Emmy Magazine Features
Long before shows like Born This Way profiled persons with Down syndrome living productive lives, ABC’s Life Goes On cast an actor with Down syndrome in a regular role. The ‘90s family drama also broke ground with its HIV storyline, setting a new bar for the embrace of differences in primetime.
Fans of Ann Dowd can’t get enough of her hated Handmaid wrangler.
Documentarians marking the 50th anniversary of the moon landing struck it rich. The director of CNN’s Apollo 11 scored large-format films from Cape Kennedy. And the director of American Experience’s Chasing the Moon got boxes of 35mm film that had sat in an astronaut’s basement for nearly 50 years.
A “granny role” proves great for Annie Potts, who just loves to keep working.
At Comedy Central, success lies in relationships, not algorithms.
Netflix’s When They See Us revisits the “Central Park Jogger” case, its shocking racial injustice and blindness to human values.
At Home with Amy Sedaris springs directly from the inspired mind — and whimsical ways — of the actress-comedian-writer-producer, who’s not above taping up her nose or trotting out turkeys for a laugh.
Since its launch last fall, Sorry for Your Loss has drawn raves for star Elizabeth Olsen while helping put the still-young Facebook Watch on viewers’ radar. But its most startling result has been the outreach from thousands of viewers, also in grief and grateful for the show’s emotional support.
When director Stephen Frears suggested Hugh Grant play the lead in A Very English Scandal, the actor promptly listed reasons he was wrong for the role. Fortunately, he would come around, drawing raves for his villainous politician.
For his first U.S. TV series, Aussie film star Eric Bana took on Bravo’s Dirty John, playing an ex-con who woos and dupes a beautiful businesswoman. “Eric’s so charming,” says director Jeffrey Reiner, “but can also play evil.”
Leave it to a Brit to create a compelling drama about an American mogul who reigns over a vast empire — and a dysfunctional family. Jesse Armstrong, the mind behind HBO’s Succession, confesses to a deep curiosity about dynasties.
Dawn Olmstead makes it look easy — greenlighting the likes of Bravo’s Dirty John and Hulu’s The Act. But this studio head looks for the heavy lift. “Once you crack something that’s really hard,” she says, “it stands out from the crowd.”