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      Jacklyn Zeman, Nurse Bobbie on ‘General Hospital,’ Dies at 70

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      , She played the same role on the popular soap opera for nearly half a century and was nominated for four Daytime Emmy Awards.Jacklyn Zeman, an Emmy-nominated actress who for nearly a half-century played the role of Bobbie Spencer, a nurse on the long-running soap opera “General Hospital,” died on Tuesday in Thousand Oaks, Calif. She was 70.Her death, at Los Robles Regional Medical Center, came after a “short battle” with cancer, according to her family.In announcing Ms. Zeman’s death on Wednesday, the show’s executive producer, Frank Valentini, wrote on Twitter, “Just like her character, the legendary Bobbie Spencer, she was a bright light and true professional that brought so much positive energy with her to work.”As Barbara Jean (Bobbie) Spencer, Ms. Zeman was among the longest-lasting cast members on the series, which since 1963 has centered around the lives of characters who work in the hospital and in the wealthy business community in the fictional New York town of Port Charles. Ms. Zeman first appeared on the show in 1977 and was featured in nearly 900 episodes.Bobbie was a student nurse who had moved on from her past life as a prostitute who gave up a baby for adoption in Florida; vied for the affections of a law student named Scotty Baldwin; and was the younger sister of Luke Spencer, played by Anthony Geary.She portrayed her character as a loving but tough nurse who had emerged from a difficult past. In one scene, she defends her hard-knocks upbringing to Mr. Baldwin, saying she never had anything handed to her.“I wanted Bobbie to be bouncy and have a positive aura and energy,” she said in an interview last year with TV Insider. “I wanted her to have intelligence, humor and a love of people. Bobbie came from a dysfunctional background but she wanted to have kids and be a mother.”“I wanted the character to be perky and to come in like a hurricane,” she said.Ms. Zeman was nominated for four Daytime Emmy Awards for her work on the show and received a fifth nomination in 2021 for her acting on the television series “The Bay.”Jacklyn Lee Zeman was born on March 6, 1953, in Englewood, N.J., and grew up in Bergenfield. She was the oldest of three daughters born to Richard Zeman, an engineer with IBM, and Rita (Duhart) Zeman Rohlman, who worked for Scholastic Magazine.She began training in ballet at the age of 5, said Cassidy Zee Macleod, one of Ms. Zeman’s two daughters. When she was 15, she moved to New York City to pursue dancing and attended New York University briefly, Ms. Macleod said. She was cast as Lana McLain in 1976 on “One Life to Live” before her move to “General Hospital” in 1977.In addition to Ms. Macleod and Lacey Rose Gorden, another daughter whom she had with her third husband, Glenn Gorden (they divorced in 2007), Ms. Zeman is survived by two sisters, Lauren Fischetti and Carol Kolb, and two grandchildren. In April, “General Hospital” celebrated 60 years on the air. Ms. Macleod said that one of her mother’s last appearances was on the show’s nurses’ ball in April.Ms. Macleod said that her mother, who lived in Calabasas, Calif., adored the “strong-willed” role of Bobbie and that she and her sister recognized how deeply their mother’s role had affected people when some of the nurses caring for her described how Bobbie had inspired them.“We recognized how many lives she touched,” said Ms. Macleod. “They said they became nurses because of her.” More

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      What Is an EGOT? A Detailed History of Its Origins and Winners.

