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      Bob Barker, Longtime Host of ‘The Price Is Right,’ Dies at 99

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      The winner of numerous Emmy Awards, he was almost as well known for his advocacy of animal rights as he was for his half a century as a daytime television fixture.Bob Barker, whose warmth and wit as the host of “The Price Is Right” for nearly four decades beckoned legions of giddy Americans to a stage promising luxury vacations and brand-new cars, died on Saturday at his home in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles. He was 99.His death was announced by a spokesman, Roger Neal.Mr. Barker, who was also a longstanding and prominent advocate for animal rights, was a fixture of daytime television for half a century — first as the host of “Truth or Consequences,” from 1956 to 1974, and, most famously, starting in 1972, on “The Price Is Right,” the longest-running game show on American television.He began his 35-year stint as host of “The New Price Is Right,” as it was then known, when it made its debut on CBS as a revised and jazzed-up version of the original “The Price Is Right,” which had been on the air from 1956 to 1965. (The “New” was soon dropped from the name.) He was also host of a weekly syndicated nighttime version from 1977 until it was canceled in 1980.Mr. Barker with Janice Pennington, left, and Anitra Ford — two of the models known as Barker’s Beauties, whose main function was to display the prizes — on the set of “The Price Is Right” in 1972.CBSAlmost a decade before he retired in 2007, Mr. Barker estimated that during his tenure more than 40,000 contestants had heeded the announcer’s familiar call to “come on down!” and collected some $200 million in small and large prizes, from beach blankets to Buicks, by guessing the prices of various objects.Mr. Barker won 14 Daytime Emmy Awards as host of “The Price Is Right” and four more as executive producer (as well as a lifetime achievement Emmy in 1999). He once said that the show had lasted as long as it did because “all our games are based on prices, and everyone can identify with that.” He added, however, that he personally never knew the price of anything, and that if he were ever a contestant on such a show he would be “a total failure.”Mr. Barker was widely known for his longstanding dedication to the cause of animal rights. He quit as master of ceremonies for both the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants in 1988 because they gave fur coats as prizes. He also protested the mistreatment of animals by their trainers on the sets of various movies and television shows. He ended every installment of “The Price Is Right” by saying: “Help control the pet population. Have your pet spayed or neutered.”Almost a decade before he retired in 2007, Mr. Barker estimated that during his tenure more than 40,000 contestants had heeded the announcer’s familiar call to “come on down!” and had collected some $200 million in prizes, from beach blankets to Buicks.Photographs by Getty Images and Associated PressRobert William Barker was born on Dec. 12, 1923, in Darrington, Wash. His father, Byron, was a power line foreman who in 1929 died from complications of injuries he had received in a fall from a pole several years earlier. Shortly thereafter, his mother, Matilda (Tarleton) Barker, took a job teaching in Mission, S.D, on the Rosebud Indian Reservation.“Cowboys tied up their horses at hitching rails,” Mr. Barker recalled of those years. “It was like I was growing up in the Old West.”Mr. Barker in a publicity photo from 1956, the year he began hosting “Truth or Consequences.” For two years he was seen on both that show and “The Price Is Right.”Elmer Holloway/NBCU, via Getty ImagesWhen Mr. Barker was 13, his mother married Louis Valandra, a tire salesman, and they moved to Springfield, Mo. He received a basketball scholarship to Drury College in Springfield but dropped out to enlist as a Naval Aviation cadet when World War II broke out.He was waiting for a combat assignment when the war ended, and he was discharged as a lieutenant junior grade. He returned to Drury, majored in economics and graduated summa cum laude in 1947.Even before he earned his degree, Mr. Barker had begun his first radio job, at KTTS in Springfield, where he