Matt Berry celebrates birthday, ‘What We Do in the Shadows' on last day of shooting
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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
As ‘The Bear' gets picked up for another season, it sinks to 4th place in our Emmy predictions: Behind the free fall
Less than a week after Season 4 of The Bear made its debut — prompting much media hand-wringing over whether the prestige restaurant-based dramedy was ending for good — FX has shut down the speculation, announcing that Season 5 has been greenlit. 'The Bear continues to be a fan-favorite worldwide and their response to this season — as seen through incredibly high viewership — has been as spectacular as any of its previous seasons,' John Landgraf, chairman of FX, said in a statement. 'Year-in and year-out, [creator] Chris Storer, the producers, cast and crew make The Bear one of the best shows on television, and we are excited that they will continue to tell this magnificent story.' More from Gold Derby Don't cry for Rachel Zegler! Star's big moment goes viral as first 'Evita' reviews praised her 'enthralling' and 'phenomenal' performance Inside that surprise 'Ironheart' cameo - and how it could net the Marvel show an Emmy nod (spoilers) But are Emmy voters losing their appetite? The Bear began this Emmy cycle simmering nicely in second place for Best Comedy Series, according to Gold Derby's experts, editors, and users. The series won the top prize in 2023, but was upset in 2024 by Hacks, which is now expected to prevail again. Over the past few months, The Bear has seen its Emmy prospects drop to third place (behind The Studio) and now to fourth (behind Only Murders in the Building). First things first, remember that Television Academy members are voting on Season 3, which streamed in June 2024, even though Season 4 came out last week. (The Emmy eligibility period is June 1 through May 31.) But that doesn't mean subpar reviews for the new episodes won't cloud voters' judgment. After all, the prevailing theory is that Liza Colón-Zayas won Best Supporting Actress last year for Season 2 because she had a showcase Season 3 episode that aired around voting time. The fourth season opens with a flashback of Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) pitching the idea of opening a restaurant to Mikey (Jon Bernthal), who is revealed to have come up with the name "The Bear." Fast-forwarding to the present day, The Chicago Tribune has dished out a review praising the food but knocking the restaurant's chaotic atmosphere and inconsistent menu. Through the years, The Bear has experienced a noticeable dip among critics and fans. Season 1's 100 percent score at Rotten Tomatoes was followed by additional courses of 99 percent for Season 2, 89 percent for Season 3, and now 85 percent for Season 4. Viewers and awards commentators have also been increasingly vocal about the show's so-called "category fraud": The Bear has competed as a comedy series even though many critics consider the series a half-hour drama. Only Murders in the Building has experienced a similar downturn in its critical reception, but not nearly to the same extent as The Bear. Season 1 received the rare 100 percent score, while Season 2 slipped to 98 percent, Season 3 was a notch down to 97 percent, and Season 4 settled for 93 percent. The fourth season of Hulu's whodunit caper is eligible at the 2025 Emmys, after coming off major wins at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Comedy Ensemble and Best Comedy Actor for Martin Short. And then there's Hacks. Max's hit comedy about a veteran Las Vegas comedian (Jean Smart) and her young writer (Hannah Einbinder) has been embraced as the best comedy on television. Seasons 1 and 2 both earned 100 percent, while Season 3 and 4 both received 98 percent. To date, Smart is undefeated at the Emmys in Best Comedy Actress, going three-for-three, while Einbinder is looking for her first supporting victory on her fourth try. Rookie series The Studio from Apple TV+ checked in with 93 percent at Rotten Tomatoes. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's satirical comedy chronicles what really goes on behind the scenes in Hollywood, from promoting films, to notes from executives, to the dramatic casting process, to attending awards shows. There will be eight slots for Best Comedy Series at the 2025 Emmys. Here is the current predicted lineup, according to Gold Derby: Hacks The Studio Only Murders in the Building The Bear Nobody Wants This Abbott Elementary Shrinking What We Do in the Shadows Rounding out the Top 13 are The Four Seasons, A Man on the Inside, Somebody Somewhere, Agatha All Along, and Poker Face. Do you agree or disagree with our Emmy predictions? Be sure to sound off in our TV forum. Best of Gold Derby Cristin Milioti, Amanda Seyfried, Michelle Williams, and the best of our Emmy Limited Series/Movie Actress interviews Paul Giamatti, Stephen Graham, Cooper Koch, and the best of our Emmy Limited Series/Movie Actor interviews Lee Jung-jae, Adam Scott, Noah Wyle, and the best of our Emmy Drama Actor interviews Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Why Rob McElhenney and the ‘It's Always Sunny' gang didn't want Danny DeVito to join the record-setting sitcom (exclusive book excerpt)