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      Many people were introduced to the idea of an EGOT — winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony — through “30 Rock.” But it’s an actor from the 1980s who deserves the credit.Common would be the first to admit that he has an EGO — that is, an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award and an Oscar — making him just a Tony Award shy from securing the coveted EGOT, the achievement of winning all four major entertainment awards.Eighteen other people have done so, and the “Frozen” songwriter Robert Lopez is the only person to do it twice. The most recent addition was the actress Viola Davis, who earned a Grammy in February for the audiobook of her memoir, making her one of six women to have an EGOT.Now Common has a shot at joining this rather uncommon club. The Tony nominations will be announced on Tuesday, and he is eligible in the featured actor in a play category after making his Broadway debut in “Between Riverside and Crazy.”But where did the EGOT acronym come from, and what does it really take to earn the accolade?Why did we start talking about EGOTs?Many people who first heard of an EGOT assume it originated on the hit NBC sitcom “30 Rock,” which began airing in 2006. But it turns out the term dates back to 1984, when only three people had achieved EGOT-hood: the composer Richard Rodgers and the actresses Helen Hayes and Rita Moreno.It’s actually Philip Michael Thomas, Don Johnson’s partner on the police drama “Miami Vice,” who deserves the naming credit. The accomplishment was previously known as a “grand slam,” a term used for similar achievements in golf and tennis.Thomas has told reporters that his dream was to win an Emmy for his work on “Miami Vice,” a Grammy for his record albums, an Oscar for a play he wanted to adapt as a film, and a Tony for some musicals he had written.Thomas, who later claimed the acronym also stood for his career mantra — “Energy, Growth, Opportunity and Talent” — even wore a medallion with “EGOT” engraved on it. But he was never nominated for any of the awards he dreamed of winning.How did EGOT enter the popular lexicon?Despite Thomas’s efforts, it took a couple of decades before “EGOT” became a thing. Then Kay Cannon, a writer and producer on “30 Rock,” decided to incorporate the rare feat into a satirical story line that began in 2009. “You’d hear this red carpet commentary,” Cannon told The New York Times recently, “that they were one award away from EGOT-ing.”At the time, even some luminaries didn’t know about the distinction. The comedian Whoopi Goldberg first learned she had achieved EGOT status when she guest-starred on one of the four “30 Rock” episodes in which the character Tracy Jordan, played by Tracy Morgan, bought Thomas’s necklace and started strategizing to achieve his own EGOT. (“A good goal for a talented crazy person,” he says in the show.)“I watched ‘30 Rock’ and loved the concept,” Lopez said. “One doesn’t really ever think of themselves as a candidate for achieving something so ridiculous, but I realized that maybe I could do it one day.” Lopez got his wish in 2014, winning an Oscar for the song “Let It Go” from the Disney animated hit “Frozen.”The composer Andrew Lloyd Webber was more old school. “I wasn’t thinking, ‘If I get this Emmy, I’d be an EGOT,’” Lloyd Webber said about achieving the feat in 2018 for “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert.” The lyricist Tim Rice and the singer John Legend, who played the title role, reached EGOT status at the same time.“It hadn’t really crossed my mind,” Lloyd Webber said. “I’m much more conscious of it now.”So, what is the best strategy for winning an EGOT?The not-so-quiet secret is that when you’re close to an EGOT, it is possible to game the system.Lloyd Webber said he was recently asked by a fellow artist — someone famous, he won’t say who — how to add a Tony to an awards collection that already included a Grammy and an Emmy. “I said, ‘Well, one way you could do that is become a producer, put some money into a few shows,’” he said. “Every show seems to have 20 producers these days.”That strategy worked for the singer and actress Jennifer Hudson, who achieved an EGOT in 2022 with her Tony win as a producer of “A Strange Loop.”Lloyd Webber thinks getting an Oscar is the most difficult. A Grammy is the easiest, he