was a disc jockey, a news writer, a sportscaster and a producer. After college he worked at WWPG in Palm Beach, Fla., and KWIK in Burbank, Calif.In 1945, he married Dorothy Jo Gideon, his high school sweetheart, who once explained the secret of their marriage this way: “I love Bob Barker. And Bob Barker loves Bob Barker.” She died in 1981, and Mr. Barker never remarried.Mr. Barker is survived by his half brother, Kent Valandra. Mr. Barker’s longtime friend Nancy Burnet, a fellow animal rights activist who had been overseeing his care — and about whom he wrote in his autobiography, “Our relationship has gone on for 25 years, off and on. Mostly on.” — is an executor of his estate.Mr. Barker with his wife, Dorothy Jo, and their dogs in 1977. He was widely known for his dedication to the cause of animal rights.CBS, via Getty ImagesMr. Barker’s big break came in 1956 when the producer Ralph Edwards heard him on KNX, a Los Angeles radio station, and asked him to audition for “Truth or Consequences,” a long-running game show (it had begun on radio in 1940) on which contestants were required to perform wild stunts. He got the job, and he and Mr. Edwards became lifelong friends.Mr. Barker was still the host of “Truth or Consequences” when he was offered “The Price Is Right” in 1972, and for two years those jobs overlapped. For a long time after that he was among the busiest people on television, with duties that also included hosting the Rose Bowl parade and the Pillsbury Bake-Off for most of the 1970s and ’80s.He occasionally showed up in movies as well, almost always as a comically exaggerated version of himself. His most memorable appearance was in the 1996 comedy “Happy Gilmore,” in which he gleefully engaged in a brawl with the title character, a boorish hockey player turned golfer played by Adam Sandler.Mr. Barker occasionally showed up on the big screen, usually as a comically exaggerated version of himself. His most memorable appearance was with Adam Sandler in the 1996 comedy “Happy Gilmore.”Universal PicturesTo many viewers “The Price Is Right” was, as one critic put it, among television’s last “islands of wholesomeness.” That image was challenged in 1994 when Dian Parkinson, who for almost 20 years had been a model on the show — one of the so-called Barker’s Beauties, whose main function was to display the prizes — sued Mr. Barker for sexual harassment.Ms. Parkinson, who had left the show the year before, said she had sex with Mr. Barker because she thought she would lose her job if she didn’t. In response, Mr. Barker acknowledged that he and Ms. Parkinson had had a relationship for a number of years, beginning in 1989, but insisted that it had been consensual.“She told me I had always been so strait-laced that it was time I had some hanky-panky in my life,” he said, “and she volunteered the hanky-panky.” Ms. Parkinson withdrew the suit in 1995 because, she said, she lacked both the emotional endurance and the money to pursue it.Mr. Barker announced his retirement in October 2006. “I will be 83 years old on Dec. 12,” he said at the time, “and I’ve decided to retire while I’m still young.”His final episode as host of “The Price Is Right” was taped on June 6, 2007, and shortly shown twice on June 15: first in its regular daytime slot and again in prime time.Mr. Barker’s chair sat empty after the taping of his final episode of “The Price Is Right” in June 2007.Damian Dovarganes/Associated PressAfter an extensive search, the comedian Drew Carey was chosen as Mr. Barker’s successor in July 2007. In an interview with The Times, Mr. Carey called Mr. Barker a “legend” and praised him for the “empathy” he showed contestants.“He wants them to win. You can hug him,” Mr. Carey said. “He went from being your dad and your uncle to your grandfather.”Mr. Barker returned to the show as a guest in 2009 to promote his autobiography, “Priceless Memories,” and again in 2013, to celebrate his 90th birthday, and 2015, as the unannounced guest host, an April Fool’s Day gag. He promised to come back when he turned 100.“People ask me, ‘What do you miss most about “Price is Right”?’ And I say, ‘The money,’” Mr. Barker said in a 2013 interview with Parade magazine. “But that is not altogether true. I miss the people, too.”Richard Severo, a Times reporter from 1968 to 2006, died in June. Peter Keepnews and More

