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The Gold Standard: Actors in drama series |
"Homeland" swept the two lead acting drama categories last year. Could another first-year series be poised to duplicate the feat? Let's look at the four drama acting races to see if it might be in the cards.
LEAD ACTOR, DRAMA
Kevin Spacey, "House of Cards"
Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"
Damian Lewis, "Homeland"
Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
Jeff Daniels, "The Newsroom"
Steve Buscemi, "Boardwalk Empire"
Prime contenders: Hugh Bonneville, "Downton Abbey"; Timothy Olyphant, "Justified"; Kevin Bacon, "The Following"; Matthew Rhys, "The Americans"; Andrew Lincoln, "The Walking Dead"; Michael C. Hall, "Dexter"
Bubbling under: Aden Young, "Rectify"; Jonny Lee Miller, "Elementary"; William H. Macy, "Shameless"; Jeremy Irons, "The Borgias"; Jeremy Piven, "Mr. Selfridge"; Tom Selleck, "Blue Bloods"; Gabriel Byrne, "Vikings"; Travis Fimmel, "Vikings"
For your consideration: Timothy Olyphant, "Justified." If a series regular hasn't been nominated by the show's fourth season, odds...
How shows like 'Mad Men,' 'Vikings' deal with less progressive pasts |
When Ato Essandoh was offered the role of an African American doctor in Civil War-era New York City for BBC America's "Copper," he almost did a double-take. "My first thing was I had to look it up," he says. "Lots of people didn't really think there could have been an African American doctor in existence back then."
There were a handful, and Essandoh was reassured that his Dr. Freeman character was based in reality and not some kind of magical modern thinking imposed on a less-culturally sensitive past. But he's not alone in wondering if some characters in historically based TV series are too good to be true. Based on many current series, inhabitants of previous decades and centuries were seriously more progressive than previously understood.
Almost to a woman, female characters fight for equality ("Downton Abbey") and prenatal care ("Boardwalk Empire"), men labor happily alongside female warriors ("Vikings") and bosses ("Mad Men") and good guys are always civil if not friendly to...
Among 'Walking Dead' zombies, Andrew Lincoln brings emotional heft |
As lean, haunted lawman Rick Grimes, the character at the center of the apocalyptic horrors that unspool on AMC's "The Walking Dead," Andrew Lincoln has been tasked with embodying the tormented hero, the wounded husband, the emotionally unavailable father aspiring to do better by his young son, sometimes in the course of a single episode.
In the show's third season, grief brought Rick to his knees. The character who had made grave sacrifices to protect and lead a small band of survivors ultimately failed to save his wife, Lori, and when he learns of her death, he collapses in agony.
"When she went, I said, 'He has to fall,'" Lincoln explained. "You've got to see the man that's been so strong for three years fall, gone. It was just too much for him to bear."
TIMELINE: Emmy winners through the years
Lincoln has been doing great work on "The Walking Dead" since the show premiered in 2010, but it was his performance in that specific scene that immediately sparked serious talk of an Emmy...
Monica Potter's close call with her 'Parenthood' cancer story |
Monica Potter, who plays Kristina Braverman on NBC's sleeper hit "Parenthood" (just renewed for a fifth season), had an emotional story about breast cancer this past season that had multitudes of fans clinging to boxes of Kleenex. And while it's not new territory for television (Kim Catrall on "Sex and the City" and Candice Bergen in "Murphy Brown" came before), it was nonetheless a journey of discovery for Kristina — and Potter herself. "I now know so much better what so many other women have the courage to go through," Potter says.
You recently had a little bit of a scare of your own?
I went for my first mammogram about a year ago. I noticed it was taking extra long to get it done, and the technician was redoing and redoing it. I was told, "I want you to come back. We see something here. We don't know what it is." Because they weren't able to compare it with anything that they had on file, it ended up that it's probably just a cyst, so now I go twice a year to keep an eye on...
