This Week in Gossip #35

Hot Strike Summer, Emmys and festivals, weird profiles, and Euphoria drama.

I apologize for not getting a TWIG piece out last week. I was totally overwhelmed with work and obligations and then, you know, a lot of other stuff happened. This encapsulates a lot of stuff from the past fortnight but not all of it for obvious reasons.

Why Are the Emmys So Damn Weird With Their Nominations?

The nominations for the 76th Primetime Emmy awards are a fascinating mix of welcome surprises, tediously predictable choices, and moments of pure bafflement. It's what makes them simultaneously intriguing and boring.

Shōgun received the most nominations with 25, and there were welcome noms for the likes of Reservation Dogs, What We Do in the Shadows, Baby Reindeer, and Fellow Travelers. But hoo boy, some of these are also capital-C Choices. The Morning Show continues its terrifying dominance. The Crown got way too many nominations for its worst season. I liked 3 Body Problem but it getting an Outstanding Drama Series nom is baffling. (And for those of you wondering: Interview with the Vampire season 2 was airing during the nominating process and didn't qualify in time, but still, boo.) All in all, it's very Emmys, an endless metronome swinging between, "Hey, that's great!" and "Oh Jesus, what the hell?" Like, you're giddy to see Walton Goggins get a nomination for Fallout but then you're mad he has to share the category with Dominic West. There's a massive increase in indigenous representation thanks to the likes of Lily Gladstone and Kali Reis, but then you see something as hopelessly mediocre as Palm Royale throughout the categories and wonder what the voters were sniffing. And The Gilded Age is not up to snuff, let’s be honest, friends.

We always end up spending Emmys season talking about why the Television Academy is so weird with its choices, perhaps more so than the Oscars. The simple answer is pure laziness. When you’re struggling to keep up with dozens of new shows every month, you fall back on stuff you’re familiar with. Hey, The Crown was good in season one so it must still be good in season six, right? The Emmys love to get into their comfy rut and stay there until it’s no longer feasible. They did this way more in the pre-cable and streaming era but they’re still fond of the status quo. This helps to explain some of The Morning Show’s endless stranglehold on the Emmys, but not all of it. The other reason is pure star-f*ckery. They still love it when movie-stars do TV, even though it’s no longer a rarity. A lot of this year’s Oscar winners and nominees did TV work and they’re here, partly because of that continuing buzz but also because the entire medium of television is still convinced that they’re the irritating younger sibling to cinema. But this can also be a limiting way to vote: It’s cool to see Lily Gladstone and Robert Downey Jr. nominated but they’re the only representatives of both Under the Bridge and The Sympathizer. Did the voters really engage with two of the best miniseries of 2024 or just tick the boxes next to the names they know?

what am I hoping for with these noms? I think Shōgun should sweep but I'm hesitant to predict it because the Emmys could still Emmy up the place. I would kill to see What We Do in the Shadows win for Outstanding Comedy but I think that race is between Abbott Elementary and The Bear. It's extremely cool that we live in a time where Tadanobu Asano, the guy with the snake mouth from Ichi the Killer, is an Emmy nominee. Alan Cumming being an Emmy nominee for hosting The Traitors is Scottish culture. In the battle between Lily Gladstone and Jessica Gunning, my heart is torn but I do think that what Gunning did with Baby Reindeer was truly seismic. There are so many amazing ways this season could go. And many it could swing into absolute horror. Don’t f*ck it up, Emmys!

Dax Shepard’s New Podcast Deal is Worth HOW Much?!

Dax Shepard has gone from a bit-part comedic actor to a podcasting stalwart. His series Armchair Expert is consistently one of the most downloaded in the planet, often keeping up with the likes of Call Her Daddy (ugh) and Joe Rogan (Ew.) Now, the show is making Shepard extremely rich. Wondery, part of Amazon, has signed a distribution and ad sales deal with Armchair Expert that comes with an estimated value of $80 million. The deal "also includes plans to develop two new podcasts, a first look deal for future podcast ideas, plans to host livestreams, and rights to develop and sell Armchair Expert merchandise. The company will also launch video episodes of the podcast." (Via The Hollywood Reporter.)