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Los Angeles Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Why the Emmys still matter in a time of turmoil
The 77th Emmys nominations have been announced and given the state of just about everything, it's easy not to care. Our current president is dismantling large portions of the federal government and offering new tax breaks to folks like those portrayed behaving badly in 'The White Lotus.' Flash floods, a potential measles epidemic and ongoing bloody wars in Ukraine and the Middle East seem to echo the pre-apocalyptic drumbeats from 'Paradise.' Masked federal ICE agents, who look like they could be part of the Federal Disaster Response Agency from 'The Last of Us,' roam the streets of Los Angeles, arresting people who might not have the right documentation and taking them to detention centers that appear to be right out of 'The Handmaid's Tale.' Television itself is in a state of freefall, with streaming prices rising even as the number of new series sharply declines, and though 'The Studio' makes it seem as if L.A. remains the geographic center of the entertainment business, the city's increasingly empty soundstages and unemployed production workers tell another story. So given that many Americans might very well agree to work for 'Severance's' sinister Lumon Industries if it guaranteed a decent paycheck and healthcare benefits, it seems impossible to gin up excitement about how many nominations HBO/Max, Netflix, Apple TV+ or any other entertainment conglomeration with an obscenely overpaid CEO received this year. Except, you know, Jeff Hiller, whose amazing midlife breakout role as nakedly sincere Joel in 'Somebody Somewhere' finally got the nomination it deserved. Or Jenny Slate, who deftly spun plates of hilarity, humanity and pathos in 'Dying for Sex.' Stripped of his good looks and seductive accent, Colin Farrell still managed to mesmerize in 'The Penguin,' which not only resuscitated an exhausted genre but took it to a new level of storytelling. From its 15-year-old star to its risky single-shot direction and unsettlingly resonant themes, the limited series 'Adolescence' was as close to perfection as a piece of television gets. Jean Smart ('Hacks'), Kathy Bates ('Matlock') and Catherine O'Hara ('The Studio') continue to prove the absurdity of Hollywood's traditional sidelining of women over 40, while 'Abbott Elementary' reminds us just how good a traditional broadcast comedy can be. Artistic awards of any kind are inevitably absurd — how does one relatively small group of people decide what is 'best' — and given the amount and diversity of television, the Emmys are more absurd than most. According to Television Academy chairman Cris Abrego, this was a record-breaking year in terms of voter turnout. Even so, it's difficult to see categories dominated by one or two shows and not wonder how much TV the voting members managed to watch. If it were just a question of judging shows on submitted episodes, there would be no need for pricey FYC campaigns after all. But the Emmys matter because television is art. And art matters. Even if it involves complaining about how ridiculous this year's choices are, the nominations give us an opportunity to talk about art — what touched/impressed/moved/changed us, or not. What comforted us, disturbed us, made us laugh or look at things just a little differently and why. That's important, especially now when so much is in a constant state of upheaval, when everywhere we look people are questioning the future of democracy, civilization, the planet. Television can be used as an escape from 'real life' — and heaven knows we could all use some of that — but it's existence, and our appreciation of it, is very much part of that real life. Art is a hallmark of civilization. It's proof that we have evolved beyond the basic instincts of survival, that we understand the necessity of stories, images and music, and that we encourage their creation and appreciate the existence of even those things we personally do not perceive as great or even good. Even as Peak TV gives way to the age of contraction, television remains one of our most universally experienced artforms. At its most basic level, it's about curiosity — we watch television, whether it's 'Slow Horses,' 'The Pitt' or 'The Traitors' — to see what other people are up to, what they feel, say and do in a wide variety of circumstances and if we would feel, say or do something similar. So yeah, the Emmys are not as important as ICE raids, flash floods, children dying of measles or the vanishing social safety net. When climate change has made the world so hot that the World Cup is under threat, it's easy to consider conversations about why 'Squid Game' or the final season of 'The Handmaid's Tale' received no major nominations, or how academy members could nominate Martin Short and not Steve Martin for 'Only Murders in the Building,' a complete waste of time. Until you consider the alternative. Because the day we stop celebrating and arguing about art is the day we'll know the bastards have won.
