Tuesday, September 27, 2016

And the Emmy goes to…. An award ceremony of firsts. And seconds.

Jill Soloway has won her second Emmy for best comedy directing in the first-of-its-time Amazon original, Transparent. The show follows a family with a father who has come out to his adult children as transgender. Soloway’s directing is an unapologetic and raw portrait of what it means to be a transgender in America.
“Topple the Patriarchy”
Soloway is one of only eight directors, and the first openly lesbian woman to receive multiple Emmys in this category. In her acceptance speech, she announced that she felt privileged to be a director and that her privilege allows her to give others privilege. She went on to say, “This TV show allows me to take my dreams about unlikeable Jewish people, queer folk, trans folk, and make them the heroes.” On her way off the stage she declared twice, “Topple the patriarchy” with the award lifted high above her head.
The Unrestricted Stream
Transparent might be a bit different, but with “TV” content finding its way out of broadcast and cable networks and into online, streamable forms, shows can expand the boundaries of allowable topics. Online networks, like Amazon, home of Transgender, are basically restriction-free. Online shows can swear, show nudity and depict an honest life of a transgender human being. It is this environment where Soloway can make Emmy-worthy material. And considering Soloway has secured a second Emmy, Amazon is sure to give Soloway more opportunities to create powerful content in the future. In fact, she’s already taking advantage of one of those opportunities by directing the new Amazon original I Love Dick.


By Charlie Perschau.  

Diverse Emmys Highlight TV Inclusivity

Comedy series created by and starring minorities are more popular than ever. The 68th Emmys demonstrated a turn toward diversity with 18 out of the 73 nominees being people of color. With actors of color nominated for every leading acting category, the Emmys boasted a record number of diverse nominees. Minority writing staff and directors are also making a splash on primetime television. Unlike whitewashed award shows of the past, this year’s Emmys proved that diverse representation is possible.
The 68th Emmy Awards 
The Emmys, which aim to recognize outstanding efforts in television, were held Sunday, September 18, 2016. Late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel, hosted an evening with a political tone. Acceptance speeches and monologues touched on the upcoming Presidential Election as well as various social issues. Racial representation had a particularly strong voice throughout the night.
While Sunday was the most diverse Emmys in history, the night was used to push television even further toward proper representation. Kimmel used his opening monologue to joke about the “bravery” of awarding diverse nominees. 
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After accepting Best Writing in a Comedy Series, Alan Yang of Master of None used his acceptance speech to urge Asian-American representation. “There’s 17 million Asian-Americans in this country and there’s 17 million Italian Americans. They have The Godfather, Goodfellas, Rocky, The Sopranos. We got Long Duk Dong,” Yang Said.
The Trend Toward Racial Diversity
Racial diversity characterized both nominees and winners. Comedy duo Key and Peele took home the award for Variety Sketch Series while drag queen RuPaul Charles was awarded Reality Host for RuPaul’s Drag Race.. It is now more common then ever to see comedy series written by and for a diverse audience. Inclusive show an effort to hear the voices of the silenced.
Black-ish creator Kenya Barris, whose series was nominated for Best Comedy, said diversity is about opening a dialogue. “That’s what we try to do for the show in general–just start a conversation,” he said.


By Rachyl Jackson

AT THE EMMYS, MULTIPLE CAMERAS AREN’T BETTER THAN ONE

The best comedies on TV look a little different than they used to. For decades, TV comedy was dominated by Multi-camera (or Multi-Cam) shows. Over the past decade, things have changed dramatically. When Veep took home the crown for Outstanding TV Comedy at the 2016 Emmy Awards, it became the tenth consecutive single-camera show to win TV’s highest honor.
What’s The Difference Between Single-Cam and Multi-Cam?
Well, the answer has a lot to do with how a show is filmed and produced. Multi-Cam shows (Like Seinfeld or Friends) are filmed like a stage play in front of live audiences, whereas single camera comedies (Like Community or 30 Rock) are filmed more like movies. The easiest way to identify a multi-camera show is a laugh track. If you hear people laughing who aren’t in the room with you, odds are you’re watching a multi cam, or you have a really loud neighbor.
Multi Camera Shows Used to Dominate
From 1986-2006, only three single camera shows won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, and each of those wins came after 1999. Up until very recently, TV was dominated by multi-camera shows, These programs not only earned critical acclaim, but controlled pop culture.
Some of the greatest TV comedies of all time are Multi-Cam, from Seinfeld to Friends to Cheers to How I Met Your Mother, the format created and perfected TV comedy. But, there’s a new player in town.
The Times, They Are A Changin’
It’s been more a decade since a multi-cam show won the award for Outstanding TV Comedy (Everybody Loves Raymond in 2006). Since then Modern Family, 30 Rock, The Office, and Veep have taken home the trophy. In fact, this year every nominated show was a single camera show. The last multi-cam to be nominated was The Big Bang Theory back in 2013.
There are still some great multi-camera shows out there, NBC’s The Carmichael Show and CBS’s Mom come to mind. But at least for now, it looks as if single camera shows will continue to dominate for the foreseeable future.

