Innholdsfortegnelse for Awards Special 23B, June 21, 2021 i The Hollywood Reporter

No one quite knew what to expect when Ted Lasso dropped on Apple TV+ in August — and, it turns out, the cast is continually kept on its toes, too. With a three-season arc in mind for the character spawned from an NBC Sports promo series, creator-star Jason Sudeikis admits he drops “seedlings” in the scripts that even the show’s key actors don’t notice right away. He and Hannah Waddingham — who plays Rebecca Welton, the scheming but sympathetic owner of AFC Richmond, the English football team Lasso coaches — talked virtually with THR ahead of the second season about exploring why good people do bad things, on-the-fly script edits and the art of not giving too much away. When did you meet, and what were your first impressions? JASON…

Fargo (FX/Hulu) “The simplest description of Fargo for me is that it’s a tragedy with a happy ending. Whenever I break these stories — and I had a great group of writers this year — part of the original discussion is drama and tragedy have a different structural identity. With each character, you have to examine, what makes their story tragic? Everyone dies; death itself isn’t a tragedy. When you think about how the Fadda brothers had just reunited, and then Gaetano [Salvatore Esposito] trips and shoots himself in the head right at the moment they found each other again — or Odis [Jack Huston] is killed by his own OCD, because he just can’t get out of the car — there’s tragedy to all of that. Swanee [Kelsey Asbille…

COMEDY SERIES THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT HBO Max This darkly funny tale of a hardpartying stewardess who wakes up next to a dead man — did she do it, or did someone else? — was exec produced by Big Bang Theory alum Kaley Cuoco, who stars with Zosia Mamet, Rosie Perez and Michelle Gomez. Its eight-episode first season hit in November and December, earned 98 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and received SAG Award, Golden Globe and Critics Choice noms. GIRLS5EVA Peacock From Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt writer Meredith Scardino comes this wacky eight-episode show about the four surviving members of a 1990s one-hit-wonder girl group who reunite in the present day. Released in May with dozens of original tunes by Jeff Richmond (husband to EP Tina Fey) that are as funny as the…

The writers of CBS’ Mom had to deal with two shocking exits last season. During the summer, star Anna Faris surprised fans when she announced that she was leaving the sitcom after seven seasons, with her character’s departure explained in the season eight premiere. Then, with just a few episodes left to shoot, the team behind the Warner Bros. show, executive produced by Chuck Lorre, learned that the season would be its last. Continuing its shift from the family dynamics of Faris’ Christy and her mother, Bonnie (Allison Janney), Mom became even more of an ensemble that centered on Bonnie, her friends and her fellow recovering alcoholics. “One of the things that was hard about the show ending in this season is we had found a new rhythm and a…

I rewatched the pilot after the finale. First of all, I loved the whole thing. As a limited series, it was so dense but also still felt digestible. It’s such an incredibly balanced show for this kind of story. I’m still blown away by how it handled so many different things while tonally giving different levels, too — and all those frequencies fit together in a way that’s very intentional and organic. And Kate’s performance in the pilot is just so great, and it sets up everything so well. I’m obsessed with the backstory that she and a lot of these characters were on the high school basketball team and are chasing some recognition or glory or finding purpose through that. I was talking to Matt [Rogers, co-host of the…

In Them’s exploration of the iconic American dream through the eyes of a Black family putting down roots in 1950s Compton — with all the racist restrictions, violations and torments common to the era — the series vividly melds all-too-real traumas with supernatural menace to create a new entrant in a burgeoning form of horror, both truth-telling and terrifying. Creator Little Marvin and star Deborah Ayorinde explain why it was important to depict the ugliest moments with unflinching honesty, and reveal the catharsis they experienced in telling the story. Why do you think that the horror genre has emerged as such a potent and effective lens through which to explore the Black experience in America, especially to tell these stories to contemporary audiences? LITTLE MARVIN So much of American history…

THE KOMINSKY METHOD After Alan Arkin exited the Chuck Lorre comedy following its second season, the Netflix series wrapped its third and final season centered on acting coach Sandy Kominsky (Michael Douglas, left), who is dealing with the passing of his longtime friend and agent (Arkin). Douglas and Arkin both earned Emmy nominations for the first and second seasons. POSE The FX drama set in the ’80s New York drag ball culture scene launched in June 2018 and earned a nomination for drama series and a win for lead actor Billy Porter. It concluded its third and last season June 6. SHAMELESS The Showtime ensemble comedy following the colorful Gallagher family lasted 11 seasons, though star Emmy Rossum departed after the ninth. The show, which earned star William H. Macy…