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      2023 Emmy Awards Will Be Postponed Because of Actors’ and Writers’ Strikes

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      The ceremony, originally planned for Sept. 18, may be pushed into January in hopes that the labor disputes will be settled.The fallout from the Hollywood actors’ and writers’ strikes continues.The 75th Emmy Awards will be postponed because of the strikes, according to a person briefed on the plans. The ceremony, originally planned for Sept. 18, does not yet have a new date but will most likely be moved to January, the person said.Emmy organizers are hopeful that would give the Hollywood studios enough time to settle the labor disputes. A new date will be finalized in the next few weeks.Fox, which is broadcasting this year’s event, and the Television Academy, which administers the Emmys, had concluded last month that it would have to postpone the event if the writers’ strike continued to linger until the end of July, The New York Times reported last month. The writers have now been on strike for 88 days and have not returned to the bargaining table with the major Hollywood studios since negotiations broke down in early May.By the time tens of thousands of actors joined the writers on picket lines and went on strike on July 14, it all but put a nail in the coffin for an Emmys ceremony in September.The postponement marks one of the biggest events that will get rescheduled because of the labor conflicts. The Emmys, which traditionally take place in August or September, were last postponed after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. That year, the event ultimately took place in November.Organizing the Emmys is a significant undertaking, one of the reasons that the Television Academy and Fox set a late July deadline to make a decision on a postponement. Variety reported earlier that the Emmys would be rescheduled.Nominations for the Emmy Awards were announced this month. HBO, which led all networks in total nominations, became the first network in 31 years to earn four nominations in the best drama category — “Succession,” “The White Lotus,” “The Last of Us” and “House of the Dragon.” In the comedy categories, two-time winner “Ted Lasso” will compete against shows including “Abbott Elementary” and “The Bear.” More

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      Craig Mazin Says ‘The Last Of Us’ Was Created ‘From a Place of Purity.’

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      The amount of pressure that came with trying to turn the dystopian video game “The Last of Us” into an HBO drama was intense: There were the expectations of tens of millions of fans of the best-selling game. The astronomical costs required — a reported production budget of more than $100 million — to pull it off. The legacy of dozens of subpar video game adaptations that had come before it.“You need to tune it out because it will destroy you,” Craig Mazin, 52, a creator, showrunner and writer on the zombie thriller series, said in a call on Wednesday afternoon from his office in Hollywood.So it was rewarding on Wednesday when the nine-episode series with a no-longer-so-fantastic premise about a viral outbreak that leaves society in shambles — though granted, this one turned people into fungal zombies — picked up 24 Emmy nominations. They included nods for best drama, writing and directing, and acting nominations for the series’s stars, Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal.“We were all really blown away by the reception — the enthusiasm and the love for the show is astonishing,” Mazin said of the series, which is the first video game adaptation to be a serious contender for top awards in Hollywood.In an interview, Mazin, who won Emmy Awards for best writing for a limited series and best limited series for HBO’s “Chernobyl,” discussed what distinguished “The Last of Us” from the many video game adaptation flops that preceded it, whether that model can be replicated and his hopes for the second season. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.Given the various pressures and challenges involved in adapting something like “The Last of Us,” how did it feel to rack up 24 Emmy nominations today?It’s stunning, particularly for a show in its first season, and a genre show. We were overwhelmed, though it’s a mixed-emotions day because our business is in trouble, and it is the fault of the people for whom we work. Even though it’s a day where you want to freely celebrate, there are so many people — working crews and actors and artists — who are suffering because the companies simply won’t do what’s required. What made “The Last of Us” so different from the many subpar film and TV adaptations of video games that came before?For starters, we have “The Last of Us.” It’s an amazing video game, which I played when it came out in 2013. Even then, I could see it was also just an incredible story with remarkable characters and, most importantly, remarkable relationships. It was a story that was a game, not a game that also had a story.The other big part is this wasn’t something where a company bought the rights to a thing and then went around going, “Hey, we want to exploit this I.P.” This was me and Neil Druckmann, the creator of the game, coming to HBO and saying, “We want to do this out of love.” So we came at it from a place of purity. What was the most challenging part of bringing the series to life?The size. There are more words to write, more days to plan, more actors to cast, more stunts to approve. It becomes an endurance test. We shot for 200 days, living away from home during Covid — my wife couldn’t even come to the set because it was a violation of the Covid rules. It was a very arduous thing to do day in and day out in the heat, in the freezing cold, in the rain and the snow. And yet, we did it, a bit like women who go through labor and are like, “Oh my God, I’m never doing that again,” and then a few years later are like, “Maybe I would do that again.” I’m that mom who’s like, “I think I want to do it again.”What are you most excited about for Season 2?I like tracking the growth and evolution of people, and I like the way we get to continue this show but do a season that is not the same. The thing about “The Last of Us” is that the story is constantly moving — we don’t live in the same neighborhood; we don’t go back to the same shop or store or house. Even episode to episode within a season feels like we’re in different places, different kinds of movies. So, more of that.There are a number of other popular video game franchises with film and TV adaptations in the works, including “Twisted Metal,” “Ghost of Tsushima” and “Assassin’s Creed.” Can the model for “The Last of Us” be replicated?If they are starting from a place of purity, a place of creative passion, then anything is possible. If the source material has great stuff to adapt — and ideally, if its creator has the kind of generosity and intellectual flexibility that Neil Druckmann has — then you have a real chance of doing something that makes the fans happy but also makes new people happy. What’s the point of making the show if you’re only making it for the people who read the book, or who played the game?That’s why Neil wanted to do an adaptation in the first place: There are millions of people who will never pick up a controller and never play the game. They will never know this story, and he wanted them to know it. And if people are coming at it like that, they have a real shot. More

