Pop Culture Confidential

Episode 12: The Pop Culture Confidential Emmy Special

Guest: Debra Birnbaum, Variety With the Emmy’s just over a week away, we share our thoughts on the nominations, the gala, the snubs, surprises and of course – PREDICTIONS! Our expert guide is Debra Birnbaum who is the executive editor, TV for Variety! She also covers the Emmy Awards, producing 13 special issues highlighting the Emmy contenders. She knows her Emmys! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duration:: 27m
Broadcast on:: 11 Sep 2015
Audio Format:: other

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This song goes out to my new best pal Paypal. Now that I get 5% cash back with my Paypal debit card every month on the category I choose, my Paypal and I work going everywhere together 'cause I want to pay with you everywhere. I pay with Paypal at the shoe store, the wind chime store, the dot com store, all the stores. Oh, ah! Don't just pay Paypal. Terms apply, see Paypal at this card is issued by the Payancourt Bank and a Pursuit to license by MasterCard International Inc. It's the Pop Culture Confidential Emmy Special with Variety's Deborah Burnbaum and I'm Christina Yerling-Biro. Keep Listening! Good evening ladies and gentlemen! Welcome! Welcome to the Emmy Awards. It's been a big year for television. David Letterman retired, John Stewart of The Daily Show stepped down. Mad Men ended its amazing run. SNL turned 40, Empire was a smash hit. Transparent wowed us. Amy Schumer dominated comedy and so much more. And now it's time to celebrate television at the Emmy Awards on Sunday, September 20th, hosted by Andy Samberg, a Saturday Night Live favorite who stars in the sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine. And my guest today can only be called one of the most experienced journalists covering television out there. Deborah Burnbaum was the President and Editor-in-Chief of TV Guide Magazine and is now Executive Editor of Television for Variety. She also covers the Emmy Awards, producing 13 special issues highlighting the Emmy contenders. Miss Burnbaum, thank you so much for joining me to talk about the Emmys. Thank you so much for having me. How busy are you now? I'm a little bit busy. I'm very excited about the Emmy Awards, so I can't wait to see what's in store. We're going to get into the nitty gritty of some nominations and predictions, but I first wanted to ask you about the Emmys themselves. How important are they to the industry? They're incredibly important to the industry. You know, people can say, "Oh, it's just about the nomination." But I think in an era like this, when there's so much television, there's nothing that compares to standing up on stage and holding a trophy. So does it get more viewers or just attention to the networks? I think it gets more attention to the networks. When there's so much competition, when there's over 400 scripted series on the air, you've got to do something to make your show stand out. So it's got to translate to ratings at a certain level to be able to say, "We're in Emmy-winning series." And what about the show itself compared to, say, the Golden Globes or the Oscars? What have you come to expect? I think with the show itself, you know, I think with a host like Andy Samberg, you know, it rotates among the networks every year. So with a host like Andy Samberg who's so popular, there's definitely going to be a hope that's going to draw in younger viewers because he's obviously got a lot of popularity among that set. So we can't wait to see what he's got in store for Emmy night. Yeah, it should be a lot of SNL fun. Exactly. You know, there's a hope he's going to bring a lot of those SNL friends along with him. Hi, I'm Andy Samberg, and I'm hosting the Emmys this year, and we've all heard of the seven dirty words you can't say on TV. But what about the seven words that sound dirty that you can say? I'm speaking, of course, of corkscrew, come-quot, shuttlecock, dick-to-phone, annals, and shant. And you'll have to tune in September 20th for the last one. It's butt. That's the last one. The tune in anyway. Let's talk about the nominations. What surprised you this year? I think there's always surprises in store. I mean, I think, look, it's great to see Game of Thrones getting so many nominations. It's great to see the Emmy Awards embracing genre series. We'll see that if it translates to wins. I think the biggest surprise for me was seeing Empire. I hate to say it gets snubbed. You know, it did get a nomination for Taraji Henson. I think a lot of people expected it to get a best drama nomination, which it didn't get. But look, it's not a popularity contest, as the Emmy Awards always like to say. So, you know, stuff like that doesn't always translate to wins. I think there were big snubs like Jim Parsons, who won consistently for the last few years for Best Comedy Actor to see him not even