—because the TV Academy has a tendency to re-honor previous honorees, underscored
by Shalhoub’s three triumphs for Monk. If anyone is seen as this Emmy category
favorite at this early stage, it would probably be reigning champ Parsons, pending
the quality of his acting in the submitted episode.
Then again, as one Academy member readily admits, “I’ll be voting for
Steve this time, and I say that before even seeing his submission. And I’ll bet I’m
not the only one who feels that way.”
TVLINE.COM
5/31/11 7:24:56 AM
“funny....brilliantly twisted as ever”
—Tim Goodman, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
“always awesome”
—TV GUIDE MAGAZINE
“one of the best new series of the year”
—James Poniewozik, TIME
“Sunny has defied the odds in
Hollywood”
—Meg James, LOS ANGELES TIMES
“Sunny is brilliant art”
—Sean Phelan, CULTURE MOB
“hilarious”
—ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES
“on the top of its game this year”
—Steven Shehori, THE HUFFINGTON POST
“the funniest show on TV”
—Kim Potts, TVSQUAD.COM
(out of 5)
“endured triumphantly from
cult hit to real hit”
—Tim Goodman,
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
“deliriously offensive
charm”
—Ed Martin, THE HUFFINGTON POST
“funny little guilty pleasure”
—Walt Belcher, THE TAMPA TRIBUNE
“legitimate hit”
—IGN.COM
Watch episodes at FXnetworks.com/FYC
— BEST ACTOR AND ACTRESS OVERVIEW —
THE VETERANS VS.
THE GAME CHANGERS
IS EMMY RIPE FOR AN UPSET?
BY ANDY PATRICK
THE ACTORS
Last year’s Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series race was a David and Goliath tale: relative newcomer
Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory bringing down comedy giant Alec Baldwin and denying him his third consecutive victory for 30 Rock. This year, in addition to both of those likely repeat nominees, there’s also Steve Carell
to consider. After bidding farewell to The Office, his swan song season becomes Emmy’s last chance to send him
home with an award for his seminal role. Will he get it? Or will a lovable long shot like Community’s Joel McHale
emerge from the pack and change the game? Let’s examine the players and the possibilities...
ALEC BALDWIN
The 30 Rock star seemed on his way to scoring the rare
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series three-peat
until he was beaten last year by The Big Bang Theory’s
Jim Parsons. But after a stellar season this year, he looks
like a strong contender to reclaim bragging rights.
STEVE CARELL
Hard as it is to believe, Emmy has never handed The
Office funnyman-turned-movie star a statuette. This
being his final season as Michael Scott, perhaps voters will see fit to present him with the award as a
lovely parting gift?
12
er. Following his long run on Roseanne, voters have
watched him mature into a highly likeable lead. Perhaps his time has come....
playing a part that was literally tailor-made for him
— the parody of his real-life self on Showtime’s superlative Episodes.
JOEL MCHALE
By giving depth and dimension to a character that
could have come off as simply smug and sarcastic,
the “father figure” from NBC’s cult-y Community has
made himself an Emmy contender. Also to his credit:
After years as the witty ringmaster of E!’s The Soup,
is there any voter — or anyone at all? — who doesn’t
know him?
MATTHEW MORRISON
Nominated last year, the Glee crooner — his profile
higher than ever, thanks to his sideline recording
career — is a shoo-in to be in the running again this
go-round. Emmy voters could decide, however, that
his burgeoning multi-media career is enough of a reward.
JIM PARSONS
The Big Bang Theory scene-stealer pulled off a major
upset last year by besting Baldwin. This time around,
the question seems likely to be not will he get nominated, but with his profile now so high, will Baldwin
and Carell — or some newer upstart — feel like the
fresh faces instead?
BILLY GARDELL
The stand-up-turned-sitcom star has going for him
Mike & Molly’s out-of-the-gate success and his appeal as an endearing Everyman. Unfortunately, he has
working against him the fact that almost all his competition is better known. It also might take some time
for voters to forget the early criticism of his show’s
plus-sized premise.
JOHNNY GALECKI
Though it’s his TV roommate Parsons’ highly-functioning dysfunction that draws most of the attention
on The Big Bang Theory, the CBS hit’s resident straight
man is a rock solid anchor and stylish counterpunch-
MATT LEBLANC
During his run on Friends as clueless but sweet icon
Joey Tribbiani, LeBlanc was nominated for an Emmy
three times but never took home the prize. His chances of winning over voters may be better now that he’s
THE AWARDS EDITIONS
DEADLINE.COM
JOSH RADNOR
The boy-next-door appeal and comic timing of the
How I Met Your Mother dad-to-be have never been in
question. What is debatable is whether Emmy voters
see his star as shining brightly enough to move out of
the shadow cast by his showier show-mate, Neil Patrick Harris.
LOUIS C.K.
There’s no underestimating the talents of this rare
quintuple threat — he not only stars in but produces,
writes, directs and edits his FX comedy, Louis. But the
fictionalized series based on his real life may be flying too far under the radar for it, or its lead, to get
noticed by Emmy.
TVLINE.COM
5/31/11 7:25:15 AM
CHARLIE SHEEN
At press time, the Two and a Half Men star-turned-tabloid headline-grabber still hadn’t entered the Emmy
race. Maybe that’s for the best: Even if he ended up,
yes, winning, it probably wouldn’t be enough to rise
above his own tarnished reputation.
ROB LOWE
The Brothers & Sisters and West Wing vet raised
some eyebrows — and in some cases, ire — by
entering himself as a lead actor from Parks and
Recreation despite having less screen time then
some of the show’s supporting players. But considering how insanely competitive the support-
nately, the show’s racy tone makes him at best a
dark horse candidate to win a nom, never mind go
home with the award.
ing category is, his gamble could pay off.
LUCAS NEFF
Like a latter-day Roseanne, Raising Hope has brought
blue-collar sitcoms back into style. But since the
show’s young single dad is played by this newbie,
promising though he is, odds are that he’ll have to
spend his first trip to the Emmys cheering on a likelier Hope-ful nominee: his on-screen mom, stage and
screen vet Martha Plimpton.
ZACHARY LEVI
It’s an auspicious omen for the Chuck star ’s
Emmy odds that typically only half of the talk
about his show concerns how very good it is (and
how good he is in it). The other half invariably
concerned whether the spy yarn will ever get off
the renewal bubble. Fortunately, NBC’s recent
decision to renew the show for a fifth – and final
– season will end that distraction and possibly
boost Levi’s chances.
DANNY MCBRIDE
The Eastbound and Down star has not only HBO,
but producer Will Ferrell in his corner. Unfortu-
THE ACTRESSES
There’s no counting out 30 Rock’s Tina Fey, ever. In 50 years, she’ll be Betty White. But this year’s Outstanding
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series competition may be all about Showtime and its three show-stopping leading
ladies. Will Nurse Jackie’s Edie Falco rerun her win, or will United States of Tara’s Toni Collette repeat? Or could
they and The Big C’s Laura Linney split the pay cable vote, leaving an opening for someone new, like Raising
Hope’s Martha Plimpton? Here’s our take.
TINA FEY
The 30 Rock funny lady isn’t a shoo-in for another
Emmy nod, if not another win, just because she’s already racked up so many awards (both as an actress
and a writer) that her name is somehow automatically
announced among the nominees. She’s a shoo-in because she’s just that good.
KALEY CUOCO
Admirably, there’s nothing even remotely dense in
real life about this sitcom vet who dumbs it down so
lovably on The Big Bang Theory. So maybe Emmy voters will finally pick up on what viewers did long ago
— she’s an underrated gem — and give her her long
overdue due.
MELISSA MCCARTHY
After paying her dues on Gilmore Girls and Samantha
Who?, this perennial second banana finally got her
own showcase — and her own show — in CBS’ Mike
& Molly. Her scene-stealing big-screen turn in the current box office hit Bridesmaids has only served to increase her profile.
PATRICIA HEATON
Her iconic turn on Everybody Loves Raymond has already earned her two Emmys for Outstanding Lead
Actress in a Comedy Series. And now that The Middlehas emerged from ABC’s Wednesday Modern Familyanchored comedy bloc as a contender in its own right,
she seems well-positioned to reenter the awards race
herself.
COURTENEY COX
It’s taking Cougar Town longer to live down its initial
predatory premise (and its title) than it took the ABC
comedy to find its qualitative footing. But, through it
all, its leading lady’s multi-faceted portrayal of Jules
Cobb has been a spot-on gem. Maybe now Emmy will
finally give her the deserving nomination she never
received during her years on Friends.
EDIE FALCO
When this Emmy favorite (thanks to The Sopranos) won
the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy
last year, even she questioned how such a dark role as
Nurse Jackie’s philandering and self-destructive druggie could be considered comedic. But if it didn’t hurt
her chances then, it’s hard to imagine it will now. She’s
a lock for a nod.
LAURA LINNEY
As formidable as the competition in this category is,
there will almost surely be room on the list of nominees for the estimable star of The Big C. It helps that
she’s already an Emmy magnet, having won three
gold statues for prior projects.
TONI COLLETTE
Though United States of Tara star struck gold at the 2009
Emmys and was nominated again in 2010, the ongoing popularity of Nurse Jackie, and now the emergence
of The Big C, would seem to weaken her chances. How
many leading ladies from Showtime series can fit on
one ballot? Of course, the show’s recent cancellation
could create a “final tribute” nomination groundswell
as may have happened for Julia Louis-Dreyfus last
year with The New Adventures of Old Christine.
AMY POEHLER
The sweet heart of Parks and Recreation snuck into the
Emmy derby last year. So now the question becomes,
can she build on that momentum and win for the first
time? Ever-optimistic Leslie Knope would say yes. But,
up against all of Showtime’s black-comedy actresses,
she may just have to settle for another nomination.
MARTHA PLIMPTON
This second-generation Hollywood star has, despite
an enviably diverse list of credits, flown under the radar for much of her career. But Emmy is aware of her
— she’s been previously nominated for a guest spot
on Law & Order: SVU. And her tour de force as Raising
Hope’s sharp-tongued young grandma could be hard
for voters to ignore.
MARY-LOUISE PARKER
Weeds’ star has been nominated three times without
ever bagging the Emmy. While her work remains exemplary, coming off a prior year in which she wasn’t
nominated — and with so many other newer Showtime series making louder noise — she faces an uphill
battle getting back on the ballot.
YVONNE STRAHOVSKI
As worthy of an Emmy nomination as Chuck’s leading spy lady may be, her chances of bagging one seem
slim. Neither her name nor her character’s are household ones. (Even voters who don’t know the name
Zachary Levi will at least know the name “Chuck”.)
LEA MICHELE
Emmy knows the Glee ingénue, and likes her — she
was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a
Comedy Series last year. But do they like her enough
to single her out among the McKinley High ensemble
in a year when the competition is this stiff?
TAMSIN GREIG
One of the nicest arch actress treats to come out of England since Emma Thompson, this Stateside newcomer
imbues her fish-out-of-water writer/producer character on Episodes with a wit so dry, it ought to come with
a chaser. Now if only Emmy voters knew how to spell
her name. Or knew her name, for that matter.
DEADLINE.COM
TVLINE.COM
THE AWARDS EDITIONS
13
5/31/11 7:25:28 AM
BY MICHAEL AUSIELLO
AMY POEHLER
THE FORMER SNL-ER SAYS THE PRESSURE FOR
PARKS AND RECREATION TO SUCCEED IS INTENSE.
MAYBE AN EMMY NOD WOULD HELP...
C
ould Amy Poehler possibly have more in
common with Tina Fey? They’re both brilliant and beloved Saturday Night Live alumni
who’ve moved on to movies (like Baby Mama,
in which they co-starred) and they both head
up hit NBC comedies (30 Rock for Fey, Parks & Recreation for Poehler). But the parallels end at their trophy
cases: Fey has seven Emmys; Poehler, none… Yet.
Will this year’s awards change that? Let’s see how
optimistic Leslie Knope’s real-life counterpart is.
TVLINE: How are you enjoying your Parks hiatus?
AMY POEHLER: I’m loving it. I was just saying, “My
God, this has been an especially good hiatus.” And
my husband [Arrested Development star Will Arnett]
was like, “Well, it’s the first one that you haven’t given birth during since 2008.”
TVLINE: That always helps.
POEHLER: It does. It makes you a little less tired.
TVLINE: Since you’re well-rested, let’s start this interview
at the very beginning of your career. Back then, was there
anyone’s career that you hoped to emulate?
POEHLER: I used to be really into Bill Murray and
Gilda Radner, so I started learning about where they
used to study, and they were at Second City. So, at
the time, I was just emulating the people I knew
from SNL and comedy movies. I loved Steve Martin,
but I didn’t do anything the same way he did. I think
I was a little lost, so I just kind of walked in their
footprints for a long time.
TVLINE: Was the goal SNL at that point?
POEHLER: No. My aunt says she has a Christmas
card that she wrote to me when I was 12 saying,
“You’re going to be on SNL.” And I was like, “The
Secret!” But I went to school for acting, so I thought
I would be an actor first. I hadn’t done any stand-up,
and I didn’t really know how to make a career out
of doing sketch comedy. Those were kind of the two
ways to get to SNL, and I hadn’t really done either
one of them. So I just started acting. I don’t know if
it was necessarily something that I verbalized, but
maybe it was always kind of in the back of my head
as a dream [to join SNL].
TVLINE: And when you were on SNL, were you thinking
big picture, like, “Now, do I want to go the sitcom route or
be a movie star?”
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THE AWARDS EDITIONS
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POEHLER: The first year or two, I was so
head-down trying to learn my job. I wasn’t
thinking that macro way. But I watched
Will Ferrell very closely, not only because
I was such a huge fan, but I’m drawn
to benevolent captains. I work well under their… tutelage. I was going to say under their
reign, but that makes them sound like they’re dictators. Anyway, I just loved the way Will handled his
career at that time. He was just doing what was fun
and funny, with people that he liked to work with.
So I learned a lot from him as far as how to manage
being on that show and doing other things.
TVLINE: After Tina left and did so well with 30 Rock,
were you itching to do the same?
POEHLER: Actually, when the idea of doing Parks came to me, I didn’t think I would be
interested. I love television, but I was just coming
off of a big eight-year run doing a TV show, and I
thought I wanted to do more film and write more.
So it really was like most things in my [career]: It
was because of the writing [that I did it] rather
than this big master plan.
TVLINE: Did you feel pressure before Parks debuted that
“Wow, I need this to be a success?”
