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      Netflix Hit ‘Baby Reindeer’ Nabs 11 Emmy Nominations

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      The surprise hit “Baby Reindeer,” a Netflix drama about a comedian and his stalker, picked up 11 Emmy nominations on Wednesday, including one for best limited series.The seven-episode show, which was viewed more than 56 million times in the four weeks after it debuted, according to data released by Netflix, follows an aspiring comedian named Donny Dunn as he is tormented by a woman named Martha, primarily through emails and voice mail messages.The series was created by the comedian Richard Gadd, who plays Dunn. It was billed as a true story based on Gadd’s experience, which led to online efforts to uncover the actual identities of the characters onscreen — and eventually embroiled the streaming service in a legal dispute.Fiona Harvey, a woman who says the Martha character was modeled after her, sued Netflix last month for defamation, claiming that the show falsely suggested that she was a convicted stalker. Netflix has said it stands by “Gadd’s right to tell his story.”Along with “Baby Reindeer,” the nominees for outstanding limited series include: “Fargo” (FX), “Lessons in Chemistry” (Apple TV+), “Ripley” (Netflix) and “True Detective: Night Country” (HBO). More

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      ‘UnPrisoned’ Review: Kerry Washington Handles Comedy, Too

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      The star of “Scandal” demonstrates her range in the Hulu series about an ex-con’s daughter and her relatable traumas.Paige Alexander, the high-maintenance mom played by Kerry Washington in the Hulu dramedy “UnPrisoned,” puts her family and friends through a lot. She’s also a challenge for the show’s captioners: Rendering her continual nervous laughter, which punctuates the soundtrack like the sputtering of a rusty muffler, calls for creativity. In Season 1, (laughs), (laughter) and (laughing) were supplemented with (snickers), (snorts), (chuckles), (chuckles awkwardly) and other descriptors of uncomfortable mirth.That Paige is a marriage and family counselor and also a jittery basket case is the comic framework of “UnPrisoned,” which returned with a new season on Wednesday. The therapist needs therapy, and she gets it from everyone: her father the ex-convict; her son the anxiety-ridden gamer; her foster sister the libidinous real estate agent; and even, in Season 2, her therapist, a self-absorbed but helpful showboat played by John Stamos.Running in parallel, and neatly explaining Paige’s problems, is the dramatic framework, in which Paige and her dad try warily to reconcile after his latest stay in prison, a 17-year stretch. His repeated absences from her life are the reason she is a reflexively negative, critical and untrusting control freak who dates only unattainable men. He’s in his 60s and suddenly has to grow up; she’s in her 40s and still has to get over her daddy issues.Created by the television writer and relationship maven Tracy McMillan, “UnPrisoned,” which is based on McMillan’s life, is a better-than-average family comedy-drama, deft and ordinary in equal measure. Its quick half-hour episodes weave clever, familiar relationship humor with poignant reflections on the consequences of incarceration.The material is what it is: worthwhile, but not too far north of pleasantly watchable. “UnPrisoned” can be hard to click away from, though, because Kerry Washington is such a quietly vivid, thoroughly alive presence at its center. Whether or not you buy what the show is selling, you don’t for a second doubt the realness, the ineluctable authenticity, of Paige Alexander, even as she’s driving you crazy.Washington received plenty of attention, and two Emmy nominations, for her career-making run as Olivia Pope on ABC’s “Scandal.” But her talent and magnetism still tended to become a little lost amid the Shonda Rhimes circus, overshadowed by costumes, melodrama and take-no-prisoners attitude.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘The Bear’ Breaks the Record for Emmy Nominations for a Comedy

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      “Yes, Chef” is now part of Emmy history.“The Bear” notched a record-breaking 23 Emmy nominations on Wednesday, setting a new high for the most nominations in a single year for a comedy series. The record previously belonged to “30 Rock,” which earned 22 nominations 15 years ago.“The Bear,” which was honored on Wednesday for its second season, which premiered in June 2023, scored significantly more nominations compared with its first season, when it had 13. Its principal actors — Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach — all landed nominations. It also got nods in technical categories like sound mixing and picture editing.“The Bear,” which already won best comedy at the strike-delayed Emmys in January, will be the heavy favorite going in.The record-setting status of “The Bear,” however, will surely draw a renewed round of scrutiny of how shows get slotted into different categories at the Emmys. Going back to last year, some industry insiders gnashed their teeth at the Emmy success of “The Bear.” Should it be honored? Absolutely. But, seriously, in the comedy categories?Alan Sepinwall, a TV critic for Rolling Stone, raised the point recently, asking whether “this story of toxic workplaces, addiction and mental illness, and ruinous personal relationships was a barrel of laughs.” Given that “The Bear” beat out “30 Rock” — a beloved series that would never be mistaken for anything other than a straight-up comedy — to break the record, it could set off howls of outrage from comedy nerds.Emmy categorization controversy is nothing new, of course. The Peak TV era unleashed a torrent of dramatic comedies (try “Atlanta”), and comedic dramas (how about “Succession”?). Netflix’s “Orange Is The New Black” was nominated as a comedy one year, and as a drama the next. Long gone are the days when shows like “Cheers” and “The West Wing” had a crystal clear Emmy lane.There is one more obstacle for “The Bear.” Though Emmy voters will be weighing the series’ much-celebrated second season, they’ll start casting votes in August, on the heels of the recently released third season. The third season has a considerably lower audience score on Rotten Tomatoes compared to the first two seasons. The Daily Beast even asked earlier this month, “Why Is Everyone Saying ‘The Bear’ Is a Bad Show?”It remains an open question whether any backlash to the current season, along with is-it-actually-a-comedy industry debates, will affect its chances to win big in September.Other comedies have come close to the “30 Rock” record in recent years. “Ted Lasso” recently earned 21 nominations, one shy of tying the record. And “Saturday Night Live,” technically a sketch variety series and not a recurring comedy series as defined by Emmy rules, earned 22 nominations in 2017. More