get a nomination was definitely a big surprise. But look, the nominations were pretty widely spread across a lot of categories. So there are going to be a lot of new winners this year. And I think that's definitely a good thing to see. Yeah, I thought Ellie Kemper was quite a big snub, where I was surprised. Hey, Kimmy, you want me to be your mirror now? Nah, I'm good. I can see myself if I move fast enough. Unbreakable. Paying my time. I was surprised by that, too. You know, to see the show get recognized, but not the star, you have to sort of, you know, shake your head at that and go, "What's going on there?" So there's, you know, but I think that really what that goes to is really just the, you know, the sheer number of shows that were entered and the sheer number of categories. The number of drama series virtually doubled this year over last year. So I think there's just a lot of competition out there. And I think it's hard for voters when they're casting their ballots to kind of look at one category versus the next. And I'm going to vote for this and not for that. And look, the other thing that happened this year is there were a lot of rules changes. So I think it's out. There's a lot of change that's going to happen this year. We're going to see how it all shakes out. And we'll see what happens on Emmy night. You know, everyone keeps asking me by predictions. And I keep thinking, "I don't have a crystal ball. I'm doing my best." And we'll just see what happens. Well, you're the expert. I know. I am the expert. But, you know, the big change that happened this year, and we're going to go into it. We'll talk about predictions. But the big change that happened this year is in the second round of voting, it used to be a blue ribbon panel. So the nominations would happen. And then this group of experts would sit in the room, watch all the shows and cast their votes. This year, the big change is that it's opened up to all of the academy voters. Oh, in every category. In every category. So all the, you know, all the academy is voting this year. So the hope is, is that rather than seeing, you know, and no due to respect to everybody that won in the years past, but rather than seeing the same people that won year over year, which is the criticism that the TV academy really felt that there's going to be, you know, some change among that. So that's why my crystal ball, as good as it is, may be a little bit changed. And there's some other rule changes, right? For example, they switched orange is the new black from comedy to drama. Why did this happen? Exactly. Because I think there was a feeling, you know, among the academy voters and among the industry that there was a lot of category jockeying. The people were going from, you know, less, you know, more competitive categories to less competitive categories. So they've decided that if you're an hour long show, you're a drama. If you're a half an hour show, you're a comedy. Now that, you know, you can argue whether or not that makes sense. You have to look at it. It's an hour. Exactly. You can't laugh for an hour. So, you know, think about a show like in treatment that was a half an hour show. That was not exactly a laugh riot. Right. So that rule, we're going to have to see how that rule plays out. But that forced orange is the new black and to the drama category. Where it really affected them. Look, it's still got a drama nomination where it really affected them, though, was in the acting categories where they just did again as many nominations as they had in the years passed. I just won't say. I can be your famous rapper. You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, you wear a paper with Mar, April May and June. You gotta find it. Look, in the licks field, you point nothing. This place is amazing. The walls are so clean. And I haven't heard anybody scream. [screaming] But to compensate for that, the Academy also said, look, we're going to go from six nominees in each category to seven. So that gave a little bit more breathing room in those categories as well. So it actually was sort of a negative switch for, which is the new black. It turns out. Exactly. You know, some shows were able to appeal. So Jane the Virgin, it didn't really work out for them so much. They were able to appeal. They're an hour-long show. They were able to compete as a comedy. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for them. They didn't end up getting a comedy nomination, which, you know, you can argue, it was very much a snub. I think that show is fantastic. It definitely deserved a nomination as did its star, Gina Rodriguez. I thought it seemed like a very positive year for diversity. Definitely. And I think it was a definite message to the Oscars, which was not such a great year for diversity. So if you look at the categories this year, there's great diversity across the board. And one thing I'm really excited about, which I think is definitely a thing for the Emmys, no lead actress. African American woman has ever won the lead actress in an Emmy, which is sort of a hard thing to wrap your head around. I mean, it's just sort of a historical anomaly. And so this year we've got Viola Davis and Taraji P. Henson both nominated in that category. Both excellent performances. We'll see who wins. You know, in my prediction, it's got to be one of the two of them. So we'll see what happens, but that's definitely a record that needs to be broken. And what about in terms of commercial broadcasters versus streaming services? Have things changed the past years? Yeah, the streaming services have definitely stepped up and made their case and, you know, are here to stay. And so I think the broadcasters are definitely going, oh, my God, what's going on here? So transparent, you know, obviously is a big win for Amazon. And they've made, you know, they've made their presence known, obviously, Netflix with oranges, the new black house of cards and bloodline. They've gotten their fit more than their fair share of nominations. So we'll see what happens next year when Hulu starts to be a competitor and a force to be reckoned with as well. Now broadcast obviously is, you know, was definitely shut out a bit. The good wife didn't get, you know, the nominations that they felt that they deserved. Obviously Jane the Virgin. We talked about that one already. So, you know, this is really an empire on Fox. So, you know, Taraji P. Henson is holding down the force holding down the fort for broadcast. So we'll see what happens. I mean, I think, you know, no one wants to see it split into broadcast versus cable. I don't think that that's a fair comparison. There is an argument to be made, I think, for the number of episodes. My analogy is always, you know, there's a difference between writing a novel versus writing a short story. You know, writing 24 episodes is a lot harder than writing 12 or 6 or 13. So I think there's an argument to be made for maybe splitting the categories up that way. You know, and I don't know if this helps broadcast or not, but I would love to see a best new show category. I think that's a great way for broadcast to break in as well, because I think you're not competing on the same level. And that's a great way for, you know, shows to break in. But we'll see what happens. You know, no one wants to see the show getting longer, but I would love to see new voices break in. And was there someone who was nominated that just made you incredibly happy that was long overdue? Oh, Tatiana Maslani, Tatiana Maslani, Tatiana Maslani. All day long for Orphan Black. Don't worry, honey. Think about what you really want to get off your chest. Or what? You need to stick sequins on me? You move the files. Files, what files? Your files that you have on me. From your box. Your special box. Have you lost your mind? I know what you do, Toni. What? What do I do? You perform medical examinations on me in my sleep. What? You turn my whole life into a big, embarrassing lie. And you switch the files in your special box for porno DVDs. Okay. You cannot argue with a woman who plays, you know, excuse me, multiple characters. I mean, I think the internet blew up over that one. And she has been long deserving. I mean, her performance is astounding. It's not just a stick. She embodies each of those different roles that she plays, each of those different clones on Orphan Black. It's not just about costumes. It's not just about makeup. She fully embodies each of those clones. So to see her get nominated was so long overdue and so heartening. I mean, I think the Academy is very slow to embrace new roles and new characters. And look, it took three seasons, but it's much deserved. But still, if we start getting into the predictions, you're still saying that that lead actress in a drama series. You're thinking we'll go to either Viola Davis for how to get away with murder or Taraji P. Henson for Empire. Not Tatiana. Yes, I think for Tatiana, all due respect. I mean, I think it's a tremendous performance. I think she's wonderful. But I think Viola, you have to think about, you know, who are the acting body. And so it's peers voting for peers. And I think Viola brings, you know, Oscar credential to that role. I think that, you know, actors love to vote for other actors. She's done a tremendous job in all of her movie roles. And I'm not saying movie roles, you know, deserve TV nominations. But she is an academy caliber actress. And so you have to give her credit for that. And there may be some people who feel like, look, Empire was snubbed. And Taraji is delivering a fantastic performance, you know, week over week and 24 episodes. She just kicked in the door. She's like, she knocks down the door and owns it. You know, she chews up the screen. Oh, I get it. So Yoko, oh no, he wants to play on the phone