POEHLER: Tremendous pressure. I still feel pressure
all the time. And we started in a really weird way,
because there was all this misreporting that we were
a spinoff of The Office, and we had to wait because
of my pregnancy, so I had to do whatever I could to
kind of drown that out. But certainly, I felt a weight
to [do right by] the people who were trusting me
with their idea.
TVLINE: The show wasn’t a huge critical success out of the
gate. When did you feel like the show really hit its stride?
POEHLER: When we were back on the set shooting
Season 2’s first episode, with the gay penguin marriage. I think everybody felt a really good sense that
they had a lot of good ideas and stories to tell.
TVLINE: What did the first Emmy nomination for Parks
feel like for you?
POEHLER: Unlike SNL, where it’s like you’re not trying to bring focus to this upstart show that is garnering an audience, with the Parks thing I felt like
it could be good for the show, and that was a good
feeling. It was awesome. It was totally awesome.
TVLINE: Sometimes the Emmys are slow to recognize new
shows, especially if they’re not huge mainstream hits. Are
you hoping that the nomination for you last year will maybe snowball into more this year?
POEHLER: Certainly for our writers and cast and
our producers and stuff, I am. It’s also a blessedly
crowded field — so many strong ladies in [my] category. Television has always been such a good place
for women, but especially right now, I think. [Anyway, a nomination] feels good because those things
can matter when you’re still feeling like you’re not
totally sure about the future of your show. Now I’d
like to think that we have some security and that
we’ve kind of slowly earned it. So, it feels nice, the
possibility. But if I’ve learned one thing it’s that,
good [or] bad, you can never predict what’s going
to go on that evening.
TVLINE: Do you find yourself not wanting to get too invested in the whole Emmy process because you set yourself
up for disappointment?…
POEHLER: Yeah. In 2008, I definitely thought SNL was
going to win the Emmy. The Daily Show won. I was really surprised. I just thought the election stuff [SNL]
did that year was off the hook. So it was a lesson of
life. I will not be burned again. Fool me once….
TVLINE: Have you thought about which episodes you would
submit from Parks this season should you secure a nod?
POEHLER: I don’t know. There’s a really nice feeling
to have more than one choice for that. I’ve had some
people say that they liked the flu episode because
it’s stand-alone and jokey, and then some people say
they like the one about Jerry’s painting, because it’s
Leslie being kind of feisty. So, I don’t know. It’s almost like I’d like someone else to make that decision
for me. Perhaps you.
TVLINE: Submit the painting episode.
POEHLER: Okay. Copy that.
TVLINE: You were never better than in that episode.
POEHLER: Good, good. And there’s a little cleavage in
that one. That never hurts.
TVLINE.COM
5/31/11 7:25:50 AM
OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES
“Louie is the most interesting and
important comedy of the year”
—Ricky Gervais
“it’s finally captured Louis in all of
[his] natural glory and humor and
it’s just great”
—Jon Stewart, THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART
“one of the best new series
of the year”
“marvelous”
—Maureen Ryan, AOL TELEVISION
“insanely (and profanely) funny”
—Ken Tucker, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
“totally hilarious”
—Heather Havrilesky, SALON.COM
“hilarious”
—Mike Hale, THE NEW YORK TIMES
“The summer’s most distinctive
comic voice….This stand-up
deserves a standing O”
—Matt Roush, TV GUIDE MAGAZINE
“Best Stand-Up Comedian
on a Sitcom”
—Ken Tucker, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
“it’s a cliché, but it’s true:
This guy, he’s a genius, really”
—Joel Lovell, GQ
“[Louis C.K. is] a natural
actor with a wonderfully
expressive face”
—Nathan Rabin, THE A.V. CLUB
“Louie showcases the enormous
talent of Louis C.K.”
—Neal Justin, MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE
“one of the funniest shows on TV”
—Jay Leno, THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO
J
JOEL MCHALE
THE QUADRUPLE THREAT WOULD LIKE AN EMMY FOR HIS ENTIRE COMMUNITY
BY MEGAN MASTERS
oel McHale seems to be everywhere these days.
Over the past year, he’s established himself
as a respected comedian (touring the country
with his standup gig); expanded his burgeoning movie career (he has three films slated for
release in 2011 and spent May in Boston shooting
the dark comedy Ted opposite Mark Wahlberg);
and continued his run on two TV gigs, hosting E!’s
weekly satirical clip-show The Soup, and starring on
NBC’s buzzy sitcom Community as Jeff Winger, the
acerbically charming womanizer with the proverbial heart of gold. It is the latter that might finally
garner some industry recognition for McHale in the
form of a 2011 Emmy nomination for Outstanding
Lead Actor in a Comedy Series...
TVLINE: Congratulations on another strong season of
Community. With so many memorable episodes, is there
any one you’re particularly proud of?
do the theme for “Advanced Dungeons and Dragons”
— and at that moment, I couldn’t believe I was a part
of this cool thing.
TVLINE: A “cool thing” might be the perfect way to describe the genre-bending style of Community. Did you
ever imagine that this is the series you’d be making when
you shot the pilot?
I never would have thought that in a million years.
I did have a realization at Comic-Con that our audience was different than others — in the best way possible. Their response was something I’d never before
witnessed... It’s not just something they turn on to get
ready for The Office; they adore it. In the movie 300,
the Spartans meet that other army that has way more
guys, but are still undeterred. The Spartans then all
scream in unison their little Marine cry, and their leader says he thinks that they truly have more soldiers.
And that’s how I see our audience. Yes, that was a really long explanation [Laughs].
TVLINE: After this, do you think you could ever be happy
on a more mainstream series?
MCHALE: I adore the show I’m on, and would watch
it if I wasn’t on it! What other show has an old man
taking Ecstasy and building a furniture fort? And
who’s got a Dean of Students with an uncertain sexual preference, but we do know that he likes men in
Dalmatian costumes? There are just things that happen in this show that speak to my funny bone.
TVLINE: While Community has received ample critical
praise, industry accolades haven’t followed. How would
you explain that?
MCHALE: We have actually not been recognized by
any awards shows, and I think, at least partially, we
have survived by certain publications saying we’re
one of the top shows on television. And for that we
are hugely grateful. Even though we’re holding our
own on Thursdays at 8, it’s a really rough time slot,
especially when you factor in things like NFL Football during the fall, American Idol in the spring, March
Madness, NBA and hockey playoffs...
JOEL MCHALE: It’s hard not to just immediately say
the paintball episode (“A Fistful of Paintballs”) because it’s like a boyhood fantasy come true — I got
to shoot paintballs in a Western and get paid for it!
[Laughs] But my favorite has to be one of our more
obscure episodes; the My Dinner with Andre/Pulp Fiction episode (“Critical Film Studies”) was as fun and
incredible as any episode yet. That it aired on television astounded [me]... Also, the hospital episode (“Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking”) where Pierce
(Chevy Chase) claimed to be dying was really fun to
make. In that episode everyone got to do something
really cool, including [guest star] LeVar Burton, who
killed it! Hell, we also hired the Seattle Symphony to
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THE AWARDS EDITIONS
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TVLINE: Do you have any thoughts on modern day Emmy
campaigning? Is it something you and your castmates
discuss?
MCHALE: I think Hollywood has always been a talent
show, as well as a popularity contest — it’s like high
school in that way. It’s not the worst thing, but you do
have to be out there to be recognized for what you’re
doing. It’s just how it is. You can’t think about things
like awards nominations when you’re making a show.
It’s an enormous effort and we do put in a lot of hours,
but there’s never been a time where we’ve said, ‘Hey,
we work so hard [we] should get recognized!’ [Laughs]
That said, to get a nomination as a cast as a whole, I
would build my own clip reel and walk it around Hollywood to show people.
TVLINE: How would you objectively assess Community’s
Emmy worthiness?
MCHALE: As I look at the landscape of television, there
are more really good shows then there have ever been,
and people seem to think that we are at least somewhat kind of in that category — and I’ll take that any
day of the week... I’ve been told our audience skews
young, which is good, and also that older people don’t
understand the show, which is something else... But I
just try to illuminate [creator] Dan Harmon and the
writers’ jokes. [If] we don’t get nominated again this
year for anything, but we continue to get the critical
acclaim, I’ll be very happy. As long as Jimmy Fallon
will let me do another [Emmys] opening dance number with him, I’m feeling pretty good. [Laughs]
TVLINE: So you’re relaxed when it comes to performing at
the Emmys, but how will the nerves be come the morning of
nomination announcements?
MCHALE: I don’t think a lot about it because there’s
nothing you can do. The category I have been mentioned in — Leading Male in a Comedy — is actually a
tiny pool to choose from compared to co-stars or what
people deem as co-stars [but] our show is not about
[my character] Jeff Winger; Jeff Winger is a jumping
off point, and the reason [in the story] why the group
has come together. But I truly believe it’s an ensemble
cast, and in a weird way I would say that everyone
should be nominated for a lead because the storylines
really flip around. If we get nominated, yay! I will definitely show up and hopefully get a free tuxedo out of
it. But I truly am more happy that we’re just on and
were picked up for a third season.
TVLINE: It’s a bit unconventional for a man with a successful network sitcom to stick around as host of a basic-cable
pop culture clip show too. What went into your decision to
continue doing The Soup?
MCHALE: I want to take the George Clooney career
model — and if I looked 10 percent as good as he does,
maybe I’d be better in movies. [Laughs] But he stayed
on ER until he was an established movie star, and then
he left. I just love doing The Soup, so that really made
my decision an easy one. Thanks to E! and [their former
president] Ted Harbert, [they] made it possible to shoot
both shows. Community accommodated it as well. So,
A) I love it and B) they made it easy for me to do it.
TVLINE: Say the dream comes true and you get an Emmy
nod — how do you see that playing out? Will you have an
acceptance speech prepared if you win?
MCHALE: Well, first there will definitely be a lot of
manscaping. A ton of that. I don’t want there to be
any errant hairs [Laughs]. And I would probably write
down the people I should thank, because I’m sure I
would end up forgetting someone otherwise... [But]
my guess is that I would then forget that piece of paper, so I’d ask someone else for their piece of paper,
and then I would read that aloud... Ultimately accepting Best Actress for Nurse Jackie...
TVLINE.COM
5/31/11 7:26:15 AM
“...‘Glee’ is back in its
groundbreaking groove,
bringing music to the
masses and making fun
of itself in the process.”
– Chicago Sun-Times
www.fox.com/glee/ontheset
TM & © 2011 Twentieth Century Fox Television. All Rights Reserved.
FOX TM & © 2011 Fox and its related entities. All Rights Reserved.
BY ANDY PATRICK
MARTHA
PLIMPTON
IS HAVING
A MOMENT
ithout exaggerating, Martha Plimpton can
say that she’s done it all. Movies? Check.
(Everything from Oscar bait like Running
on Empty to cult classics like The Goonies.)
Television? Check. (A 2002 guest appearance on Law
& Order: SVU earned her an Emmy nod.) Theater?
Check. (She’s been nominated for a Tony three times.)
She’s even modeled (for Calvin Klein, in the 1980s)
and sung (at Lincoln Center, no less, in her own onewoman show). But it’s her sweetly tart portrayal of
baby-faced grandma Virginia Chance on the freshman
Fox series Raising Hope that may be winning Plimpton the most enthusiastic audience of her career — as
well as, just maybe, this year’s Emmy for Outstanding
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
TVLINE: Congratulations on all the Emmy buzz about
you!
MARTHA PLIMPTON: There’s Emmy buzz about me?
Oh, that’s nice!
TVLINE: I can’t be the first person to tell you that!
PLIMPTON: Yeah, you are, actually. Thanks!
TVLINE: Do you care about that kind of thing, or is it more
like, “Okay, cool, whatever”?
PLIMPTON: It’s hard not to care about something like
that, because it means people are watching the show
and liking it, which is huge. I mean, that’s what we’re
doing it for. It doesn’t hurt to feel a little bit validated
and encouraged that we’re doing a good job. That’s a
nice feeling, going into the second season knowing that
people are watching the show and talking about it.
TVLINE: Even if it’s you rather than the show that gets
nominated, in a team-spirit kind of way it’s got to let you
know, “Hey, we’re on the right track!”
PLIMPTON: Exactly. If this happens! It’s early in the
game, and this [nomination chatter] is new territory
for me. I don’t even know when the Emmys are! And
there’s a lot of good stuff on television, a lot of good
writing and a lot of shows that people really love.
TVLINE: You’ve been up for awards before. What’s that
like for you? Do you get stressed out, or is it, “Whee,
party time!”?
PLIMPTON: Well, the Tonys are really fun in the sense
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THE AWARDS EDITIONS
DEADLINE.COM
that you see all the people you know and worked with
all year. It’s a much smaller community than Hollywood is, so it is kind of like a party. And people in
the theater world don’t often get an opportunity to
wear really fancy clothes! So that’s fun... But as far as
[getting] an actual award itself, that’s another thing...
I was nominated three years in a row [for a Tony] and
didn’t win. I had a lot of people saying to me, “Hey,
you were robbed!” I don’t really see it that way. I kind
of feel like I’m in probably the best company there is!
A lot of great people have lost. A lot of really, really
great people! I know people say this and you never
believe them, but…
TVLINE: Oh, you’re not going to say it!
PLIMPTON: I am! People think you’re full of [bleep] or
you’re a [bleep]ing liar, but I really, really appreciated
just being nominated! That is 100 per cent sincere.
TVLINE: Coming from you, I almost buy that. Now, you
go back and forth between very mainstream material and
really out-there stuff. Is that a conscious choice, to try to
keep yourself from being pigeonholed?
PLIMPTON: Being a character actress, I just kind of go
where the work is. I want to keep working. And you
have to keep working if you want to stay sharp…
and if you want to stay in your apartment! For me,
there’s no strategy other than that I want to keep
working. And for me to do that, as a character actress
— and even though I’ve done 80 roles, mostly in the
theater — I have to keep my chops up. For a long
time, I was doing mostly theater with the occasional
TV guest spot thrown in when I could, because that’s
where the work was that was most interesting to me.
I wasn’t getting offers to star in giant movies.
TVLINE: Would you really want to fight aliens in some
blow-’em-up blockbuster?
PLIMPTON: Not particularly! Although I will say
that it would not have been horrible to do a couple.
[Laughs] The work that might have been happening in
movies at that time [when I was focused on theater],
or at least that I was hearing about, was just stuff that
I didn’t really think I wanted to do. Talk about being
pigeonholed! It was the same character all the time...
The Most Successful Quirky Best Friend... I wanted to
be able to do different things and play different kinds
of people… to work with people who were smart and
from whom I could learn some things.