Los Angeles Times
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘What if this doesn't work?' The ‘Severance' cast reflects on Season 2's biggest swings
On Feb. 18, 2022, Apple TV+ unveiled 'Severance,' a striking new series set at Lumon Industries, a mysterious biotech company whose employees in the Macrodata Refinement (MDR) division have undergone a procedure in which their at-work consciousness (known as their 'innie') is 'severed' from their personal-life consciousness (their 'outie'). Over the next two months, audiences obsessed over the show's seductive examination of work-life balance and the different guises we wear throughout the day. Then the series went on an agonizingly long hiatus — and not just for fans. 'Our No. 1 concern was people sticking with us after a three-year break,' admits star and producer Adam Scott. 'We stopped shooting about a year ago — I've been spending all of that time either watching cuts of the show or discussing the show with [executive producer] Ben [Stiller] and [creator] Dan [Erickson]. 'Severance' is a constant in all of our lives. Whether we're shooting or not, we're always in close contact talking about it.' That angst is apparent when I speak to Patricia Arquette, who plays Lumon's icy, menacing Harmony Cobel, the day of the shocking Season 2 finale. 'How's it going?' she asks excitedly about the online response. Relieved that fans hail 'Severance's' sophomore run as more provocative and moving than ever, she confesses, 'I was scared of some of the risks [the creative team] were taking: 'What if this doesn't work?' They really didn't sit on their laurels from the first year's success — they took a lot more chances in the second year.' Because of the outsize anticipation, initial reports of delays and extensive rewrites on Season 2 created worries that the series' intricate narrative puzzle might implode. Scott dismisses those reports now that audiences have seen the finished product. 'It's a unique show,' he says, 'and in Season 1 we were figuring out what it was as we were doing it. In Season 2, the show was changing and expanding — we were figuring out what it was all over again because it was important to all of us that it not feel the same. Sometimes it takes a while.' Certainly, the show's emotional stakes are raised. Dichen Lachman, who plays Ms. Casey/Gemma, is especially proud of this season's heartbreaking seventh episode, 'Chikhai Bardo,' which flashes back to Mark and Gemma's once-blissful time as husband and wife, their relationship affected by miscarriages and IVF treatments. Lachman felt responsible for ensuring 'Severance' properly conveyed the anguish of infertility issues. 'I have not been through the process of IVF, but I just know [from] speaking to my friends how difficult that is,' she says. Without getting into specifics, she says, 'I've had things happen. It is very shocking — you do think that there's something wrong with you. It's a difficult thing to talk about — and it's very difficult, I think, for a man to understand it on the same level as a woman.' The actors' personal experiences informed the season in other ways. John Turturro's older brother, Ralph, died in December 2022. 'It was hard to go back to work,' says the actor, who plays Mark's Lumon co-worker Irving. But something shifted once the cast headed into the freezing wilderness for 'Woe's Hollow,' an episode that finds the MDR division engaged in a bizarre team-building exercise. 'When I was up in the mountains, it just felt like I was invigorated,' Turturro recalls. 'It was also arduous, being in the snow — [my character] had a lot to do and I was very active. But along the way, I felt myself being able to incorporate it. You're surrounded by trees and snow, and it was beautiful. You could contemplate a little bit and look out at the sky. I was appreciative of that.' For Tramell Tillman, whose breakthrough performance as the eerily formal Lumon manager Mr. Milchick was among the first season's revelations, the series' central themes — especially the unknowability of one's 'true' self — continue to hit home. Reflecting on his journey to come out as gay — he was raised Baptist — Tillman says, 'I've always admired people that were consistently the same, no matter the circumstance. I think me being able to become a chameleon is just a condition of growing up and who I am — that kind of malleability has afforded me a lot of opportunities. But I never as an adult walked away from the true essence of who I am — I never wanted to step away from my values. That took a while for me to learn: What is it that I believe in?' Living multiple lives is also something Zach Cherry, who provides both comic relief and pathos as fellow data refiner Dylan, understands. The actor long knew he wanted to be a performer, but initially he had to get a day job. 