Some timely intel on 'Homeland' |
Brody's gone off the grid and, jokes "Homeland" show runner Alex Gansa, he's either sporting a serious lumberjack beard right now or has "shaved his head completely." Meanwhile, Saul is the agency's senior guy, and Carrie's love for her man will be put on the back burner by necessity.
Some thoughts on "Homeland's" upcoming season by way of Gansa:
How Season 3 won't open:
"Exonerating Brody will be in the back of Carrie's mind, but as you will see when you tune in to the first couple of episodes, that is not the narrative engine that takes us through the first half of the season. It's there; she hopes to clear Brody at some point. But there's a whole lot more going on in her life than that."
STORY: 'Homeland' plots a course not all ready to follow
Does that mean we'll be seeing less of Brody?
"Perhaps not as much as we have. You have to understand where he is. He is the most wanted man on the planet. By definition, he's going to be hiding somewhere. And if he's hiding, that limits what...
'Homeland' plots a course not all ready to follow |
In its first season, "Homeland" hinged on the premise that Marine Sgt. Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) had been turned while held captive by Al Qaeda and, now back in the States, was planning a terrorist attack. Nobody believed that war hero Brody would be capable of such a betrayal, save for bipolar CIA officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes).
Brody's plan depended on his partnership with another turned Marine, Tom Walker, a plot point, it turns out, that producers Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon never liked and, to this day, would rework if given the chance — provided they could come up with something a little more plausible.
"The idea that two Marines were turned ... it just stuck in our craws," Gansa says. "Nobody ever pointed it out as underbaked, which I just said, 'Whew. We dodged a bullet with that one.'"
STORY: Some timely intel on 'Homeland'
"Homeland" won the Emmy for drama series and top prizes for its leads, Danes and Lewis. A week after that haul, its second season...
The Contenders: Vera Farmiga cozies up to 'Bates Motel' |
Vera Farmiga remembers vividly how she came to see Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" for the first time.
Had she known she would someday play Norman Bates' mother in A&E's prequel series "Bates Motel," she might have paid the picture closer attention. At the time, she was too preoccupied with another great director to give that classic Hitchcock thriller the scrutiny she since has.
"Other than maybe the shower scene," Farmiga admits, "I didn't see all of 'Psycho' till I was on set shooting 'The Departed.' Marty Scorsese made me. At first I nodded and considered bluffing him. Then I realized that whenever he refers to an old movie, he's going to send you a deluxe DVD of it that night. By the end of the shoot, I was almost giving him blank looks about movies I knew by heart, just so he'd send me DVDs of them."
PHOTOS: 'Bates Motel' premiere
Farmiga has since received an Oscar nomination for her role as George Clooney's compartmental lover in "Up in the Air." Her directing debut, 2011's...
The Contenders: Timothy Olyphant of 'Justified' |
"Justified" just finished a typically terrific fourth season that featured the Detroit Mafia invading Kentucky, a marriage proposal from antihero Boyd Crowder to his love Ava and Patton Oswalt playing a constable who takes it (and takes it) on the chin before turning into an unlikely hero and saving the day. In the middle of this chaos, as always, stood Timothy Olyphant's Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, laid-back and laconic, glaring and growling, one of television's most fully realized lawmen. We caught up with Olyphant recently at his Westwood home to talk about the show's evolution.
Raylan had to deal with his past this season, most notably when his dad, Arlo, died. Were you surprised that tough old bird finally bit the dust?
I remember we shot a scene [earlier] where I told him, "You're going to die in prison, it's going to happen soon and I'll be thrilled when I hear the news." And we realized as we walked away from that scene: Don't we want to see that moment? And don't we...