TVLINE: That said, did you have any trepidation about
signing up for Raising Hope and potentially playing the
same character for years?
PLIMPTON: No. The writing I saw in the pilot left
me thinking, “Oh, this is going to be fun.” [Besides]
there’s no guarantee that the show is going to go on
and on, so you have to just take the plunge. I could
just tell from meeting Greg Garcia, [the series’ creator] and talking to him, that the writing was going
to stay sharp and smart. He’s just a very smart guy
and a very decent guy. Very ethical. His heart is 100
per cent in the right place. And that comes through
on the page. You can see in the writing that, as dark
as it might get sometimes with things that happened
in the pilot — like the baby flying across the car in
the car seat — it never felt cynical or vicious. It never
felt cruel. It always felt like it had, at its core, a very
authentically kind heart.
TVLINE: Do you think, in these trying times in the real
world, that’s something people are yearning for in their
comedy right now — a sense of kindness?
PLIMPTON: The thing about it is, it’s not treacly or
corny. There’s little danger — I hope! — of watching
an episode and seeing some fake, plastered-on sweetheart ending. It’s not like you’ve watched 20 minutes
of viciousness and buffoonery and people being jerks
to one another, and have the last two minutes turn into
a “lesson” of some kind. Over the course of the show
you’re seeing these people who are on the same team.
They love each other. They’re all idiots, but they’re all
trying to figure stuff out together. There’s something
great about that, and it leaves more room in the writing for it to be expansive, funny and honest. There’s
more there to be mined when there’s less hostility
going on. You get the sense that, even if these people
don’t agree with each other on exactly the right way of
going about something, they’re in it together.
TVLINE: Yeah, an element of “If these guys can do it, by
God, so can we!”
PLIMPTON: Right. Or “Look at what horrible parents
those people are! I’m really doing okay!”
TVLINE: I know you were concerned about playing a grandmother on the show. Is it a relief now that Virginia’s being
regarded as a GILF?
PLIMPTON: Oh My God! [Laughs] I’m pleased that
that joke is working and fits into the body of the show
so well. To be honest, I feel comfortable being my age
[which is 41]. I guess it remains to be seen what happens after this, but I don’t feel like Greg is aging me at
all! I’m not walking away with a gray wig on and saying things like, “Hey there, sonny!” I’m not playing
older than I am, so that’s good.
TVLINE: If you do end up winning the Emmy, is there anyone you plan on forgetting in your acceptance speech that
you’d like to thank now, just in case?
PLIMPTON: It’ll probably be like the most important
person, like Greg Garcia. I don’t even like to think
about such things! I think it’s distracting. One of the
things that you try hardest to do as an actress is be in
the moment, so thinking ahead to such eventualities is
impractical and probably unhealthy. In other words, I
don’t write acceptance speeches!
TVLINE.COM
5/31/11 7:26:37 AM
BY MATT WEBB MITOVICH
I
TY BURRELL
AND THE MODERN ART OF OBLIVIOUS BLISS
f you’re going to so often get things wrong, at
least let it be for the right reasons. And that’s
the philosophy Ty Burrell uses to create his
character on ABC’s acclaimed hit, Modern Family. With a heart as big as his goofy grin, Phil
Dunphy is the counterpoint to a genre full of finger-wagging parents, a dad who chooses to wag
his tail instead. “He has a level of obliviousness
that is, to me, more akin to a dog personality,”
says Burrell. “He’s so excited in general.” Will
this be the year that Emmy voters throw this dog
a golden bone? Burrell took us inside the serious
business of making funny.
TVLINE: What did it mean to you to receive your first
Emmy nomination last year?
TY BURRELL: It was kind of surreal, because I certainly
never thought that I would be in that position, to be
on a show that was so strong and so well made that
we would all be benefiting from it. I’m not superstitious, but I felt like it was kind of hubristic, so I tried
to pay not too much attention to it. This is ultimately
just a great thing for the show – which I think Eric
[Stonestreet, who plays Cameron] said so well when
he won [in 2010]. We feel really lucky that we are a
completely even ensemble.
TVLINE: How is it that the entire adult cast came to submit
themselves in the supporting races?
BURRELL: If memory serves, it was just a series of little
conversations on set, about how there’s no real lead
on this show. To me, Ed [O’Neill] is sort of the lead,
because he [plays the Pritchett family] patriarch, [but]
I wouldn’t be shocked if eventually we split [it] up
in some way or another. If anybody is left out [of receiving a nomination] again [as O’Neill was in 2010],
we’re going to come back next year going, “There are
four men on our show in this one category – maybe we
should do something.”
TVLINE: What’s something an onlooker might not appreciate about the process of creating comedy?
BURRELL: One of the very important things is keeping things on set really light all day long, and a
good director will consciously craft that experience
because you don’t want to deflate the mood. But
underneath that there’s a lot of very precise thinking happening on both sides of the camera. So to an
outsider it might look like we’re at recess – which
in a sense we are! – but some of that is because the
people we’re working with have meticulously created the right atmosphere.
TVLINE: Do you have any back and forth with your TV
son, Nolan Gould (who is 12), about what you’re going
to do in a scene together? Does he ever seek counsel from
the wizened one...?
BURRELL: Well, no, actually he is the wizened one
– he’s an actual Mensa member, and he’s playing
this “head in the clouds” type. You’d have to be that
smart to be able to play someone that loopy. It’s
been great to see all three of the [Dunphy] kids get
written to more this season, because we got really
lucky, across the board, with the [young actors]. It
seems pretty rare.
TVLINE: Speaking of pigeonholing Luke as “dumb”...
What are some things Phil is, and what are some things
Phil really isn’t?
BURRELL: I said “head in the clouds” about Luke, and
I feel the same way about Phil. Because I don’t think
Phil is dumb. He has a level of obliviousness that is, to
me, more akin to a dog personality. He’s mainly just
easily distracted and excited in general.
TVLINE: Because there is a fine line between, for example,
Phil using Gloria to stir envy in a rival, and him seeming
unappreciative of what he has in Claire...
BURRELL: That’s very astute to say, and those are
very often the sort of scenes you’re talking about,
where they’ll come out and say, “We’ve got to pull
back on that.” You never want Phil to seem lecherous; it has to be that dog-brained thing where he’s
attracted to a shiny object. He has no plan!
TVLINE: Who were your comedic inspirations as a kid,
and now?
BURRELL: My earliest inspirations were Jonathan
Winters and Bob Newhart, and as I started to get
a bit older it was Steve Martin and Richard Pryor, who even now I think is probably the funniest
TVLINE: He’s an idealistic, glass half-full guy.
BURRELL: Completely. I love playing someone who is
constantly screwing up positively... because he’s so excited about being a great dad or something he’s doing
for Claire. And then there’s always the backtracking
to cover up [the mistake], and playing that can be just
as fun.
TVLINE: Is there a particular moment that you feel crystallizes Phil?
BURRELL: [In the Season 1 episode “Starry Night”]
Phil was supposed to go to the garage to get a tool
and he ends up getting distracted when he sees his old
sunglasses on the top of a high shelf. That was very,
very telling about how he ends up in trouble.
TVLINE: Right, he practically does gymnastics to get to
the sunglasses...
BURRELL: When it would’ve been so much easier if
he had just taken a moment to grab a stepladder.
But he gets so excited, he doesn’t stop to think about
practicalities.
TVLINE: Obviously the scripts are gold, but do you
ever have to tweak something to keep Phil from veering into caricature territory?
BURRELL: Yes, but it’s a collaborative thing. I had
only done multi-camera comedy before, where it all
gets hammered out as you rehearse throughout the
week, and then when you go to perform you deliver
a very precise result with maybe a couple of alternate jokes. With this show, if you have concerns, I
don’t even bring them up until we get to set. Then, if
something is lending itself towards caricature, or it’s
too easy a joke, [the writers] are usually the first ones
saying, “OK, we need to mess with that a bit” – and
that’s a fun process, one where we get to be a part of
the conversation. Most of the time as an actor you are
the low person on the totem pole and you don’t get to
contribute, but we have great showrunners and writers who encourage it.
person I’ve ever seen. And Bill Cosby is maybe
the most effortless actor I’ve seen, making that
transition [from stand-up comic]. In I Spy, he and
Robert Culp gave performances that were so far
ahead of their time, they’d be revelatory if the
show came out now.
TVLINE: You yourself have been a father for a little over a
year. Is it your ambition to surpass Phil in some measures?
BURRELL: [Laughs] That’s a mixed bag, because as
a dad in some ways he has really set the bar high.
He’s very involved, very supportive, and very engaged in his kids’ lives. But in other ways, I hope
I’m a little more aware. I’m sure my daughter will
be making fun of me in no time!
DEADLINE.COM
TVLINE.COM
THE AWARDS EDITIONS
19
5/31/11 7:26:54 AM
— BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR AND ACTRESS OVERVIEW —
GAME ON!
THE MOST COMPETITIVE RACE IN YEARS!
HAS THE FIELD EVER BEEN STRONGER?
BY ANDY PATRICK
Last year, the Outstanding Supporting Actor and Actress in a Comedy Series races were dominated — and
we do mean dominated — by Glee, Modern Family and 30 Rock. This year looks to be a reprise of that contest
unless a seeming underdog (Cougar Town or Community perhaps?) manages to pull off that kind of Emmy
breakthrough in awareness and respect – the kind that, say, How I Met Your Mother has been yearning for for
so long. It can be daunting. Here’s how things look going into nomination season…
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
NEIL PATRICK HARRIS The good news for How I
Met Your Mother’s resident Casanova: Emmy loves
him. Last year, he picked up not only his first statuette (for hosting the Tonys), but his second as well
(for his malevolent Glee guest gig). The bad news:
Neither award was for his day job on How I Met
Your Mother. So although another nomination seems
likely, it would take a major upset for him to score a
win in this category.
JASON SEGEL If CBS is able to get How I Met Your
Mother the Emmy attention it’s past due – and only
if – then the show’s lovable sidekick might manage to
eke out a nod. He’s certainly deserving: This season’s
storyline about the death of Marshall’s father gave Segel his meatiest material yet.
CHRIS COLFER Nominated for Glee’s freshman season, the overnight gay icon should be a
lock again for his efforts during sophomore year.
Whether being bullied or falling in love, his Kurt
was front and center week in and week out. His
biggest obstacle? The category is Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, and his work
was mostly dramatic.
MIKE O’MALLEY There’s something about the way
that this familiar face plays his Average Joe character
on Glee that is, well, anything but average. Unfortunately for him, if the Fox hit is recognized for the story
in which gay teen Kurt is bullied at school, it’s far likelier to be Kurt himself, Chris Colfer, who gets the nod
than Kurt’s dad.
TY BURRELL Modern Family boasts an embarrassment
of riches in this category, with four, count ‘em, four,
worthy nominees. Which is all well and good for the
show, but not necessarily so for the actors, who almost
inevitably will split the vote. Still, the hitcom’s endearing doofus is a safe bet for a second nod.
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THE AWARDS EDITIONS
DEADLINE.COM
ERIC STONESTREET Since Modern Family’s Cam
won the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy
Series Emmy last year, his name is all but automatically added to the list of nominees this year. The more
interesting question will be, can he pull off a repeat
victory, or will voters spread the love to one of his
on-screen relatives?
ED O’NEILL Not to put too fine a point on it, but it’s
a crime that the show’s anchor, the patriarch of Modern Family, wasn’t nominated for an Emmy last year.
There was talk that this time around O’Neill would
submit himself for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series instead of Supporting, but it didn’t happen.
So it’s up to voters to observe that, among a stellar ensemble, he’s a standout.
JESSE TYLER FERGUSON Last year, his other half on
Modern Family, Eric Stonestreet, went home with the
Emmy. So clearly, voters noticed the couple and liked
what they were seeing. The challenge for Mitchell’s
portrayer, however, remains getting noticed when his
co-star has by far the showier role.
DANNY PUDI Community handed this relative newcomer a character that could have just been weird.
But in his hands, cinephile Abed is, yes, weird, but
he’s also endearing, hilarious and, most surprisingly, kinda heartbreaking. The show’s “outsider”
vibe, coupled with Pudi’s newbie status, make him
a long shot for a nomination. But his work should
make him a shoo-in.
KEN JEONG Community went a little deeper with Señor Chang this season and Jeong rose to the challenge,
maintaining all of his character’s repellent weirdness, while enhancing the traces of humanity within.
That, plus his high profile as a sometime movie actor
(Knocked Up, The Hangover), could give him a nomination edge over his lesser-known co-stars.
TRACY MORGAN Since the former Saturday Night
Live joker hasn’t been nominated for the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Emmy since
2009, and that was his only nomination, and he sat
out a chunk of the 30 Rock season to undergo a kidney
transplant, he’s facing an uphill battle getting back
into this race. Not a battle that he can’t win, mind you,
but, for sure, a battle.
JACK MCBRAYER Like 30 Rock castmate Tracy Morgan, hayseed Kenneth’s creator hasn’t been given a
nod since 2009. So, though the show remains in fine
form, there’s a feeling that perhaps its “moment” has
come and gone. If that’s true, McBrayer’s shot at another nomination probably went with it.
JOHN KRASINSKI While viewers vacillate between
loving and hating Office characters like Michael and
Dwight, they have always been unanimous about
their affection for Jim. And why not? He and Pam are
not only the heart of the show, they’re often its brains
as well. So, if for nothing more than seven seasons of
flawless reaction shots — and he’s contributed a lot
more than reaction shots – the hitcom’s unsung hero
deserves at least his first Emmy nomination.
RAINN WILSON For seven years, The Office’s Dwight
was passed over for the regional manager position,
and Wilson passed over for an Emmy. He was nominated in ‘07, ‘08 and ‘09, but failed to make the cut last
year. Unless the departure of Steve Carell gives voters
a sense of “now or never” about the show and its cast,
a fourth nod would seem to be a long shot.
ED HELMS He shined this season in his biggest Office
storyline yet – the Andy/Erin/Gabe triangle. And the
Hangover flicks have made him a movie star, though
that could work against him with voters (“Why am
I giving him a TV award nod?”) as much as for him
(“Hey, I know that guy!”).
TVLINE.COM
5/31/11 7:27:11 AM
SIMON HELBERG This season, The Big Bang Theory
gave Howard a full-time girlfriend – and all the growing pains that go along with a serious relationship.
Whether that will translate into a nomination, though,
will depend on whether Emmy voters are willing to
finally give nods to actors other than Jim Parsons and
guest Christine Baranski.