'I was an office manager,' he says. 'It wasn't quite as distinct as the innie/outie, but they didn't know that I was doing comedy every night. I wasn't that version of myself [at work] — I was compartmentalized in that sense, so that informed what I did on this show.' Cherry was at the job 'for quite a few years,' but where other actors are quick to dismiss their earlier 9-to-5 gigs, he proudly declares, 'It was a job that I did enjoy. I was good at it! But it very much was not my passion.' Since this season's finale, which sees Mark abandon his outie's wife, Gemma, to run away with the anarchic Helly, Britt Lower, who plays the character, has observed fans' impassioned response to that cliffhanger. But she won't answer a question many viewers have: What, exactly, is Helly thinking when she looks at Gemma just before she and Mark escape? Does she feel bad for Gemma? Or is she feeling triumphant that Mark chose her? 'It's a Rorschach test of how it resonates with a viewer based on their own experience,' Lower says of her character's neutral expression. 'I would never want to rob someone of their interpretation. I will say that a woman simply looking across the hall at another woman can be interpreted in so many ways.' As for what awaits viewers in Season 3, the 'Severance' castmates are uniform in revealing nothing. 'I'm just excited to see where they go,' Lower says. 'For the time being, it's really fun to let my imagination run wild.' Throughout her career, she has taken to drawing to help enter the headspace of the characters she's played — has she done any sketches about what Helly's future might look like? Lower sparks to that suggestion. 'Not yet,' she replies, 'but maybe next time we talk, I'll have some drawings to show you.'
Los Angeles Times
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
2025 Emmys predictions: best drama actor
As expected, the stars of 'The Pitt' and 'Severance' mirror their shows' battle atop the drama series category — though this time it's 'The Pitt' and Noah Wyle with the upper hand. Wyle and 'Severance's' Adam Scott are the only two performers named on all six Buzz ballots. 'Noah Wyle has come of age,' says Matt Roush of the 53-year-old star and executive producer. 'The 'ER' rookie now rules 'The Pitt' with absolute authority and shattering vulnerability. As in other categories, the stiffest competition comes from 'Severance': Adam Scott, so compelling as the emotionally conflicted Mark S.' As the voting shows, the panel is passionately split. Lorraine Ali writes, 'Adam Scott embodies the mental anguish and rage of a loyal worker who uncovers the evil intentions of his billionaire employer.' 'While 'The Pitt' was airing, I started playing the Beatles' 'Revolver' deep cut 'Doctor Robert' on a loop, subbing in 'Doctor Robbie' each time the chorus came around,' says Glenn Whipp. 'So, yes, you could say my loyalties lie with Noah Wyle here.' As to the strong No. 3 pick, Trey Mangum writes, 'We still have a bit of 'The Last of Us' left to see, but for now, Pedro Pascal is contending in the lead actor category.' The actor and character certainly cast a long shadow on the show's well-received second season. Kristen Baldwin and Tracy Brown, meanwhile stan for less-heralded work: 'Look, 'Landman' … is a crime against women,' says Baldwin, 'but Billy Bob Thornton is objectively excellent.' Brown pleads, 'I just need the Television Academy to finally recognize Zahn McClarnon for his stellar, sensitive work as Joe Leaphorn' on 'Dark Winds.' The field is so strong this year that critics' darling and Oscar winner Gary Oldman doesn't make the top 6 for 'Slow Horses.' Previous winner Lee Jung-jae, likewise, is on the outside looking in, along with big names such as Jon Hamm, Eddie Redmayne and Thornton. More predictions: Drama actress / Drama series 1. Noah Wyle, 'The Pitt'2. Adam Scott, 'Severance'3. Pedro Pascal, 'The Last of Us'4. Sterling K. Brown, 'Paradise'5. Mark Rylance, 'Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light'6. Diego Luna, 'Andor'7. Gary Oldman, 'Slow Horses'8. Zahn McClarnon, 'Dark Winds'9. Lee Jung-jae, 'Squid Game'10. Jon Hamm, 'Your Friends and Neighbors'
