Advertisement

Who will wear pajamas to the Emmys on Sunday?

Share

Smoke continues to blanket L.A. My brother is still waiting for that birthday card I mailed him two weeks ago, and now I know why it hasn’t arrived. Also: Hanging plants have returned, which is good news, except I nearly cracked my head open on the philodendron that my wife just put in the kitchen.

And ... the Emmys will be handed out on Sunday. Even my Emmyphobic colleague Robert Lloyd seems to care about them this year, a surprising development in a year full of bewilderment.

I’m Glenn Whipp, awards columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of the Envelope’s Friday newsletter. Welcome to this week’s edition. Please join me ... only give me a moment to make my way through this jungle of plants hanging in my house.

Final Emmy predictions

If you love “Schitt’s Creek” or “Watchmen” or “Succession,” I think you’ll be doing a fair amount of celebrating during Sunday’s ceremony, as I detailed in a column making some final predictions. Did I change my mind over the past couple of months? Well, Times television editor Matt Brennan talked me into picking “Normal People” lead Paul Mescal over Mark Ruffalo (“I Know This Much Is True”), a flip-flop that had as much to do with fatigue (it was the last category I wrote up in a lengthy story) as much as our mutual love for Mescal and all things “Normal People.” If he wins, I’ll have a pint of Guinness at the ready.

Advertisement

Times TV critics weigh in on Emmys

Times television critic Lorraine Ali believes “if there’s any one time when the entertainment industry deserves to pat itself on the back without looking like a total self-centered jerk, it’s this year’s Emmys,” largely because TV has kept us distracted and informed and entertained while we’ve hunkered down in our hidey-holes these past six months.

Critic Robert Lloyd, who admits that it’s annually difficult for him to care about the Emmys, notes, grudgingly, that there are reasons to welcome this year’s ceremony. “They may be entertaining — fun, which I can almost remember having — and even inspirational,” he writes. “Indeed, given everything we’re going through, I would expect at least a few eloquent indictments of the way we’re living now.”

I’m having a hard time remembering fun too. But that may be a function of banging my head against that hanging plant in my kitchen.

Why should we care about this year’s Emmys?
With the world burning up, democracy in peril and TV itself hobbled, why should we care about this year’s Emmys?
(Michelle Rohn / For The Times)

Enjoying this newsletter? Consider subscribing to the Los Angeles Times

Your support helps us deliver the news that matters most. Become a subscriber.

What will the Emmys look like?

Reginald Hudlin is the first Black executive producer of the Emmys — and the first to run the show during a global pandemic. Times staff writer Michael Ordoña spoke with Hudlin, who said he’s trying to preserve the most important moment of an awards ceremony: the announcement of the winner.

Advertisement

“You can do it in the living room, your backyard, your kid’s room,” Hudlin says, talking about giving the winners the freedom to have their moment in the spotlight. “You know how everyone always says good night to their kids? Well, they can have their kids with them! And they can tuck their kids in after they win. Maybe they’re alone in their apartment; maybe they’ve got their entire extended family. Maybe they’ve got all their friends over there and they’re having some raucous Emmy party. It’s all up to the individual and how they want to celebrate the night.”

Writer-director-producer Reginald Hudlin
Reginald Hudlin is the first Black executive producer of the Emmys — and the first to run the show during a global pandemic.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

And what will they be wearing? Times fashion writer Adam Tschorn interviewed several stylists, including Jill Lincoln, who says “the story the day after the Emmys this year is going to be all about pajamas.”

Sounds good to me. I wonder if the nominees buy their “lounge wear” from Target too.

Feedback?

I’d love to hear from you. Email me at glenn.whipp@latimes.com.

Can’t get enough about awards season? Follow me at @glennwhipp on Twitter.

Advertisement