It isn’t often that costumes get a direct shout-out in a TV show title. But then there’s Fox’s “The Masked Singer,” a singing competition series in which contestants all wore mascot-sized creature costumes, including full headpieces, to disguise themselves in front of a panel of judges.“Singer” became broadcast’s biggest mid-season hit. So all due credit
Awards
Sets crafted for television have not traditionally been known for their glamour, says “Fosse/Verdon” (FX) production designer Alex DiGerlando.“TV was always about characters interacting, and sets were something to fill the background,” he notes. “You got close-up and medium shots and you needed some kind of background to make it feel not random. To ground
For many years, true cinematic darkness — the indispensable bass note of any cinematographer’s melody — was a struggle to achieve on television screens. Limitations in capture, transmission and display have been overcome in no small part due to the stubborn vision of directors of photography including Roy Wagner (“Quantum Leap,” “Beauty and the Beast”),
May 29, 2019 12:21PM PT Add MTV to the list of outlets severing ties with actor Jason Mitchell. “The Chi” star will no longer be among the nominees for “Best Performance in a Show” at this year’s MTV Movie & TV Awards. “In light of recent developments, we have removed Jason Mitchell as a nominee,”
From sitcoms to family dramas, TV has always explored fatherhood. But many recent depictions, across genres, are challenging traditional ideas of the nuclear family and redefining what it means to be a dad. From Pray Tell (Billy Porter) on “Pose” to Brad Wolgast (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) on “The Passage,” biology is not the most important factor
The richer the world a character inhabits, the more material actors have to help inform those characters. From highly stylized shot design to specific time periods that beget unique costumes and hair/makeup design, production elements help craft captivating leading man performances across genres. “Homecoming’s” Stephan James, who portrayed a soldier back from war but enrolled
Intimacy coordinator Alicia Rodis (“The Deuce,” “Crashing”) was working on a short film as a stunt coordinator when she first noticed the need to create protocols for physically intimate scenes, as the industry had for physically violent ones. Joining forces with Tonia Sina and Siobhan Richardson, Rodis co-founded Intimacy Directors International (IDI) in 2015. Since
“Vida” creator and showrunner Tanya Saracho moves offices with every step of the production process in order to be as close to the action as possible. With each move, from the writers’ office to CBS-Radford during filming, to the post house, she brings all the same furniture and personal items with her to create a
In ancient Greece, the masks worn by actors and chorus, signifying comedy or tragedy, made it crystal clear to audiences what was transpiring on stage. Some 2,500 years later, the line between comedy and drama is far more blurred, as evidenced by roles inhabited by countless Emmy contenders. Bill Hader may be best known as
Angel Dumott Schunard’s swan song in “Rent” is the double-entendre infused “Contact,” a high-concept number that features the whole company. The song begins seemingly just as a representation of the various couples’ sex lives but soon turns into a heartbreaking solo as Angel enters a fever dream and then dies of complications from HIV/AIDS. Jonathan
Richard Preston’s 1994 book “The Hot Zone” reflects on the origins of Ebola and the 1980s outbreak that saw the fatal disease hit U.S. soil, and follows the journeys of many individuals who were touched by it at the time. But Brian Peterson and Kelly Souders’ limited series adaptation honed in more specifically on one
For his role as the real-life Lyle Mitchell, husband to the woman who helped two Clinton Correctional Facility, N.Y., inmates escape in Showtime’s limited series “Escape at Dannemora,” Eric Lange gained 40 pounds and wore a wig and a set of fake teeth. The physical transformation helped him get inside the mind of the man
As the volume of original scripted series has continued to grow, the number of central characters, often embodied by big name talent, has increased as well. This is causing an influx of co-stars seeing their names alongside each other’s on the lead acting nomination ballots at the Emmys. “The volume of original programming now and
Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” may have finally found a way to get its correspondents some Emmy love. In a first, the late-night show is submitting its team of on-air contributors in the comedy guest actor and guest actress categories. Competing for a nomination in the outstanding guest actor in a comedy
Starz is shaking up its Emmy campaign plans, partnering with the Westfield Century City mall to create a pop-up “For Your Consideration” activation next month. The event, dubbed “Starz FYC: Creativity, Culture, Conversations,” will include an immersive installation showcasing some of the behind-the-scenes crafts on series such as “Power,” “American Gods,” “Vida” and “Outlander,” as
Ellen DeGeneres isn’t ready to throw her support behind a single Democratic presidential candidate to face off with Donald Trump, but she hints that she may be leaning toward one. DeGeneres told Variety that although she remains mostly apolitical on her talk show and in her standup, she’ll definitely be involved in the 2020 campaign.
