More stories

  • in

    Elton John Secures EGOT With Emmy Win

    Elton John secured an EGOT on Monday night, joining the select group who have won all four major entertainment awards — an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony — when he won an Emmy for outstanding variety special for his livestreamed farewell concert at Dodger Stadium.John has won five Grammys, a Tony Award for best original score for “Aida,” and two Oscars for songs in “The Lion King” (“Can You Feel the Love Tonight”) and “Rocketman” (“I’m Gonna Love Me Again”).With his Emmy for “Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium,” which streamed on Disney+, John became the 19th person to gain the title. The rather elite club includes Audrey Hepburn, Rita Moreno, Mel Brooks, Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend, Jennifer Hudson and Viola Davis.John, 76, was not present at the Emmys ceremony because of a knee operation, said Ben Winston, an executive producer of the show who accepted the award on John’s behalf.John said in a statement that he was “incredibly humbled” by the honor.“The journey to this moment has been filled with passion, dedication and the unwavering support of my fans all around the world,” he said in the statement. “Tonight is a testament to the power of the arts and the joy that it brings to all our lives. Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout my career, I am incredibly grateful.”The live concert, which took place at the Los Angeles stadium in 2022, carried echoes of the pop star’s pair of shows at the same venue in 1975, when, in his late 20s, John played hits such as “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” and “Bennie and the Jets” to a sold-out venue. More

  • in

    Christina Applegate Gets Standing Ovation at Emmys as She Presents First Award

    Christina Applegate made a rare public appearance to present the first Emmy, for supporting actress in a comedy series. Glamorous in a plunging gown and visibly overcome by the long standing ovation she received, she still made self-deprecating jokes about Ozempic and disability. “You’re totally shaming me with disability by standing up,” she told the crowd. “It’s fine.”Applegate was nominated for best actress in a comedy for “Dead to Me.” (Quinta Brunson won, “Abbott Elementary.”) The Netflix series was a sleek, savage container for Applegate’s gifts, both her forceful PTA Mom prettiness and the darker currents of anger and ambition that swirled just underneath, giving her comedy a whetted edge. She played Jen to Linda Cardellini’s Judy. Jen was a woman unmoored by the death of her husband who found port in a ride-or-die friendship and an escalating series of crimes.Applegate hasn’t announced any new projects since receiving a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in 2021. (“It’s not like I came on the other side of it, like, ‘Woohoo, I’m totally fine,’” she told The Times in 2022, speaking of that diagnosis. “Acceptance? No. I’m never going to accept this. I’m pissed.”)Applegate is the rare actress to have translated teen stardom (she was Kelly Bundy, long of leg and scant of prefrontal cortex, on “Married With Children”) into a robust adult career that includes the sitcoms “Samantha Who” and “Up All Night,” as well as the “Anchorman” and “Bad Moms” film franchises. More

  • in

    Jeremy Allen White Wins His First Emmy for ‘The Bear’

    The year of “The Bear” continues. Jeremy Allen White, who last week won his second Golden Globe for his performance as the driven chef Carmy, added his first Emmy to his trophy case on Monday night, for best actor in a comedy. (Because this year’s ceremony was delayed by the writers’ and actors’ strikes, White was recognized for his performance in Season 1 of the show; his Golden Globe was for Season 2.)“I love this show so much,” White said in his acceptance speech. “It filled me up; it gave me a passion.”“Thank you to all those who have stayed close to me, especially in this past year,” he added. “Thank you for believing in me when I had trouble believing in myself.”In “The Bear,” White, 32, plays a former rising star of the New York culinary scene who inherits a sandwich shop in Chicago from his dead brother. He has earned widespread acclaim for his raw performance.His character was the emotional heart of the show’s first season, which became a surprise hit during the summer of 2022 despite its grubby milieu and the absence of A-listers in the cast. (Among the praise: its realistic depictions of restaurant work, grief and Chicago.)The series, an FX production for Hulu, was also nominated for best comedy and has already been renewed for a third season. In winning the best actor Emmy, White unseated Jason Sudeikis, who had earned back-to-back wins in the category for his performance in the first two seasons of the Apple TV+ comedy “Ted Lasso” and had been nominated again for that show’s third and final season. More

  • in

    John Oliver Wins Emmy for Scripted Variety Series, Beating ‘Saturday Night Live’