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      When Is a Stand-Up Special Like ‘The Wire’? When Ali Siddiq Is Onstage

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      The comedian’s YouTube epic, “The Domino Effect,” is nervy humor, with both punches and punchlines that reflect his years in prison. In “The Domino Effect,” a genre-defying autobiographical epic on YouTube, the comic Ali Siddiq begins one part by casually asking the audience a question: “Has anyone here been duct-taped and thrown in a trunk?”Then he goes back in time to explain how he got there. This feels like the start of a prestige crime drama, and his riveting project, spanning more than six hours and four chapters and completed last month, resembles a solo version of “The Wire” more than any stand-up special. With cheerful charisma, Siddiq, 50, describes entering the drug trade as a boy, being shuttled through the justice system and spending six years behind bars. In between comic scenes and farcical act-outs, there are gun battles, a prison riot, drug deals gone wrong.Great personal storytelling relies on pacing and structure, but there’s also something to be said for living an interesting life. Siddiq has, yet he also never loses sight of the goal of getting laughs, even when he’s trapped in the trunk of his own car — where his first thought is anger at himself for sloppily putting the tire in there. This is nervy humor, violence always looming. In stand-up, you wait for the punchline. Here, it’s the punch.After many years of telling jokes, Siddiq, who lives in Houston, broke through with “The Domino Effect.” It’s the kind of eccentric, messy project that could be made only in our age of self-produced specials. In a crowded field of them, it stood out, with Part 1 racking up 13 million views. At the Beacon Theater in New York this year, the sold-out crowd stood and roared when he strolled onstage and sat down as relaxed as a suburban dad ready to settle in front of the television after a long week. This studied ordinary-guy casualness has become a trademark. He always begins shows with an offhand “Hey.” Describing the criminal world in white-collar workplace jargon is part of his humor. Siddiq doesn’t like to say he went to prison because he was a drug dealer. He prefers the term “street pharmaceutical rep.”Using corporate jargon is one way Siddiq makes comedy out of his subject matter. He deflates the romance of crime and makes it relatable. At one point, he laments: “There’s no H.R. for crack dealing”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Loved ‘Couples Therapy’? Read These 11 Books

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      These stories of relationship dramas and evolving partnerships will fill the “Couples Therapy”-sized hole in your life with wisdom, schadenfreude and humor — and sometimes all of the above.It can be hard when shrinks go on summer vacation — especially in a summer when each news cycle seems to bring more upsetting developments to process. And it doesn’t help that the fourth season of the cult favorite Showtime docuseries “Couples Therapy” has just wrapped, so even affordable, vicarious therapy is off the table. Without our weekly fix of Dr. Orna Guralnik’s deep nods and cathartic sympathy crying — and with the good doctor’s own much-anticipated book still months off — what are we to do?The series, which started airing in 2019, did not seem to have the makings of a hit: real couples, sitting on a Brooklyn sofa, telling a therapist their problems. At worst, thought skeptics, it sounded voyeuristic and upsetting; at best, boring and contrived. Long before Annie and Mau were a twinkle in my eye, or I’d wept over Season 2, or I’d had wildly differing feelings about different strangers named Josh, I, too, was one of those people. “Watch it,” said a co-worker. “Nothing you thought will ever be the same.” Forty-five minutes in, I was hooked.There are many reasons “Couples Therapy” has broken through: the happy surprise of seeing our perceptions change, the age-old distraction of other peoples’ problems, the actual applicable advice, Dr. Guralnik’s glossy mane and teeny tiny braids (a major discussion point on message boards).But even if you aren’t a fan of the show, these shoulder-season reads will get you through August with wisdom, schadenfreude, dysfunction, pain and humor — and sometimes all of the above. It’s not a spoiler that most of these couples could use a session or 10.Desperate Characters, by Paula Fox (1970)Otto and Sophie Bentwood are a childless couple in their early 40s living in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn (they’re the gentrifiers). Life seems comfortable — until Sophie is bitten by a feral cat and their carefully ordered existence begins to crumble. There’s even a kitchen renovation in this sharply observed, humane classic of New York marriage. (Read about the book’s legacy.)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Jon Stewart Razzes a ‘Daily Show’ Guest: Bill O’Reilly