JON CRYER The Two and a Half Men second banana
already won the Outstanding Supporting Actor in
a Comedy Series Emmy (in 2009), after multiple
nominations. He’s about as safe a bet as they come
to get a nod this year, too. More interesting will be
divining whether Charlie Sheen’s scandals hurt his
former co-star’s chances of winning, or helped, by
earning him some well-deserved sympathy votes.
AZIZ ANSARI When Parks and Recreation debuted,
Yahoo! TV gave him top honors on its list of “TV’s
MVPs.” But unless Emmy is ready to recognize the
show’s crackerjack ensemble and not just leading lady
Amy Poehler, the sometime stand-up comic’s odds of
breaking into the race don’t seem good.
CHRIS PRATT Epitomizing the lovable idiot archetype
for Parks and Recreation, this Everwood alum can actually make you forget he’s only playing dumb. That, in
and of itself, may have to be his reward though, unless
NBC can convince Emmy to spread the love beyond
series star Poehler.
NICK OFFERMAN Though it’s remarkable how he
makes Parks and Rec’s Ron the human equivalent of
an M&M — hard shell outside, sweet inside – he, like
his co-stars, has to hope that NBC can shine a bright
enough light on the show that Emmy voters can see all
it has going for it. If not, he will have to settle for just
having an amazing mustache.
OLIVER PLATT While The Big C is sure to be recognized at the Emmys, especially in the wake of
Laura Linney’s Golden Globes win, a nod for her
on-screen hubby isn’t such a sure thing. Good as he
is, he didn’t get a Globes nomination, and any time
there’s Emmy buzz, it’s generally about Linney.
Maybe after Season 2?
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
JULIE BOWEN Nominated for the first time last year,
the Modern Family mom is all but assured another nod
in 2011. The question is less “Will she get in the race?”
(she will) and more “Will her consistently pitch-perfect work, combined with all the dues she’s paid (on
Ed, Boston Legal, Lost, etc.), win her the race?”
SOFIA VERGARA Arguably the breakout star of Modern Family, the show’s red-hot mama was nominated
last year and is sure to be up for the Emmy again this
time around. Indeed, given the amount of buzz that
surrounds her, along with 2010’s victor, Glee’s Jane
Lynch, she is probably the one to beat.
JANE LYNCH She’s already won an Emmy for her
career-making portrayal of Glee’s queen of mean,
the now-iconic Sue Sylvester. So although another
nomination is virtually in the bag, voters may decide this go-’round to spread the wealth, especially
since the category is so crowded with yet-to-berecognized talents.
HEATHER MORRIS Though she gives a whole new
meaning to the term “playing dumb” as Glee’s
most bubble-headed Cheerio, this relative newbie — previously best known as a dancer — may
have to settle for the budding stardom that the
Fox hit may have brought her way. Priceless as
she is, she’s merely a lovable long shot for Emmy
acknowledgment.
ALISON BRIE In the Community regular ’s favor is
that a) she shines on a buzzed-about show, and b)
she’s also appeared on Emmy fave Mad Men. In
other words, she’s both cool and familiar. Working against her is that Community may be too cool
for the room of Emmy voters, and she may not be
that familiar.
YVETTE NICOLE BROWN This Community second
banana can say more with her eyes alone than a lot
of other actors can mouthing an entire script full of
dialogue. Unfortunately for her, this category is overstuffed with worthy nominees, and for that matter, so
is her own show.
JANE KRAKOWSKI The 30 Rock scene-stealer has
been up for the Outstanding Supporting Actress
in a Comedy Series Emmy twice before. And since
her larger-than-life alter ego, Jenna, hasn’t shrunk
any, neither have her chances of being nominated
again. Trouble is, since the fictional starlet doesn’t
ever really grow, can her portrayer ’s odds of winning ever improve?
JENNA FISCHER With the departure of Steve Carell,
The Office went through an almost unprecedented sitcom shake-up this season, making the warmth and
“constancy” that Pam’s portrayer provides, a major
comfort to viewers. If voters noticed too, the actress
could receive her first nomination since 2007.
ELLIE KEMPER This season, The Office gave its zany
receptionist not only more air time, but the most hearttugging love triangle since Jim/Pam/Roy – plus an
unlikely father figure in Steve Carell’s Michael. As a
result, her winsome Kelly Erin Hannon is, at least, an
appealing long shot.
AUBREY PLAZA If there was an Emmy for deadpan
comic timing, this Parks and Recreation standout would
already have a trophy case full. Alas, she will probably have to settle for cheering on co-star Amy Poehler
and, if Team Pawnee is really lucky, the show itself.
EVE BEST The Nurse Jackie doctor has never been
nominated for an Emmy. But with on-screen BFF
Edie Falco likely going for her second in a row for the
Showtime hit (in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a
Comedy Series category), she could get lucky and win
a nomination based on proximity (as well as being deserving).
MERRITT WEVER Though she stands out on Showtime’s dark comedy as the antithesis of title character Nurse Jackie, this relative newcomer probably isn’t
well known enough to nab a slam-dunk nomination.
Plus, most of the attention for Nurse Jackie is focused
on, well, Nurse Jackie.
CHRISTA MILLER She’s a TV veteran (The Drew Carey
Show, Scrubs) doing the near impossible (making the
sharpest-tongued member of Cougar Town’s biting culde-sac crew likeable). So she should be a shoo-in for a
nomination. But since the comedy has yet to be shown
any love by Emmy, she may have to wait.
BUSY PHILIPPS The ongoing transformation of her
Cougar Town character from trashy slut to semi-respectable but sensitive airhead, has been both heartbreaking and hysterical. Unfortunately, she’s in the
same boat as co-star Miller: Emmy hasn’t yet figured
out that their show, much less they, exist. Something’s
gotta give before they get their due.
MAYIM BIALIK The erstwhile Blossom’s upgrade
to Big Bang Theory regular makes her eligible for an
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Emmy nod. And, since her character is, in essence, a
female Sheldon — played by the show’s lone Emmy
winner, Jim Parsons — a nomination does, in fact,
compute.
HOLLAND TAYLOR This 2000 Emmy victor (for The
Practice) has been nominated four times in this category for her work on Two and a Half Men, and has gone
home empty-handed each time. Something tells us, in
light of the show being upstaged by ousted leading
man Charlie Sheen, this won’t be the year she returns
to the winner’s circle.
BETTY WHITE The grand dame of Hot in Cleveland
already has seven Emmys (including one she earned
last year for her Saturday Night Live hosting gig), so
a nomination would make sense. However, with all
three of her co-stars — Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves
and Wendie Malick — also in this category, the vote
could be split, and all their chances diminished.
KRISTEN WIIG The Saturday Night Live funny lady
is riding high: Not only is she the sketch-comedy
series’ most talked-about female cast member since
Molly Shannon, she’s now a movie star to boot
(thanks to Bridesmaids). But will voters assume
she’s already moved on to the big screen and elect
to deny her a second nod?
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THE AWARDS EDITIONS
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THE WOMEN OF
COUGAR
TOWN
COURTENEY COX,
CHRISTA MILLER
& BUSY PHILIPPS
ARE 3 COOL CATS
BY MICHAEL AUSIELLO
F
inding two actors with the magic of perfect
chemistry is hard. And finding three? Near impossible. But in the underrated, unfortunately titled banter-fest that is Cougar Town, ABC has exactly that. The rapport among Courteney Cox, Christa
Miller and Busy Philipps can’t be forced, faked or, yes,
bottled. What makes their on-screen partnership work
so well? The secret may lie in their easy off-screen
camaraderie, evident even when the conversation is
about career challenges and Emmy chances. It doesn’t
really come from vino. We think. During this interview,
they drank iced tea... (We’re pretty sure...)
TVLINE: The truth: Are your performances enhanced
by alcohol?
COURTENEY COX: I think so.
BUSY PHILIPPS: I think so, too.
CHRISTA MILLER: Just a little free-er.
TVLINE Kidding aside, there’s no actual alcohol consumption during shooting, right?
COX: I would not say the word never. At the very end
of the day when we don’t have that much left to do,
we ask for some “pomegranate tea.” That’s what we
call it. I even got the craft services lady to hang a little
teabag from my “tea cup.”
MILLER: But only if you have tiny things to say or no
dialogue, or you’ve finished your coverage.
PHILIPPS: I can’t drink it if I’m going to be talking a
lot, because a) I’ll start slurring and nobody wants
that, and b) I’m too much of a control freak.
COX: Her brain is very fresh, though. She’s very young
so she has a great memory. I can’t remember anything
sober, so I definitely can’t drink and [then] speak.
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TVLINE When did you feel the chemistry between the three
of you start to click?
PHILIPPS: I don’t remember which episode it was
where we were filming at the beach. What’s the
name of that beach where the planes take off?
Dockweiler Beach?
MILLER: Yeah.
PHILIPPS: Literally, it’s right in the takeoff path of
LAX. So you can only film for five minutes at a time
and then a jet comes overhead. But I remember doing
that scene with the three of us sitting on a blanket and
[executive producer and Christa Miller’s husband] Bill
[Lawrence] coming over and saying, “I just want you
guys to know, this is the show. I love this.” It was the
three of us sitting there drinking wine on the beach.
TVLINE How familiar were you with each other’s work
beforehand?
COX: I had personally known Christa years ago.
I could tell we were going to become really close
friends, and I don’t know what happened. We had
all these plans.
MILLER: We had kids.
COX: Life happens. But we immediately were like,
“Oh my God, I’ll tell you everything. I’m telling you
everything — every secret.” But she has three kids
and things happen.
PHILIPPS: Christa and Bill knew me personally from
our mutual friend [and fellow actress] Nicole Sullivan
(The King of Queens, $#*! My Dad Says).
MILLER: I obviously can’t help but be very familiar
with Courteney’s career. And then you [guested] on
Scrubs. I think Bill and Courteney were both trying to
see how it was going to be working together. It was
like a little test run for both of them. Courteney was
such a good sport, because Scrubs is hard to come on.
It was such a tight, clique-y kind of group.
COX: I did three episodes in two days. It was the most
work I’ve ever done. And Bill was so much fun that I
was like, “Oh God, please, I hope we work together.”
TVLINE Courteney, as a producer on Cougar Town, I’m
guessing you had a hand in casting... Did you instantly
know Busy was your Laurie?
COX: I knew instantly. We read tons of people. We
took a couple of people to the network. But hands
down, hand to God, on everything I have inside of
me, when she came in, I was like, “I love that girl.
I love her energy.” She was my first choice. There
wasn’t a question.
PHILIPPS: It was actually one of the crazier testing experiences for me, because the other girl I [competed
against] had another test offer, which happens a lot
in pilot season... [She was also] up for another job at
ABC. Bill came out into the waiting room and he’s
like, “Okay, so Busy, you’re going to get [this] job,”
and he turned to the other girl and he’s like, “And
you’re going to get that other show. I already talked
to the showrunner. I just want you to know that that’s
what’s happening right now. I’m only saying this because I just want to alleviate all the pressure from the
room, so Busy, you have [this] and you, you’re getting
this other job this afternoon in two hours.” ... And he
walked away and she was like, “Well that was weird.”
I’m like, “Yeah. It was super weird.” She’s like, “I
mean, awesome for you.” I was like, “No. Awesome
for you too, you have a job too!” It was like one of the
greatest testing experiences ever.
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COX: I didn’t know that story. That actually is crazy.
PHILIPPS: I have been in many situations before
where I’ve been told by showrunners and executive
producers going into a network test that I am the
first choice, that they will be damned if I don’t get
this part. I’ve had more than my fair share of phone
calls and e-mails after the fact saying, “I’m just so
sorry. They just really feel like this 23-year-old Canadian girl is fresher.”
COX: That happens at the network?
PHILIPPS: Yes. Part of the reason why I had [my
daughter] Birdie, this is no joke, is because that happened with me with Kath & Kim [NBC’s short-lived
adaptation, starring Molly Shannon and Selma
Blair, of the Australian sitcom]. I wanted that show
so badly. It was the same exact situation, and then
the next day, the showrunner wrote me this crazy email. “I don’t feel like this is the end of our story, but
[then-NBC president] Ben [Silverman] wants to just
go in a different direction and we have to play that
out...’’ I just looked at [husband] Mark [Silverstein]
and was like, “[Bleep] it, should we just have a kid?
I can’t do this anymore.”
TVLINE: What is your perspective on the Emmys? Do
you think about that stuff?
PHILIPPS: I had a dream the other night that I was not
nominated for an Emmy and I was really upset in my
dream. So I don’t think about it on a daily basis, but
clearly, in my dream world, it affects me.
COX: I’ve never been nominated for an Emmy, and
I’ve been doing this for a long time.
TVLINE: Did getting snubbed for Friends all those
years harden you to award shows? Did that sting?
COX: No. I’d love to be nominated. God, it would be
such an honor. I’d be so excited. I’d probably be one
of those people who just cried. I wish I could say I
didn’t care about stuff like that. Maybe if I didn’t,
it would be some sort of karmic thing for me, but I
actually do. I think it’s nice to be recognized. [Not
being so] makes me go, “Oh [bleep], maybe I don’t
know what the [bleep] I’m doing.”
PHILIPPS: Sorry, but it’s crazy that you were never
nominated.
COX: Now I’m going to get really personal. When the
first person [on Friends] was nominated for an Emmy,
ever and I would love it. Clearly, my dreams are
stating so. But it just doesn’t feel like it’s even going
to [be a possibility]… Especially our category is like
the hardest ever.
MILLER: You don’t want to look at it. You want to
pretend it doesn’t happen, but then there’s that secret
part of you that thinks, “Wouldn’t that be the greatest,
most fun thing?”
I think it was [David] Schwimmer, you’re so excited.
Then the second person, [still] so excited. The only
time I was like, “Whoa!” was [in 2001 when Jennifer
Aniston and Lisa Kudrow] were both nominated and
not me. That’s when it’s like, “I have a lesson to learn
here.” I had a hard time not taking it personally when
it was both Lisa and Jennifer at the same time. One
guy, one girl, whatever. But both girls and not me? It
hurt. I’m very sensitive, though.
PHILIPPS: For me, it doesn’t even really seem like a
possibility. So, it would be the most exciting thing
would mean [now] that I’m on another show that
is regarded and is written and performed as well as
the show I was on before in some ways.
MILLER: Let’s see how much work Michael wants to
put in so he can get all three of us nominated!
PHILIPPS: You have a lot of work ahead of you.
MILLER: What would we buy you? I’m going to say a
house. Courteney?
COX: Do you like to fly privately?
TVLINE: I’d be happy with just an upgrade to Business.
COX: Done. You’re getting that today.
