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The Hollywood Reporter|Emmy Special Issue 20B June 2019Does It Matter How a Show Ends?Many high-profile TV series came to an end this past season — among them, CBS’ The Big Bang Theory; The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Jane the Virgin; Netflix’s House of Cards and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; and Amazon’s Catastrophe and Fleabag. But none left a bigger Emmy footprint during their runs than HBO’s two stalwarts: Game of Thrones, which has scored 128 nominations, more than any other scripted show in history, and 47 wins; and Veep, which saw Julia Louis-Dreyfus win the Emmy for best actress in a comedy in all six of its previous seasons. Most strikingly, both shows won the series Emmys in each of their past three seasons.Now the question is, will one or both go out with a four-peat?Thrones’ final season — and, in particular, its series…4 min
The Hollywood Reporter|Emmy Special Issue 20B June 2019‘I DID IT TO GIVETHEM A VOICE’It was sort of hard to resist,” says Adam McKay, 51, when THR asks him what brought him to working in television. Known for crowd-pleasing comedies like Anchorman and critically acclaimed movies like Vice, McKay stepped onto the small screen first with Eastbound & Down — and followed that up with the pilot of HBO’s breakout hit Succession, which he also executive produces. “Especially in the last 10 or 15 years,” he elaborates, “when you see TV go more toward a film style but still have that larger narrative arc.”And he’s not the only one who’s been wooed by Peak TV. For THR’s first-ever TV Director Roundtable, McKay was joined by some of Hollywood’s most high-profile helmers, including Ava DuVernay, 46 (Netflix’s When They See Us); Patty Jenkins, 47 (TNT’s…6 min
The Hollywood Reporter|Emmy Special Issue 20B June 2019Hey, Watch It! I’m Directing Here!JULIE BOWEN, MODERN FAMILYClaire Dunphy has done her fair share of bossing her kids around (or at least trying to) on Modern Family. But 10 seasons into the ABC sitcom, Bowen became the first main castmember to direct an episode of the series and tell her co-stars, not to mention herself, where to go and what to do from behind the camera. Episode 16, “Red Alert,” was her directorial debut.JASON BATEMAN, OZARKBateman introduced the world to the twisted way of life of in the Ozarks via his onscreen portrayal of Marty Byrde. He also directed the pilot and has since directed five episodes of the Netflix drama, including two in season two.NATASHA LYONNE, RUSSIAN DOLLNot only is she a co-creator, EP and the star (as Nadia) of Netflix’s answer to…1 min
The Hollywood Reporter|Emmy Special Issue 20B June 2019‘I DIDN’T HAVE TO TONE IT DOWN ON THIS SHOW’Why do you think The Masked Singer made such a splash?Internationally, I think people were taking huge chances on shows like this. But in America, we got stuck with the pretty mundane, run-of-the-mill singing competition shows. The fact that this one had some spectacular and zany component, it was actually able to really break through.What do you think clicked with audiences?It’s the spectacular costumes. It’s the fun and being able to be a little risque and cheeky with the format without taking itself too seriously.You have plenty of hosting experience, but what did you learn from this show?It was a constant reminder to only do things that bring a smile, ultimately, to myself and to others. I’ve hosted so many things, and some of those can just be paint-by-number, read-the-teleprompter…2 min
The Hollywood Reporter|Emmy Special Issue 20B June 2019Insecure Explores ‘How Easy It Is to Obsess’It’s pretty common for a cast to say that they enjoy spending time together, but it’s obvious that it’s true when it comes to the tight-knit group who star on HBO’s Insecure.Indeed, during THR’s June 9, 2018, visit to the L.A. set for the third season’s seventh episode, “Obsessed-Like,” the actors were so game to hang out that two of them — Kendrick Sampson and Sarunas J. Jackson — stopped by even though they weren’t shooting any scenes that day.That Saturday was also the second-to-last day of production. (Episode eight, the finale, had been filmed first to accommodate director Regina King’s schedule.) “We had two days left, so everybody was relaxed, having a great time,” recalls showrunner and executive producer Prentice Penny.Director Kevin Bray, who has helmed five Insecure episodes,…6 min
The Hollywood Reporter|Emmy Special Issue 20B June 2019Dropping in for Some DramaIke BarinholtzBrooklyn Nine-Nine NBCMY TOP TAKEAWAY“There’s two things. One, in a greater sense, it made me miss The Mindy Project a lot and made me kind of remind myself, ‘Oh yeah, if you’re doing a comedy television show, that’s kind of the best job in the world because you truly get to laugh and try to make people laugh for a living — they pay you for it.’ And they paid me, the check cleared. So it really just kind of made me nostalgic and happy and made me think, ‘Oh yeah, I have to do a TV comedy again because it’s just great work.’ And then literally something I took away from it was [showrunner] Dan Goor sent me — my character Gintars is selling knockoff Gap clothing, he…11 min
The Hollywood Reporter|Emmy Special Issue 20B June 2019‘EVERY SHOW HAS ITS OWN LEARNING CURVE’Working on a film, a director can be tied to one story for years. But in television, directors often hop from project to project in the span of months, moves that require an adaptability that comes more naturally when you join a world you did not create.“Every show is a little different, and the prep changes depending on the style of the show,” says Beth McCarthy-Miller, a veteran Saturday Night Live helmer whose more recent credits include directing popular series including Modern Family, Veep and 30 Rock. “Modern Family and Veep have more of a documentary-style shoot — you don’t have traditional single-camera coverage.”But even if the style of shooting is similar, there are often differences in the way the actors approach their work with directors. Modern Family, McCarthy-Miller says,…5 min