said, simply because there are more available categories: “You could be the best banjo player in Latin America.”And if Davis’s clinching Grammy win — in the best audio book, narration and storytelling category — revealed anything, it’s that nonmusical methods can be just as effective. “Do a comedy album or narrate your own audio book,” Cannon said. “Write a book, narrate that and then adapt it to the stage.”After considering her own track record (“I’m 0-for-4 right now”), Cannon said she thought her best bet could be a Broadway adaptation of “Pitch Perfect,” the 2012 musical comedy film that she co-wrote.Does it help to have an EGOT as your goal?Probably not. The renowned composer Alan Menken had already won 11 Grammys, eight Oscars and one Tony when his representatives realized he just needed an Emmy to complete the EGOT. “To be honest, it wasn’t something that was really on my wish list until it was brought up, and brought up, and brought up,” he said. “But you can’t will something like that into existence.”So about six years ago, Menken wrote a song about wanting to achieve an EGOT, soliciting assistance from comedy writers like Judd Apatow. The idea was that it would start off sounding sincere, and then would get more and more desperate with each section. Ultimately, he discarded the song (“It wasn’t any good, I can promise you”) and instead secured an Emmy for the animated series “Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure.”What is the value of an EGOT?An EGOT is a flattering distinction that ultimately means nothing, said Menken, who described it as a “random assortment of honors.”“Just do what you do, as well as you can, and don’t think about it,” he added. “If you get awards, great.”There is no organizing body that awards EGOTs, and no ceremony at which a trophy is handed out. But there are hazy areas of eligibility, such as lifetime achievement awards. There are also EGOT enhancements, like the PEGOT, for either a Peabody Award or a Pulitzer Prize. Some say the G should instead represent a Golden Globe, or that the EGOT should become an EGGOT.Menken is proud of the fact that he also has a REGOT — the four traditional awards, plus a Razzie, also known as a Golden Raspberry Award. The ignoble prize was for worst original song from the film “Newsies,” the same project for which he won a Tony. “The Razzie puts everything in perspective, frankly,” he said.At least with the Razzies, there is a ceremony and a physical award. Cannon thinks there should be a similar ceremony for EGOTs, if only a mock version. After all, even “Saturday Night Live” commemorates the occasion when someone hosts the show for a fifth time. “You become a member of the Five-Timers Club, they give you a jacket.”Who’s not throwing away their shot?Over the years, artists have become more comfortable expressing their EGOT dreams. In a segment for the 2015 BET Hip Hop Awards, the composer and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda rattled off his scorecard: “Got a Grammy, got a Tony, got an Emmy,” he rapped, adding, “Somebody show me the way to the Oscars.”Miranda’s dream could come true next awards season: He has written new songs for the live-action “The Little Mermaid” movie, which will be released in late May.Menken, Miranda’s collaborator on the three new “Little Mermaid” songs, mused about whether he should take his name off them to give Miranda a better shot. “I have eight Oscars,” he said. “They’re probably going to go, ‘Alan, man, no.’ So I feel guilty.”Lopez agreed that Manuel deserves it, but he’s also rooting for someone else: Kristen Anderson-Lopez, his collaborator and wife. She just needs a Tony to secure the EGOT. An added benefit, he said, is that it would bring “more peace to my household.”Wait, so who exactly is in the EGOT club?These are the 18 people who have won EGOTs, along with the year and award that secured the achievement:Mel Brooks (2001, Tony)Viola Davis (2023, Grammy)John Gielgud (1991, Emmy)Whoopi Goldberg (2002, Tony)Marvin Hamlisch (1995, Emmy)Helen Hayes (1977, Grammy)Audrey Hepburn (1994, Grammy)Jennifer Hudson (2022, Tony)John Legend (2018, Emmy)Andrew Lloyd Webber (2018, Emmy)Robert Lopez (2014, Oscar)Alan Menken (2020, Emmy)Rita Moreno (1977, Emmy)Mike Nichols (2001, Emmy)Tim Rice (2018, Emmy)Richard Rodgers (1962, Emmy)Scott Rudin (2012, Grammy)Jonathan Tunick (1997, Tony) More