    HBO’s “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” bested NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” by winning scripted variety series in a clash between two titans accustomed to dominating the Emmys from opposite sides of the variety fence.Since the Emmys fractured the outstanding variety sketch categories into two in 2015, John Oliver’s political satire scored seven Emmys for variety talk and “Saturday Night Live” had claimed six for variety sketch.The shows were dumped into the same category this awards under scripted variety series, described by the Television Academy as shows that “are primarily scripted or feature loosely scripted improv and consist of discrete scenes, musical numbers, monologues, comedy stand-ups, sketches, etc.”The award for talk series will now honor traditional late-night shows like “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The Television Academy deemed Oliver unfit because much of his show is scripted, while other late night hosts engage in lengthy, unscripted conversations.It’s a different category, but still another win for Oliver. “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” scored four total Emmy nominations.Oliver’s show also beat HBO’s final season of “A Black Lady Sketch Show” for the award.During his speech, Oliver thanked his staff, HBO and “our lawyers who are angry with us all the time.”Before being rushed off the stage by Doris Hancox, Anthony Anderson’s mother, Oliver mentioned that he had promised to get his children Pokémon cards while in California. “And I don’t know where to get Pokémon cards in L.A.,” he said. “So, if anyone knows where to get Pokémon cards between here and L.A.X., it’s a significant problem that I’ve worked myself into.” More

  • in

    2023 Emmy Awards Ceremony: Anticipation Builds on the Red Carpet, Which Is Actually Silver

    Jan. 15, 2024, 7:40 p.m. ETBob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn in “Better Call Saul,” which ended in August 2022 but is up for several Emmys on Monday night.Greg Lewis/Sony Pictures TelevisionNominations for the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards were announced on July 12. Two days later members of SAG-AFTRA joined writers on the picket lines. This dual strike, finally resolved in November, pushed the Emmys from a September date to Monday night. Which means that this year, the Emmys, which are often late to the game, are really doing the time warp for the 2023 awards.For one thing, they are being given out in 2024. And because the Emmy eligibility window dates back to the old fall-spring broadcast schedule, the series up for awards Monday night had to have aired between June 2022 and May 2023. Which means that some of the nominated series premiered roughly 19 months ago, and also makes for some weird dissonance between the Emmys and last week’s Golden Globes.For example, the FX series “The Bear” dominated the musical or comedy category at the Globes — it won best series, the star Ayo Edebiri won a Globe and so did the show’s newly ripped lead, Jeremy Allen White, as Carmy. This was White’s second Globe, and that’s because those awards, which align eligibility to the calendar year, were honoring the stressful comedy’s second season, which aired last June. But the Emmys are still stuck on the even more stressful Season 1, with a Carmy who works out less.What does it mean to give awards to shows that finished their runs so long ago? Such delays have been more common in recent years because of the coronavirus pandemic, which delayed various editions of the Grammys, Oscars and Golden Globes for months. The 2020 Tonys were pushed back more than a year. But in terms of television, which has kept churning out show after show and season after season even as the picket lines were packed, these postponements can feel more confusing and acute.For instance, “House of the Dragon,” which premiered in August 2022, is nominated for eight Emmys, including outstanding drama series. (Most of the other nominations were in design categories; the show won for best fantasy or science fiction costumes.) There was a time when this “Game of Thrones” prequel dominated online discourse. (Remember the negroni sbagliato? Maybe not.) But “House of the Dragon,” which won best drama at last year’s Golden Globes, aired its most recent episode almost 15 months ago and has rarely been mentioned since.Voting for the Emmys took place in August 2023, when some shows were already well in the rearview. That was a year after “Better Call Saul” which has been nominated for 53 Emmys over its six seasons but has yet to win one, aired its final episode. On Monday night, it is up for best drama, writing and acting, for the stars Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn.“Dead to Me,” which earned Christina Applegate a nomination for outstanding actress in a comedy series, also wrapped more than a year ago. The Emmys will consider Season 5 of “The Crown,” when Princess Diana is still alive, rather than the already concluded (and Globe-awarded) Season 6, in which she is not for most of the episodes. Similarly, the Emmys are assessing Season 2 of “Only Murders in the Building” — there have been more murders and an entire musical since then. And how many more meals has “The Bear” plated since the first season dropped in June 2022?Television moves fast. Awards are slower entities, and the algorithms are always suggesting something new. By now, many viewers may be wondering “Better Call” … whom? “Dead to” … what? Let’s hope the people in the theater, at least, have good, long memories. More

  • in

    There will be many onstage reunions for the 75th Emmys anniversary.