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      For J. Smith-Cameron, ‘Succession’ Was ‘More Than the Sum of Its Parts’

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      The world is her slime puppy now.As Waystar Royco’s corporate counsel, J. Smith-Cameron’s Gerri Kellman spent four seasons as a beacon of competence in the roil of nepo babies and sycophants that was HBO’s “Succession.” The role earned Smith-Cameron an Emmy nomination last year, and on Wednesday she received another. (Eight of her fellow “Succession” cast members have also received nominations in the acting categories.)Reached by phone on Italy’s Amalfi coast, where she had accompanied her husband, the playwright and filmmaker, Kenneth Lonergan, Smith-Cameron swore that this nomination was every bit as exciting as the first. “Because this was our last season,” she said. “And we’re very proud of ‘Succession.’ So it’s just wonderful.”These are edited excerpts from the conversation.How was it playing one of the few capable characters on the show?I think it’s lonely at the top for Gerri because she never gets any credit for it. People begrudgingly take her advice. She knows she’s right. She’s confident. That’s why it stings so much in this last season when Roman fires her and tries to say it’s because she’s not good at her job. She has put up with so much.So many of your “Succession” colleagues have also been nominated. Was there some on-set alchemy that helped everyone do career-best work?I think so. It was more than the sum of its parts. There was something about everyone being at the top of their form and inspiring everyone else to rise to the occasion. But performances can only be as good as what’s written.Still, you wrote Gerri’s most famous line, calling Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) a “little slime puppy.”That’s true, darling. I did. That just came out of my mouth. But “Succession” was an unusually well-written show.What made Gerri tick? And why did she put up with so much nonsense?Well, this is what she’s good at. And she is addicted to it; it’s an adrenaline high. She’s really good at problem solving. I never thought of her as angling to be C.E.O. She liked being the interim C.E.O., but I don’t think she likes to be the one with the target on her back. She likes practicing law because it’s like a logic puzzle. So she was doing what she loved even though it was so stressful.I mean, I’m in a career that seems unnecessarily stressful. People ask me, How can I bear it? I don’t know what the answer is. Except I love to do it, and it’s what I do best. That’s the answer for Gerri.Have Gerri and the fame she has brought changed you in any way? Do you have a real penchant for skirt suits now?This was a really delightful thing to happen for someone my age, in my 60s. For her to be such a popular, fan-favorite character, it feels like a big win for us women in general. Because it doesn’t matter her age — she got to have a sexual profile, she got to be really great with her work, she got to be funny. Most of all, she got to be really human. She wasn’t just a barracuda in stiletto heels. She got to be human person biting her nails and plotting and worrying. That feels like a big win for all of us.What do you imagine happens to Gerri in the future?She could rise to even greater heights. Who knows? Or she could go down in flames. But I think Gerri has done well for herself. More

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      Jessica Williams Celebrates Her Emmy Nomination on the Picket Line

