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    For Aja Naomi King, an Emmy Nomination Is a Seismic Event

    The earth shook as she talked about receiving her first Emmy nod, for her role as Harriet in the Apple TV+ show “Lessons in Chemistry.” Literally.A few minutes into a conversation with Aja Naomi King, a first time Emmy nominee for her graceful, purposeful supporting turn in the Apple TV+ limited series “Lessons in Chemistry,” the earth began to move. “Oh my God. Earthquake! Earthquake!” King said. Once the ground quieted, she collected herself.“Sorry,” she said. “I just really got the fullness of that shake.”An Emmy nomination? That has been earthshaking, too. King’s Instagram post about the news is an outpouring of exuberant run-on sentences punctuated by a heart emoji. “If you made it to the bottom of this post you deserve an award,” she wrote.King, 39, graduated from the School of Drama at Yale in 2010. She had been working professionally for over a decade, most notably in the tangy ABC procedural “How to Get Away With Murder,” when she was cast in “Lessons in Chemistry.” Based on the best seller by Bonnie Garmus, the show tells the story of Elizabeth Zott (Brie Larson), a onetime chemist who becomes the host of a 1960s cooking show.King plays Elizabeth’s close friend Harriet. Described in the novel as a middle-aged white woman, Harriet was reimagined as a young Black mother and an aspiring lawyer who fights to save Los Angeles’s Sugar Hill neighborhood from the incursions of the freeway system.When Elizabeth, concerned for her career, declines to participate in the fight, King’s Harriet confronts her. “You’re always talking about the things that keep women down, but who does that include?” Harriet says.While King was initially concerned that Harriet would be a mere foil for Elizabeth, she was gratified by what she described as “the fullness of Harriet’s Black womanhood” that the show allowed for.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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    ‘Reservation Dogs’ Showed D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai What Is Possible

    The actor received his first Emmy nomination for his performance on the acclaimed Native comedy. In an interview, he talks about breaking down stereotypes, and possibly reviving his character.Much like his “Reservation Dogs” character, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai grew up wondering if he was a good guy.If his dedication to his craft and his community is any indication, the 22-year-old actor of Anishinaabe, Guyanese and German descent seems to be a pretty upstanding citizen. The day we chat about his Emmy nomination for lead actor in a comedy series, for example, he is visiting his parents in his native Toronto (from his adopted hometown, Los Angeles) and has spent most of the morning chauffeuring his auntie around on a several-hours-long excursion. After all, mothers, grandmothers and aunties are considered the bedrock of Indigenous communities.That’s a fact any “Reservation Dogs” fan would know. With the groundbreaking FX series, the creators Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo provided a rare look at everyday life on an Oklahoma Indian reservation through the eyes of four teens reeling in the aftermath of a friend’s suicide. Harjo, who also served as showrunner, has said there was only one way to do it: with an all-Indigenous team of writers, directors and regular actors who could authentically tell this story.Alongside his young co-stars, Woon-A-Tai made uncharted television territory feel warm, raw and utterly relatable, garnering “Rez Dogs” broad acclaim as well as four Emmy nominations this year, including a best comedy nod. His portrayal of Bear Smallhill also earned him an Emmy nomination, placing him alongside Lily Gladstone (“Under the Bridge”) and Kali Reis (“True Detective: Night Country”) as the first Indigenous actors to be nominated in 17 years.In an interview, he talked about breaking down stereotypes, possibly reviving his “Rez Dogs” character and being a good, healthy Indigenous man. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.Despite critical acclaim, “Rez Dogs” was notably overlooked by the television academy for its first two seasons. What does it mean to you to break through with a best comedy nomination and one of the few Indigenous acting nominations in Emmys history?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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    Phil Donahue, Daytime Talk Show Host, Dies at 88

    Phil Donahue, who in the 1960s reinvented the television talk show with a democratic flourish, inviting audiences to question his guests on topics as resolutely high-minded as human rights and international relations, and as unblushingly lowbrow as male strippers and safe-sex orgies, died on Sunday at his home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He was 88.His death was confirmed by Susan Arons, a representative of the family.“The Phil Donahue Show” made its debut in 1967 on WLWD-TV in Dayton, Ohio, propelling Mr. Donahue on a 29-year syndicated run, much of it as the unchallenged king of daytime talk television.Almost from the start, “The Phil Donahue Show” dispensed with familiar trappings. There was no opening monologue, no couch, no sidekick, no band — just the host and the guests, focused on a single topic.At the time, audiences were expected to be seen and not heard, unless prompted to applaud. Mr. Donahue changed that. He quickly realized from chatting with audience members during commercial breaks that some of them asked sharper questions than he did. And so he began his practice of stalking the aisles, microphone in hand, and letting those in the seats have their say. He also opened the telephone lines to those watching at home. Electronic democracy, as some called it, had arrived.Few subjects, if any, were off limits for Mr. Donahue, who was said to have told his staff, “I want all the topics hot.” It mattered little that at times the subjects made some viewers, and local station managers, squirm. His very first guest was guaranteed to stir controversy: Madalyn Murray O’Hair, at the time America’s most famous, and widely unpopular, atheist.Mr. Donahue’s very first guest was Madalyn Murray O’Hair, at the time America’s most famous, and widely unpopular, atheist.via Everett CollectionWe 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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    For Nava Mau, ‘Baby Reindeer’ Felt Private. Then It Blew Up.