Thursday's TV Highlights: Esther Williams tribute on TCM |
Customized TV Listings are available here: www.latimes.com/tvtimes
Click here to download TV listings for the week of June 9 - 15, 2013 in PDF format
SERIES
Save Me Betty White guest stars as God in this short-lived sitcom's final episode; with Anne Heche. 8:30 p.m. NBC
Intervention The docu-series' season premieres focuses on a 29-year-old Chicago woman with a heroin addiction. 9 p.m. A&E
72 Hours New Zealand is the latest location for this find-the-cash reality competition. 9 p.m. TNT
Monumental Mysteries This new episode includes stops at Ellis Island and the Alamo. 9 p.m. Travel
Burn Notice Michael (Jeffrey Donovan) is back in Miami in this new episode of the action drama. 9 p.m. USA
Giving You the Business A restaurant that specializes in salads and a pizza joint are featured in back-to-back new episodes. 10 and 10:30 p.m. Food
Sullivan & Son"Community's" Ken Jeong and "Wheel of Fortune" host Pat Sajak guest star in the sitcom's season premiere....
'Downton Abbey's' Julian Fellowes is glad about character's death |
"Downton Abbey" creator Julian Fellowes appeared at a recent event at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and to hear him tell it, there won't be much mourning following one of the series' most shocking character deaths.
Here's the part where all "Downton Abbey" fans not completely caught up with the show should click over to some other post.
Fellowes was, of course, speaking of the death of Matthew Crawley (played by Dan Stevens), who died in a car crash at the end of season three. While fans may be sad over the loss of one of their favorite (and sensible) characters, Fellowes is expressing a surprising amount of happiness.
PHOTOS: Behind the scenes of 'Downton Abbey'
"Originally I thought we would kill Matthew at the beginning of the new series [season 4], but the way things worked out, we didn’t have that option," Fellowes told the Comcast XfinityTV blog. "Actually, I am quite glad of it now because being away from it for six months, we don’t have to do funerals...
'Portlandia' gets two more seasons on IFC |
Fans of feminist bookstores, locally sourced beef and "Battlestar Galactica" rejoice! IFC's comedy series "Portlandia" has been renewed for two more seasons.
The series, which stars Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein in a variety of roles representing the oddball residents of Portland, Ore., will get a fourth and fifth season of 10 half-hour episodes apiece, to air in early 2014 and 2015.
In its three seasons, "Portlandia" has picked up Peabody and WGA awards and been nominated for an Emmy for writing and directing in a variety series. It's also seen a wide variety of guest stars, including Kyle MacLachlan, Jeff Goldblum, Rose Byrne, Patton Oswalt and tennis champion Martina Navratilova.
PHOTOS: Memorable TV series finales
The news of two more years of "Portlandia" is good news for fans of Armisen, who quietly exited "Saturday Night Live" at the end of this season after 11 years with the show. Unlike other cast members, like Bill Hader or Kristin Wiig, who said goodbye in high style,...
'House of Cards': Join a live chat with Corey Stoll today |
Join actor Corey Stoll and Times staff writer Glenn Whipp today at 2 p.m. PDT for a live video chat about Stoll's turn as Peter Russo, a doomed (but charming!) congressman and would-be governor, in Netflix's first-year drama "House of Cards."
After making like Hemingway in Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris," Stoll would seem to know a thing or two about playing sobriety-challenged characters. On "House of Cards," Stoll gave his South Philly politician a fighting spirit, but the one opponent Russo had trouble beating was himself. We'll talk to Stoll about Russo's demons and ponder just how Kevin Spacey's string-pulling congressman knew precisely what would happen on Russo's gubernatorial campaign trail.
It's likely to be a fairly spoiler-rific chat, so if you haven't finished "House of Cards" yet (and what's taking you so long?), you'd best do your homework before listening in. Consider it your duty as an informed citizen.
ALSO:
Q&A: Kevin Rahm on playing 'Mad Men's' nice guy, Ted Chaough |
It was last year, during production of the season 5 finale of "Mad Men," that series creator Matt Weiner first hinted to Kevin Rahm there might be more in store for his character, Ted Chaough.