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      A therapist will often begin a session by asking how a patient feels today. For Jessica Williams, the answer on Wednesday afternoon was multilayered.“I feel like I’m dreaming,” she said in a phone interview. “It’s crazy. It’s really weird. It’s so cool. I’m so lucky.”Williams — an actress, comedian and former “Daily Show” correspondent — received her first Emmy nomination for playing Gaby, an effervescent behavioral therapist in the Apple TV+ show “Shrinking.” Gaby shares a Pasadena, Calif., practice with Harrison Ford’s character, Paul, a therapist facing a Parkinson’s diagnosis; and Jason Segel’s character, Jimmy, a therapist who is grieving the death of his wife. (Gaby and Jimmy also end up in bed together, a move few therapists would sanction.)“It’s a crazy day today,” Williams said, speaking from a rowdy Writers Guild of America picket line outside Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, Calif. “I have to stand in solidarity.” In the interview, Williams spoke of Gaby’s verve, heart and refusal to adhere to stereotypes. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.When I entered “Jessica Williams” and “Shrinking” into the search bar, it auto-populated with “outfits,” “water bottle” and “jumpsuits.” How does it feel to be a style icon?That’s amazing. I love it. That’s the biggest honor. Very affirming of the jumpsuits.Is the nomination something you’ll need to talk about with your therapist?I’ve been off for a few months with her, because I’ve had her for so long. This makes me want to call her and connect. I’m just happy to be in the category with these badass ladies. And I’m so proud of the show. You have to have great writing, a really supportive cast, a really supportive crew, really cool jumpsuits. And they really have to let you fly onscreen. As a Black woman, I feel really lucky because, a lot had to go right.And they found a tall enough love interest for you. That’s nice.Yeah, it’s always like, who’s taller than her? It’s like six people. When you see me in something, and the other person is tall, you should not be surprised if a romantic story line is there.Romantic? I don’t know if it’s a great idea to sleep with a colleague who is still grieving his wife.It’s a really bad idea! But that’s what I like about “Shrinking.” It’s a show that talks about how grief isn’t linear. It’s about the messiness, the boundaries being blurred. That’s what’s fun about it. You don’t know what’s going to happen.You’ve spoken of being aware of the archetype of the Black therapist and wanting Gaby to complicate that.The Black therapist can be a watered-down version of the mammy — the Black nanny or housekeeper that’s around in a “Gone With the Wind” way that people just download emotions onto. One of the reasons I was so excited to do the show is because I had the opportunity to attack Gaby with specificity. Specificity kills tropes and stereotypes. Gaby, she sings Sugar Ray in the car! It’s about not putting Black actors and actresses in a box. It’s trusting us with our characters and allowing us to bloom on camera.Are you someone who can take the win? Can you enjoy the nomination?In general, I usually poke at the win and pick up the win, but I don’t want to do that with this. I just want to sit in it and let it settle. Try to let myself enjoy it.Are you going to do anything to celebrate?Picketing, which feels good. Then later, we’re going to go to my favorite bar that does extra dirty martinis.What would Gaby, the therapist, say to you right now?Holy schnikes! More

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      Alan Ruck on His First Emmy Nomination and Saving Connor Roy