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      Stuart Margolin, Emmy Winner for ‘The Rockford Files,’ Dies at 82

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      A sought-after character actor for decades, he worked frequently with James Garner. He also wrote and directed.Stuart Margolin, a character actor best known for playing the sidekick to James Garner’s private detective on the hit series “The Rockford Files,” a role that won Mr. Margolin back-to-back Emmy Awards as best supporting actor in 1979 and 1980, died on Monday in Staunton, Va. He was 82.His family said the cause was complications of pancreatic cancer.Mr. Margolin was all over television from the early 1960s into this century, turning up in episodes of dozens of shows as well as in assorted TV movies. He also had a substantial behind-the-scenes career: He wrote several TV movies and directed episodes of “The Rockford Files,” “The Love Boat,” “Touched by an Angel” and numerous other series. In 1987 he and Ted Bessell shared an Emmy nomination for directing for “The Tracey Ullman Show.”Mr. Margolin’s career was tied to that of Mr. Garner, one of Hollywood’s top stars, at several points. Before “The Rockford Files,” which was seen on NBC from 1974 to 1980, he and Mr. Garner were in “Nichols” (1971-72), a short-lived western; Mr. Garner played the title character, a sheriff, and Mr. Margolin played his deputy.After “Rockford,” the two men were in another western, “Bret Maverick” (1981-82), a sequel to “Maverick,” the show that helped make Mr. Garner a star in the 1950s and early ’60s. Mr. Margolin also directed Mr. Garner in several “Rockford Files” TV movies.“Jim has been better to me than anyone else in my life except my father,” Mr. Margolin was quoted as saying in “The Garner Files,” a 2011 memoir by Mr. Garner, who died in 2014.Mr. Margolin in 1978. His ability to create memorable impressions, often with very little screen time, made him a fixture of casting directors’ call lists. Associated PressMr. Garner may have helped his career along, but it was Mr. Margolin’s ability to create memorable impressions, often with very little screen time, that made him a fixture of casting directors’ call lists. That was true even of his Emmy-winning role as Angel Martin, who once served prison time with Rockford and was both his friend and a thorn in his side.“Stuart Margolin, as Angel, is not on the show every week,” the syndicated columnist Dick Kleiner wrote in 1979. “And even when he is on, mostly he is in for little bits and pieces.”“But,” he added, “Margolin has created a vivid character in Angel, no matter how little he is seen. He is notably sleazy — in mind and body — and that’s what makes him fun.”In his memoir, Mr. Garner gave Mr. Margolin full credit for making the most out of the character.“I confess that I’ve never understood why Rockford likes Angel so much, because he’s rotten to the core,” he wrote. “But there’s something lovable about him. I don’t know what it is, but it’s all Stuart’s doing.”NBC had not wanted Mr. Margolin, Mr. Garner wrote. But he was cast in the pilot, and Angel made several more appearances.“NBC still didn’t want him and they told us point-blank not to use him again,” he wrote. “Then he got an Emmy nomination.”Stuart Margolin was born on Jan. 31, 1940, in Davenport, Iowa, to Morris and Gertrude Margolin. He spent much of his childhood in Dallas, where he learned to golf. His first newspaper mentions were in write-ups of the results of golf tournaments.He became good enough at the sport that, he said, he had scholarship offers from several universities. But he was more interested in acting — he caught the bug when he played Puck in a local production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at age 8 — so, after graduating from a boarding school in Tennessee, he went west to study at the Pasadena Playhouse in California.He appeared in numerous stage productions, and he continued to work in the theater throughout his career. But in 1961 he landed his first TV role, on “The Gertrude Berg Show,” and soon television was dominating his résumé.He achieved a new level of visibility when he landed a role as a regular on “Love, American Style,” a buzz-generating series that debuted in 1969 and on which his brother Arnold was an executive producer.That series consisted of several vignettes per episode, with comic skits in between. He was among the cast members performing those skits. Sample bit: Mr. Margolin is behind the wheel in a car, complaining to someone in the back seat that “every time you fix me up with a chick, she turns out to be a dog.” The camera pans to the passenger seat, where, sitting next to Mr. Margolin, is an actual dog.In a 1981 interview with The Associated Press, Mr. Garner said Mr. Margolin’s work on that show caught his attention, especially a skit in which Mr. Margolin had a cell door slammed in his face.“I fell out of my chair,” Mr. Garner said. And he knew he had found his “Nichols” sidekick.“I love comedy and I study comedy and comedians,” Mr. Garner recalled. “I said, ‘That’s the guy.’”Mr. Margolin, who lived in Staunton, is survived by his wife, Patricia Dunne Margolin, whom he married in 1982; his brothers, Arnold and Richard; a sister, Anne Kalina; two stepsons, Max and Christopher Martini; a stepdaughter, Michelle Martini; and four step-grandchildren. His marriage to Joyce Eliason ended in divorce.In addition to acting and directing, Mr. Margolin dabbled in music. In 1980 he released a country-rock album, “And the Angel Sings,” for which he was a co-writer on some of the songs. Reviewing it in The Detroit Free Press, Mike Duffy called it “an album of style, wit and lowdown fun.”“It’s almost as if Soupy Sales and Willie Nelson got together,” he wrote. More

