Emmy Noms 2016: Drama / MiniSeries, First Impressions

Emmy Awards will be held on Sept 20th this yearPreviously: The Comedy Nominations
Related: Snubs & Perplexities

On the Outs: The big news emerging from this Emmy nomination morning is that Orange is the New Black's 3rd season did not go over well with Emmy voters falling from all the major categories but it did receive a casting nomination. The Good Wife also didn't get a particularly warm nomination send off in its final season with only a handful of minor nominations.

Suddenly In: After years of pressuring the Academy, television critics finally got their beloved "The Americans" in the running in most of the big categories. Perhaps it was the title? Everything "American" did well... "The Americans", "American Crime", American Crime Story" etcetera.

Still In: Most everything they previously loved but particularly Game of Thrones which I believe is now the most nominated show in the history of the Emmys with 106 nominations from its six seasons. It's won 26 Emmys already. 

Still Out: The Leftovers was snubbed again. Two brilliant, challenging, original, and very different seasons and not a single nomination even in technical categories in either year. For shame, Emmy voters, for shame.

The nominees with brief commentary... 

DRAMA

Outstanding Drama Series
"Americans" (1st nomination. 4th season)
"Better Call Saul" (2nd season. 2nd nomination)
"Downton Abbey" (6th season. 6th nomination... though the first was in another category)
"Game of Thrones" (6th season. 6th nomination)
"Homeland" (5th season. 4th nomination)
"House of Cards" (4th season. 4th nomination)
"Mr Robot" (1st season. 1st nomination)

Similarity to Last Year: 5/7 They had to make one change with Mad Men gone so in goes Mr Robot, the most buzzed about freshman series. But the other change was voluntary: they dumped Orange is the New Black (3rd season) for The Americans (4th season). It's wonderful to see The Americans finally get its due but why couldn't it have dumped one of the long in the tooth shows that really don't deserve automatic placement each year?

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Emmy Noms 2016: Comedy, First Impressions

Related: Drama Nominations
Related: Snubs & Perplexities 

The 68th annual Emmy nominations have been announced. As usual the Academy of Television couldn't bring themselves to switch it up much, only making changes in categories where they were forced to do so (like Comedy Actress). 

COMEDY NOMINATIONS

Kimmy Schmidt was nominated again but without two of its funniest players: Anna Camp (Guest) and Jane Krakowski (Supporting)

Outstanding Comedy Series
"Black•ish" (1st nom, 2nd season)
"Master of None" (1st nom, 1st season)
"Modern Family" (7th season, 7th nom - 5 previous wins) 
"Silicon Valley" (2nd season, 2nd nom)
"Transparent" (2nd season, 2nd nom)
"Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" (2nd season, 2nd nom)
"Veep" (5th season, 5th nom, 1 previous win)

Similarities to last year:  4/6 With both Louie and Parks & Recreation ineligible this year, Emmy voters were forced to make two changes to their series lineup. That's all they made...

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Jessica Chastain as Miss Sloane: A Story in Gifs

Jessica Chastain's upcoming movies have been shuffled around. The Zookeeper’s Wife - a WW2 drama directed by Niki Caro - will be released next March while Miss Sloane is coming this December. In the John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, The Debt) directed movie, Chastain is Elizabeth Sloane, a DC lobbyist battling for gun control legislation. It's a timely topic that we hope is handled with the care it deserves. The supporting cast includes Mark Strong, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alison Pill, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jake Lacy, Sam Waterston and John Lithgow.

Good cast Jessica, are you excited? (A Gif story after the jump)

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On this day: Billy the Kid, The Dark Knight, Hello Nasty

Happy Bastille Day! Isn't it weird that violent/bloody days often become holidays later on?

On this day in history as it relates to the movies...

Howard Hughes The Outlaw (1943)

1862 The Artist Gustav Klimt is born. Later Dame Helen Mirren will fight for custody of one of his most famous paintings in the bad movie Woman in Gold (2015).
1868 Explorer Gertrud Bell is born. Nicole Kidman played her in an ill-fated unreleased Werner Herzog movie Queen of the Desert
1881 Outlaw Billy the Kid is shot and killed outside Fort Sumner. Numerous stars have played him in movies including Roy Rogers (Billy the Kid Returns), Kris Kristofferson (Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid), Emilio Estevez (Young Guns), and Paul Newman (The Left-Handed Gun). The most famous film version of his story may well be The Outlaw (1943) the Howard Hughes film which starred Jack Buetel as Billy and Jane Russell, in her star-making role, as his girl. You'll probably remember the funny scenes about this scandalous film (and Jane Russell's controversial cleavagae) within Martin Scorsese's The Aviator (2004)

more after the jump including Harry Dean Stanton's 90th birthday...

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Two Questions Inspired By Ghostbusters

I'm off to a Ghostbusters (2016) screening and these questions and a desire to hear your answers suddenly struck me:

1. Which male heavy movie would you most love to see rethunk with a female heavy cast?

2. If you had a vote for Best Original Song in 1984 which of the hit single nominees would you have gone for? (They were all huge hits)

"Against All Odds" (Against All Odds)
"Footloose" (Footloose)
"Ghostbusters" (Ghostbusters)
"I Just Called To Say I Love You" (The Woman in Red)
"Let's Hear It For the Boy" (Footloose)

...or would you have chucked out the nominees altogether to have "I Can Dream About You" (Streets of Fire) "The Heat is On" (Beverly Hills Cop) "Love Came For Me" (Splash), "Together Again" (The Muppets Take Manhattan), "Almost Paradise" (Footloose), "The Never Ending Story" (The Never Ending Story), "Together in Electric Dreams" (Electric Dreams), or maybe five songs from Purple Rain (even though it won an Oscar for Song Score - more Oscars for Prince!!!