Podcast

The Water Cooler gang and Jalal Haddad give their reactions to this morning’s 2017 Emmy nominee class. What nominations most surprised them?

The Emmys® are finally here. HBO’s Westworld and NBC’s Saturday Night Live each led this 2017 Emmy nominee class with 22 bids each. FX’s Feud and Netflix’s Stranger Things followed close behind with 18 each. Team ADTV assembled this afternoon at the Water Cooler to work through the nominations. What surprised us? What disappointed us? Who’s leading into next month’s final round voting?

As this is a special edition, we forego the traditional Water Cooler Podcast features. Check back with us on Monday for our regular podcast edition.

Note: On the podcast, we incorrectly state that Alec Baldwin missed out on a nomination for hosting ABC’s Match Game. He did indeed receive the nomination, making him a double nominee today.

Thanks for listening and thank you, in advance, for subscribing and rating us on iTunes!

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The Cooler gang reveals their official, never fail 2017 Emmy® predictions in the Drama, Comedy, and Limited Series/TV Movie races.

So, we are finally here. The 2017 Emmy nominations will be announced on Thursday by Anna Chlumsky and Shemar Moore. This week at the Water Cooler, Joey, Megan and I give our final, never fear, no-fail 2017 Emmy predictions in the Drama, Comedy, and Limited Series/TV movie categories. We also look fondly back over the 2017 Emmy season as we open our 2017 Emmy Time Capsule. Finally, we give our no guts, no glory Emmy predictions of who may surprise on Emmy nomination morning.

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the television we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

Look for our special Emmy Nomination day podcast on Thursday afternoon as the team reacts to that morning’s nominations! Also, be sure you’re watching Sunset Boulevard for the new Our Favorite Movies series.

Thanks for listening and thank you, in advance, for subscribing and rating us on iTunes!

8:45 – 2017 Emmy Predictions
1:23:11 – Flash Forward

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The Cooler gang looks at Netflix’s new GLOW and its relationship to ’80s era nostalgia. Plus, the TCA Awards, Olivia de Havilland and more in TV Tidbits.

This week at the Water Cooler, we’re looking at Netflix’s latest phenomenon GLOW, or the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. We give our reactions to the 10-episode series and have an obscenely early conversation about its Emmy® potential. Then, we consider what GLOW says about nostalgia given television’s recent love for all things ’80s.

On TV Tidbits, we start with June’s Television Critics Association (TCA) Awards in advance of next week’s Emmy nominations. What overlap do we think the TCAs will have with the Emmys? Next, just when you thought it was dead, HBO’s True Detective rears its head again with Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali rumored to headline a proposed third season. Assuming this is true, what recipe should True Detective Season 3 follow for success? Finally, 101-year-old Olivia de Havilland did this week what no one in Hollywood would dream of doing – she’s suing Ryan Murphy. We’ll talk about why and whether or not (with our nonexistent legal credentials) we think the lawsuit has any merit. Plus, will this bad press impact potential Emmy wins for Feud: Bette and Joan?

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the television we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

Be sure to tune into next week’s episode when we give our final 2017 Emmy predictions. Also, at the end of the month, we’re kicking off our newest series Our Favorite Movies with a deep-dive into one of Clarence’s favorite movies Sunset Boulevard.

Thanks for listening and thank you, in advance, for subscribing and rating us on iTunes!

05:54 – TV Tidbits
48:01 – GLOW
1:17:02 – Flash Forward

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The Cooler gang reveals their favorites in the Best of 2017 TV Halfway. Plus, they discuss Genius Season 2, the Versace American Crime Story, and Han Solo.

This week at the Water Cooler, we’re taking stock of the year in television at the midway point. Yup, it’s our Best of 2017 TV Halfway annual segment. Megan, Joey, and I each reveal our top five television shows of 2017 thus far. Plus, we reveal some well deserved honorable mentions. These shows may eventually show up on our year-end list after some additional thought, analysis or rewatching.

The weekly TV Tidbits segment kicks off with National Geographic’s Genius Season 2’s newly revealed subject. Then, we take a look at the new season of American Crime Story which focuses on the 1997 murder of Gianni Versace. Finally in the movie world, we take a look at the recent announcement of Lucasfilm that Han Solo co-directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller of The Lego Movie were effectively fired. Can the blockbuster-to-be recover?

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the television we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

Thanks for listening and thank you, in advance, for subscribing and rating us on iTunes!

08:36 – TV Tidbits
34:38 – Best of 2017 TV Halfway
59:50 – Flash Forward

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Dear White People writer, director, and co-producer Justin Simien talks to ADTV about the inspiration for the Netflix series and the reactions it inspired.

Dear White People‘s Justin Simien joins Clarence at the Water Cooler to discuss his smash hit Netflix series. Premiering at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, the film version of Dear White People received immediate acclaim. There, Simien received the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent.

Yet, Simien felt that the deeply personal film would benefit from expansion and continued exploration. Unnamed characters from the film still had stories to tell. Race relation conversations remained in the zeitgeist.