too. Well, what can you do, Yoko? Can you play the Tambourine? Don't mess with me, Cookie. I'm not one of your job, both mates, okay? I wish you were. Probably would have made a good bitch for me. You look like you've got a long time. You know, I don't want to, you know, you know, pinen is a competition between the two of them. But I could really see, you know, arguments for both of them. And look, that's not to dismiss everyone else in that role. Claire Danes is fantastic. Robin Wright is fantastic. But I really think it does come down to the two of them. And then we have Elizabeth Moss there, who had some amazing episodes in the last season of Mad Men. Exactly. And I, you know, there is a part of me that believes that you could just see a Mad Men sweep. I mean, you know, I think, you know, as with Breaking Bad last year, when Breaking Bad just came in and swept all the awards in its final year, there is an argument who made in some circles that Mad Men, there just may be this, you know, embracing of, look, this is the last year to award Mad Men. Amazingly, has never won an award for any of its acting performances for all of the drama awards that it's won. John Hamm has never won. Elizabeth Moss has never won. Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, I mean, name a member of the cast, they have never won. So if you think about that, you could think about there may be just some people feeling like, look, we need to award all the acting performances, which are tremendous. As you said, Elizabeth Moss, I mean, you can remember that scene with her carrying that box. Walking down the hall, so she is absolutely deserving, and I would love to see her win as well. But what about John Hamm in lead actor drama series? It has to be his year. It has to be his year. He does not win. I will, I will riot. I don't know what else to say. The man deserves to win. We're supposed to believe that people are living one way and secretly thinking the exact opposite. That's ridiculous. Let me tell you something, Miss Copeland. Doctor. Doctor Gutton. Psychology might be great at cocktail parties. But it so happens that people were buying cigarettes before Freud was born. The issue here isn't why should people smoke. It's why should people smoke lucky strike. Suggesting that our customers have a, what did you call it, a death wish? I just don't see that on a billboard. Who do you think you sort of could edge him out? Look, you know, I've said that every year. You say that every year. And then there was the year, you know, of the suitcase episode in Kyle Chandler won for Friday Night Lights. Now I love Friday Night Lights. It's a fantastic show. And then, you know, there's an upset. You know, then there was the year that he lost to Jeff Daniels for the newsroom. Now he's up against both of those men again this year as well. So, who knows? You know, I can't imagine Jeff Daniels winning for newsroom. I can't imagine Kyle Chandler winning for Bloodline. The only, you know, he's up also against Leon Shriver for Ray Donovan. The only upset I can possibly see is Bob Odenkirk for Better Call Us All. It's a tremendous performance. You know, he's a, you know, he's known as a communic actor. And here's a guy who came in and fully embraced a dramatic role in a show that is inheriting the Breaking Bad, you know, ethos of everything that came along with Breaking Bad. It's a fantastic performance. It's got, you know, all of that behind it. But I just, I feel like this is the last chance to honor John Hamm. Everyone knows it. Everyone knows the story. Everyone loves the story. Yeah. And it feels like Bob Odenkirk, I mean, Better Call Us All has done so well, it'll be back. He has more. I don't know. It just feels like this is John Hamm's year, hopefully. This is John Hamm's year. Bob Odenkirk will have many more chances to win. The show will come back. The show will continue. This is John Hamm's last chance to win. Though the joke is John Hamm is also up for guest star and unbreakable Kimmy Smith. You could win his Emmy for that one. He may well win his Emmy for that one. Not that he doesn't deserve it. And he deserves both. He does deserve both. What about lead actor and actress in comedy series? What are we looking at there? Yeah. You know, those are both tough races to call. I mean, they're fantastic contenders in those, you know, on lead actress in the comedy. Julia Louis Dreyfuss owns Veep. She's, you know, everything but presidential. So she's won it every year. You know, she may well continue and win it this year. But I think she's got tough competition. Amy Schumer is certainly the it girl of the moment with, you know, everything that she's been doing, you know, with movie roles. And, you know, much as Melissa McCarthy wrote her movie roles to fame the year that she won for Bridesmaids, you know, they made everyone may just do that same thing and reward, you know, Amy Schumer