By Jasper Pike

Social spread is key to variety show success

In the 68th annual Primetime Emmy awards.“Variety Talk series”, six shows were nominated: 
  • ·      Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee (Crackle) - 3 nominations, 0 wins
  • ·      Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC) - 23 nominations, 3 wins
  • ·      Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) - 10 nominations, 4 wins
  • ·      Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) - 19 nominations, 0 wins
  • ·      The Late Late Show with James Corden (CBS) - 3 nominations, 1 win
  • ·      The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC) - 10 nominations, 1 win

Despite several wins from both cable-hosted and broadcast-hosted shows, there seems to be no correlation between how well a television show will perform at the Emmys and whether it is hosted on cable or broadcast television.
There does seem to be a key to success, however. Many honored variety talk shows find success online by taking clips of each show and posting them as individual videos, almost like highlight reels. Each show’s percentage of Emmy wins in 2016 (based off the number of wins divided by the number of nominations) has a strikingly positive correlation to how often I see these shows shared on social media.
Last Week Tonight and The Late Late Show, winning 40 percent and 33 percent of the time. John Oliver's humorous takes on news and politics often become viral on social media, and James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke series has been a Twitter and Facebook sensation. Jimmy Kimmel Live took 13 percent of honors and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon took10 percent. Kimmel is popular for numerous styles of video including his pranks, his man-on-the-street interviews and his Celebrities Read Mean Tweets series, and Fallon is popular online with his skits and games with celebrity guests. Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and Real Time with Bill Maher both failed to win.
Though Bill Maher believes he’s too “outspoken” to receive an award in front of a “mainstream body” due to his stances on religion and politics, it is hard to ignore the fact that shows with little online reach did not win awards in 2016.
Learn more
http://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/2016/outstanding-variety-series-talk


By PJ Collins

Cable Wins Big, Broadcast Lags In Emmy Comedy Awards

Cable network series dominated the comedy categories at the 2016 Emmy awards. Streaming series won the second most with broadcast network series trailing behind.
In the past two years, HBO series Veep took home the award for Outstanding Comedy Series. A closer analysis shows cable network and streaming services have begun to take over.
2016 Emmys Experience A Change
This year’s Emmys changed nominees and winners throughout all categories. Cable networks, HBO and FX won the most Emmys with 22 and 18 wins, respectively while streaming service Netflix came in third with nine wins. HBO received 4 of these wins for its comedy shows Veep, Baskets, and Girls. NBC and ABC’s overall nominations declined from 2013 and into 2014. FX, Netflix, and Amazon have shown an overall increase in nominations since 2011 while HBO remains untouchable, receiving an overwhelming number of nominations each year, according to this chart from Fortune Magazine.

Broadcast Network Loses Grip On Comedy Categories
Prior to 2015, broadcast network shows like Modern Family and 30 Rock have dominated the Outstanding Comedy Series, beating HBO shows such as Entourage and Girls. Ten years ago, broadcast network series received 80 percent of the nominations. Black-ish and Modern Family were the only two broadcast network series to earn a nomination this year. 
HBO has been nominated for multiple series in this category for the past ten years, but with the help of Netflix and Amazon, broadcast network nominations have been declining. Netflix was the first streaming service to receive the nomination in that category in 2014 and its nominations have continued to increase as they add more comedy series to its catalogue. 
Are People Consuming Comedy Series Differently?
In categories where broadcast network series traditionally dominated, how have cable and streaming taken over? “The key is that audiences want quality, not just content to pass the time,” said Dr. Naeemah Clark, a professor at Elon’s School of Communications. Dr. Clark explains that cable and streaming services can produce quality content over quantity since they don't have as much time to fill. 
"We burned out the public," said Tim Doyle, sitcom writer. Michael Schneider, columnist for TV Insider, points out that of nine new sitcoms debuted in Fall of 2015, four were canceled by December of that year. Schneider says that audiences are moving to “cable, streaming services, and websites where there's less pressure to attract a broad audience and more willingness to experiment.” Even renewed series got canceled which further shows that audiences are becoming burned out.


By Alex Giglio