It's safe to say it wasn't always sunny behind the scenes of a certain beloved sitcom. In her new book, It's (Almost) Always Sunny in Philadelphia: How Three Friends Spent $200 to Create the Longest-Running Live-Action Sitcom in History and Help Build a Network, Gold Derby contributor Kim Potts traces the strange but true history of the show as it prepares to celebrate its 20th anniversary. More from Gold Derby As 'The Bear' gets picked up for another season, it sinks to 4th place in our Emmy predictions: Behind the free fall Everything to know about 'The Devil Wears Prada' sequel as filming begins: Who's coming back, who's out, and who's new The brainchild of Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, and Glenn Howerton (collectively known as RCG), It's Always Sunny, which premiered on FX on Aug. 4, 2005, introduced "The Gang," a gaggle of self-centered miscreants running a South Philly dive bar. Potts recounts the low-budget origins of the show, how RCG joined together to craft the pilot and assemble the team, and, in the exclusive excerpt below, how its most famous cast member, Danny DeVito, wasn't quite welcomed with open arms when he joined in the second season. Potts sets up the tale. *** In this excerpt, I write about the role then-president of FX (now chairman of FX Networks) John Landgraf played in bringing Danny DeVito to It's Always Sunny. Landgraf, affectionately known as 'the Mayor of Television' in entertainment media circles, believed DeVito's comedy track record and personal sense of humor made him the perfect A-list candidate to help bolster attention for the then-struggling, low-budget It's Always Sunny. When he pitched the idea to RCG, the response he received left him more than a little surprised. An ultimatum, it seemed, was in order… When Landgraf was hired as the president of entertainment at FX in 2004, The Shield, the network's first breakout series, was already a hit. Michael Chiklis had already won a Best Actor Emmy and a Golden Globe Award for the gritty cop drama's first season. The Shield premiered in 2002 with close to 5 million viewers, and for all of Season 2, it dipped below 3 million just a couple of times. By Season 3, Landgraf 's first at the network, The Shield managed to reach 3 million viewers only once out of 15 episodes. But Landgraf didn't panic. He planned. His solution to the ratings spill: injecting some new blood into the Strike Team, the largely rogue and corrupt Los Angeles police division the series revolved around. But not just anyone would do — Landgraf envisioned A-list talent. At the top of his wish list: Emmy winner and, by then, five-time Oscar nominee Glenn Close. FX was specifically concerned with the dwindling numbers for The Shield's female viewership, and Landgraf and his team were certain Close could help bring them back. Not really expecting her to be interested in a lead role on a basic-cable television series, Landgraf 's office nevertheless reached out to her representatives, who thought it was an interesting idea. So Landgraf, Fox entertainment chairman Peter Liguori, and The Shield creator Shawn Ryan flew to New York, where they spent three hours at Close's Charles Street condo in the West Village, pitching her a lead role on the drama. 'She is as challenging and inspiring as you would expect, peppering us with questions,' Liguori said of the meeting. By the time the trio landed back in L.A., they had gotten the news that Glenn Close was ready to sign on to play new precinct captain Monica Rawling. Her one year on the series earned her lead actress Emmy and Golden Globe nominations and increased the Season 4 ratings by 21 percent over the previous year's numbers. Which got Landgraf thinking... why wouldn't that work for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia? Sure, it was a comedy, not one of FX's signature dramas. And Sunny was still a new show, with seven episodes in total to its name, while The Shield had 39 episodes for viewers to get to know the characters and actors who portrayed them. Still, Landgraf had the perfect A-lister in mind to add to The Gang, and unlike the blind shot he took with The Shield, his potential new Sunny star was already a close personal friend and former professional partner. *** Landgraf's last job before joining FX was as a founding partner of Jersey Television, the production company behind, most notably, Reno 911!, the mockumentary-style spoof of Cops. The series, which initially ran on Comedy Central for six seasons, revolved around the outrageous, hapless officers of the sheriff 's department in Reno, Nevada, and the equally outrageous, hapless characters they ran into on the job. One Season 2 episode, called 'Not Without My Mustache,' included two sheriffs helping a teenager lose his virginity with a prostitute, a pair of incestuous siblings trying to dry hump in the back of a sheriff 's car, and another sheriff losing a testicle, as had been predicted by a psychic the day before. Reno 911! was created by Thomas Lennon, Robert Ben Garant, and Kerri Kenney (now Kenney-Silver). Its cast was a who's who of some of the best comedy actors working on TV, including the creators, Niecy Nash (now Niecy Nash-Betts), Cedric Yarbrough, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Carlos Alazraqui, with a deep bench of guest stars rivaling several iterations of Saturday Night Live casts. Landgraf was an executive producer on Reno 911!, and therein lies a possible hint as to why he found It's Always Sunny so appealing from the first time he saw the DIY pilot. Just as McElhenney has often said a major motivation for creating Sunny was 'desperation,' as it was a way for him, Day, and Howerton to create work for themselves, Thomas Lennon and company were similarly driven. When a pilot Lennon, Kenney-Silver, and Garant wrote for Fox was canceled as it was about to be filmed, they asked network execs if they could apply the unused portion of the budget to make a pilot for a new series, which became Reno 911! Fox passed on it, too, and