"He said, 'We have big plans for you next year. Trust me, you're going to want to do this,'" Rahm recalls via telephone, "but he didn’t tell me any of the details."
Luckily for the actor and "Mad Men" fans alike, Ted's newly prominent role on the series has been one of the unquestionable highlights of season 6. Once portrayed as an obnoxious prankster, Ted has proved to be a conscientious team player and all-around nice guy, a foil for booze-soaked cads like Roger and Don.
PHOTOS: On the set of 'Mad Men'
That may be why he's sent Peggy's heart aflutter, though. In a rarity for "Mad Men," he has remained faithful to his wife -- so far, anyway. Rahm spoke to us recently about Ted's evolution, his rivalry with Don and, of course, his feelings for the fetching Ms. Olson.
Now that he’s a...
MTV, VH1 and CMT to celebrate July 4th with music videos |
MTV, VH1 and CMT are looking to celebrate America's independence the old-fashioned way. Not with burgers and hot dogs and fireworks, but by playing music videos on their channels in what they're calling "Music Independence Day."
The plan is that all three networks will play music videos on July 4th from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. EDT/PDT. What makes this plan even more intriguing is that they're branching out from just the standard Top 20 playlists or classic hits.
While there will be big names and classic moments from music history spotlighted, they're also looking to play music from new and emerging artists, culled from music submitted to the music networks' new online music discovery site called the Artists' Platform. The website welcomes submissions from anyone willing to put their music on the site. Artists can also opt to claim the pages created for them and have their music added to the mix of songs that will potentially be played on one of the channels that day.
Was 'Game of Thrones' racially insensitive in season finale? |
HBO's "Game of Thrones" is arguably TV's hottest series of the moment, with the hoopla surrounding its "Red Wedding" sequence and the continuing fascination by viewers with its fantastic worlds and complex plots detailing the fight for power.
But the series has also come under quiet fire in the last three seasons for a noticeable lack of cultural diversity. All the major and regularly seen characters are white.
Characters of color are rarely seen, and then mostly in brief appearances. The most pronounced presence until the season finale of characters with dark skin were the Dothraki race, composed of warriors who seem to have few characteristics beyond a taste for crassness and brutality, including toward women.
PHOTOS: 'Game of Thrones' the costumes
The issue of the racial landscape of "Game of Thrones" has again been sparked by the third season finale, "Mhysa," in which the mother of dragons, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), frees the Yunkai slave population from captivity.
The...
'Top of the Lake': Join a live chat with Holly Hunter today |
Join actress Holly Hunter and Times staff writer Glenn Whipp today at noon PDT for a live video chat about Hunter's work on the Sundance Channel's miniseries "Top of the Lake."
We're assuming you're at least passingly familiar with Holly Hunter's Oscar-winning turn in Jane Campion's 1993 masterpiece of moody atmosphere "The Piano." And you might well have imagined that Hunter would never again come across a character as singular as that film's mute Scotswoman, though, yes, subsequently she worked with David Cronenberg on "Crash" and was pretty fantastic as Helen Parr/Elastigirl in "The Incredibles."
But Hunter and Campion reunited this year for the meticulous mystery "Top of the Lake," and Hunter's enigmatic, androgynous GJ, the brusque oracle leading a remote New Age compound for women, rivals any character she's played in terms of originality and daring.
We'll ask Hunter about working with Campion again, donning GJ's gray wig and anything else you'd like to bring to the table. Join...
Silent night, quacky night: 'Duck Dynasty' Christmas album coming |
O come, all ye faithful "Duck Dynasty" fans: Santa Claus is not the only jolly man with a beard who will be celebrating Christmas this year.
The men -- and women -- of the Robertson family that stars in A&E's "Duck Dynasty" will be putting down their duck calls and putting on their most festive camouflage gear for their first Christmas album, "Duck The Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas".
Universal Music Group of Nashville will release the album on Oct. 29.