    Mau is up for an Emmy for her performance in the hit Netflix series, making her the first transgender person to be nominated for a limited series acting Emmy.Voting is underway for the 76th Primetime Emmys, and this week we are talking to several first-time Emmy nominees. The awards will be presented Sept. 15 on ABC.The experience of filming “Baby Reindeer” was so meaningful for Nava Mau, she said, that she would have been fine if it had never come out. But it did in April, and then the seven-episode thriller did what few could have predicted: It became a global phenomenon. The breakout television series of the year so far, “Baby Reindeer” is among Netflix’s most watched shows ever.Its success is even more surprising given the intensity of its central themes: sexual assault, shame, stalking and self-loathing. Based on the real experiences of its creator, writer and star, Richard Gadd, it follows a struggling comedian named Donny who is traumatized by a predatory producer and later stalked by a sad woman named Martha, played by Jessica Gunning. “Baby Reindeer” is one of Martha’s nicknames for Donny.Mau played Teri, a successful therapist and the love interest for Donny, whom she met on a transgender dating site. Teri sees the world more clearly than the other characters but experiences trauma of her own. In July, Mau received her first Emmy nomination, for best supporting actress in a limited series, one of 11 nods for the show. She is the first transgender person to be nominated for a limited series acting Emmy.Mau, who was born in Mexico City and raised in Texas and California, said the story resonated with audiences for the same reasons it resonated with her when she read the script.“Richard demonstrated such courage in portraying these characters as truthfully and beautifully as they possibly could have been,” she said in an interview. “There’s such ugliness in the story and such pain, and yet the humanity of every character is never sacrificed. I think that kind of storytelling allows for people to lower their defenses and really engage with the themes and the emotions that are being presented to them.”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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    Gena Rowlands, Actress Who Brought Raw Drama to Her Roles, Dies at 94

    Gena Rowlands, the intense, elegant dramatic actress who, often in collaboration with her husband, John Cassavetes, starred in a series of introspective independent films, has died. She was 94.The death was confirmed by the office of Daniel Greenberg, a representative for Ms. Rowlands’s son, the director Nick Cassavetes. No other details were given.In June, her family said that she had been living with Alzheimer’s disease for five years.Ms. Rowlands, who often played intoxicated, deranged or otherwise on-the-verge characters, was nominated twice for best actress Oscars in performances directed by Mr. Cassavetes. The first was the title role in “A Woman Under the Influence” (1974), in which her desperate, insecure character is institutionalized by her blue-collar husband (Peter Falk) because he doesn’t know what else to do. The critic Roger Ebert wrote in The Chicago Sun-Times that Ms. Rowlands was “so touchingly vulnerable to every kind of influence around her that we don’t want to tap her because she might fall apart.”Her second nomination was for “Gloria” (1980), in which she starred as a gangster’s moll on the run with an orphaned boy.Ms. Rowlands and John Marley in “Faces,” which Renata Adler of The New York Times called “a really important movie” about “the way things are.” Like many of her movies, it was directed by Ms. Rowland’s husband, John Cassavetes.United Archives, via Getty ImagesBut it was “Faces” (1968), in which she starred as a young prostitute opposite John Marley, that first brought the Cassavetes-Rowlands partnership to moviegoers’ attention. Critics spread the word; Renata Adler described the film in The New York Times as “a really important movie” about “the way things are,” and Mr. Ebert called it “astonishing.”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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    Emmy Nomination Snubs and Surprises: John Mulaney, Emma Stone and More

