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TV Media Weekly | September 15 - 21, 2018 By Francis Babin TV Media F all is nearly here, and that means it's time for cozy sweaters, pumpkin spice everything and the new prime-time television season. After a summer of repeats, it's finally time for our returning fa- vorites and a new crop of aspir- ing series. With both new and old shows vying for our attention, we set aside an evening to look back at the past year and celebrate tele- vision's outstanding achieve- ments. See the stars, relive the best moments and have a good time with the 70th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, airing Monday, Sept. 17, on NBC. This marks the first time in four years that the peacock net- work will broadcast the event, and it looks to showcase its bright, young talent with "Sat- urday Night Live" Weekend Up- date anchors Michael Che and Colin Jost as MCs for the cere- mony. Following Stephen Col- bert's ("The Late Show with Ste- phen Colbert") tremendous per- formance from last year will be no easy feat, but despite the pressure, the pair is ready to tear down the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Che and Jost discussed how the Emmys will be a nice change of pace from the constant politi- cal topics they cover on Week- end Update. "The exciting part is to do things about television and that particular awards cere- mony and make it, in general, less political than normal," Jost said. "There's a lot to celebrate in television right now. It's a very strong time." Jost is spot on — we're cur- rently in a new golden age of television. When the nomina- tions were announced by Ryan Eggold ("The Blacklist") and Samira Wiley ("Orange Is the New Black") back in July, this was made very clear. The usual complaints followed the an- nouncements, but they quickly dissipated. Instead of focusing on the snubs, people turned their attention to the many sur- prises and first-time nomina- tions. For instance, this year marks the first time in its nine- year run that the ABC hit "Mod- ern Family" wasn't nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series — a nod the single-camera comedy has consistently se- cured since 2009. History was made when San- dra Oh became the first Asian actress nominated for Best Ac- tress in a Drama for her excel- lent performance in "Killing Eve," while Jessica Biel ("The Sinner"), Matt Smith ("The Crown") and Nikolaj Coster- Waldau ("Game of Thrones") all received nominations for the first time. "Game of Thrones" leads the pack with an impressive 22 nominations, followed closely by its HBO counterpart "West- world" with 21. The legendary "Saturday Night Live" also raked in 21 nods. Not far behind is Hulu heavyweight "The Hand- maid's Tale" and FX's "The As- sassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story" with 20 and 18 nominations, respective- ly, with the latter looking to take home the Outstanding Limited Series award. Without the perennial "Mod- ern Family" and last year's win- ner, "Veep," in the running, the Outstanding Comedy Series award is up for grabs. With the exception of FX's "Atlanta" and ABC's "Black-ish," broadcast networks and basic cable were virtually shut out in favor of pre- mium and streaming series. Newcomer "Barry" is up against HBO stablemates "Silicon Val- ley" and "Curb Your Enthusi- asm," while Amazon's "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" and Netflix's "GLOW" and "Un- breakable Kimmy Schmidt" round out the nominees. It's not all bad news for broadcast, however, with NBC garnering a respectable 78 nominations. Streaming services are well represented at this year's ceremony, with Netflix reaping the most noms of any streamer with a whopping 112. Hulu, with 27, and Amazon, with 22, though far behind, neverthe- less saw an increase from last year and have nominations in the most important categories. On the drama side, FX's "The Americans" finally received some love from the academy for its sixth and final season. The '80s- set Cold War series faces off against a couple of Netflix period pieces in "The Crown" and "Stranger Things." The trio, along with fellow nominees "Game of Thrones, " "This Is Us" and "West- world," will try to prevent "The Handmaid's Tale" from repeating as Outstanding Drama Series. The Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series is dominated with returning nominees in An- thony Anderson ("Black-ish"), TV veteran Ted Danson ("The Good Place"), Larry David ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"), Don- ald Glover ("Atlanta") and Wil- liam H. Macy ("Shameless"). Bill Hader ("Barry") is the lone rook- ie in the field of comedic giants. Who will emerge victorious as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series is anyone's guess. The heated race is once again up in the air between Claire Foy ("The Crown"), Tatiana Maslany ("Orphan Black"), Sandra Oh ("Killing Eve"), Keri Russell ("The Americans"), Evan Rachel Wood ("Westworld") and last year's winner, Elisabeth Moss ("The Handmaid's Tale"). Will Sterling K. Brown win back-to-back gold statues for NBC powerhouse "This Is Us"? Will Allison Janney ("Mom") make 2018 a year to remember by adding an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series next to her Acad- emy Award for her memorable performance in "I, Tonya" (2017)? Have a laugh with Che and Jost and see how it all plays out with the 70th Annual Prime- time Emmy Awards, airing Mon- day, Sept. 17, on NBC. Colin Jost and Michael Che are set to host the 70th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards Fall's biggest party: The Emmys celebrate television's best 2 | Cover story A/Grindstone Charlie's B/Norris Insurance 1 x 4" Encompass Credit Union 5 x 2"

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