TVLINE Courteney, what would a nomination mean now
versus if you had gotten one during Friends?
COX: It would mean more now. Don’t get me wrong,
it would have been great back then. But I think it
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L
EMMY’S
CHOICE
BEHIND-THE-SCENES OF SUBMISSION EPISODES
BY DIANE HAITHMAN
et the countdown to the Emmys begin. But even at this late date, some comedy series are still finalizing their selection of episodes to submit for the Academy of
Television Arts & Sciences’ awards consideration, though most have already spent weeks in the agonizing process of choosing their best work. “It’s important to
be on the ballot,” says John Leverence, the VP of Awards. “It is reviewed by more than 14,000 members of the Academy. These are your industry peers, even if you
are doing a show that might not have a snowball’s chance in hell.” Each series may submit six episodes for the Outstanding Comedy Series, and programs airing
between June 20, 2010, and May 31, 2011, are eligible for submission. An exception is made for series that have new episodes airing between May 31 and June 24,
2011, which are also eligible. But there is yet another window for changing the episode selections just prior to the actual nominations announcement on July 14th. Then
that’s it for artistic indecision so that the TV Academy has time to replicate thousands of DVDs for the Blue Ribbon final judging panelists.
Here’s insight into why these particular episodes were thought to impress Emmy voters:
THE BIG BANG THEORY (CBS): EPISODE TITLE:
“THE JUSTICE LEAGUE RECOMBINATION”
Story line: What could be funnier than a bunch
of muscle-challenged nerds dressed up as classic
superheroes? And even they know that none of
them could possibly portray Superman. So the
brainiac bunch ask Penny’s hunky none-too-bright
boyfriend Zack (Brian Thomas Smith in a recurring role) to dress up as the Man of Steel to be part
of their team when they enter a comic book store’s
annual costume contest as The Justice League. The
guys make fun of Zack’s normal IQ until Penny
shames them into the realization that they’re reverse-bullying him just as they have been bullied.
Says Big Bang showrunner Bill Prady: “There
are a lot of voices when it comes to picking episodes
to submit. In the case of this episode, fan reaction
played a big part. Fans let us know that they thought
this episode was “classic Big Bang.” It’s interesting to
note that other episodes were chosen because they
were atypical, while this one was chosen because it’s
‘highly typical’ of the series. While this episode has a
message of sorts, it also has the voluptuous Penny in
a brunette wig and stuffed into a Wonder Woman costume, providing the highbrow-lowbrow combination
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that has made this sitcom such a hit. For example, the
website TV Fanatic raved that: ‘As if the jokes weren’t
enough to give “The Justice League Recombination”
our highest rating of the season, there’s Penny dressed
as Wonder Woman. Maybe I’m just a geek with nerdboy fetishes, but Kaley Cuoco was only just cute to me
prior to this episode.”
THE BIG C (SHOWTIME): EPISODE TITLE:
“TAKING THE PLUNGE” (SEASON FINALE)
Story line: Cathy reconsiders a risky cancer treatment and decides to go for it. Her son Adam, usually
withdrawn and diffident about his mother’s grim
prognosis, steals a storage locker key from her purse
and finds inside a cornucopia of wrapped gifts
from his mom intended
to celebrate his birthdays
and family holidays far
into the future. Adam’s
hard veneer cracks and
he dissolves into tears.
This
episode
highlights The Big C’s
dramedy underpinning
rather than its comedic
element. Which could
be a big risk for awards.
Says showrunner Jenny
Bicks: “It was important
that people see the highly comedic nature of the
show, but also what we
consider to be our most
successful dramatic moments. Our finale really
touched people. It is a
bit of a game, because you want to pick the thing that
people already remember, that will remind them that
they liked the series. Does it have the highest comedy in it? Not necessarily. That was hard, because
I do understand that we are asking people to vote
for a comedy.” To that end, The Big C creative team
also included in their package the more humorous
episode “Playing the Cancer Car”—in which Cathy,
faced with death, drains her 401K and buys herself a
cherry red convertible. This is based on cancer survivor Bicks’ own decision to buy herself a Porsche
when she learned she had the Big C.
MODERN FAMILY (ABC): EPISODE TITLE:
“SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER LILY”
Story Line: Mitchell and Cameron are deciding
who should be named legal guardian for their daughter Lily if something should happen to them—and, observing family members as they interact with the kids,
aren’t too impressed with what they see. The “Lily”
episode features multiple stories: Jay forms an unexpected bond with chubby stepson Manny in a sporting goods store while shopping to equip Manny for a
school trip that Manny is reluctant to take. Meanwhile,
Claire secretly takes son Luke to a child psychiatrist,
fearing that Luke has a diagnosable problem.
Christopher Lloyd, co-executive producer and
co-showrunner with Steven Levitan of last year’s winner for Outstanding Comedy Series, checks off his
episode selection criteria: “A show that’s really funny, and showcases the actors’ best skills, but has an
element of surprising emotion and heart to it.” This
particular episode “had some surprising emotion to
it,” Lloyd says. “We found out that Manny was concerned about being seen in the shower by other boys.
Jay says: ‘I’m proud of you no matter what—you are
way braver than I ever was at your age.’ Just hearing
all that became enough for Manny to gather up the
courage to go. But we weren’t telegraphing that moment at all; it came out of left field.” The same thing
happened when the story of Claire taking Luke to a
psychiatrist became a comment on Claire’s marriage
as Claire blurts out she’s worried that Luke is becoming too much like his nerdy and obsessive Dad who
reassures Claire: “Somewhere out there is a little girl
making lists and labeling bins who will find him just
like I found you.” Says Lloyd: “It’s one of those true
emotional moments that just sneaks up on you. We
have the craziness in the psychiatrist’s office: Phil is being distracted by a dinosaur, which is ridiculous, and
Cameron being pulled up a rock climbing wall [in the
sporting goods store] and ultimately being dropped,
which is a big, outrageous sight gag. But there are also
these resonant and true moments.”
GLEE (FOX): EPISODE TITLE: “THE SUBSTITUTE”
Story line: Gwyneth Paltrow guest stars as a substitute teacher who takes over Mr. Schuester’s Spanish
class and is also asked to take over the Glee Club. The
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students harass her—they butter the floor and send
her sliding. And, sneers one student: “What would
you know about Cee Lo, because you’re like, 40?”
“Top 40, sweet cheeks,” retorts Paltrow, and then she
wows them in a miniskirt with a sexy rendition of Cee
Lo’s “Forget You,” a song she had also performed on
the Country Music Awards.
Glee has won over audiences by featuring hot
guest stars or covering hot music hits—and this episodes contains both. Says a 20th TV studio spokesman: “Academy Award winner Gwyneth Paltrow
turned in a triple threat, scene-stealing performance
as substitute teacher Holly Holliday in this classic episode which features Paltrow’s take on Cee Lo’s ‘Forget
You,’ a brilliant tour de force rendition of ‘Make ‘Em
Laugh’ by stars Matthew Morrison and Harry Shum
Jr., and a fanciful mash-up of ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ with
Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ that had the cast singing, dancing, and splashing their way across a rain-soaked auditorium stage.”
HOT IN CLEVELAND (TV LAND)
PILOT EPISODE
Story line: The pilot introduces a group of middle-aged, single Los Angeles gal pals who relocate to
Cleveland to find love and a new life away from ageand beauty-obsessed Los Angeles.
This first-season series picked this episode in
the hope that red-hot cast member Betty White might
be a contender for Outstanding Supporting Actress
in a Comedy Series, focusing some attention on this
comedy. It was felt the pilot would introduce Emmy
voters to a show they may not have seen. “We really
wanted to showcase the writing,” says TV Land EVP
of Development Keith Cox. “I’d say the pilot sold the
characters, but it also had a great premise: the starting
of a new chapter for these women. They are fish out
of water. It celebrated Cleveland. And it really set up
Betty’s character.”
COMMUNITY (NBC) - EPISODE TITLE:
“COOPERATIVE CALLIGRAPHY”
Story line: It’s a Community crisis: The characters
take a self-imposed lockdown in order to solve the
mysterious disappearance of Annie’s pen. Meanwhile,
Troy and Abed are, according to the official PR, itching
to get out of the study room to make it to the Greendale Puppy Parade taking place on the quad—reason
being that, with every lost moment, puppies “grow
older and less deserving of our attention.”
In the show’s tradition of playing with the conventions of traditional sitcom, early on a character announces this is a “bottle episode”—TV insider-speak
for an inexpensive-to-produce episode that only
requires one set (a term thought to originate from I
Dream of Jeannie episodes where the genie is stuck in
her bottle). Showrunner Dan Harmon says the producers selected this episode to illustrate the serious
side of this comedy for its structured writing, realistic story, and believable characters to belie the show’s
reputation for being “a little bit crazy” and intellectually off the grid. “This was certainly a demonstration
of the show’s range,” Harmon says. “I put myself in
the shoes of an Emmy voter, popping in a DVD having never seen the show. I want to see character, I want
to see story, I want to see television taken seriously.
It’s grounded in character. Nobody is wearing a weird
costume. No one is acting like they’re in The Matrix.”
FAMILY GUY (FOX) - EPISODE TITLE:
“ROAD TO THE NORTH POLE”
Story line: When Stewie gets the brush-off from
a mall Santa Claus, the baby and Brian the talking
family dog travel to the North Pole to teach Santa the
meaning of Christmas. Actually, they plot to kill Santa—this is Family Guy after all—but when they find a
bedridden and suicidal Santa in a sweat shop of diseased elves and feral reindeer who feed on the corpses
of Santa’s little helpers, they decide to help him out by
delivering that year’s toys to the world.
Family Guy is known for its “Road to…’’ episodes
inspired by the Bing Crosby/Bob Hope movies. It’s
also a sequel of sorts to a holiday episode from an
earlier season: “A Very Special Family Guy Freakin’
Christmas.” Drew Barrymore is a guest voice. Says a
20th TV studio spokesman: “It’s a twisted take on the
obligatory Christmas episode as only Family Guy could
do it.” The episode also features musical numbers described as “both timeless and wickedly current.” One
critic posted on Film Reel Reviews: “While our first
meeting with Santa in the episode is less than happy,
there’s always a nice ending to look forward to and
Stewie and Brian manage to save Christmas for all the
people of the world. Getting to that point involves a
lot of disastrous scenarios including a giant car crash,
an elf getting his arm cut off, a double murder, and the
aurora Boreanaz [named for guest star David Boreanaz]. You’ve gotta see it to believe it!”
NURSE JACKIE (SHOWTIME) - EPISODE TITLE:
“ORCHIDS AND SALAMI”
Story line: Multiple stories include Jackie clashing with a new nurse and stealing drugs from the
oncology ward. Meanwhile, her daughter Grace is
beginning to suffer anxiety problems and asks to be
put on medication, which Jackie takes as a sign that
her daughter may be following in her footsteps. Jackie
treats a Native American ironworker with a fear of
heights. To add to her troubles, her husband finds her
secret stash.
Showrunners Liz Brixius and Linda Wallem included this episode in part because of the way it links
up the seasons and highlights Jackie’s secret drug addiction and the layers of lies that have become a daily
part of her life. “In Season Two, you watched Jackie
lose her pills in the car in a dental floss container. And,
in this Season Three episode, her husband finds them.
So they come back to haunt her,” says Brixius. The
show selects Emmy episodes that are not necessarily
flashy, but showcase good writing. “As opposed to
some shows, where you’d submit the episode where
you have a helicopter blowing up and people dying.
Our show is not that,” Brixius says.
PARKS & RECREATION (NBC) – EPISODE TITLE:
“JERRY’S PAINTING”
Story line: The parks’ employees attend an art
show exhibiting paintings that will later be hung in
government buildings. Jerry creates a painting for
public display that depicts a bare-breasted Greek goddess who looks like Leslie (series lead Amy Poehler).
Leslie tries to fend off a local conservative activist who
wants it destroyed and a porn star who publicly defends it. Finally, in frustration, Leslie steals the painting. Meanwhile, Ben moves in with Andy and April
but the house is a mess, and then tries to teach them
how to live like adults.
As late as April, Parks and Recreation’s showrunner Mike Schur, which he created with Greg Daniels,
was still waiting for one specific episode to air in order
to evaluate the extent of positive audience reaction before deciding to add it to the show’s Emmy series submission. He liked its provocative premise. “I mean, it
has a giant painting of our star as a naked centaur,” he
laughs. The show was a “supersized” episode paired
with NBC’s The Office so both half-hour sitcoms ran
over by 10 minutes and shot more material than they
needed to create a “balsamic reduction to the best,
most delicious comedy,” according to Schur. He says
he follows this Emmy strategy in choosing the episodes to submit: “Generally, the later they are in the
year, the more likely voters are to remember them. If
it’s a tie between the second episode or the 21st, I’ll
usually pick the 21st.”
RAISING HOPE (FOX): EPISODE TITLE:
“DON’T VOTE FOR THIS EPISODE”
Story line: This season finale employs time travel
to go back five years. The Chances reminisce about
the year Jimmy turned 18—when Maw Maw (Cloris
Leachman) kicked them out of the house, when a Goth
Jimmy (aka “Drakkar Noir”) took up residence in the
grocery store, and when Burt and Virginia finally figured out how to be adults.
Obviously, the creative team had Emmy in mind
when selecting the episode’s title. According to a studio
spokesman, the season finale uses “tender flashbacks”
to tell the history of the Chance family from five years
ago and was selected because it embodies “the brassy
humor mixed with heart that have become the show’s
trademark.” Besides the fun of seeing adult characters
in their younger personas, the episode presents Maw
Maw with her memory intact—in heart-string-tugging
contrast to the current harsh reality that she is losing
her power of recall to dementia.
30 ROCK (NBC): EPISODE TITLE: “100”
Story line: This much ballyhooed, hour-long
special episode—45 minutes of actual running time
—marked both the 100th episode of 30 Rock and its
show-within-a-show, “GTS” which is threatened with
cancellation. But the powers-that-be convince the network to give Liz (Tina Fey) and company the chance
to do their 100th episode.
The episode was loaded with guest stars including Rachel Dratch and Michael Keaton (although one
report said Fey’s request for a guest appearance by Bill
Clinton was denied by his staff “without even asking
him”). The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences allows an extended-length program to be entered for
Emmy as one episode, provided it does not exceed
twice the show’s usual running time. 30 Rock usually runs 22 minutes, so 45 minutes hit the mark close
enough. Fey is proud to have reached 100 episodes but
couldn’t resist a quip when asked about the milestone,
pointing to Ricky Gervais, creator of the British comedies The Office and Extras: “He’s a genius. He only
does 13 episodes and then gets out.”