    Every year the Primetime Emmy nominations go a little more according to form, and Wednesday’s list was perhaps the most predictable yet, with only one very slight curveball in the main drama and comedy series categories (see “The Curse,” below). Here are some highlights from a very short list of notable snubs and surprises.Snub: ‘John Mulaney Presents Everybody’s in L.A.’The talk-series category went exactly as expected — the series nominations went to “The Daily Show,” “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” — which is what the category is known for. But it was particularly galling that this year, when John Mulaney’s inventive ode to Los Angeles, rendered in a classic late-night format live on Netflix, offered an attractive alternative, that the voters went with the same old Colbert-Kimmel-Meyers lineup. (The show did receive a nomination for picture editing.)“The Curse,” with Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone, was shut out of Wednesday’s Emmy nominations.Richard Foreman Jr./A24/Paramount+ with ShowtimeSnub: ‘The Curse’Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie’s dark satire on marriage, home renovation and reality TV for Paramount+ and Showtime was thought to be in the running, if only marginally, for drama series. Its stars, Fielder and Emma Stone, were also borderline favorites for acting nominations. None of them broke though, however, which is getting to be a habit for Fielder: His previous attention-grabbing, opinion-dividing series, “Nathan for You,” received no nominations across its four seasons.Surprise: ‘Scavengers Reign’Joseph Bennett and Charles Huettner’s beautifully drawn, eerily calm science-fiction tale was dropped by its original streaming home, Max, and picked up by Netflix a few weeks before nominations voting ended. Did the move give it the boost it needed to grab an unexpected bid in the animated program category? While it is gratifying to see a show this unusual get a nomination, the bigger news here is a snub: no nomination for the seventh season of the two-time winner “Rick and Morty.”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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    Where to Stream 2024 Emmy-Nominated Series: ‘Shogun,’ ‘The Bear’ and More

    Nominations for the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards were announced on Wednesday. The Emmys ceremony is planned for Sept. 15, on ABC.Nominations for the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards were announced on Wednesday. The FX drama “Shogun” had 25 nominations, the most of any series this year. The FX comedy “The Bear,” which streams on Hulu, broke the record for most nominations for a comedy series.“Only Murders in the Building” (21 nominations), “True Detective: Night Country” (19) and “The Crown” (18) also did well this year. The Netflix limited series “Baby Reindeer,” the year’s biggest surprise hit so far, earned 11 nominations.The Emmys ceremony is planned for Sept. 15, on ABC. Here’s how to watch the top nominees.Best Drama‘Shogun’The FX epic adapts the 1975 James Clavell novel. (Review)Stream it on Hulu.‘The Crown’Peter Morgan’s docudrama about the British royal family wrapped up in 2023. (Review)Stream it on Netflix.‘The Morning Show’Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon star in this glossy series set in a fictional TV network. (Review)Stream it on Apple TV+.‘The Gilded Age’This opulent costume drama is set in late 19th-century New York. (Review)Stream it on Max.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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    Emmy Nominations: Our Critics on ‘The Bear,’ ‘Baby Reindeer’ and Delightful Surprises

    The 2024 Primetime Emmy nominations were announced on Wednesday. James Poniewozik and Margaret Lyons, two television critics for The New York Times, discussed who made it and who didn’t, why Emmy categories are increasingly irrelevant and which nominations made them smile.JAMES PONIEWOZIK Happy Emmy day, Margaret! It seems like we were just talking about the Emmys — which we kind of were, the most recent awards having been handed out in January because of a strike delay.That strike pause — coupled with the recent retirement of some hall-of-fame shows like “Succession” — may have something to do with one of the larger trends this year: The cupboard feels a little bare. There’s plenty of good-enough TV (dare I say Mid?) on the prize list, not a lot of great. (Though we can discuss the exceptions: Very happy to see recognition for “Reservation Dogs.”)Still, there are simply a lot of awards, so there’s always something to talk about. It was a big year for “The Bear” in comedy (is it one?) and “Shogun” in drama series (it sure felt like a limited series when I watched it complete its story). It feels like there has been a lot more talk this year about categorization and category-gaming, but let me know how you’re feeling.MARGARET LYONS The categories are illegible and increasingly nonsensical. What do we gain by, for example, putting “Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates Jr.” in competition with “How To With John Wilson”? The double-dipping between talk and variety is snoozy, and the category gaming for “The Bear” and “Shogun” feels if not sleazy, then at least kind of dumb! The Emmys wax and wane in terms of legitimacy, and I wonder if it’s even possible for a structured awards format like this to retain meaning when TV itself is more flexible, its genres more porous.PONIEWOZIK Yes, the way to eliminate the arbitrary category divisions would be … just not have them. Just have best series! Best cinematography! Best directing! Unless we resurrect Aristotle to sort this out, I think any proposed tweaking (sort series by run time? broadcast vs. cable vs. streaming? weight class?) would just invite other absurdities. But the Emmys exist to give out Emmys, and I assume reducing the number of them would be the Hollywood equivalent of campaigning on entitlement cuts.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