Streaming Roulette April '22: Sweet Birds, Edgy Postcards, and Moon Knights

Bridgerton Season 2.

Are you watching Bridgerton Season 2? I'm trying to pace myself but I'm watching it too fast because I am eager for the extremely beautiful pair of Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley to consummate their love instead of just staring angrily at each other. I will never get over how widely accepted the trope of 'people who hate each other are obviously in love!' is in movies and television since it has no parallel in real life. I've never met a couple in real life who discovered their love because they aggravated and hated each other so much. Have any of you? 

Okay, time for this month's streaming roulette. You know the rules. We highlight new-to-streaming movies and an occasional TV series by freezing them on the scroll bar at entirely random places and just sharing what pops up. No cheating*!

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Emmy Category Review: Outstanding Drama Series

By Abe Friedtanzer

Last year, Succession was pretty far out front, and it feels like this year’s juggernaut, The Crown, has just as easy a path to victory. But this category does include a varied slate, welcoming back two past nominees, two freshman series, one sophomore show, and a handful of extremely high nominations totals. It’s worth looking a bit more closely at each of the top-tier nominees, many of which we’ve covered extensively in our category-by-category analysis. 

I’ll try to avoid major plot details in my analysis – but if you’d like more spoiler-filled descriptions, click on the episode titles...

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Emmy Analysis: Netflix dominates the Outstanding Period Costumes race

by Cláudio Alves

All five Outstanding Period Costumes Emmy nominees come from a Netflix, a strong indicator of that streaming titan's dominance over the kind of lavish prestige television that tends to the well in this category. Indeed, this well-appointed quintet is united by a glitzy love of glamour. Realism, or indeed historical verisimilitude, feels as if it's only ever pursued if it coincides with these shows' need for contrast and spectacle. Sometimes this feels at home with the material. In other instances, it comes off a bit forced, opulence for opulence's sake and to the detriment of the dramaturgy. Their wardrobes demand attention, catching the eye of even the most casual of viewers. Whatever the case may be, these are some eye-catching programs, so much so that it's difficult to predict who'll win. All five contenders feel like potential victors. The nominees are… 

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Category Analysis: For Drama Directing, will The Crown get the crown?

Team Experience takes a look at the episode submissions for all the major Emmy categories. 

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Unlike last year where eight nominees sprang from just three shows, the nominees this year were fairly distributed. Five of the six nominees were either season premieres or season/series finales. Fifty percent of the nominees in this category were women. In the shows nominated, only The Crown and The Handmaid's Tale have won previously. These are just some of the stats that might (or might not) help in predicting the winner of this category. The Crown is the frontrunner for Drama Series, but would that help with its two nominations here? Could The Handmaid's Tale or The Mandalorian snag a win? Could Pose win for its series finale? Or is the Bridgerton love for real?

Without further ado, the nominees...

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TCA Nominations 2021

The Television Critics Association has announced its nominees for the season and they make an interesting parallel kudo-party with the Emmys both in their sameness and where they diverge. I'm told voting closed before the Emmy nominations were announced so these are simple disagreements as opposed to statement making...

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA

Michaela Coel, I May Destroy You – HBO
Ethan Hawke, The Good Lord Bird – Showtime
Thuso Mbedu, The Underground Railroad – Amazon
Elizabeth Olsen, WandaVision – Disney+
Mj Rodriguez, Pose – FX
Omar Sy, Lupin – Netflix
Anya Taylor-Joy, The Queen’s Gambit – Netflix
Kate Winslet, Mare Of Easttown – HBO

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