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    ‘Baby Reindeer’ Star Jessica Gunning on Her First Emmy Nomination

    Jessica Gunning is still a little stunned by the size of the audience “Baby Reindeer” has found, and the acclaim that has followed.A Netflix drama about a comedian and his stalker, “Baby Reindeer” picked up 11 Emmy nominations on Wednesday, including one for best limited series and one for Gunning, her first, for supporting actress in a limited series.The show follows the aspiring comedian, Donny Dunn, as he is tormented by a woman named Martha. Richard Gadd, the Scottish comedian who created the series and also received an acting nod, plays Dunn; Gunning plays Martha. The series is billed as a true story based on Gadd’s experience.In an interview shortly after the Emmy nominations were announced, Gunning said she and other members of the show are “still pinching ourselves” over the fact that so many millions of people have found their work. As to the 11 nominations, she added, “I literally can’t quite believe it.”“I think if someone had said three months ago when the show came out that it and the Emmys would even be included in the same sentence, I’m sure Richard would agree that we would have thought we were being pranked,” she added in a video interview from her parents’ house, several hours’ drive from her home in London.These are edited excerpts from the conversation.Some folks have called “Baby Reindeer” a surprise hit. Were you expecting this kind of audience and acclaim for the show?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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    HBO Falls to Third at the Emmys for the First Time Since 1996

    The last time HBO ranked in third place among television outlets in total Emmy nominations, Bill Clinton and Bob Dole were gearing up for a presidential election and the “Macarena” was sweeping the nation.On Wednesday, HBO, as well as its accompanying streaming service Max, earned 91 Emmy nominations, down from its massive haul last year (127), and trailing both Netflix (107) and FX (93) this year.For the first time since 1996, before “The Sopranos” or “Sex and the City” even premiered, HBO finds itself neither in first nor second place.For the better part of the last year, the network has encountered an unusual fallow period.Ever since “Succession” wrapped up in May 2023, HBO released several series that failed to connect with critics or a broad audience. That includes the expensive music drama flop, “The Idol”; the Kate Winslet limited series, “The Regime”; and the now canceled “Winning Time.”For some time, HBO executives have been telegraphing that if the network had a down year at the Emmys, production delays caused by last year’s double strikes would be to blame. An Emmy voter favorite like “The White Lotus,” for instance, might have premiered already if not for last year’s walkouts. Still, every outlet was severely affected by the strikes, not just HBO.Emmy recognition has long been of outsize significance to HBO executives, providing key evidence that it remains the pre-eminent home for quality television. In 1997, HBO became the first cable network to lead all networks in nominations. And for the better part of the last two decades, HBO has been the heavyweight. It previously ranked first every year in total Emmy nominations since 2001, except in 2018 and 2020. (HBO finished in second place each of those two years, behind Netflix.)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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    ‘Shogun’ Leads Emmy Nominations With 25 Nods

    The FX hit “Shogun,” an ensemble drama set in 17th-century Japan, has been nominated for 25 Emmys, the most of any series this year. The show is in competition for several of the night’s biggest drama categories, including outstanding drama series, lead actor (Hiroyuki Sanada), lead actress (Anna Sawai) and outstanding directing (Frederick E.O. Toye).“Shogun” quickly became a hit after its debut in February, with many viewers and critics praising its epic scope and attention to authenticity. A majority of the American series’s dialogue was in Japanese, and its success is the latest evidence that U.S. viewers are increasingly open to shows with subtitles.An adaptation of the 1975 James Clavell novel, “Shogun” tells the story of an English sailor, John Blackthorne, who lands in Japan and becomes embroiled in a deadly political conflict involving the shrewd Lord Toranaga and his translator, Lady Mariko. Unlike the enormously popular 1980 mini-series version, which was oriented around Blackthorne, the new “Shogun” was told primarily through the viewpoints of its Japanese main characters.“In the 1980 mini-series, the Japanese characters played subsidiary roles in Chamberlain’s journey,” Motoko Rich wrote in The New York Times, referring to Richard Chamberlain, who played the first Blackthorne. (Cosmo Jarvis plays him in the FX series.) “The intermittent Japanese dialogue was not even translated. In large stretches of the new version, by contrast, the Japanese is subtitled, and significant plot lines revolve exclusively around the Japanese principals.”The new version surpassed the older mini-series in number of Emmy nominations, with the 1980 series having received 14.“Shogun” was first billed as a limited series, but the designation changed when FX announced in May that it was developing additional seasons. It could dominate the drama categories in a year that finds the drama side weaker than usual, with last year’s juggernaut, “Succession,” having finished and other past Emmy favorites like “The White Lotus” — another former limited series — and “The Last of Us” set to return in 2025 because of strike delays. More