DEADLINE.COM
TVLINE.COM
THE AWARDS EDITIONS
25
5/31/11 7:28:54 AM
THE BIG C’s
JENNY BICKS
T
BY DIANE HAITHMAN
he Big C stars Laura Linney as a teacher,
wife, and mother living with a diagnosis of
life-threatening melanoma. It joins Showtime’s other dramedies likely to compete with
more traditional sitcoms and hour-longs for
this year’s Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series.
Showrunner and cancer survivor Jenny Bicks, formerly a writer on HBO’s long-running Sex and the
City and creator of ABC’s short-lived Men in Trees,
talks about her reaction to positive Emmy buzz and
cancer as a laughing matter:
DEADLINE: How did you become involved in this
show?
JENNY BICKS : I read the pilot scripts of The Big
C because I shared the agency that created the script
with Darlene Hunt and really loved the writing on it.
I had cancer myself, and I was really impressed and
kind of jealous that it had found the exact right way of
talking about cancer in this darkly comedic way. Darlene and I sat down and I told her I liked the show, and
it turned out they needed someone to come in and retool the pilot and recast some roles. And then I stayed
around to do the show.
DEADLINE: When you give a character 18 months to
live, don’t you also shorten the life of your series?
BICKS : Well, we’ve never said that she’s going to
die at the end, and I don’t say that to be cute. We have
to be very aware of what’s going on in the medical
community. She has melanoma, and as soon as we
went on the air, all of these huge breakthroughs happened in late-stage melanoma. Which is great, but
bad for us dramatically—we have to be true to that
in our series. But I would also say that, as a showrunner, you are stupid if you aren’t thinking, how are we
going to end the series? Are you are going to kill off
characters or have them walk into the sunset? You
should know ultimately what story you want to tell.
Everyone’s show dies: we just know probably what
ours is going to die of.
DEADLINE: Could her prognosis change if the show
stays on the air?
BICKS : Each season is three months, and this fall is
our second season, so she wouldn’t have to live a long
time. If we’re lucky enough to have six seasons of the
show, it will be 18 months of her life. And yet the irony
is—and this is me on my soapbox—that for the first
eight episodes, she hadn’t told anybody that she has
cancer. We got such shit from people who could not
understand. If you have some other disease, nobody
says you’re an asshole for not telling people. I think
that’s a very interesting pushback that we got. But
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THE AWARDS EDITIONS
DEADLINE.COM
whenever you come up against death, people have
very strong reactions.
DEADLINE: Even though your show is about cancer,
it’s not ‘black comedy’.
BICKS : I think in some ways we are more truly optimistic, which is odd because we are about a woman
who’s dying. Because our character is not saving lives
but just trying to save her own life, you do feel for her.
But I think we have to be careful to make her behavior
understandable to those people who haven’t been sick
or in a situation like that.
DEADLINE: How is The Big C different from this
year’s other new TV comedies?
BICKS : To my mind, there seems to be seven interchangeable half-hours of shows on relationships
that have oddly nebulous titles, like Mad Romantic
Love Platonically. It feels like someone has taken
an advice column and turned it into a show, versus having a distinct point of view. And no offense
to anyone who developed those shows, but I think
they didn’t end up breaking out because they were
generic. This is where Showtime and HBO, other
premium cable channels, and even non-premium
cable channels, really started to get idiosyncratic
with their programming. And that has finally started to have an influence on the networks. People are
saying let’s go for a distinct voice or a distinct personality as opposed to, let’s try to mimic and make
a hit. That’s promising.
DEADLINE: Of course, there also seems to be a critical backlash to quirky-for-the-sake-of-quirky characters
on cable.
BICKS : It is a little much. We’ve hit our fill of manicdepressive, bipolar detectives and doctors with underlying drug problems. I think as writers we need to
challenge ourselves now to keep our characters a little
more real, but also create jeopardy for them. Cable’s
quirky-for-the-sake-of-quirky shows and network’s
bland relationship shows have to meet and have babies, and those babies would be the right combination.
You’d have just enough uniqueness without it being
just a crazy show.
DEADLINE: If this year’s Outstanding Comedy Series
Emmy becomes a battle of the Showtime dark comedies, do
you think you have a chance against Nurse Jackie?
BICKS : It’s not going to be an easy fight for us. But
the point of this, for us, is not to win awards; I’m just
excited to do the show and to tell what is considered
to be a kind of groundbreaking story. And then, hey, if
you add an Emmy to that—awesome.
TVLINE.COM
5/31/11 7:30:26 AM
N
MICHAEL SCHUR’S
PARKS AND RECREATION
N
BY DIANE HAITHMAN
BC’s Parks and Recreation, which stars Amy Poehler as a small town public servant, has a sterling pedigree for an Emmy. It was created by Greg
Daniels and Michael Schur, who respectively are the creator and creative
team member for NBC’s multi-award-winning veteran comedy The Office. And The Office was adapted by Daniels from the popular BBC series
created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, who join Daniels as executive
producers of the U.S. version.
But there’s a downside to being part of this royal family. While The Office has
been crowned with the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, Parks and Recreation has not. Poehler was nominated in 2010 but did not win. Plus, out of the box,
the show had to live down comparisons to The Office ever since the newer series
came on the TV landscape in April 2009. It even airs in the Thursday 9:30 p.m.
time slot just after The Office—which won for Outstanding Comedy in 2006 and
which in turn follows 30 Rock, which took the crown in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Yet,
even as a direct descendent of Emmy-winners, Parks and Recreation remains a commoner, like Kate Middleton before Prince William handed her the wedding ring.
Mike Schur has shared in The Office’s Emmy success, but Parks and Recreation is his own offspring. Nevertheless, he has to constantly correct the popular
misconception that Parks and Recreation is an Office spinoff. That’s because the
newer show was originally intended to be a spinoff, but then developed with its
own original concept. But Schur says the real inspiration for Parks and Recreation
came from another multiple-Emmy winner. “I was a huge West Wing fan, and
I thought maybe we could think of this as a half-hour comedy version. In The
West Wing, it’s about Russia about to invade China. In our show, it’s about your
local garbage. We did some research into the lives of municipal government
bureaucrats and it was like, wow, this has just not been done. There have been
shows about mayors or governors or presidents, but not about the unelected
officials doing their day jobs.”
Using the same “mockumentary” style as The Office was a creative choice not
intended to mimic, says Schur. “The multi-camera format was based on vaudeville, which was the way a lot of people got into entertainment before TV started.
I think the mockumentary is reflective of the era of YouTube digital video and its
very confessional culture. There’s a difference between what you say to a camera
and what you say when you are alone in a room, and for our people in government we thought we could get a lot of mileage out of spying on them. We knew
we were going to take a hit for being like The Office, but we were trying to make a
very long-term decision.”
Schur admits that an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series is a shortterm hope. But for a TV series there is always a bigger prize on the horizon:
getting renewed for another season. “I guess if we could last as long as The
Office, forget about the awards. To tell enough stories to make 150 episodes,
that’s the real goal.”
DEADLINE.COM
TVLINE.COM
THE AWARDS EDITIONS
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5/31/11 7:30:46 AM
COMMUNITY’S
DAN HARMON
BY DIANE HAITHMAN
D
an Harmon, creator and showrunner for NBC’s
Community, has a lengthy resume as a sketch
comedy writer, performer, comic book author,
and essayist on mythologist Joseph Campbell.
He also was a founder (with Rob Schrab) of
Channel 101 and co-creator of Comedy Central’s The Sarah Silverman Program, where he served
as head writer for just a few episodes before “creative
differences” dissolved the relationship. Now he’s in
comedy’s mainstream but still marrying his offbeat
sensibility to a second-season primetime network sitcom about life at a community college:
DEADLINE: Is part of the problem the show’s 8 p.m.
time slot on Thursday?
HARMON: Yeah, when you are in the 8 o’clock position, you can either be a cultural phenomenon, or
you’re endangered. It’s a tough time slot. I never complain about it because, hey, I have a TV show. But the
reality is you are following local programming, and
people have to actually sit down and decide to watch
TV at that time. As opposed to having already been
watching TV, like every other time slot. But, by my observation, the thing that’s really wearing away at us is
American Idol. It’s a show you just have to watch live
whereas it’s easy for audiences to make the decision to
catch up with us on Hulu the next day. It’s like trying
to choose between going to your sister’s wedding and
reading a Spider-Man comic book. The Spider-Man
comic book will always be there, but the other thing
will never happen again.
DEADLINE: With your offbeat sensibility, how did you
end up on network TV?
HARMON: It was never my direct intention to do
anything particularly medium-defying. The pitch
is very network television and was designed to be
that way — a real experience from the writer’s life.
It’s a bunch of knuckleheads in a somewhat unique
place that is somewhat familiar to TV: trying to get
by. Towards the end of the first season, I was starting to get afraid there wouldn’t be a second season,
so I was making my time at the podium count. And
that’s when you get your ‘chicken fingers’ episodes
and your ‘paintball’ episodes, things that started to
make us show up on the critical radar at the end of
the first season.
DEADLINE: What would an Emmy mean to a show
that is fighting for ratings and recognition, as well as doing
battle each week with the behemoth American Idol?
DAN HARMON : Of course it would help. It would
be a sign to some number of people out there to start
tuning in if they haven’t already. That’s how I watch
TV — I hear that somebody got an Emmy and they
show up on my radar in a way that they hadn’t before. Even a nomination would help a great deal in
just getting our name out there. The research that
we do shows that there’s a very low awareness of
Community, and very high repeat viewing. It’s the
Krispy Kreme of TV shows: we just have to get it
into people’s mouths.
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THE AWARDS EDITIONS
DEADLINE.COM
DEADLINE: Did it help in terms of ratings for the second season?
HARMON: It did not work in terms of ratings at all.
Nothing we really do works in terms of ratings. As
far as critical respect goes, you can see a meteoric upward curve happening in the second season. If I only
looked at our Nielsens, I wouldn’t even know that our
show was on the air, much less if it was doing better or worse, because our audience is that small. The
Nielsens were invented when television was splitting
200 million people three ways. Now, if somebody’s cat
happens to turn on the TV, my numbers can double.
It’s almost unrelated to what’s really happening.
DEADLINE: You talk about how you had to start doing
outrageous things on the show to get noticed. Is the clutter
forcing everybody’s TV writing to get weirder?
HARMON: You have people saying two things that
seem to contradict each other. One, that we live in a
golden age of TV. The other, that television is dying.
There’s a reason for that. What we mean when we say
it’s dying is that it’s already way past being fragmented into little chunks. Now it’s being polarized into an
aerosol mist. When you make something smaller like
that, you get more surface area. There are more little
points of interaction. Audiences, as they get smaller,
can intensify their relationship with the product, and
so can the creative relationship with the people that
you are serving. The good news is that, the more
shows there are, the less the conglomerates have to
gain by breaking the will of each individual creative.
DEADLINE: Why did you pick a community college as
a sitcom setting?
HARMON : I went to community college in Glendale
when I was 32. I had an emotional experience there
that I bookmarked for mainstream television. A fishout-of-water experience. I became part of a little study
group in community college and started caring about
strangers. It gave me insight into what an asshole I
was. I saw that I had only lived half of a life. I was
playing this game where I was going to be a great TV
or film writer some day and there was nothing else
that I thought about, including other people.
DEADLINE: Where does what the press calls the show’s
‘meta-humor’ come from?
HARMON : ‘Meta’ isn’t even a word. It’s a Greek
prefix that means beyond or above. I think what they
mean is there’s an element to the show that can be
viewed by an academic mind almost. While we’re executing a sitcom, we’re also executing an examination
of sitcoms. I always try to use my medium, and I’ve
said if I get into a normal sitcom-writing contest with
normal sitcom writers, I’m going to lose.
DEADLINE: In 2009, you won an Emmy for writing
host Hugh Jackman’s opening Oscar number. Have you
thought about doing a musical episode for Community?
HARMON : No. It’s so difficult to write good music.
It’s also really difficult to think about how to do it without violating the sanctity of the fourth wall. On Community, there’s only a certain amount of stories that
you can do that are going to allow for that, and most
of them are snarking about Glee out of jealousy. More
than anything, I’m just intimidated because I had to
write a couple of songs for the Christmas episode.
DEADLINE: So what happened with Sarah Silverman?
HARMON : I just wasn’t very mature creatively yet.
I hadn’t learned to detach myself from my work while
working on someone else’s show. As I’ve often put it,
and it’s the most apt explanation, in my head I was
Larry David, and Sarah was Jerry Seinfeld. And in her
head, which is much more the reality, she was Sarah
Silverman and I was some guy who had caught a
lucky break through her generosity and admiration.
It’s so obvious to me now how annoying it must have
been to have me underneath her. I thought my job was
to make her seem as funny as possible, even if sometimes that meant disagreeing with her. I don’t think
that’s true anymore. What really happened was a personality conflict – too many arguments, ultimately.
TVLINE.COM
5/31/11 7:31:07 AM
LIZ BRIXIUS
& LINDA WALLEM
NURSE JACKIE
T
BY DIANE HAITHMAN
hey were romantic partners who broke up, then
did a few pilots together, and now are good
friends as well as co-creators and showrunners
for Showtime’s dark comedy Nurse Jackie. But Liz
Brixius and Linda Wallem are going into the series’ second Emmy comedy nomination competition knowing
that star Edie Falco confessed in her 2010 Lead Actress
acceptance speech, “I’m not funny.” How to campaign
after that? Wallem and Brixius talk about their series
that looks at the lighter side of addiction, infidelity,
malpractice, dysfunctional families, and death:
DEADLINE: Last year, Nurse Jackie received eight
Emmy nominations, and Edie Falco won Outstanding Lead
Actress in a Comedy Series. How important were those?
LIZ BRIXIUS: The first year that we were eligible
for Emmys was after our second season of shooting,
so for two years we didn’t know if we had the kind of
show that the TV Academy would respond to at all.
Suddenly we realized that, whatever we were doing,
somehow we’d hit a vein of gold. That validated us.
LINDA WALLEM : It makes
you raise your game throughout
the year as you’re shooting.
DEADLINE: Some showrunners insist that Academy
members vote according to what’s considered ‘hot’ each
season. What do you think?
BRIXIUS: I think they might go in with a few favorites in mind, but watch with a really open mind. I
know for a fact that happened our first year because
we were not a show that was on anybody’s radar.
DEADLINE: I understand Nurse Jackie started with a
script by longtime CSI writer/producer Evan Dunsky and
the two of you were called in to ‘tweak’ it.
