"Mr. Robot", "People vs O.J." Lead Television Critics Association Conglomeration Nominations

The Television Critics Association announced the nominees for their 34th annual TCA Awards yesterday, as Emmy nomination ballot deadlines loom (Monday). For those unitiated into the organization's particular mode of aggregating accolades, it may come as a bit of a surprise to see Bob Odenkirk and Sarah Paulson mentioned in the same acting category. The TCA loves a good buffet. Rather than divvy up the love by format, they scoop a big heaping of pick-and-choose onto their nominating plate; the tip-toppest acting bona fides of series, miniseries, talk shows, TV movies, and different genders all taste great so why not load them all onto the same plate?

Granted, they break up serials and self-contained shows for their Best categories but there's something thrilling about weighing Samantha Bee's achievement in fervent fact-boiling against Aya Cash's honest exploration of depression in a way that feels less competitive than it does conversation-raising. In fact, there's not a straight white male amongst the Individual Achievement in Comedy group, which is 5/6 women; its selection of nominees balks at the idea of institutional placeholders in favor of true grit. Inclusion, it appears, garners a compellingly reflective list.

Individual Achievement in Drama

• Bryan Cranston, All The Way
• Rami Malek, Mr. Robot
• Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
• Sarah Paulson, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
• Keri Russell, The Americans
• Courtney B. Vance, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story

Individual Achievement in Comedy

• Aziz Ansari, Master of None
• Samantha Bee, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
• Rachel Bloom, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
• Aya Cash, You’re The Worst
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
• Constance Wu, Fresh Off the Boat

Outstanding New Program

• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
• Marvel’s Jessica Jones
• Master of None
• Mr. Robot
• Underground
• UnREAL 

Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries, and Specials

• All The Way
• Fargo
• The Night Manager
• The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
• Roots
• Show Me A Hero 

Outstanding Achievement in Drama

• The Americans
• Better Call Saul
• Game of Thrones
• The Leftovers
• Mr. Robot
• UnREAL

Outstanding Achievement in Comedy

• black-ish
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
• Master of None
• Silicon Valley
• Veep
• You’re The Worst

Program of the Year

• The Americans
• Fargo
• Game of Thrones
• Making a Murderer
• Mr. Robot
• The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
• UnREAL

What do you make of the TCA's kitchen sink approach to their nominations? By eliminating binaries, does its all-of-the-above inclusion cut straight to the heart of the talent, or does it winnow its window of worthy contenders?

YNMS: American Honey

Murtada here. The best thing about this lackluster summer movie season, might be the trailers for fall movies. This week sees one of our most anticipated, Andrea Arnold’s American Honey starring Shia LaBeouf, Riley Keough and introducing Sasha Lane in the lead role. The film is about a young woman who joins a travelling magazine sales crew, and their adventures as they travel the midwest, party and maybe fall in love. There’s also some law-breaking.

Let’s deep dive with a Yes, No, Maybe so after the jump..... 

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Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Pt. 2: Firing Squads and Flop Sweat

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of this Oscar-winning classic, Team Experience is revisiting the picture, tag team relay style. In Chapter 1, Nathaniel discussed our first look at George and Martha as they "welcomed" Nick and Honey into their home for a late night boozy marital bout. The first true bomb had just gone off when George realized that Martha had broken their "rules"... we rejoin the party now as George strikes back.

 Pt 2 by Daniel Crooke

My first wallop by Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was in my early years of high school after developing a formative penchant for emotionally explosive character dramas, iconic Hollywood movie stars, and Mike Nichols’ The Graduate. Once I learned of this film’s existence, I snatched up the first secondhand DVD I could find. It may have proved a bad role model; I shouted and scowled around the house for days, hunched in doorways with a clinking tumbler full of iced tea. The drama was just too magnificent to leave on the screen and, especially in this section, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton have so much fun spitting poison that their hysterical wickedness becomes infectious.

Through my green teenage lens of inexperience, I thought George and Martha should divorce immediately, move on with their lives, and leave this self-destructive cycle in the rear view. Jesus, can you imagine their Tinder profiles? Now that time and experience have obliterated my preconceptions of the idyllic American relationship, I can plainly see that they need one another to survive. They’ve got an arrangement in their marriage that – however revolting or sadomasochistic it may seem to the outsider – more or less works for them.

32:11 ....As long as they stay within the bounds. [More...]

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Complete the (Fishy) Sentence

Eager to see where you're at with this since you were so hushed about the review. Have at it in the comments.

Finding Dory is to Finding Nemo as _____ is to ________." 

(Don't feel the need to be too literal)

Judy by the Numbers: "Be A Clown"

Just as there are films that shine bright in a star's history, there are also films whose histories are controversial at best. The Pirate is an odd contradiction of a movie. As one of Judy Garland's most expensive films, it was also her first MGM bust. Released two years after childrearing had put Judy on hiatus, it was nonetheless stuck in preproduction for five years before that. While it landed Judy another hit song, the knockoff written four years later would become a classic. Though The Pirate was the loudest, brightest movie Judy had made to date, its most interesting sequences were left on the cutting room floor. What to do with The Pirate?

The Movie: The Pirate (1948, MGM) 
The Songwriter: Cole Porter
The Players: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, The Nicholas Brothers, directed by Vincente Minnelli

The Story: The Pirate must have seemed cursed from the start. By the time Vincente Minnelli started filming, it had already been stuck in pre-production hell since 1943. This meant that even though Minnelli tried to keep costs down, enough money had already been sunk into it that the budget ballooned to almost $5 million. Judy wasn't helping either - she reported sick to work 99 times. Then there was the issue of reshoots. The song "Voodoo" apparently enraged Mayer so much that he ordered the nitrate negative burned. The ending was a mess and had to be reshot. Then that ending got the boot in the South because it featured black men tapdancing

All of these production problems took their toll, and the resulting movie is a little bit of a beautiful mess. Nonetheless, there are three reasons to see this movie:

1. It's the first A Movie appearance of the Nicholas Brothers
2. Vincente Minnelli makes really beautiful color movies
3. Judy Garland throws china like a red-haired Bucky Walters 

However, the scene that would make the film famous was "Be A Clown." As previously mentioned, it would become a modest hit for Judy, but the real hit came four years later when Judy's friend Donald O'Connor sang "Make 'Em Laugh" in Singin' in the Rain. Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed whipped up the song while trying to find a number for O'Connor. Luckily for them, Cole Porter was under MGM contract and wasn't feeling particularly litigious. While Judy would continue to sing the original throughout her career, ultimately Singin' in the Rain made Freed's version more popular. Even great talent couldn't keep The Pirate from sinking.