for that. But this is also the last year for Amy Poehler to win for Parks and Recreation. So the last year argument may win on that side. I've met many interesting people and there's two bisexual guys here and I got both of their phone numbers. Can I use your bathroom? Yes. Are you impressed that I know what it's called? Are you inebriated? What? No, preposterous. Are you inebriated? That was bad timing. Lead actor in a comedy, I think it's Jeffrey Tambor. You know, I think that that's a lock. I can't imagine anyone else taking it from him. I think it's a tremendous performance. The Academy loves Jeffrey Tambor. So I think there are few races that I feel confident in calling 100%. And I think that one I feel confident calling 100%. Before we get into the shows, I'm very curious about Variety Talk series as I think it's called this year. Just because there's so many, the Colbert report isn't with us anymore. The Daily Show is John Stewart and Letterman. Plus, I'm a huge fan of last week tonight with John Oliver. And that raised, what are you thinking there? That's a really good question and I've been debating that one myself. I mean, Letterman's never won. I think that, you know, again, this is the last chance to honor him argument. Letterman had a fantastic send-off. John Stewart has a fantastic send-off. There's the argument that, you know, this is John Stewart's last chance to win, but I think then he'd just feel like, "Look, John Stewart's had enough trophies." Nothing would make me happier than to see Letterman crowned. That's my argument there. Colbert, he, again, had a fantastic send-off, but he's coming back. You know, he won last year. He's coming back. We're going to see Colbert again. And I can't wait, cannot absolutely wait to see what Colbert has in store on the Late Show. I don't know. You know, it's hard to predict, but something just tells me that it's going to be Letterman's year. I just, you know, I feel like it was such a great send-off. He had a 33-year career. There's just something about it in that, you know, in that argument of it's his last chance. And again, what John Oliver does is amazing. I think he has reinvented the genre. To your point, he's put his whole new stamp on it. It's a really tough category. It's a really tough category to call. But he'll also be back. Again, he will also be back. He will also be back. And I think there is a lot of that thinking that goes into it. He'll be back. He'll have another chance. But this is, this is absolutely Letterman's last chance. And so I think there's some, there is a certain sense of acknowledging of a career that happens when people vote. Before we get into the big, the two series, is there any category that you, other than the ones we talked about that you think is particularly interesting or difficult to call? Well, I think the limited series is also difficult to call. Now, that's the renamed mini series, which just sort of keeps jockeying around. You know, that's the, now, the category because it has a beginning, middle, and end. And that sort of came up last year because of true detective wanting to compete as a drama. So now, officially, if your show has a beginning, middle, and end, if it ends and it reinvents itself every year, you're going to be called the limited series, at least for this year. Okay. Let's see what happens. We'll see what happens. And I think that's a tough one to call just because you've got American crime, which, you know, did really well in terms of nominations as, you know, competing against American Horror Story. American crime comes from John Ridley. Again, you know, Oscar nominee, Oscar winning, excuse me, producer. Fantastic performances from Timothy Hutton and Felicity, I'm sorry. Yeah, Timothy Hutton and Felicity Huffman, excuse me. And then you've got the American Horror Story franchise, which does really well. And it's got, you know, from Ryan Murphy and it's got fantastic performances. And they, you know, they got a ton of 19 to 20 nominations this year. I think that's a tough one to call because one sort of has those genre elements and one has kind of those Oscar caliber performances. So it'll be interesting to see the face off between those two. Okay. So who should we be putting down on the ballot for best drama series and best comedy? Drama, we have Better Call, Sold, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Homeland House of Cards, Mad Men and Orange is the New Black. It's funny. I've been talking to a lot of people lately about this race. And, you know, there are two camps. There's the people who firmly believe it's going to be Game of Thrones just because it got so many nominations and they're the people who believe it's Mad Men because it's last year. And it's going to get its swan song. I'm in the Mad Men camp. I am too. I think, you know, look, Game of Thrones is a tremendous achievement. You watch every episode and it's