WALLEM : Edie was intrigued by the idea of playing an emergency room nurse in New York, and Lionsgate owned the property. Robert Greenblatt said,
‘I know just the gals who should take this and rework
it. We had six days.
BRIXIUS: And Bob’s mandate to us was, ‘If I could
get Edie Falco’s face on a billboard with the Showtime
logo, I will have been the greatest president of Showtime ever.’ We had six days.
DEADLINE: So what needed to be reworked?
BRIXIUS: In Evan’s script, doctors would turn into
bats and go hang in the janitor’s closet—because that
was happening in Edie’s head. It was all voice-over.
There wasn’t a whole lot for her to play.
WALLEM : As a comic book, it would have been an
awesome graphic novel. But as a TV show for someone as grounded as Edie to jump into every week, we
had to create a world that was populated with people
who would allow her to show all her colors. We met
with Evan, and he gave us his blessing to do whatever
we wanted to do. We share creative credit with him
because he started that ball rolling.
DEADLINE: How do you make a drug addict, such as
Jackie, likable?
BRIXIUS: Edie always said from the very beginning,
‘I don’t care if people like Jackie.’ Linda and I write for
actors—we don’t write for networks, we don’t write
for executives, we don’t write for writers. People don’t
tune in to watch network executives’ decisions. They
don’t tune in to watch writers’ decisions. They tune
in to watch people that they like. Drug addicts, when
they are in their addiction, are selfish. It kills her every
day to get up and know that when she’s using a drug
she thinks it’s a sin. But the fact that Jackie thinks to
check on a patient, clean a bedpan, or stitch somebody
up when she’s jonesing, should tell you that this woman is a saint. And that’s as likable as you can be.
WALLEM: We love it when people come up to us
and say, ‘I can’t believe I’m rooting for her.’ We want
to shake them up and see that they can love and hate a
character. But she is tortured by her choices. She heals
people all day, but she is desperately trying to figure
out how to heal herself.
DEADLINE: I heard addiction has played a role in
your own lives….
BRIXIUS: Linda and I have both spent years in
various sorts of recovery from different sorts of addictions. And between us and Edie Falco [a recovering
alcoholic], there’s like 60 years of addictions. And we
tell these stories without going to the usual pathos.
We show addiction in action: a high-functioning, pillpopping nurse.
BRIXIUS: Fran Lebowitz says that writers drink
because they have to punish themselves for being
creative. And I don’t drink anymore, but I drank
a lot. And writing about an addict is constructive
rather than destructive. There’s an obvious romance
to being the drinking writer. But if I’m drinking, I’m
not writing.
DEADLINE: What kind of network notes do you get?
BRIXIUS: ‘We want Jackie to have more sex.’ But
that’s not what the show is about. It doesn’t matter
if we get nominated or that Edie wins. It’s like that
never happened. Everybody has their idea of what
they want the show to be.
WALLEM: I feel bad for executives. They are coming from fear: everything is about ratings. Let’s say we
have 1.3 million viewers; well, if we were on FX or
NBC those are death knell numbers. But wait, we’re on
a premium cable channel where you say ratings don’t
matter. Honestly, we have really great executives at
Showtime. They just have a hard job. I wouldn’t want
it. Because, most of the time, we’re not nice to them.
DEADLINE.COM
TVLINE.COM
THE AWARDS EDITIONS
29
5/31/11 7:31:27 AM
— OVERVIEW —
THE NEW REALITY
WITH CHEF TOPPING
THE RACE,
ALL BETS ARE OFF
BY MICHAEL SLEZAK
Secretariat is widely considered the greatest thoroughbred of all time, and yet not even he retired undefeated. Similarly, the Emmy race for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program finally turned into less of a romp and more a
genuine horse race last year when Top Chef claimed the top prize and broke The Amazing Race’s stunning streak of
seven consecutive victories. Which shows are most likely to enter the starting gate when the Emmy Derby begins?
We handicap the likeliest contenders...
TOP CHEF ( BRAVO )
The sumptuous feast of the reality genre finally broke
Amazing Race’s seven-year stranglehold on the category with a win in 2010. And a repeat triumph isn’t inconceivable, seeing as how the franchise recently completed a creatively satisfying All-Star edition spiced
up by huge egos, daring recipes, and plenty of truly
evil challenges.
THE AMAZING RACE ( CBS )
Race has indeed been amazing, dominating its competition like a Rottweiler facing a pack of teacup
poodles – winning the Emmy every year from 2003
to 2009. Relegated to bridesmaid status in 2010, but
coming off an “Unfinished Business” installment
that starred fan favorites from prior seasons and
included breathtaking footage of China, India, Switzerland, and Brazil, a return to the winner’s circle
would be no surprise.
AMERICAN IDOL ( FOX )
After eight straight nominations with zero wins, Fox’s
ratings juggernaut is developing a reputation as the
Susan Lucci of the reality set. But after a reinvigorated
tenth season with a rebooted judges’ panel, fewer sadsack auditions, and a diverse, evenly matched talent
pool, Idol might just be ready to step up to the podium
and receive its confetti shower.
DANCING WITH THE STARS ( ABC )
Another perennial nominee (from 2006-2010) that’s
still looking for its first win, DWTS enters the race on
the strength of a season filled with controversy (judges
Bruno Tonioli and Len Goodman taking heat for offcolor comments to female dancers), wacky hijinks
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THE AWARDS EDITIONS
DEADLINE.COM
(Kirstie Alley losing a shoe; Karina Smirnoff tumbling
over Ralph Macchio’s cape), and consistently solid
dancing from an extremely likable cast.
PROJECT RUNWAY ( LIFETIME )
Thanks to Emmy voters’ obsession with The Amazing Race, the Reality Competition category is filled
with perpetual also-rans, including six-time nominee Project Runway. But for its eighth season, Lifetime’s fashion showdown got supersized, with
90-minute episodes that packed in more fashion,
more contestant treachery (wretched Ivy accusing
Michael C. of cheating), more heart (Mondo’s touching runway revelation of his HIV status), and more
hilarious bitchery from judges Nina Garcia, Michael
Kors, and Heidi Klum.
SURVIVOR ( CBS )
The granddaddy of the category hasn’t been nominated for the big prize since 2006 – despite its host,
Jeff Probst, scoring Emmy wins as a host in 2008,
2009, and 2010. The show shook up its format, adding a “Redemption Island” twist to its 22nd season,
so perhaps the old dog’s new tricks will put it back
on Emmy’s radar.
THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE ( NBC )
Donald Trump may have taken himself out of the
presidential race, but he’ll still be courting votes of the
Emmy variety for his Thunderdome of the C-list set.
Screaming Meatloaf, hissing Dionne Warwick, babbling Gary Busey, and feuding Star Jones and NeNe
Leakes all contributed to brilliantly awful guilty pleasures from a show whose plebeian mothership, The
Apprentice, scored Emmy nods back in 2004 and 2005.
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE? ( FOX )
It may not pull the ratings of its Fox sister show
Idol, but SYTYCD has a higher degree of difficulty – drawing a mass audience for a dance
competition that can’t rely on the familiarity
and fuzzy goodness of existing celebrities. Plus,
it’s really good! If you can get through a performance-and-results-show combo without reaching for the Kleenex, it’s entirely possible your
heart is made of stone.
THE VOICE ( NBC )
It may only be partway through its freshman season,
but a deceptively simple concept – the show’s A-list
judges must turn their backs to auditioning belters
and decide sight unseen, based on singing ability
alone, whether to throw their hats in the ring as potential mentor to said singer – has already proven
an important competitive point. Apparently, it’s not
an automatic suicide mission to launch a competing reality singing competition in the midst of the
American Idol season.
THE NEXT FOOD NETWORK STAR
(FOOD NETWORK)
Okay, it’s got an ice cube’s chance on a hot summer sidewalk of stealing a nomination from its
flashier competitors, but unlike so many other reality staples, TNFNS occasionally delivers on the
promise of its name – wacky idea, huh? – having
launched the careers of Guy Fieri, Adam Gertler
and Melissa d’Arabian, among others. Season 6
was no exception, as delightful champ Aarti Sequeira’s winning idea, Aarti Party, is now a Sunday morning Food Network staple.
TVLINE.COM
5/31/11 7:31:43 AM
TM & © 2011 Twentieth Century Fox Television. All Rights Reserved.
FOX TM & © 2011 Fox and its related entities. All Rights Reserved.
BILL MAHER
LAUGHS AT
EMMY’S LONGEST
LOSING STREAK
BY RAY RICHMOND
H
e has received more Primetime Emmy Award
nominations without earning a single win
than anyone else past or present in the TV
industry. Still, Bill Maher’s record losing
streak reached a frustrating 26 last year and
eclipsed even Susan Lucci who was 0-for-19
before she won, and Angela Lansbury who is still
0-for-18. But the stand-up comedian-turned-late
night talk host of Politically Incorrect (1993-2002, first
on Comedy Central and then ABC), and now HBO’s
Real Time with Bill Maher (since 2003) retains a sense
of humor about it all:
to 15 minutes of huge belly laughs and applause. I
know the difference between killing and bombing,
trust me. But I obviously offended this reviewer
personally. Now take that response and extrapolate
it to the people involved in the Emmy show who
judge Real Time vs. the other contenders. The other
thing is that different sets of people nominate you
vs. vote for the winner. The nomination is open to
the entire Academy, which consists of thousands
and thousands of your peers. A much smaller microcosm decides the trophy itself, like 10 people
comparatively. It isn’t exactly a broad consensus.
of the time, though not every year. But honestly,
I’ve done all right without it. I’m happy with the
people who follow what we do at HBO and tell me
how much they enjoy it. That means much more to
me than an Emmy. I’d never trade what people say
to me on the street for one.
DEADLINE: So at this point it’s safe to assume that
the TV Academy thinks you’re worthy of nominations
but not of wins….
BILL MAHER : Yes, I think I get it now. And
I’m really OK with it. In fact, clearly at this point,
winning would only fuck things up. I’d lose all of
my street cred.
DEADLINE: But at least you haven’t been snubbed,
either.
MAHER : Hardly. I’ve been nominated for my
shows every year they’ve been eligible since 1995.
That’s like 15 straight times Real Time and, before
that, Politically Incorrect beat out dozens and dozens
of other shows for that recognition. So that in itself is
an annual victory.
DEADLINE: So what TV do you watch, and who gets
your attention on the tube?
MAHER : I don’t know Charlie Sheen well, but I
spent a little time with him in 2009 and that guy is
completely different than the one I’ve seen now. The
fact is I’m a Libertarian who believes you should
be able to do any drug you want. But don’t get all
obnoxious and brag about it. That bothers me, the
rubbing your fame and money in people’s faces—
especially Charlie who was born on third base and
thinks he hit a triple. I put Donald Trump in that
same league of rubbing people’s noses in it. Trump
and Charlie spend far too much time talking about
how fucking fabulous they are. I’m thinking, ‘Dude,
if you were a rock star, you’d have cuter girls and
wouldn’t have to pay for them.’ My TV taste runs
more to The Office and 30 Rock. I love both of those
shows. Tina Fey is a rather amazing personality, in
many ways unprecedented. Also, it’s part of my job
to watch Fox News. They’re very good at confirming what the ill-informed believe.
DEADLINE: Seriously, why do you think the Emmy
eludes you?
MAHER : There are two things at play. One is that
you can’t be as outspoken as I am on a number of
issues and earn awards from a mainstream body
in Hollywood. For example, my stance on religion.
Right there, you probably lose the Emmy. I’ll give
you an example: a month ago, I’m doing a standup show in Dallas and my religious stuff went over
huge. Absolute gangbusters. But the review of the
show under a headline that says something like
‘Dallas Loves Maher,’ claims the religious material
bombed. This simply wasn’t true. We’re talking 10
32
THE AWARDS EDITIONS
DEADLINE.COM
DEADLINE: But Jon Stewart has won eight times
in a row….
MAHER : Listen, I’m not complaining about it. This
does not keep me up nights. I don’t sense a conspiracy
afoot. It comes down to people voting their taste, and
I’m not the taste preference of a majority. Maybe that’s
a good thing.
DEADLINE: Has losing all 26 of your Emmy nominations impacted you?
MAHER : I have to say the impact has been essentially zero. I still attend the ceremony much
DEADLINE: At this point, do you think you’ll ever
win?
MAHER : Only if there’s maybe a clerical error somewhere down the line. If I did win, I’m sure it would
spur a huge investigation.
TVLINE.COM
5/31/11 7:32:04 AM
A TALK WITH TV ACADEMY CHIEF
W
JOHN SHAFFNER
hen he leaves his post as Chairman and
CEO of the Academy of Television Arts
& Sciences following a pair of two-year
terms at the helm, John Shaffner goes out
on a high. This art director helped to forge
a new eight-year Emmy telecast wheel
deal with the four broadcast networks that brings a
license fee of at least $8.25 million annually and $66
million over the course of the pact (an increase of $6
million over the previous). Shaffner spoke about who
caused the delays to finalize the agreement, where
the Emmys go from here, and why the Emmycast’s
lukewarm ratings don’t trouble him:
DEADLINE: Congratulations on the new eight-year
Emmycast deal. It only took about nine months to negotiate. Why so long?
JOHN SHAFFNER: You know, these things just
take time to work through. When we began conversations last year, there were two new guys in there heading up entertainment at the broadcast networks: you
had Paul Lee at ABC and huge uncertainty at NBC
with Comcast coming in. The business affairs people
were all trying to answer for their bosses and ascertain
what the goals should be. Plus, there was the fact we
were trying to get this started at the beginning of the
fall season with all of that anxiety. Now we’re fourto-six weeks out and things aren’t working, and everybody’s reordering their schedules. Then you turn
around and, bam, it’s Christmas. Then everybody’s
busy reading pilot scripts.
BY RAY RICHMOND
DEADLINE: So you’re saying you couldn’t get everyone in the same room to focus on banging out a new Emmy
contract even for a day or two?
SHAFFNER : No, we couldn’t. Assembling the
leadership of the networks together just wasn’t happening. It’s not the way it was done eight or 16 or 20
years ago. It’s a new age where no one has time to set
a meeting. It’s all done on the Internet.
DEADLINE: We had heard that a sticking point in the
contract negotiations was opposition to keeping the writer
and director awards in the primetime telecast. Was that
ever on the table?
SHAFFNER :: The Hollywood Guilds have nothing to worry about. I personally would have been
opposed to any sudden proclamation changing the
way we honored members of the WGA and the
DGA. There has to be consensus, and sometimes
the most interesting thing in an Emmy program is
the acceptance speech given by a winning writer.