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      Kirstie Alley, Emmy-Winning ‘Cheers’ Actress, Dies at 71

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      She also starred in the NBC sitcom “Veronica’s Closet,” which aired from 1997 to 2000.Kirstie Alley, the actress whose breakout role as the career-minded Rebecca Howe in the sitcom “Cheers” catapulted her career and earned her an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe, died on Monday. She was 71.The cause was cancer, according to a statement from her family on Twitter.Ms. Alley quickly won over millions of viewers while playing Rebecca in “Cheers,” the timeless NBC show that ran for 11 seasons in the 1980s and ’90s. She had stepped in to replace Shelley Long in the ensemble cast in 1987, at the height of the series’ popularity, and remained through the final season.Critics noted how Ms. Alley had brought a refreshing new dynamic to the character, with scripts giving her a more fun arc that helped create a “denser joke machine,” as one writer noted. At times, Rebecca, who managed the bar in the show, appeared to be a hapless and gold-digging mess. In other moments, Ms. Alley portrayed Rebecca with a faux-bravado, and with an attitude of indifference to others romantic advances.Her character gradually evolved from being a corporate-pleasing manager to a full-fledged, genial member of the gang who was perky yet perpetually disappointed.In an interview with “Entertainment Tonight” in 2019, Ms. Alley looked back on her “Cheers” years as a somewhat chaotic time, with all kinds of misbehavior being the norm on a set that included co-stars like Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson.“We never paid attention, we were always in trouble,” she said. “We never showed up on time.”Kirstie Alley with Ted Danson, left, and Woody Harrelson in “Cheers.”Photo by Kim Gottlieb Walker/NBCU via Getty ImagesIn addition to her 1991 Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for “Cheers,” Ms. Alley also won the 1994 Emmy for lead actress in a mini-series for the title role in “David’s Mother,” a drama about a mother who raises her autistic son alone.Ms. Alley, who acted regularly for about four decades, also starred in the NBC sitcom “Veronica’s Closet,” which ran from 1997 to 2000. Her character was the successful head of a lingerie company.Marta Kauffman, a creator and an executive producer of “Veronica’s Closet,” said of Ms. Alley in 1997: “She is crazy most of the time, and I mean that in the best sense of the word.”Ms. Alley was born on Jan. 12, 1951, in Wichita, Kan., where she was raised in a Roman Catholic family. She was particularly close with her grandfather, a lumber-company owner.She attended Kansas State University but dropped out to become an interior decorator. Around that time, she developed an addiction to cocaine.She eventually moved to Los Angeles and enrolled in Narconon, a rehabilitation program affiliated with the Church of Scientology.When asked by Barbara Walters in 1992 why she had joined a religion with a problematic past, Ms. Alley said that she had “not come across anything” negative.“It answered a lot of questions for me,” Ms. Alley said in 1997 of the church. “I was a pretty able person. I wasn’t looking for something like that. But I wanted to get rid of the barriers keeping me from what I wanted, to be an actress. It’s just part of my life.”While living in Los Angeles, Ms. Alley began to take an interest in acting. In 1982, she made her film debut in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” playing a half-Vulcan, half-Romulan lieutenant with pointy ears.In 1989, she starred alongside John Travolta in the film “Look Who’s Talking,” a comedy in which a baby’s thoughts are narrated by Bruce Willis. Vincent Canby, who reviewed the movie in The Times, wrote that “cute” was the “operative word” for a movie that starred “some good actors doing material that is not super.”In 2005, Ms. Alley shifted her attention to a mock-reality show about her weight. She said at the time that the show, “Fat Actress,” drew from her experience as a woman in Hollywood who did not meet the industry’s stereotypically slim beauty standards. Another show, “Kirstie Alley’s Big Life,” also focused on Ms. Alley’s weight-loss journey.Ms. Alley was married to Bob Alley, and the two eventually divorced. A later marriage to Parker Stevenson also ended in divorce.She is survived by her two children, True and Lillie Parker. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.Ms. Alley told The New York Times in 1997 that she had sought out TV series throughout her career in order to have a normal schedule and be closer to her family.“It’s the best life style,” Ms. Alley said. More