like a mini movie. It's fantastic. But I think what goes against it is there's, you know, a bit of controversy with this year's season. I think it's going to turn some people off. It's a great scene you're referring to. Exactly. You know, and the way, you know, women were treated. And I think all of that was happening as people were voting. And you put that against Mad Men. I think it's the final season. Yes, there's a certain feeling that Mad Men's gotten more than it's fair share. But I think the, you know, that finale was tremendous. It went out on a high. And it's the, you know, the Academy likes to crown a series as the best ever. And I think this is its opportunity to do it. And then you never have to, you know, well, you'll never have to vote for it again. Right. And then in comedy, we have modern family parks and rec Silicon Valley transparent. Unbearable, Kimmy Schmidt beep. That's transparent to lose, right? You know what? I'm not so convinced. I mean, I, because here's my, here's my fear. Because it's going out to all of the voters. And look, I think transparent is tremendous. I think it is the best comedy of the year. Hands down. I think it's fantastic. So I have something to tell you. Oh my God. I have to tell him. No. Yes. Ellie's crazy. Tell me what? Dad. He is a woman. Mama? Of course I know that. You think of a dummy? It's his thing. It's his little private pink. Everyone has one. Right, Rabbi? Well, I guess everyone has, you know, one or two. I'm worried about people being able to find it. I think, you know, I think you can find Netflix on your TV set. I think you can find, you know, a modern family on your TV set. I think when you think about, you know, 18,000 people sitting down to vote, if you don't have Amazon Prime, you're going to be like, where is this? I can't find this show. Where is this? What is this? I can't find it. I think it's different when it comes to Jeffery Tambor and voting because you know Jeffery Tambor. You know his name and you sort of have heard about it. And I think that's a different proposition. But I think when it's thinking about voting for it, for best comedy, now, you're also going up against a modern family, which has, you know, which stands the chance of breaking the record as most winning series ever. Now, I, I don't know what's going to happen. I really don't know what's going to happen. But my, I actually think VEEP is going to win because that's my prediction. I don't know. I mean, I, I do think, I, to your point, I do think it's transparent and it's to lose. But I think VEEP is in its third season, is funnier than ever. I think Julia Louis Dreyfus is funnier than ever. I think it's sort of hit that point where now everyone is talking about it. Everyone's aware of it. And it's a political year sort of with elections and all this coming. Exactly. So, I mean, I just, I no longer think it's that little show that's good. I think it's come over that, that, you know, that burden, that hurdle. So I think people are just more aware of it. Well, I like modern family and they're great, but I kind of hope it's not. It seems like it's won so many times that it would be nice if it was, the wealth was spread around. I agree with you. I agree with you. I think it's time to spread the wealth. And so we'll see what happens. I think it's time for a new show to break through. It's a tough category. There are lots of great shows in that category. So we'll see what happens. I think that's a tough one to call. So where will you be on Sunday? I will be in the press room watching all of this happen, transcribing as the winners come backstage to give their speeches and hooting and hollering with all of them. Well, thank you so much, Deborah. This was really fun and I'm so looking forward to seeing the Emmys and to seeing everything you write. Sure. Thank you so much for having me. This was fun. And thank you for listening. The Emmys are on Sunday, September 20th. Send me your Emmy predictions on the Twitter hashtag pod pop culture. This show was edited by Tom Hanson, music by Call Boy, and produced by Renee Vittchett and myself. I'm Christina Yerling-Biro. Until next week. Hello, podcast fans, it is I, Bruce Valanche, for over 25 years I worked on the Academy Awards, so you didn't have to. In that time, I've seen and heard things that should not be seen or heard or certain certainly built. And now, for the first time, I'm sharing all my behind the scenes stories and firsthand knowledge about the Oscars, the blood, the sweat, the tears, the slap, all the things you didn't see. So join me as I use humor and insight to break down the Oscar Awards of the past to explain how and why your favorite movie didn't win, why some actors and some directors had to fire their agents, and how the whole process works or sometimes doesn't work. This is the Oscars. What were they thinking available wherever you get podcasts? [BLANK_AUDIO]