We’d hate to lose that. Maybe we could discuss
the way we set up the category on the show rather
than changing it out. However we do it, they will
continue on the show.
DEADLINE: But I noticed that in the announcement of
your new contract, there was a line that read, ‘For the subsequent seven years of the agreement, the designated network
broadcasting the Primetime Emmys and the Academy will
give due consideration to reviewing the award categories
and the manner of presentation of awards, taking into account the interests of various constituencies of the Academy.’ Doesn’t that basically say the telecast could undergo
radical changes with each passing year?
SHAFFNER : What our agreement says, first off, is
that we decided not to mess with it at all this first
year. Let’s breathe. What that other line means is,
we wanted to indicate in writing that there would
be a continuing conversation annually about how to
make the best telecast, without committing to having
to do anything.
DEADLINE: But it says you’re also open to the possibility of a major overhaul.
SHAFFNER : Yes. But one of the great things about
this institution is we have discussions to keep the lemmings from jumping off the cliff. There will be no rush
to judgment. Do you know what the market research
tells us? That one of the things the audience likes best
is the ‘In Memoriam’ sequence. We figured that was
the time everyone ran to the bathroom. But we were
wrong. Everyone’s glued to the TV. That serves as a
reminder that the meat and potatoes of the telecast is
very important to people. It can’t all just be frosting.
DEADLINE: Is there fear that it would diminish the stature of the Emmys if they are telecast on a cable network?
SHAFFNER : There’s all this talk about the demise of the TV audience, and how it’s all getting
fractured into a million pieces. But the bigger
pieces are still at the networks. And the potential for aggregating the largest audience still lies
with the networks. They have a great promotional
platform. And with their penchant for appointment TV, we have a chance to connect in a way
you don’t have with most cable programming. For
a live TV event, the broadcast networks are still
the Olympics, still the Oscars, still the Grammys.
They’re still where it’s at.
DEADLINE: But the Emmycast still has ratings issues even on the broadcast networks. How much does
that concern you?
SHAFFNER : Either the Emmys air in late summer, August, when most people are still at the beach
at 8 p.m. and the [Homes Using Television] levels
are at their lowest levels of the year. Or, they air on
a Sunday night in September, as is the case this year,
opposite a football game on NBC. So guess what?
That time period is always going to be seriously
challenged. Pro football isn’t going to shut down for
the night because of the Emmys. We can’t do anything about the audience level. It is what it is. So our
challenge is to worry less about the numbers and
worry more about putting on a good show—and
stop making ourselves crazy. I hope I don’t wind up
having to eat my words.
DEADLINE: What can the TV Academy do to make the
show less boring?
SHAFFNER : Our first priority is always to put on
the best show we can. That’s why we were so thrilled
to land Mark Burnett as our producer this time. He’s
one of those at the forefront of creativity in the medium, and he has a million ideas this time. He’s excited
about the opportunity.
DEADLINE: What do you see as your biggest challenge
for the Emmys going forward?
SHAFFNER : As far as the telecast is concerned, it’s
really to somehow engage viewers by those who are
honored in an exciting way—what their passion is and
where it comes from. We need the winners to convey
why they care about this work. As much as we respect
the stream of thank yous to individuals, we need them
to give us some insight into their soul as well.
DEADLINE: Do the Emmys need to change, even
change radically, for that to happen?
SHAFFNER : I don’t think so. It isn’t that we have to
keep doing things the same way we’ve always done it.
But we should keep doing things that work the same
way we’ve always done it. The thing I’m most fearful
of is dropping in non-organic material just for the sake
of change, and having people ask, ‘Why is that here?’.
You probably shouldn’t make room for something that
changes the experience if it doesn’t make it better than
what you’ve already got.
DEADLINE.COM
TVLINE.COM
THE AWARDS EDITIONS
33
5/31/11 7:32:24 AM
EMMY IS KIDS’ STUFF
TO SHOWRUNNER
MATT DEARBORN
OF ZEKE & LUTHER
M
att Dearborn is co-creator and showrunner
(with Tom Burkhard) of the comedy series
Zeke & Luther, targeting young males ages
six-14. While Disney XD’s audience is minuscule compared to the networks’, insiders are saying that this show following the adventures
of two goofy teenage guys obsessed with becoming
world-class skateboarders is an Emmy contender for
Outstanding Children’s Program. Dearborn, who also
created the Emmy-nominated hit Even Stevens, talks
about his backdoor entry into TV writing, working for
Disney, and how to think like a kid:
DEADLINE: What sets Zeke & Luther apart from
other children’s TV at Emmy time?
MATT DEARBORN: Because we are the only show
in the kids’ space that is executing such a high level
of physical comedy. Two people talking to each other
might play in primetime, but unless somebody’s going to pick up a banana and hit the two guys talking
over the head with it, it doesn’t work for my audience. And I'm not just talking about an onslaught of
spit takes, although our demographic never grows
tired of that. In our episode submission “Zeke's Last
Ride,” we tell a simple story about how Zeke copes
with a career-threatening injury, and how his best
friend Luther drives him nuts trying to be his nursemaid. Along the way we send our leads flying off 30foot ramps. We're not a stage-bound sitcom, and our
audience likes the difference. Maybe the academy
will recognize that difference too.
DEADLINE: This is the show’s final season. Why is a
successful show going off the air?
DEARBORN : It’s pretty common for kids’ shows.
The stars grow out of it. Hutch Dano and Adam Hicks
are now over six feet tall.
DEADLINE: How did you get into the TV business?
DEARBORN : I grew up in Marin County, and I always had low expectations for myself. At my high
school graduation they were asking us to fill out
where we hoped to be in 10 years, and everybody
wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer, but I wanted to be
a doorman at a hotel. I was attracted to the simplicity
and the commerce that surrounded being a doorman
at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel: you wear a great uniform, you open the door for somebody, and they hand
you a buck. But, when I was a kid, I had an obsession
with standup comics—but secretly. I never told anyone. In the mid-1980s, I was driving prop trucks for a
lot of Los Angeles commercial and music videos and
worked my way up; I was an art director for half a
34
THE AWARDS EDITIONS
DEADLINE.COM
dozen music videos. I met Karl Schaefer, a USC film
school grad, who hired me to drive a camera truck on
a low-budget movie, and out of the blue he said, ‘You
should be a writer.’ Then when he later got a show on
CBS, he had me write some audition scenes when they
were casting their pilot and he put me on staff. It was
a very quick way to jump into the world of writing.
DEADLINE: How did you learn how to write TV
scripts?
DEARBORN : While I was still driving trucks, I
got Syd Field’s The Foundations of Screenwriting. As
a craftsman, I understood that a screenplay would
have a structure to it. One time I was driving a truck
to Boise, and I sent my first script to The New Alfred
Hitchcock Presents in 1986. I was thinking what was
the worst revenge you could exact on somebody, and
I thought of a woman who tattoos a murder confession on a guy’s face. I called the secretary of the production company and she said:‘We don’t take submissions.’ But I just begged her to read it, and she
liked it enough to pass it on to her boss. But I still
didn’t understand the realities of the budget, stuff
like that. It didn’t occur to me why it wasn’t good to
do a helicopter shot on the Paris skyline.
DEADLINE: What happened after that?
DEARBORN : I started working hour dramas, teen
dramas—TV 101, Beverly Hills 90210, The Heights.
Then, in 1995, I got asked to work on the Nickelodeon
series The Secret World of Alex Mack. Then Even Stevens, and I am one of the 37 people who take credit
for launching Shia LeBoeuf. He would have made it
to the top anyway.
DEADLINE: You write for kids’ shows. Do you have
kids?
DEARBORN : I was a single dad: I raised my
daughter in Los Angeles from about second grade
through high school. Now she’s got a kid of her
own. But I also have a kid’s sensibility. It’s who I
am—spilling stuff, falling.
DEADLINE: Does it help you write the shows?
DEARBORN : In Zeke & Luther we have no parents—
you don’t see them, you don’t hear about them. We
are trying to re-create a childhood that’s about being
outside, and making your own rules, as opposed to a
parent walking in and asking if your room is clean and
your homework done. We don’t have any of that stuff.
We don’t have a high school principal or teacher. Usually you need those parental figures to relay the stakes
in a story. We let the boys find the stakes themselves.
DEADLINE: Do you trust your instincts about what
kids want to see, or do you research?
DEARBORN: We just figured it out. Disney is big on
testing. And when you are watching those test audiences, every time the kid gets clotheslined by that real
estate sign, they sit up and grin. You get into a twopage dialogue scene, and they’re fidgeting. Boys need
to see things fall down, they need to see people get
hurt (but not too hurt), they need goo, they need sort
of raunchier humor. Girls have a little more patience in
the broadest general sense. They like to listen to witty
banter, and they like to hear about the relationships.
That’s why our scenes are only a page at the most, and
that’s why something hits the floor every scene.
DEADLINE: What’s it like doing a kids’ show for Disney?
DEARBORN: I would say they are very involved,
they are very particular. But it’s their deal, you know?
I’ve worked worse places, for sure. These executives
that I’m working with, I find that they think like writers for the most part. When they have a story problem,
they’re not wrong. They can usually sniff it out.
DEADLINE: Are you and Tom equal partners in running the show?
DEARBORN: He’s the funniest writer I’ve ever
met. We have very similar sensibilities, just in terms
of our absurdist view of childhood. The success of
Zeke & Luther is equally shared between me and Tom.
We are not a team; we are two guys who were teamed
together for this show. I’ve run four other shows. If
you keep doing a good job and you get old enough
and you don’t move out of town, eventually they’ll
ask you to run a show.
DEADLINE: What’s your favorite TV?
DEARBORN: I like Mad Men; and I like Lockup
Raw, a reality show; and I like Family Guy; and I
sample everything.
TVLINE.COM
5/31/11 7:32:47 AM
CONGRATU TI
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NGEVENTS:
SEPTEMBER
NOVEMBER
GLEE COSTUME DESIGNER
LOU EYRICH’S
LAST-MINUTE SWITCHEROO
BY ELIZABETH SNEAD
C
hoosing one episode to represent a costume designer’s work from an entire season for a Creative Emmy nomination is often a nerve-wracking,
nail-biting, judgment call. Take Glee costume designer Lou Eyrich, who
was initially leaning toward “The Substitute,” the episode that introduced Gwyneth Paltrow as a temp teacher in Fox’s hit musical series.
“Because it shows the broadest range of all our kids and it breaks them down
so you see what they are like character-wise,” Eyrich initially told Deadline just
four days before the Creative Emmy submission deadline. She was especially
fond of the scene in which Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) has a fever and
hallucinates that his students are identically-attired toddlers. And there’s also
Gwyneth Paltrow’s and Lea Michele’s Chicago number, plus the mash-up of
“Singin’ in the Rain” and Rihanna’s “Umbrella.”
But after Eyrich started shooting the season finale in New York, she changed
her mind—now her submission is that episode, just in time for the April 29th deadline. “It was just so fresh, different, and fun for me. We popped all the color, and
there was such excitement from the adrenaline of shooting there. Ryan Murphy
loved what the kids were wearing. He and the director were really excited, and
some photos even ended up in People magazine. Another reason I chose it was
36
THE AWARDS EDITIONS
DEADLINE.COM
that we had just one day to dress, fit, and alter everything and get it boxed up by
midnight and sent overnight to New York. So it was one of the most challenging
episodes. And we pulled it off.”
Emmy-nominated for Glee last season and for Nip/Tuck in 2005-2006, Eyrich believes her most memorable fashion moments in the season finale this
year consist of: Rachel (Lea Michele) in a Mary Tyler Moore-ish brightly-colored, striped vintage jacket (rented from a costume house), a beret (Hollywood
Hatters), and bright yellow shoes (bought at Anthropologie) with cinnamoncolored tights; another Lea look: vintage dress, capelet and gloves, that were
very Audrey Hepburn and Doris Day, for a Big Apple date with Finn (Cory
Monteith); and the different sets of costumes for three show choirs: the New
Directions, Vocal Adrenaline, and an a capella group.
Even so, why not choose the episodes everybody was talking about: the
buzzed-about kink of the “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” or the wow factor of the
extravagant “Britney Brittany”? “We were inspired by the original costumes of the
Rocky Horror movie,” explains Eyrich. “I didn’t get to create the costumes. Same
with ‘Britney,’ I don’t feel I created those costumes. I was just paying homage to
someone else who created the costumes.”
TVLINE.COM
5/31/11 7:33:06 AM
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED PROGRAM
“smart, sick and appallingly hilarious”
—Matt Roush, TV GUIDE MAGAZINE
“bawdy, brilliant and double-o-riginal”
“consistently hilarious”
—David Hinckley, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
“hits the comedy bull’s-eye with smart,
provocative writing”
—Rob Owen, PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE
“brilliant”
—Neal Justin, MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE
“the best animated cable series”
—Walt Belcher, THE TAMPA TRIBUNE
“one of television’s top guilty pleasures”
—Mike Hale, THE NEW YORK TIMES
“scorchingly funny”
—Verne Gay, NEWSDAY
“pee-in-your-pants hilarious”
—Glenn Garvin, THE MIAMI HERALD
“hilarious….I loved the show”
—Alan Sepinwall, HITFIX.COM
“Our favorite agent is back, still superbly
voiced by H. Jon Benjamin and still as
caddish as ever”
—Robert Bianco, USA TODAY
“the humor is dry as a martini and it
features great voice work from H. Jon
Benjamin, Aisha Tyler, Jessica Walter
and Judy Greer”
—Doug Knoop, SEATTLE TIMES
“a great voice cast including Jessica
Walter, Chris Parnell, and H. Jon
Benjamin”
—Matthew Gilbert, THE BOSTON GLOBE
“Jon Benjamin…he’s a kind of comic
Everyman, with an infinitely adaptable
and reliable natural voice. Still, it
isn’t that sonic gift that defines him.
It’s his comic timing and talent for
improvising, and his strict avoidance
of anything disingenuous”
—Jake Coyle, ASSOCIATED PRESS
“one of the best voice casts on
television…the incredible H. Jon
Benjamin…stellar cast”
—Tim Goodman, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
FORYOUREMMY®CONSIDERATIONINALLCATEGORIES
©2011 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. HBO® and related channels and service marks are the property of Home Box Office, Inc.
®
“…TRIUMPHS...
manic frivolity and
PITCH-PERFECTTINSELTOWN
VERISIMILITUDE…”
—THEWASHINGTONPOSTCOM
for your consideration

a great voice cast including Jessica Walter, Chris Parnell, and H

Transcription

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