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      Emmy Success for ‘Squid Game’ Is Hailed in South Korea

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      After the dystopian Netflix drama picked up multiple wins, Koreans celebrated the awards as the latest example of their country’s rise as a cultural powerhouse.SEOUL — First it was the movie “Parasite.” Then Yuh-Jung Youn, the star of “Minari.” Now, “Squid Game.”The dystopian Netflix drama’s success at the Emmys on Tuesday — including the top acting prize for its star, Lee Jung-jae, a first for a foreign-language show — was greeted with cheers in South Korea and hailed as the latest example of the country’s rise as a cultural powerhouse.Major Korean news outlets such as MBC and Yonhap made the news the lead story on their websites. Chosun Ilbo, one of the country’s largest newspapers, said “Squid Game” had written a “new history in K-drama.”“It seems like South Korean productions are getting more and more recognized internationally, which makes me excited,” said Lee Jae, a commercial producer in Seoul, who binge-watched the series as soon as it came out last year.In the show, which was produced by Netflix and became its most watched series ever, 456 desperate contestants are pitted against one another to the death for a cash prize of nearly $40 million. Players must survive through several rounds of children’s games in order to win.After its release last September, the show skyrocketed to popularity, becoming a sensation in not only South Korea but also on a global scale. At the time, the series outperformed other popular non-English shows like “Money Heist” and “Lupin,” according to Ted Sarandos, a co-chief executive officer and chief content officer for Netflix. At a business conference last year, he said that “Squid Game” was “blowing past all of them.”The show’s success is the latest in a string of international accolades for South Korean productions. In 2020, “Parasite,” the class satire directed by Bong Joon Ho, became the first foreign-language movie to win the Academy Award for Best Film. Last year, Youn, a veteran Korean star, the best supporting actress Oscar for her role in “Minari,” the film about a hard-luck family of Korean immigrants in the United States.Those earlier awards signaled a growing acceptance of foreign-language productions, said Daniel Martin, a film studies professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. He said the success of “Squid Game” at the Emmys could be “a sign of hopefully a generational change.”While audiences might “go back to not caring about non-English content, ‘Squid Game’s’ win shows that viewers are receptive to Korean content, which is encouraging,” Martin said.South Korea has emerged as an entertainment juggernaut in recent years, captivating international audiences with K-pop bands such as BTS, as well as hit TV shows and critically acclaimed movies.Most recently, “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” a Korean feel-good show about a young autistic lawyer, has been the most watched non-English-language program on Netflix in the past several weeks.For “Squid Game,” the Emmys are only its latest achievement. In February, the drama scooped up multiple prizes at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, including lead performer honors for Lee and Jung Ho-yeon.Lee, who is considered one of the most successful actors in South Korea, began his career as a model before starring in a number of hit Korean films, playing characters including romantic leads and cutthroat gangsters. His directorial debut, “Hunt,” an espionage thriller, was released in South Korea last month.On social media and online forums, his fans poured on the praise.“To South Korea’s Lee Jung-jae! Congratulations on winning the best lead actor. You are an actor who gives his all into his work and to his fans. I applaud you, someone whose hard work deserves such accomplishments,” said one fan on Twitter.“Wow, Lee Jung-jae won the award for best actor. He really is amazing,” another fan tweeted.In his acceptance speech, Lee acknowledged the support of his fans at home and their love for the show. “I’d like to share this honor with my family, friends and our precious fans watching from South Korea. Thank you!” he said. More

