Innholdsfortegnelse for Award Special 17A July 2020 i The Hollywood Reporter

A glaring Emmy injustice was rectified last year when Netflix’s BoJack Horseman — easily one of the smartest, funniest, best-written, best-looking and best-acted comedies of the past decade — finally garnered its first outstanding animated program nomination. Centered on the eponymous washed-up sitcom star (voiced by Will Arnett), Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s Hollywood satire was hardly a hidden gem; fans and critics were united in their resounding praise. Its conspicuous absence from Emmy contention led some commentators to wonder whether BoJack was too acerbic — or too honest — in its near-nihilistic depiction of show business for the TV Academy to warm up to it. Whatever the reason, BoJack’s continued snubbing — save for a 2017 nod for Kristen Schaal’s guest performance — said a lot less about the show than about…

As technology continues to pervade every aspect of life, from the way people work to how they watch entertainment and even socialize, several shows took viewers behind the curtain of the (fictional) companies that could exist in the cutthroat world of Silicon Valley. From Alex Garland’s futuristic sci-fi drama Devs to Austin Winsberg’s musical comedy Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist and Alec Berg’s quirky Silicon Valley, each series explores the complex, and often mysterious, world of tech in very different ways. Berg was inspired to create HBO’s Silicon Valley, which wrapped its sixth and final season in December, as an accurate, but also comical, look into the tech industry. “My brother is in the tech business,” says writer, director and executive producer Berg. “I’d heard [him] complaining about how crazy the tech…

After Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon’s 2017 semiautobiographical feature The Big Sick earned critical acclaim and a screenplay Oscar nomination, the co-writers (and real-life couple) found themselves flooded with offers for their next project. “Little America is genuinely the only thing we have attached ourselves to since The Big Sick,” says Gordon. “It was an idea that made us think, ‘Why doesn’t it exist already? I want to watch that.’ It just felt so perfect.” So they signed on as executive producers for the Apple TV+ anthology series, which comprises eight true immigrant stories. Plus, they wrote the episode “The Rock,” which follows an Iranian man (Shaun Toub) who is determined to build his dream home on a plot of land — but a giant boulder is standing in…

TOBIAS MENZIES (THE CROWN) Joining the Netflix series’ third season in the role originally portrayed by Matt Smith (who earned an Emmy nom), Menzies plays a middle-aged Prince Philip (alongside Oscar winner Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth) in the latest outing, which follows the British monarchs from the mid ’60s through the late ’70s. HUGH JACKMAN (BAD EDUCATION) Trading Wolverine’s claws for sharply written barbs, Jackman leads this darkly comic HBO original film that tells the true story of a Long Island superintendent who, alongside his deputy (Allison Janney), embezzles funds from his school district — only to be exposed by an ambitious student journalist. SACHA BARON COHEN (THE SPY) In this Netflix limited series, the British actor and comedian takes on the serious role of top Israeli spy Eli…

Damon Lindelof may be the obvious creative common denominator between ABC’s “Lost” and HBO’s “Watchmen,” but there’s another bloodline pumping through the veins of those television masterworks: Carlton Cuse and son Nick Cuse, veterans of the heralded island drama and the recently launched (and allegedly concluded) comic book adaptation, respectively. Just as Carlton Cuse mentored Lindelof in the late 1990s through Nash Bridges and the pair eventually joined forces as co-showrunners of Lost, starting in 2004, Lindelof has gone on to serve as a mentor of sorts to the younger Cuse, whose writing credits include some of the most exhilarating episodes of not just Watchmen but also of HBO’s The Leftovers. The hour in which Justin Theroux’s Kevin Garvey traipses through an ethereal world trying to thwart an assassination attempt?…

Ending a show is not for the faint of heart. A final chapter of a beloved series involves sleepless nights, endless second-guessing and last-minute Hail Marys. “The thing that incites panic in writers and producers is this feeling that it’s not just about sticking the landing, it’s about having the finale be the best episode you ever did,” says The Good Place creator Mike Schur. “It’s very unlikely that that’s going to be the case because finales have to do other things besides just satisfy you on a plot or character level. They have to be the epilogue of the entire series.” Deviating from his signature cliffhangers, Peter Nowalk spent the last episodes of ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder finally getting to the answers. “I wanted to really…

Lying atop the red velvety covers of an ornate four-poster bed in a gold-soaked set on a rainy day in London, a sickly looking Nicholas Hoult takes swigs from a bottle of water between takes. “Men love me for my parties, women and … [gulp] … delicious food,” he splutters moments later after the camera begins rolling (bottle now hidden under the blanket), groaning and retching while Elle Fanning, in a corseted light-green gown and tightly curled blond wig, stands at his feet, feigning concern. “And women love me for my massive cock.” Welcome to the world of The Great, Hulu’s bawdy, satirical and not exactly (in many cases, not remotely) historically accurate retelling of the early years of Russia’s famed 18th century monarch Catherine the Great. “We actually pride…