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      As HBO’s media-dynasty drama “Succession” was wrapping up its final season, Alan Ruck, the actor who plays the oblivious and often ignored eldest son, Connor Roy, admitted that he had once felt so unsatisfied with his depth of material that he suggested to the show’s top brass that his character be killed off.He is certainly glad now that he was told no.While driving to the gym on Wednesday morning, Ruck got the news that he had earned his first Emmy nomination. The role, which gained significant bulk in Season 4, with a long-shot presidential campaign and a wedding on a boat that was eventful, to say the least, landed him in the best supporting actor in a drama category.In a phone interview after his nomination was announced, Ruck, who before “Succession” was best known for playing Cameron Frye in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” said he was “buzzing” over the news. The conversation has been edited for clarity.How different was Season 4 for Connor from the early seasons in terms of screen time and material?Way back when I auditioned for [the “Succession” executive producer] Adam McKay to do this thing in 2016, the email from my agency said: “Connor Roy. Only child by the first marriage. Not in line to be C.E.O. of the company. This part will grow over time.” In the first seasons I had a few things to do, and then in the second season I had some inane Connor-isms, some interjections, but I didn’t actually have a one-on-one scene with anybody. Everyone was like, “This is the best show on TV,” and people didn’t even know I was on it. So I asked to be killed off, and they said, “No, no, no, we need you.” Mark Mylod [a “Succession” executive producer and director who was also nominated for an Emmy on Wednesday] wrote something funny about how Jeremy Piven’s character on “Entourage” was not supposed to be much at all and then it grew over time. And Connor did grow over time; it just kind of took until the end of the third season.How did you feel when you saw more substantial scenes for Connor in the Season 4 scripts? For example, there’s one in the karaoke room, where he betrays his siblings in support of his father. (He accuses them of being “needy love sponges” seeking Logan Roy’s approval.)These are the best writers I’ve ever worked with, and when I finally was given these chunks of beautiful stuff, I was just thrilled. I salivated.What was your experience shooting that karaoke room scene?I was just really satisfied as an actor that I got to stand up for myself. Because if someone tells you you’re a moron over and over, even if it’s just make believe, it gets under your skin.What are your predictions for Connor’s future, in terms of his career and his relationship? When the series ends — minor spoilers ahead — Connor is potentially up for the job of U.S. ambassador to Slovenia if Jeryd Mencken, the Republican nominee played by Justin Kirk, succeeds at becoming president.If Mencken is elected president and Connor goes over as ambassador, he will delegate all responsibility. He will show up for the handshaking and the state dinners and the events. He won’t last long in that job. And then since Willa was obviously hoping that he would be away for a stretch of time, I don’t have high hopes for that relationship.What are you looking at in terms of future roles?I’m looking forward to getting hired for roles that pay money. I’m an independent contractor. I think I’ll get a chance at some different things now, but I do want to continue to play people that are damaged. Because it’s pretty satisfying. When you play horrible people, you get to get all of that nasty [expletive] out at work. More

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      Daniel Radcliffe Has an Emmy Nod, But His Accordion Skills Are Fading

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      It was a typical morning for Daniel Radcliffe when he got a not-so-typical call: He’d been nominated for his first Emmy Award, for best lead actor in a limited or anthology series or movie, for his performance as the parodist Weird Al Yankovic in last year’s Roku biopic “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.””It was a genuine surprise,” Radcliffe, 33, said in a call from his New York apartment, where he had just finished bouncing his newborn son, trying to lull him to sleep.The “Harry Potter” star has increasingly pivoted to more experimental roles, chief among them his starring turn in the kinda-sorta-not-actually-true biopic about the life of the music and comedy legend, which debuted on the streaming service in November.“I generally pick things because I know I’ll have a good time making them,” Radcliffe said. “Making this was one of the most special experiences of my career, and when the love you have for something is mirrored in the reaction to it, there are few feelings that are as good as that.”Radcliffe will soon begin performances on Broadway in a much-anticipated revival of Stephen Sondheim’s 1981 musical “Merrily We Roll Along.” In an interview, he discussed his affection for Weird Al, his favorite cameo from the film’s star-studded pool-party scene and why writers are so essential to making good film and TV. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.You were initially hesitant to take this role because you, objectively, look nothing like Weird Al. But was that ultimately part of the appeal?My first reaction was definitely that there were people who were physically a lot closer to his appearance. But when I read the script, by Page 2, I got a sense of the tone of the film and what they were trying to do. I was like, “I can play this version of Weird Al.” I kind of felt foolish for ever having assumed it would be a serious, straight-down-the-line biopic. A parody of biopics is the only thing a Weird Al biopic could ever be.What was the most challenging part?The whole film was shot in 18 days, and there were these big music and dance sequences, these big fight sequences. There was a lot to do and to learn, and it was mostly a question of not going into any day unprepared. There wasn’t room for any of us in either the cast or the crew to do that. The way Eric [Appel, the director] managed to make this film in such a short time was insane. I’m sure he was having to make compromises or cut or change things, but it never seemed like it.What was your favorite celebrity cameo from the pool-party scene?The teenage boy in me was freaking out that I was getting to do a scene with Jack Black. But I think the best celebrity impersonation in there is Jorma [Taccone] playing Pee-wee Herman. He can make me laugh like few other people can.What is the best song you can play on the accordion?It will remain the opening of “My Bologna.” Actually, I can probably play a little bit more of “I Love Rocky Road” — I can get all the way up to the solo. Well, I should say I could get that far; I haven’t been practicing as much in recent months, because I have a small child in the house now who we are trying to get to sleep rather than wake up to the sound of an accordion.What is your favorite Weird Al song?Probably “Bob,” the Bob Dylan parody, which is entirely made up of palindromes. It scratches at the super wordy nerd part of my brain.Are there any other nominees you’ll be rooting for from this season?Quinta Brunson from “Abbott Elementary,” who I got to work with a bunch of times. She’s the best. I will be cheering her on whatever she does. And — if there is an Emmys ceremony to go to — it’s nice that I will at least know her.Do you have any thoughts on the writers’ strike, or the possible actors’ strike?Nobody wants a strike to happen, but it is seeming more and more like it needs to. It’s important that we show solidarity with the writers, because no actors are as good at improvising as we think we are. I would be literally nowhere in my career were it not for writers. And with all the A.I. stuff, it seems like it potentially could be a really important moment. We might be one of the first industries to have a say on how this stuff works and affects us going forward.You’re in “Merrily” on Broadway for the foreseeable future, but what about after that? Do you want to do more TV? Film? Direct?Yes to all of that. Obviously “Merrily” will keep me busy for a while, but I’ll go wherever good scripts are. When I was growing up, there was much more of a perceived gap between film and TV, and that just doesn’t exist anymore, which is fantastic. You can go wherever good work is being made. More