The family members will show off their church-trained voices, as well as their brand of down-home humor, on the album, which will also feature some special guest stars.
"Faith, family and ducks -- in that order -- have always been our priorities," said Willie Robertson, chief executive officer of the Duck Commander sporting empire. "Christmas is an important holiday for us not only because of our strong faith but also our holiday family traditions. We're having a great time making the album. We hope you enjoy...
'The Voice' recap: Amber Carrington and Sasha Allen head home |
Shakira and Adam Levine are out of the race on "The Voice." On Tuesday night, viewers sent home each of their remaining contestants, Team Shakira's Sasha Allen and Team Adam's Amber Carrington. Team Usher's Michelle Chamuel and two members of Team Blake, Danielle Bradbery and the Swon Brothers, are the three contenders set to compete in next week's finals.
Tuesday night's results -- revealed amid performances by Fall Out Boy, last season's second- and third-place "Voice" finishers Terry McDermott and Nicholas David, and season two's Tony Lucca -- also scuttled any doubt that Blake Shelton has figured out, better than any other coach, how to play this game to win. After all, he has not only coached the winning contestants (not to mention last year's runner-up, McDermott) for two straight seasons, he also has a two-out-of-three chance to win it again. And he's managed to get a duo -- the first duo in "Voice" history to make it out of the Battle Rounds -- all the way to the finals.
Wednesday's TV Highlights: 'Royal Pains' on USA |
Customized TV Listings are available here: www.latimes.com/tvtimes
Click here to download TV listings for the week of June 9 - 15, 2013 in PDF format
SERIES
MythBusters This new episode tests techniques said to double a car's fuel efficiency. 9 p.m. Discovery
Ghost Hunters This series returns with a visit to Louisiana's Shreveport Municipal Auditorium, a place famous for hosting famous icons such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Hank Williams. 9 p.m. Syfy
Royal Pains A new season begins with Hank (Mark Feuerstein) ready to return to work on the first weekend of summer after spending the winter recuperating from brain surgery. 9 p.m. USA
The Real World The unscripted series wraps its rainy season in Portland. 10 p.m. MTV
Dig Wars In this new series, three teams of relic hunters compete to find the most valuable items at historical locations across the country. 10 p.m. Travel
Necessary RoughnessThe Season 3 premiere picks up six months after the New...
Maxine Stuart, veteran actress of stage, film and TV, dies at 94 |
Maxine Stuart, 94, a stage, film and TV actress whose long career included memorable guest appearances on “The Twilight Zone” and “The Wonder Years,” died Thursday of natural causes at her Beverly Hills home, according to her daughter, Chris Ann Maxwell.
Stuart began her career in New York theater and had a handful of small movie parts but was best known for her television work. In the early 1950s she appeared in dramatic anthology programs and was a regular on the soap opera “The Edge of Night.”
After moving to Los Angeles in the late ’50s with her then-husband, character actor Frank Maxwell, she was cast in a string of television series. In a 1960 episode of “The Twilight Zone” titled “Eye of the Beholder,” she portrayed a woman covered in bandages awaiting her 11th surgical operation to correct her appearance. Stuart played the part until the bandages were removed, when actress Donna Douglas was revealed at the end of...
'Save Me' plans to end its run with Betty White as God |
NBC burned off its episodes of the Anne Heche comedy series "Save Me" over the last month, but though it was never given much of a chance, it's ending its run with an eye-catching guest appearance. The ubiquitous Betty White will be appearing as God.
The series, which cast Heche as a woman who forms a direct line of communication with God after nearly choking to death on a sandwich, will be ending June 13 with an episode titled "Holier Than Thou," and in it, Heche's character will come face to face with the deity she's been talking to all this time.
PHOTOS: Celebrities by The Times
Of course, God doesn't always look like Betty White. In fact, for the purposes of this show, the Almighty actively chooses the guise of Betty White because people are comfortable with her. (This latter bit of info was via a preview clip of her appearance first posted on the Huffington Post.)