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

    “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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    What to Expect From Wednesday’s Emmy Nominations

    The top nominees are announced at 11:30 a.m. ET. “Shogun” and “The Bear” are poised to have a big day.Just six months after a strike-delayed ceremony, the Emmys are back.Nominations for television’s most prestigious award show will be unveiled on Wednesday morning. “Shogun,” the lush period drama, and “The Bear,” the anxiety-inducing comedy, are poised to have a big day. Netflix’s “Baby Reindeer” is expected to stand out among limited series.There is a considerable cloud hanging over Emmy nomination day this year. Last year’s double strikes, along with several years of cost cutting, have put the industry in the throes of a contraction. The Peak TV era is now firmly in the rearview mirror. To wit, the number of shows submitted for Emmy consideration this year plummeted.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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    Lourdes Portillo, Oscar-Nominated Documentary Filmmaker, Dies at 80

    Her films centered on Latin American experiences and received wide acclaim.Lourdes Portillo, an Oscar-nominated Mexican-born documentary filmmaker whose work explored Latin American social issues, died on Saturday at her home in San Francisco. She was 80.Her death was confirmed by her friend Soco Aguilar. No cause was given.One of Ms. Portillo’s best-known works is her 1994 documentary “The Devil Never Sleeps,” a murder-mystery in which she investigates the strange death of her multimillionaire uncle, whose widow claimed he had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. In 2020, the Library of Congress selected the film for the National Film Registry.“Using vintage snapshots, old home movies and interviews, the film builds a biographical portrait of Oscar Ruiz Almeida, a Mexican rancher who amassed a fortune exporting vegetables to the United States and went on to become a powerful politician and businessman,” Stephen Holden, a Times movie critic, wrote in a 1995 review of the film.The documentary had the tenor of a telenovela and presented open questions about Mr. Ruiz Almeida’s mysterious life and death and the people who could have had a motive for the murder.“The more Oscar is discussed, the more enigmatic he seems,” Mr. Holden wrote.Ms. Portillo crafted the film’s story line from the information her mother relayed over the phone while Ms. Portillo was living in New York, she said in a talk at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles last year.The museum screened the movie last year as part of a series honoring Ms. Portillo and other filmmakers who have made significant contributions to cinema.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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    Louis Gossett Jr., 87, Dies; ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’ and ‘Roots’ Actor

    His portrayal of a drill instructor earned him the Oscar for best supporting actor. He was the first Black performer to win in that category.Louis Gossett Jr., who took home an Academy Award for “An Officer and a Gentleman” and an Emmy for “Roots,” both times playing a mature man who guides a younger one taking on a new role — but in drastically different circumstances — died early Friday in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 87.Mr. Gossett’s first cousin Neal L. Gossett confirmed the death. He did not specify a cause.Mr. Gossett with Susan Sarandon and Christopher Reeve after winning the Oscar for “An Officer and a Gentleman” in 1983.Associated PressMr. Gossett was 46 when he played Emil Foley, the Marine drill instructor from hell who ultimately shapes the humanity of an emotionally damaged young Naval aviation recruit (Richard Gere) in “An Officer and a Gentleman” (1982). Reviewing the movie in The New York Times, Vincent Canby described Sergeant Foley as a cruel taskmaster “recycled as a man of recognizable cunning, dedication and humor” revealed in “the kind of performance that wins awards.”Paramount, via Everett CollectionMr. Gossett told The Times that he had recognized the role’s worth immediately. “The words just tasted good,” he recalled.When he accepted the Oscar for best supporting actor in 1983, he was the first Black performer to win in that category — and only the third (after Hattie McDaniel and Sidney Poitier) to win an Academy Award for acting.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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    5 Podcasts for Hollywood’s Awards Season

