Helen Mirren explains how to tell off a bear

The summer solstice has come and gone. How did you celebrate? With a picnic perhaps? Or with some barbecue, either out or at home, kebab-y or veggie?

Me ... I watched the Dodgers sweep the Angels, while wondering whether Shohei Ohtani will soon be switching sides and mentally gearing up to delve into the wonderful second season of “The Bear,” which, yes, as Times television critic Robert Lloyd puts it, is “perfect.”

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope’s Friday newsletter. Let’s get to the news before the clouds roll in again.

Helen Mirren bares it all — and scares a bear

The last time Helen Mirren was in Montana, she was up on Bear Mountain in Glacier National Park. It was November, the wind-chill temperature stood at 25 below and she was filming her last scene for the inaugural season of “1923,” the Paramount+ prequel to “Yellowstone.” Mirren was miserable, shivering in the brutal cold, but, between takes, she did have the presence of mind to look across the hills, take in the view and think, “Till we meet again.”

“I really can’t wait to get back there,” Mirren tells me. It’s going to be warmer, that’s for sure. She’ll be returning to Montana in mid-July to again play Cara, the stalwart, shotgun-blasting Dutton family matriarch. Right now, though, Mirren is in Hollywood at what she describes as the pied-à-terre that she shares with her filmmaker husband Taylor Hackford when they’re not home at Lake Tahoe, Nev. It’s within walking distance of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, but sometimes deer — and coyotes — show up in the backyard.

“Los Angeles is amazing that way, isn’t it?” Mirren, 77, says. And if you think communing with coyotes might worry Mirren ... well, you don’t know her as well as you think.

Would you like to know her a little better, perhaps beyond what she describes as part of her brand, that “superior English voice kind of thing”? Good news! I interviewed her not long ago and you can read the whole conversation here, including thoughts on marriage, Willie Nelson and how she has always found nudism a “fabulously liberating experience.” So, yes, a perfect summer read.

Helen Mirren, Oscar winner for “The Queen” and star of “1923.”

(Alex Harper / For The Times)

Jason Segel is in a calm place right now — South Pasadena

Jason Segel is sitting at a table outside Jones Coffee on Mission Street in South Pasadena, a short walk from his home — too short, in fact, if he’s hoping to make much of a dent in the 15,000 steps he needs to do today as part of an exercise program he just started with his girlfriend. He comes here from time to time. A string quartet sets up and plays on Sunday, pretty dreamy even with the Metro trains clanging through every few minutes.

Segel uses the word “calm” to describe his days in South Pas, which is essentially a more L.A.-centric version of his life at his primary residence in Ojai, the laid-back Ventura County town where he moved shortly after finishing a nine-year stint starring in the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother.” There, Segel lives in a little stone house in the middle of an orange grove, which he has absolutely nothing to do with, other than enjoying the fruit. It looks like the kind of place you’d see in a movie about a writer getting away from it all to write his memoir.

Segel first lived in Ojai when he was preparing to make “The End of the Tour,” the poignant portrait of writer David Foster Wallace. He was terrified he was out of his depth, unsure how to prepare. He kept asking: “What would Edward Norton do?” And one of the answers was: “Move to the middle of nowhere so you can get out of your own head.” Segel liked Ojai so much that he decided to stay.

“Being there had the really interesting side-effect of realizing — after six weeks time, mind you — that, ‘Oh, my gosh. I finally feel calm,’” Segel says. “And it occurred to me that when you’re doing this job and living in L.A., you’re never leaving campus.” He laughs. “So it was like this whole new experience to realize that when someone outside of Hollywood asks, ‘What are you up to?’ they mean, like, right now. So the answer is: ‘Oh. I’m on my way to the grocery store,’ not ‘I have three projects in development.’”

Recently, Segel was up to talking with me about the latest phase of his career, a starring turn in the terrific Apple TV+ series, “Shrinking.” And since I mentioned barbecue earlier in this newsletter, I’ll pass along a recommendation that didn’t make it into the story.

“You’ve got to go to Moo’s ... like, right after we finish talking,” Segel told me. “It started as a backyard pop-up. And everybody loved it, so they got a brick-and-mortar. They’re just the nicest and it’s so f— good.”

To which, I will only add: “Mmmmm ... bar-be-cue ...”

Jason Segel, star of “Shrinking.”

(Nick Fancher / For The Times)

Emmys 2023: Limited series power rankings

The last couple of years I’ve had to jettison a couple of my annual Emmy screeds, grievances I’ve harbored and held close to my heart. Here’s one: Last year, Television Academy voters finally nominated Rhea Seehorn for her indelible work as attorney Kim Wexler in “Better Call Saul,” erasing an oversight that was as lengthy as it was inexplicable. She’s all but a shoo-in to be nominated again for the show’s final season.

And now this year, I’m going to have to put aside my usual tirade about how the Television Academy needs to expand the number of nominees for limited series, home to television’s most creative and boundary-pushing work. It’s not that there was any shortage of shows vying for viewers’ — and voters’ — attention. But there wasn’t a “White Lotus” or “Watchmen” or “Big Little Lies” or “Mare of Easttown” in the bunch.

The good news? There won’t be a sweep. The bad news? There’s not as much intrigue. Unless you really like shows about serial killers. Then this is really your year!

As Emmy nominations voting comes to a close, I sorted through the contenders in a limited series power rankings column. Where do your favorites rank? Take a look ...

Ali Wong and Steven Yeun in the Netflix limited series, “Beef.”

(Andrew Cooper / Netflix)