    Monday’s ceremony will be the 75th edition of the Emmy Awards, and Anthony Anderson, the show’s host, will get some support in the form of onstage reunions from celebrated shows.Several cast members from “Cheers” — the beloved NBC sitcom that aired from 1982 to 1993, winning four best comedy Emmys along the way — will join together, including Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammer, Rhea Perlman, John Ratzenberger and George Wendt. Two cast members from “The Sopranos” — Lorraine Bracco and Michael Imperioli — which celebrated the 25th anniversary of its premiere last week, will be there; so will several actors from “Ally McBeal,” the 1999 best comedy winner (Calista Flockhart, Greg Germann, Peter MacNicol and Gil Bellows). There will also be cast reunions for “Grey’s Anatomy” and the 1990s Fox sitcom “Martin.”Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, former Golden Globe hosts and “Saturday Night Live” Weekend Update anchors, will also present.Emmy producers expect to pay tribute to many other beloved classics, including “I Love Lucy,” “All in the Family” and “The Carol Burnett Show.” More

  • in

    Why Were Emmys Postponed to January?

    Nominations were announced six months ago. The ceremony was supposed to take place in September. So why on earth are the Emmys happening now?The delay is a result of Hollywood’s labor problems last year. More than 11,000 television and movie writers went on strike in May. Then tens of thousands of actors went on strike in July, creating the first simultaneous actor and screenwriter walkouts since 1960.Emmy organizers concluded that the ceremony had to be postponed until January to give the industry time to resolve the labor disputes. The screenwriters called off their 148-day strike in late September, and the actors ratified their new deal with the studios in December.The delay represents the most significant postponement of the Emmys since the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. (The 2001 ceremony took place in November.)The four-month postponement will also make for an especially confounding Emmys. Shows that have been dormant for significant amounts of time will eat up a lot of airtime on Monday. “Succession,” one of the big favorites, has been off the air for eight months. “The Bear,” another favorite, is nominated for its first season, which premiered 19 months ago. Other nominated shows like “Andor,” “House of the Dragon,” “The White Lotus” and “Better Call Saul” all wrapped up their nominated seasons in 2022.Even with the delay, Emmy voters did not have a chance to change their minds. Final-round Emmy voting took place in August, and the results have been held under lock and key ever since. More

  • in

    Emmy Winners: Updating List

    The list of winners for the 75th Emmy Awards.[Follow live updates of the Emmy Awards here.]The 75th Emmy Awards will be held at 8 p.m. Eastern on Monday, broadcast live on Fox and streamed live on Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, Sling TV and other services. (It will also be available to watch on Hulu beginning Tuesday.) Anthony Anderson, who has been nominated for numerous Emmys for his ABC sitcom “black-ish,” which ended in 2022, is hosting the show, which will be held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.The ceremony, originally scheduled for September, was postponed because of the simultaneous Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes, one of the longest labor crises in the history of the entertainment industry. In September, the Writers Guild of America reached a deal with entertainment companies; SAG-AFTRA, the union representing tens of thousands of actors, followed suit, reaching a deal in November. Now the awards show will go on.If last week’s Golden Globes was any prediction of how the Emmys will go, the best comedy competition will be fierce — “Abbott Elementary,” “The Bear,” “Ted Lasso” and “Wednesday” are among the nominees — while HBO’s “Succession,” which earned 27 nods for its final season, is expected to dominate in the drama categories.Beyond “Succession,” HBO — which also scored nominations for “The White Lotus,” “The Last of Us” and “House of the Dragon” — has solidified itself as the network to beat. “The Last of Us” already won the most Creative Arts Emmys, which were given earlier this month, with eight awards; “The Bear,” “Wednesday” and “The White Lotus” all received four and “Succession” nabbed one. Also on Monday, the late-night category will see a winner other than John Oliver for the first time since 2015.The list below will be updated throughout Monday night’s ceremony.These are this year’s Emmy winners so far.Documentary or Nonfiction Series“The 1619 Project” (Hulu)Documentary or Nonfiction Special“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” (Apple TV+) More