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      The Best and Worst Moments of the 2022 Emmys

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      The show returned to a pre-Covid format, with the usual array of leaden gags, shameless commercialism and genuinely poignant moments.After two consecutive ceremonies shaped by the pandemic, the Primetime Emmys returned to what felt more or less like a pre-Covid format on Monday night. The awards were handed out in the celebrity-stuffed Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, and the corny bits were about TV clichés, not masks and social distancing.The show remained fixated on a milder existential threat, however: streaming services. The theme remained dominant even though the ceremony ran on Peacock as well as NBC, with the host, Kenan Thompson, working multiple Netflix digs into his monologue. “For one more year,” The Times’s Mike Hale wrote in his review of the telecast, “we got the weird spectacle of broadcast TV nervously proclaiming its relevance as if it wouldn’t have the chance to do so much longer.”Along the way, there was the usual array of leaden gags, shameless commercialism and genuinely poignant moments that transcended all the award-show contrivance. There was also, in the success of series like “Abbott Elementary,” evidence that the broadcasters still have some Emmy relevance left in them, even as prestige cable and streaming services claimed the biggest prizes. JEREMY EGNERGive Sheryl Lee Ralph another award.Sheryl Lee Ralph won her first Emmy on Monday, for her role in “Abbott Elementary.”Phil McCarten/Invision, via Associated PressA key to good comedy is having a distinctive voice. Sheryl Lee Ralph, the former “Dreamgirls” actress who won best supporting comedy actress for “Abbott Elementary,” has that in more ways than one.She took the stage and belted the opening lines of “Endangered Species” by Dianne Reeves before launching into a fervent acceptance that deserved a statuette of its own. JAMES PONIEWOZIK‘Abbott Elementary’ emerges.Quinta Brunson won the Emmy for best writing for a comedy series for her work on ABC’s “Abbott Elementary,” which she also created and stars in.Mark Terrill/Invision, via Associated Press“Abbott Elementary,” the breakout ABC sitcom set in a struggling Philadelphia public school, won two Primetime Emmys for its inaugural season, ahead of next week’s Season 2 debut.In addition to Ralph’s acting win, the show’s creator, Quinta Brunson, who also stars, picked up a prize for best comedic writing, and the series won a Creative Arts Emmy this month for best casting.Of its seven total nominations, one was for best comedy; had “Abbott” won, it would have been the first network comedy to do so since “Modern Family” in 2014. Based on its performance in its first time out, “Abbott” should be a top Emmy contender for years to come. KALIA RICHARDSONJennifer Coolidge wins and overshares.Accepting the supporting actress Emmy for her role in “The White Lotus,” Jennifer Coolidge made a disclaimer right up front. Mark Terrill/Invision, via Associated PressJennifer Coolidge won her first Emmy on Monday for her supporting role in the HBO anthology series “The White Lotus.” The show’s creator, Mike White, made the character specifically for Coolidge, who in her early 30s lost her own mother.True to the oversharing nature of the women she often plays, Coolidge was quick to offer a disclaimer up front: “I just want to say, you know, I took a lavender bath tonight right before the show, and it made me swell up inside my dress,” she said. “And I’m having a hard time speaking.” KALIA RICHARDSONHere comes the music …Cutting winners’ speeches short, the ceremony made time for tired bits, like this one, riffing on Mariska Hargitay’s and Christopher Meloni’s “Law & Order” characters.Patrick T. Fallon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe rhythm of the show was weirdly off. The intros, clips and bits often felt as if they were in the wrong order; the commentary from the announcer, Sam Jay, didn’t land, and the banter segments were too varied to hit a consistent pace. The ceremony just couldn’t find its stride.One conspicuous result was that while winners on award shows often note that the countdown clock for their speeches is intimidating, Monday’s Emmy winners seemed extra pressured and thus extra flustered. The show played off engaging winners like Quinta Brunson and Jennifer Coolidge while making plenty of time for inane “copaganda” segments and slow bits that went nowhere.The point of the show is the speeches! Let us have them! Budget the time better! MARGARET LYONSLizzo enlivens the show.Lizzo gave an elated acceptance speech after her reality show, “Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls,” won the award for best competition program.Patrick T. Fallon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThat “Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls” took the award for outstanding competition program is a breath of fresh air for a stagnant category.“The Amazing Race” has won 10 times, “The Voice” and “RuPaul’s Drag Race” each four times, and no show had won the category in its first season. There were so many as-predicted winners this year — not a vice per se; “Succession” is a great series — that this was especially refreshing, and Lizzo’s emotional acceptance speech helped energize a flagging show. MARGARET LYONSSnubbed but hilarious.Henry Winkler and the rest of the “Barry” creative team went home empty-handed on Monday.Jordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated PressBoth “Barry” and “What We Do in the Shadows,” two of TV’s best comedies, got shut out. They lost out to worthy winners, but those shows are both extraordinary, and I hope “Shadows,” especially, gets its awards glory at some point. MARGARET LYONSWe played off Jennifer Coolidge for this?What’s the best way to celebrate what people love most about TV? Not with a surprise dose of what people hate most about TV.This year’s broadcast included a massive Kia ad, smuggled in under the guise of a sketch about TV dialogue. I know TV runs on car commercials, but this one drove me nuts. JAMES PONIEWOZIK‘Squid Game’ makes history.The “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae became the first person from a foreign-language series to win best actor in a drama.Mark Terrill/Invision, via Associated Press“Squid Game,” the dystopian Netflix drama that exploded into an international smash hit, made history on Monday, picking up multiple drama awards.Lee Jung-jae, the star of the series, took home the top acting prize and became the first person from a foreign-language show to win best actor in a drama. And Hwang Dong-hyuk won the drama directing Emmy. The series, Netflix’s most watched new series ever, according to the streamer, was also up for the Emmy for best drama, an award “Succession” ultimately won.Coming into Monday, the show had been nominated for 14 Emmys and won four, including awards for guest acting, stunts production design and visual effects, presented this month in the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony.In his acceptance speech, Lee praised the show and those involved with it for making “a realistic problem we all face come to life so creatively.” MATT STEVENS‘Ted Lasso’ doubles up.“Ted Lasso” repeated as best comedy.Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesThe Apple TV+ comedy “Ted Lasso” enjoyed a strong Emmys night for the second consecutive year, taking home several top prizes, including its second win for best comedy.Jason Sudeikis likewise won best comedic actor for a second straight year, and Brett Goldstein once again broke his promise not to swear on TV (while picking up a repeat win for supporting actor). MATT STEVENS‘Succession’ reclaims the throne.The “Succession” creator, Jesse Armstrong, center, accepted the award for best drama, the second time the HBO series has won top honors at the Emmys.Patrick T. Fallon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe Television Academy once again made “Succession” its favorite child, awarding that HBO dramedy about a Murdoch-like corporate clan the prize for best drama, solidifying its status as the most esteemed series on television right now. It previously was named best drama in 2020.Jesse Armstrong, the show’s creator, won for best writing for a drama series, but the show came up short in other areas — it won four of the 25 categories in which it was nominated, with Matthew Macfadyen taking the only acting prize, for his supporting role. (The fourth win was for casting.) — JULIA JACOBSMike White invokes ‘Survivor’ as ‘The White Lotus’ dominates.From left, the creator Mike White, the executive producer David Bernad and the actresses Alexandra Daddario and Sydney Sweeney of HBO’s “The White Lotus.”Kevin Winter/Getty Images“The White Lotus,” the hit HBO series that skewered the entitled behavior of wealthy vacationers, scooped up five Primetime Emmys, including the award for best limited series. The show’s creator, Mike White, who picked up back-to-back Emmys for writing and directing, compared his writing win to increasing his threat level on the reality competition show “Survivor,” on which he was once a contestant.“I just want to stay in the game,” he said, adding: “Don’t come for me. Don’t vote me off the island, please.” KALIA RICHARDSON More