    As Oscars night approaches, these shows offer expert analysis and predictions, insight into behind-the-scenes machinations and reflections on front-runners of the past.The 2024 awards season has felt unusually hectic so far, thanks to the strike-delayed Emmy Awards shifting from their usual fall airdate to January. To help make sense of it all — and unpack the discombobulated state of Hollywood now — these five podcasts offer a mixture of expert analysis and predictions for the major ceremonies, original reporting on the industry trends and behind-the-scenes machinations that influence voting, and reflections on Oscar front-runners of the past that probably shouldn’t have been.‘Little Gold Men’This Vanity Fair series debuted in 2015, which means it’s been on hand to chronicle some of the weirdest moments in Academy history, like the 2017 Best Picture flub (when “La La Land” was mistakenly announced as the winner instead of “Moonlight”), 2021’s muted Covid-era ceremony held in a cavernous Los Angeles train station, and the slap heard around the world in 2022. But even when there’s nothing quite so unusual going on, the analysis here always makes awards season more interesting. Hosted by the Vanity Fair journalists Michael Hogan, Katey Rich, Richard Lawson and Joanna Robinson, the conversation is always exhaustive and packed with expertise, exploring not just the contenders for Hollywood’s top prizes, but also the campaigning and strategizing that shape the race. Since many Oscar journeys begin at film festivals such as Sundance, Cannes, Venice and Toronto, there’s no shortage of news and releases to cover year round, not to mention interviews; recent guests have included Andrew Scott (“All of Us Strangers”), Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) and Greta Lee (“Past Lives”).Starter episode: “Oscar Voters, Start Your Engines”‘This Had Oscar Buzz’There’s a peculiar category of film that debuts with great fanfare, attracts plenty of awards buzz, and then fades from the cultural consciousness without a trace (and no awards). Not all of the films discussed on “This Had Oscar Buzz” fall into that bracket, but, as the title suggests, the focus is on the movies that had that buzzy aura around them, at least for a while. An early episode about “Cake,” a 2014 movie starring Jennifer Aniston as a woman living with chronic pain, exemplifies what works so well about this format — Aniston was lauded for her playing-against-type performance and campaigned intensely during that awards season, but was famously snubbed on Oscar nomination morning. The hosts, Joe Reid and Chris Feil, don’t belittle either the performance or the hustle, but rather use the hype around “Cake” as a jumping-off point to discuss Aniston’s career and celebrity more broadly, alongside the ins and outs of how exactly buzz gets built in the first place.Starter episode: “Alexander (With David Sims)”‘The Town With Matthew Belloni’Though not a traditional awards season podcast with predictions or play-by-play recaps, “The Town” is an invaluable resource for anyone hoping to understand the upheaval in Hollywood. Delivered in snappy episodes that clock in around 30 minutes, Matthew Belloni, a former editor of The Hollywood Reporter and a founding partner of the digital media company Puck, shares insights and exclusive reporting on the industry, whether the issue is last year’s monthslong writers’ and actors’ strikes, Disney’s succession woes or the cost-of-streaming crisis. In a recent episode, Belloni and Brooks Barnes, a Hollywood correspondent for The New York Times, went deep on the current state of the “unkillable” Golden Globes, which returned last year after a hiatus sparked by controversy surrounding its now-defunct unorthodox voting body, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Traditionally the first awards show on the calendar — and the most chaotic — the Globes have proved to have more staying power than many predicted, and this analysis is a good resource for anybody wondering why.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?  More