it would be two more years be- fore Comedy Central premiered it, in 2003. There is a commonality between the Sunny and Reno creators, of comedy sensibilities and of being proactive and making their own creative opportunities. Other commonalities between Sunny and Reno 911!: the incestuous brother and sister in 'Not Without My Mustache' were played by Day and Ellis, before Sunny, and before they were married in real life. And Landgraf was a cofounder of Jersey Television with his good friend Danny DeVito, the A-lister he thought would make a great addition to the second season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. *** Landgraf knew the outrageous, taboo-poking comedy was right in line with DeVito's own comedy tastes and personal sense of humor, and he was just as confident that McElhenney, Day, and Howerton could write a character that DeVito would find worthy of his time and talents. Landgraf sent DeVito the Season 1 episodes and wasn't totally surprised to find his friend had already seen them. His kids with his wife, Rhea Perlman — Lucy, Grace, and Jake — were big fans and had turned their father on to the series. DeVito was interested in knowing more. Landgraf's next step, a pro forma one he was sure, was to share his idea with RCG. Their reception to adding DeVito to the mix was... unexpected. They said no. Not because they had any doubt about DeVito's talent, obviously. McElhenney in particular was a devoted TV junkie throughout his childhood. He was especially a fan of classic comedies like Family Ties, Cheers, and Taxi. One of the greatest sitcom moments ever, he believed, was from the Taxi pilot, 'Like Father, Like Daughter.' DeVito's character, Louie De Palma, a dispatcher and supervisor for the Sunshine Cab Company, was arguing with his employees when he stepped from the caged office he worked in, revealing to the audience that this belligerent, aggressive man was a foot shorter than the five people standing in front of him. DeVito had built up such a body of work on television (his Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning performance on Taxi), in movies (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Golden Globe–nominated Ruthless People, and Matilda), as a producer (Oscar winners Pulp Fiction and Erin Brockovich), and as a director (The War of the Roses and Throw Momma from the Train) that he had earned a status as nothing less than a Hollywood legend. In spite of all that, and somewhat because of it, McElhenney, Day, and Howerton told their boss that they were not interested in adding DeVito to their show. They knew his work but not his personality or his work habits. What if he came in and threw his experience, his accolades, and his connection to Landgraf around the set? What if he joined the cast and tried to interfere with the creative authority they'd established and sacrificed for? What if he came in and disrupted the chemistry that RCG and Olson had built so quickly during their brief first season? That was just too big of a risk to take. FX executives had shown themselves to be pleased enough with Season 1, and optimistic about the prospects for Season 2, so as the executive producers saw the situation, it was best to leave the cast the way it was. In that case, Landgraf told them, he was no longer interested in airing their series on his network. Umm, wait…, they replied. So when can we meet with Danny DeVito? Season 17 of It's Always Sunny premieres July 9 on FXX and streams July 10 on Hulu. It's (Almost) Always Sunny in Philadelphia by Kim Potts is now available at major booksellers. Best of Gold Derby Cristin Milioti, Amanda Seyfried, Michelle Williams, and the best of our Emmy Limited Series/Movie Actress interviews Paul Giamatti, Stephen Graham, Cooper Koch, and the best of our Emmy Limited Series/Movie Actor interviews Lee Jung-jae, Adam Scott, Noah Wyle, and the best of our Emmy Drama Actor interviews Click here to read the full article.
2 days ago
'The Bear' renewed for 5th season on FX
Carmy is coming back for more. "The Bear" has officially been renewed for a fifth season on FX. The news comes a little over a week after season 4 dropped June 25. John Landgraf, the chairman of FX, announced the renewal in a statement on Wednesday. "'The Bear' continues to be a fan favorite worldwide and their response to this season -- as seen through incredibly high viewership -- has been as spectacular as any of its previous seasons," Landgraf said. "Year-in and year-out, Chris Storer, the producers, cast and crew make 'The Bear' one of the best shows on television, and we are excited that they will continue to tell this magnificent story." Jeremy Allen White stars in the series as Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto, a young chef who moves back to Chicago to run his family sandwich shop after a tragic family death. Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach also star as Sydney Adamu and Richard "Richie" Jerimovich. Season 4 of "The Bear" finds Carmy, Sydney and Richie pushing forward, "determined not only to survive, but also to take The Bear to the next level," according to an official synopsis. "With new challenges around every corner, the team must adapt, adjust and overcome," the synopsis states. "The pursuit of excellence isn't just about getting better -- it's about deciding what's worth holding on to." Abby Elliott, Lionel Boyce, Liza Colón-Zayas, Matty Matheson, Oliver Platt and Molly Gordon also starred in season 4. Storer created "The Bear" and serves as an executive producer. The show won 11 Emmys for its second season, which is the most wins for a comedy series ever in a single year.