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      ‘Succession’ Wins Best Drama at Emmys as HBO Triumphs Again

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      “Succession,” HBO’s portrait of a dysfunctional media dynasty, won best drama at the 74th Emmy Awards on Monday night, the second time the series has taken the prize.Jesse Armstrong, the show’s creator, also took home the Emmy for best writing, the third time he’s won in that category. And Matthew Macfadyen won best supporting actor in a drama for the first time for his performance on the show.It was the sixth time in eight years that HBO has taken the television industry’s biggest prize for a recurring series, making it yet another triumphant night for the cable network. HBO, as well as its streaming service, HBO Max, won more Emmys (38) than any other outlet, besting its chief rival, Netflix (26).“The White Lotus,” the cable network’s beloved upstairs-downstairs dramedy that took place at a Hawaiian resort, won best limited series, and tore through several other categories. The show won 10 Emmys altogether, more than any other series. Mike White, the show’s creator and director, won a pair of Emmys for best directing and writing. And performers from the show, Murray Bartlett and Jennifer Coolidge, both received acting Emmys.“Mike White, my God, thank you for giving me one of the best experiences of my life,” Bartlett, who played an off-the-wagon hotel manager, said from the Emmys stage.But HBO’s chronicles of the rich were not the only winners on Monday night.“Ted Lasso,” the Apple TV+ sports series, won best comedy for a second consecutive year, as the tech giant continues on an awards show tear. Apple TV+, which had its debut in November 2019, won best picture at the Oscars (“CODA”) earlier this year. And Jason Sudeikis repeated as best actor in a comedy as the fish-out-of-water soccer coach in “Ted Lasso.”There were other big moments in the comedy awards. Quinta Brunson, the creator of the good-natured ABC workplace sitcom, “Abbott Elementary,” about a group of elementary schoolteachers at an underfunded Philadelphia public school, won for best writing in a comedy. It was only the second time a Black woman won the award (Lena Waithe was the first, in 2017, for “Master of None”).In one of the night’s most electric moments, Sheryl Lee Ralph won best supporting actress in a comedy for her role on “Abbott Elementary” as a veteran teacher at the school. Ralph began her Emmys speech by singing “Endangered Species” by Dianne Reeves, and received a standing ovation from the room full of nominees. Her victory was also historic: It was only the second time a Black woman won the award. The last time was in 1987, when Jackée Harry won for her role in the NBC sitcom “227.”This has been the most competitive Emmys season ever: Submissions for all the categories surged, and 2022 is very likely to set yet another record for the highest number of scripted television series.But there was also a sense of concern among the executives, producers and agents in attendance at Monday night’s Emmy Awards, that 2022 represents the pinnacle of the so-called Peak TV era, which has produced the highest number of scripted television series, nearly every year, for more than a decade.Netflix, which lost subscribers this year for the first time in a decade, has laid off hundreds of staffers and is reining in its spending. HBO’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, has shelved projects and is about to lay off a significant number of employees. NBC executives are considering ending its prime-time lineup at 10 p.m., and handing the hour over to local stations.Business challenges aside, the night was mostly a feel-good celebration. Zendaya won her second Emmy by taking best actress in a drama for her role as a troubled teen in HBO’s “Euphoria.” Jean Smart repeated as the best actress in a comedy for her role as a Joan Rivers-like comedian in HBO Max’s “Hacks.”“Squid Game,” the blood-splattered, South Korean Netflix series, won a pair of awards: Lee Jung-jae for best actor in a drama, and Hwang Dong-hyuk for directing. Those wins represented a major breakthrough for a foreign language show as television becomes more global, and as American audiences are increasingly receptive to series with subtitles.Michael Keaton, who played a small town doctor in “Dopesick,” took the best actor award in a limited series. And Amanda Seyfried won best actress in a limited series for her well-received performance as Elizabeth Holmes in “The Dropout.”Emmy voters often have a habit of finding a winner, and sticking with it, and this year was no different. John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” won the best talk show category for a seventh consecutive year, and “Saturday Night Live” took the best variety sketch series for a sixth straight year.This year’s ceremony was the first return to the Microsoft Theater since the pandemic. Producers for the Emmys incorporated an element that it experimented with at last year’s ceremony, which took place inside a tent: Instead of theater-style seating, nominees were gathered around tables with bottles of champagne and wine around them.This year’s host, Kenan Thompson, the “Saturday Night Live” veteran, opened the ceremony in a top hat and led a group of dancers in a bizarre interpretive dance to theme songs of famous TV series like “Law & Order,” “The Brady Bunch” and “Game of Thrones.”During his monologue, Thompson took a dig at Netflix’s recent woes.“If you don’t know what ‘Squid Game’ is, it is the contest you enter when you’re in massive debt and desperate for money,” the host said. “Joining the cast next season? Netflix.” More

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      2022 Emmy Winners: Updating List

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      The list of winners for the 74th annual Emmy Awards.[Follow live updates of the 2022 Emmy Awards here.]The 74th Emmy Awards are being broadcast live now from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles — and streaming live for the first time on Peacock.Similar to last year, the ceremony will be largely in-person and reminiscent of prepandemic award shows. Kenan Thompson, who won an Emmy in 2018 for his work on “Saturday Night Live,” is hosting.HBO’s satirical family drama “Succession” is up for the most awards, with 25 nominations including for best drama. At the Creative Arts Emmys, which was held over two ceremonies this month, it picked up its first award: outstanding casting for a drama series.The Apple TV+ sitcom “Ted Lasso” is up for 20 awards, including for best comedy and for best actor in a comedy for its lead, Jason Sudeikis. And “The White Lotus” is this year’s most nominated limited series, with 20 nods.The list below will be updated throughout Monday night’s ceremony.These are this year’s Emmy winners so far.Best Actor, Limited Series or TV MovieMichael Keaton, “Dopesick”Supporting Actress, DramaJulia Garner, “Ozark”Supporting Actor, DramaMatthew Macfadyen, “Succession”Supporting Actor, Limited Series or MovieMurray Bartlett, “The White Lotus”Documentary Or Nonfiction Series“The Beatles: Get Back” (Disney+)Documentary Or Nonfiction Special“George Carlin’s American Dream” (HBO)Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series“Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” (HBO)Outstanding Variety Special, Pre-Recorded“Adele One Night Only” (CBS)Outstanding Variety Special (Live)“The Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show” (NBC) More