The Hollywood Reporter|Emmy Special Issue 20B June 2019Shadows’ Second LifeBefore he’d helmed a giant Marvel movie and become one of the most in-demand directors in Hollywood, Taika Waititi co-wrote and co-directed a 2005 short called What We Do in the Shadows. That mockumentary went on to become a 2014 feature that put Waititi and collaborator Jemaine Clement on the map (they co-wrote, co-directed and starred in the feature). Now, five years later, their strange vampire universe is the setting for an FX comedy, and though Waititi and Clement don’t star, their humor and tone are all over the show (they each helmed three episodes and serve as executive producers). The New Zealand-born Waititi, 43, spoke to THR about bringing back his vampire world, how he directed that star-studded episode and what’s next for the show.The movie came out in…4 min
The Hollywood Reporter|Emmy Special Issue 20B June 2019‘I Believe in the Power of Tidying’It turns out that Mary Poppins is real, Japanese and goes by the name Marie Kondo. The 34-year-old “organizing consultant” is the star of Netflix’s reality show Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, a program on which she swoops into messy American households and helps people to turn their lives around by applying her KonMari Method of tidying. The show’s eight-episode first season dropped on Netflix on New Year’s Day and quickly transformed Kondo, already a best-selling author, into an international star. Here, she reflects (via translator) on why her series — which is in the running for the outstanding structured reality program Emmy — has “sparked joy” in so many lives.At what point did you decide to make tidying your profession?I worked for two years at a staffing company as…4 min
The Hollywood Reporter|Emmy Special Issue 20B June 2019In ’12, Stephen Hawking Guested on Big Bang TheoryIn the long history of TV guest stars, there was never a cameo by someone smarter than Stephen Hawking. And the physicist did quite a few of them. In 1993, he appeared on a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode playing poker with Data, Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton. (Hawking, holding four sevens, crushes Einstein.) As an animated character, he did four episodes of The Simpsons (the program he called “the best show on American television”) and in one decides to steal Homer’s “donut-shaped universe” idea. After his death in 2018 at 76, The Hollywood Reporter quoted showrunner Al Jean as saying the only limitation Hawking placed on his appearance was “he did not want to be drunk onscreen. That was the only note we got from him. He didn’t…2 min
The Hollywood Reporter|Emmy Special Issue 20B June 2019From Olympian to Kidding ActressOn Showtime’s Kidding, as TV star and puppeteer Mr. Pickles (Jim Carrey) begins to unravel from the effects of suppressed grief, his family and colleagues devise a plan to keep their beloved children’s brand running without him. In steps Tara Lipinski to save the day.The gold medal-winning ice skater and NBC Sports commentator plays herself — albeit, a version who chain smokes, has a rivalry with her younger sister and a pet bird named Tarakeet — through several episodes of the comedy’s first season. She teams with Carrey’s character for a bigbudget touring show called Pickles on Ice, even donning a giant head in the likeness of Mr. Pickles.The 36-year-old Lipinski, who has acted on shows before (including Are You Afraid of the Dark?, 7th Heaven and Malcolm in the…4 min
The Hollywood Reporter|Emmy Special Issue 20B June 2019Sarah Paulson Takes ControlOfficially, the Oct. 17 episode of American Horror Story: Apocalypse, “Return to Murder House,” marked Sarah Paulson’s directing debut. But she’s been telling people what to do on a set for a long time. “I’d put on all these plays as a kid, and I’d not only insist on playing all the parts but also on telling everyone else who was in it what to do and where to stand and how to play it and what time we were starting,” says Paulson, 44, with a laugh. “So all this has been percolating from a very young age.”Still, it took acting on the first seven seasons of the FX series for the star (who has five Emmy nominations for AHS, along with her 2016 win for The People v. O.J.…6 min
The Hollywood Reporter|Emmy Special Issue 20B June 2019New Kids Heat Up the CompetitionMillion Dollar Mile (CBS)Premiere March 27What’s at stake Everyday runners must overcome obstacles to win up to $1 million at the end of the “Million Dollar Mile,” a race through Los Angeles. However, they are chased by elite athletes whose only objective is to stop them from making it to the end.Origins LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s SpringHill Entertainment produced with Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan.Hosts Former NFL player and current minor-league baseball player Tim Tebow, L.A. Chargers play-by-play man Matt “Money” Smith and ESPN reporter Maria TaylorRatings CBS moved the show from Wednesday nights to Saturdays after two episodes of lackluster ratings that included a 1.0 debut in the 18-to-49 demographic and 4.1 million viewers. Two weeks later, the series was pulled with six episodes left to air.Winner Most…4 min
The Hollywood Reporter|Emmy Special Issue 20B June 2019BALLAD BATTLING AND BIZ DEVELOPINGShark Tank (ABC)The 10-year-old competition for aspiring entrepreneurs (judges include Lori Greiner, above) has 12 noms and won from 2014-17. It was unseated in 2018 by Queer Eye.Queer Eye (Netflix)The third season of the breakout revival saw the Fab Five help guide a pair of BBQing sisters, a camp director and a prison guard to more fabulous versions of themselves.Lip Sync Battle (Paramount Network)A Mariah Carey tribute featuring Jermaine Dupri and Darren Criss (above, with Carey) and a couple sing-off with Brooklyn Decker and Andy Roddick were highlights of the fifth season.KONDO: DENISE CREW/NETFLIX (4). SHARK: ABC/ERIC MCCANDLESS. EYE: CHRISTOPHER SMITH/NETFLIX. BATTLE: TRAE PATTON/PARAMOUNT NETWORK.…1 min