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      Janelle James Reacts to Her Second Emmy Nomination for ‘Abbott Elementary’

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      To many television viewers, Janelle James has become synonymous with Ava Coleman, her bumbling but brashly confident elementary school principal in the hit ABC workplace comedy “Abbott Elementary.”The real-life James, a veteran comedian who for years slugged it out on stand-up stages around the country, isn’t so bumbling. But on Wednesday she had cause to be just as confident, after receiving her second Emmy nomination for playing Ava, her breakout role. She is familiar now with the choreography of the awards show: the campaigning, the events, the dressing up … the media interviews. “After the last Emmys, you kind of start getting ready for the next Emmys,” she said, joking. “But it’s still a huge deal.”Having recently woken up to several calls informing her of the nomination — once again for best supporting actress in a comedy — James discussed by phone the sitcom’s success, expanding her comedic persona and the personal growth of the delightfully self-aggrandizing comedic foil that is Ava. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.I’m going to ask you the question that I’m supposed to ask as a journalist: How did it feel to hear you were nominated? But if it’s not too early for some improv, would you mind answering as Ava, not as Janelle?This is expected. You know when I started the show at the school, I knew in my heart that this would be the outcome. Sure, it’s for the children, but I’m the glue that holds it all together. So for people to focus on me, you know, it’s all the better because then I can shift the focus, down the line, to the kids who really … deserve it.Thank you for humoring me. So — back as Janelle — tell me about your experience at last year’s Emmys.That was a wild experience for me. I had never been to the Emmys before and really did not understand what the whole process was. It was a totally new experience, and my best friend, Hadiyah Robinson, who I started in this business with, was next to me and we were truly just geeking out about seeing all of these famous people.Do you ever find yourself channeling Ava into your own life?Before this role, I remember being younger and more fabulous, pre-comedy, pre-standup and really making a conscious decision to downgrade in looks and fabulousness in order to maintain my sanity in a male-driven industry. I was doing the whole “comedian in a black T-shirt and jeans” thing. This role — the whole getting gussied up — has reminded me that I do like those things, and that is a part of me. I’m trying to bring that back.This show went quickly from being the new comedy on the block to being well entrenched in pop culture. How did that happen so fast?That’s great — that means we’re already part of the zeitgeist and the lexicon. People feel like they know us, and I feel like that’s the sign of a true sitcom: something that you watch with your family and something that feels like it’s been part of your life the whole time.What are your hopes for Ava in future seasons?Maybe more Ava outside of the school, what she does when she’s not working. We set up the fact that she’s interested in learning and maybe teaching down the line. I hope we continue down that path — Ava’s education reawakening. And more of the same. More high jinks, more lines, more laughter. More