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      The former Fox host, a longtime foil of the show, said he knew he had “no friends here.” “Well, not just here,” Stewart replied.Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Sparring Partners“The Daily Show” was supposed to be in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention this week, but the attempt on Donald Trump’s life changed that. “What a terrible [expletive] week,” Jon Stewart said as he opened Tuesday’s show from New York.“‘Hey Jon, come back to ‘The Daily Show,’ just for the election. It’ll be fun! You’ll do one day a week, it’ll be a laugh! What could go wrong?’” — JON STEWARTWith security at the convention enhanced, the theater where they’d planned to tape the show was locked down, Stewart explained. In security parlance, it was now in the “hard perimeter,” not the “soft perimeter.” “You really don’t want to be in the hard perimeter,” he said.While Stewart touched on the convention’s first two days in his opener, the real amusement came from his sit-down with Bill O’Reilly, the former Fox host who provided fodder for many “Daily Show” jokes in years past.The two have squared off before, and O’Reilly nodded to that history: “We are able to disagree without hating each other. Now, I truly hate him. But I don’t show it.”“I like coming on here, in front of all of your friends out here — and the audience should know, I have no friends here.” — BILL O’REILLY“Well, not just here.” — JON STEWARTO’Reilly tried to distance himself from Trump, saying that as a registered independent, he didn’t have a candidate. Then he pulled out a sheet of paper and rattled off a list of prices, mortgage rates and overdose rates that had risen during the Biden administration.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      NBA Agrees to Massive Rights Deals With Disney, Comcast and Amazon

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      The agreements, set to begin after next season, could potentially pay the league about $76 billion over 11 years.The National Basketball Association’s Board of Governors has approved a set of agreements for the rights to show the league’s games, Commissioner Adam Silver said on Tuesday, moving one step closer to completing deals that would reshape how the sport is watched over the next decade.Mr. Silver declined to discuss any financial details or even the companies involved, though there have been reports for months that Disney, Comcast and Amazon were close to deals with the league. TNT, which is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, has shown N.B.A. games since the 1980s, but its prominent on-air personalities like Charles Barkley talked during the playoffs about how they worried that the network would lose the rights after next season, the last covered by the current nine-year TV deal.The companies are expected to pay the N.B.A. a total of about $76 billion over 11 years. On average, ESPN would pay the N.B.A. about $2.6 billion annually, NBC around $2.5 billion and Amazon roughly $1.8 billion, according to three people familiar with the agreements, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the financial details.The Board of Governors voted to approve the deals at its yearly meeting in Las Vegas. The N.B.A. must now present the deals to Warner Bros. Discovery, and once that happens, the company will have five days to match one of them to remain in the mix.“We did approve this stage of those media proposals, but as you all know there are other rights that need to be worked through with existing partners,” Mr. Silver said.Warner Bros. Discovery was expected to try to match Amazon’s offer, according to two people familiar with the company’s thinking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the negotiations.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      James B. Sikking, Actor Best Known for ‘Hill Street Blues,’ Dies at 90

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      His natural rectitude landed him roles on hundreds of TV dramas and comedies, including the beloved “Car Pool Lane” episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”James B. Sikking, an actor who specialized in comically and threateningly stern men, died on Saturday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 90.The cause was complications of dementia, a spokeswoman, Cynthia Snyder, said in a statement.Mr. Sikking combined a soldier’s leanness and square jaw with a gentleman’s horn-rimmed spectacles and neatly combed hair. As a Federal Bureau of Investigation director involved in high-level power players in the 1993 movie “The Pelican Brief,” he looked the part.“I have that professional, intelligent look in my eye that hires me as doctors, lawyers, professional people,” he told The New York Times in 1988.Among hundreds of roles on television, Mr. Sikking was best known for playing Lt. Howard Hunter on the police drama “Hill Street Blues” (1981-87). The show won 26 Emmys, a record for a drama until “The West Wing,” which ran from 1999 to 2006, reached the same total. The show “paved the way for today’s golden era of TV drama,” The Los Angeles Times wrote in 2014, a claim that many other commentators have made as well.Mr. Sikking’s character, who appeared in every episode, was a pipe-smoking disciplinarian and weapons expert who, when alone at home, might whisper lovingly to a puppy.He based the character’s persona and even dress on a drill instructor he had during a stint in the Army. “He was so ‘army’ that it was maddening,” Mr. Sikking told the entertainment and lifestyle publication Parade in 2014. “And he had just gotten his second lieutenant bars and he worked our butts off and he was totally unbending.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More