White's appearance as God actually outdoes George Burns' 1977 turn in the role age-wise. Burns was 81 when he played...
Review: John Oliver takes over 'The Daily Show' |
A correction has been added to this post, as indicated below.
Monday night will go down in history as the night that John Oliver began an eight-week stint substituting for Jon Stewart on Comedy Central's “The Daily Show.” Stewart, said Oliver, was “going to a small Italian village to learn how cobble shoes,” but in fact he is directing a movie. It's called “Rosewater,” is based on a book by Iranian Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari, and it isn't a comedy; though it will surely not be without comedy.
“Let's all just acknowledge for a moment that this is weird,” the guest host began. “This looks weird, it feels weird, it even sounds weird -- it sounds weird to me, and this is my actual voice.” It did look a little weird, I suppose, but not for long. The cognitive dissonance was nothing a reasonably flexible adult mind could not handle.
Stewart is not himself the first host of “The Daily Show” (now called “The...
Kirk Franklin and MC Lyte star in new reality pilots for BET |
BET has announced a new slate of unscripted series that executives say will showcase stories of revival, redemption and second chances.
The description of the show indicates that the network is focused on providing a more positive spin on African American life than shows such as "Love & Hip Hop" and "Basketball Wives" on VH1, which critics say have featured conflicts and bad behavior among its participants.
Among the new BET shows are "Back to Me with Jeanette Jenkins" featuring trainer-to-the-stars Jeanette Jenkins as she "reshapes the lives and bodies of everyday people with her holistic approach to healthy living."
The show is the first unscripted series from the husband-and-wife creative team of Salim and Mara Brock Akil, the producers of BET's "The Game" and the upcoming "Being Mary Jane." The couple has an exclusive development deal with BET.
"Hip Hop Sisters" will star veteran female MCs Lady of Rage, MC Lyte, Yo Yo, Smooth, Monie Love and Lil Mama...
'Big Bang Theory' biggest winner at Critics Choice TV awards |
It was a big night for all things geek at the Critics Choice TV Awards on Monday night, with "The Big Bang Theory" taking home the award for best comedy series and HBO's lavish fantasy series "Game of Thrones" tying with AMC's "Breaking Bad" for best drama series.
"Big Bang Theory" stars Kaley Cuoco and Simon Helberg also won awards for supporting acting. Cuoco's award was shared with Eden Sher of ABC's "The Middle."
"Breaking Bad" star Bryan Cranston also picked up an award for best actor in a drama series, his second in a row.
PHOTOS: Celebrities by The Times
One of the biggest upsets of the evening came when Tatiana Maslany won best actress in a drama series for her role as several identical-looking women who are clones in the BBC America series, "Orphan Black." The series recently completed its first season and will be returning for a second season in 2014. Maslany beat out last year's winner (and the odds-on favorite) Claire Danes, who was nominated again for Showtime's "Homeland....
'The Americans': Join a live chat with star Matthew Rhys today |
He's a Soviet spy tempted by the American dream, a master of disguises, a loving father and a husband learning to love the woman he was forced by Mother Russia to marry.
Today at 11 a.m. Pacific time, join Matthew Rhys and Times staff writer Glenn Whipp for a live video chat about Rhys' complicated, committed and, occasionally, comical turn as Cold War-era Russian agent Phillip Jennings. It's a dream part for an actor, allowing Rhys to assume a number of guises, all of which he pulls off convincingly.
We'll talk about the best ways to go undercover as an American suburbanite in a time of leg warmers and presidential jelly beans, Rhys' chemistry with costar Keri Russell and, really, anything you want to ask. There are no secrets here. Everything's fair game. Join us, won't you?
ALSO:
Review: Spying for Mother Russia in 'The Americans'
FX salutes 'The Americans' by ordering a second season
'The Americans' bets viewers will cozy up to the Cold War
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