Emmy: The final frontier. These are the voyages of the awards campaign trail, and CBS All Access will seek out new voters this month at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills. The streamer and CBS Television Studios have launched a new “For Your Consideration” exhibit at the Paley Center for “Star Trek: Discovery,”
Code blue: “General Hospital” was the evening’s big winner at the Daytime Emmy Awards, with five awards, followed by “The Young and the Restless,” with three, and culinary series “Valerie’s Home Cooking” with two. Syndicated series led the night with seven wins overall, followed by ABC and CBS with five each. “CBS Sunday Morning” won
It’s go time: Tony season officially kicks off bright and early tomorrow morning (8:30 a.m. ET) when “Hamilton” alum Brandon Victor Dixon and two-time Tony winner Bebe Neuwirth take to the podium at the Library of the Performing Arts in Manhattan to announce the nominations for the 2019 Tony Awards. Here are all of our
A year after an awards debacle rocked the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) and nearly took down the Daytime Emmys, the organization has instituted new rules that officials hope have made this year’s proceedings fairer. One major one was to stop the practice of posting acting reel submissions from some key categories
There are no boundaries — besides imagination — in “The Twilight Zone.” But there are when it comes to “The Twilight Zone” in the Emmy race. The CBS All Access anthology series will compete in the drama categories, including outstanding drama series, per a ruling by the Television Academy. In making the decision, the Academy
Donald Glover will be an Emmy contender this year after all. With “Atlanta” on hiatus, the superstar wasn’t expected to be in the running for an award in 2019 — until Amazon grabbed the rights to “Guava Island,” the musical film he shot with Rihanna. Because “Guava Island” will premiere on Amazon Prime Video first,
After competing at the Primetime Emmys for seven years as a limited series, FX’s “American Horror Story” has been shifted to the outstanding drama categories. The Television Academy announced its ruling on Tuesday, also announcing that two other series that previously entered as limited series, USA’s “The Sinner” and Netflix’s “American Vandal,” would also now
“The Handmaid’s Tale” isn’t sitting this Emmy season out after all. Although the Hulu drama won’t return for Season 3 until June — making the series itself ineligible for Emmy contention this year — a few leftover episodes from Season 2 will still be up for consideration. Because the final three episodes of Season 2
Amazon Prime Video is returning to the Hollywood Athletic Club for its annual Emmy for Your Consideration activation — and once again, it’s also opening the space up to fans as well. The “Prime Experience FYC” displays and events, which run from April 12 to May 5, focus on promoting the streaming service’s Emmy contenders,
Apple won’t be entering the Emmy race this year — but get ready for 2020. The tech giant’s not-so-surprise launch of its new Apple TV+ video service on Monday included a hefty roster of top producing and acting talent that will immediately make the service an awards contender when it launches in the fall. That
As Showtime prepares its Emmy submissions for 2019, one of its contenders is a bit of an outlier: Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Who Is America?” The seven-episode series, which premiered last July, mixes elements of comedy, satire, sketch, reality, talk and variety — making it the kind of hybrid that could be entered in several categories.
Television historians may well remember 2013 as the year that everything changed — and that goes for the Emmy Awards as well. That year, Netflix’s “House of Cards” won three trophies, including one for director David Fincher, making it the first streaming series to win an Emmy. The dam had broken. Netflix earned 14 nominations
While Hollywood debates the merits of “Green Book” as this year’s best picture Oscar winner, the rest of America is still discussing Sunday night’s showstopping number from Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. The “A Star Is Born” duo performed “Shallow” midway through the Academy Awards, and it was one of the night’s most buzzed-about highlights.
In the end, Oscar watchers and industry members all seemed relieved that all the categories were handed out on air, reversing the Academy’s original plan to present some categories during commercials. Recipients of the Academy Awards for cinematography, editing, make-up and hairstyling, and live-action shorts all got their time in the spotlight on Sunday night’s