Enter Lionsgate’s television division and, eventually, Netflix.

“I was ready for that conversation. It was one of those moments where preparation met an opportunity, and they really liked the pitch for the show,” Simien explained.

Here at the Water Cooler, Simien talks about what inspired him to write the film originally. He discusses differences between the film and the streaming series it inspired.

He also candidly discusses the shockingly harsh and seemingly organized initial reactions to the series. Still, despite hatred from internet trolls, some of those initial opinions evolved over time.

“What I really think is interesting is I have this contingency of so-called conservatives or so-called alt-right people or so-called Trump voters who were part of this conversation about how awful and racist the show is,” Simien shared, “and now that they’ve seen it, recant and tweet me and say, ‘Wow, this is really not what I expected. Thank you for this. I saw something I didn’t think I’d see.’ ”

Justin Simien explores these topics and more on the latest special edition of theWater Cooler Podcast.

Dear White People Season 1 streams on Netflix.

Actress, comedian, and writer Kulap Vilaysack talks to Awards Daily TV about her acclaimed Seeso streaming series, Bajillion Dollar Propertie$.

Bajillion Dollar Propertie$ is likely one of the funniest television series you won’t find on television. Actually, it’s one of the funniest television series on any network. Currently streaming on NBC Universal’s Seeso, a comedy subscription streaming service, Bajillion Dollar Propertie$: Pocket Listings satirizes those HGTV series you binge like Million Dollar Listings or Property Brothers. Reminiscent of great series like Reno 911! or The Office, it excels based on the strength of its cast and its brilliant one-liners. Plus, it has crazy guest starts (Casey Wilson is a comedy goddess). You can thank series creator Kulap Vilaysack for a lot of that.

So, where did this great series originate?

“It came honestly from just the love of bits and comedy and improv and goofing off with a genuine love of real estate and those types of HGTV, home improvement, Million Dollar Listings shows,” Vilaysack explained. The expectations, emotions, hopes, and dreams baked into finding a home via a reality show proved fertile ground.

Vilaysack and team foster an environment where much of the comedy stems from careful improv. It’s a talent she honed in the Los Angeles branch of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.

But behind the comedy of Bajillion Dollar Propertie$: Pocket Listings lives a woman exploring her diverse heritage. The daughter of Laotian immigrants, Vilaysack discovered as a teenager that the man she considered a father was, in fact, not her biological father. She documents her journey to understand her heritage in the documentary Origin Story, targeted for release next year.

I interview several artists throughout Emmy season, but my conversation with Vilaysack emerged as one of the more touching, poignant, and hilarious I’d done all year.

Enjoy this podcast as Kulap Vilaysack and team campaign for Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series.

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The Cooler gang asks the question “Does Netflix really know when to say when?” Plus, we chat about a lot of drama in TV Tidbits and some inside Emmy info.

This week at the Water Cooler, we’re talking about some recent on the ground observations from an anonymous Emmy source about the 2017 campaign. Then, we explore long-term Netflix series like Orange Is the New Black, now in its fifth season, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. After the cancellation of The Get Down and Sense8, does the streaming programmer know when to say when? How can Orange Is the New Black continue after the events of Season 5? Should it?

Our weekly TV Tidbits segment starts with the drama surrounding the drama in NYC’s Public Theater for Shakespeare in the Park. Then, we take a look at the drama surrounding TV’s Bachelor in Paradise as it started filming its latest season. Finally, we’ll talk about the drama surrounding Tom Cruise’s The Mummy and what it says about his status as a leading man.

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the television we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

Thanks for listening and thank you, in advance, for subscribing and rating us on iTunes!

08:52 – TV Tidbits
34:11 – 2017 Emmy Ad Campaigning
41:24 – Netflix Series / Orange Is the New Black
57:46 – Flash Forward

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Judith Light pops by the Water Cooler to talk about Shelly Pfefferman’s emotional journey in the incredible third season of Transparent.

Shelly Pfefferman tries to make a name for herself in the third season of Transparent. The show, helmed by 2-time Emmy winner Jill Soloway, continually explores finding your own identity. Judith Light interprets Shelly on a path of re-discovery through Season 3. Light joins the Water Cooler Podcast to briefly chat about her previous stage experience as well as filming Transparent Season 3’s climatic Shelly moment.

Confronting the past

“You’re seeing the Shelly that was squelched and sexually abused and assaulted. She shut herself down, and this was finding her voice again.”

Light also discusses the specific song choice of using “Hand in My Pocket.”

“It was Shelly’s coming out in a way and saying that ‘Everything’s going to be fine, fine, fine.’ That thrust and the theme of it where Shelly was going and living. Shelly wasn’t going to pick something that was from her past. She was going to pick something that was more of the kid’s playing and doing. That was where we landed and we talked a lot about where Shelly was coming from emotionally. The level of courage it would take for her to come out and put herself out there in that way.”

The Love Between Shelly and Maura

When talking about background, Judith Light mentions that she is as far away from the character of Shelly as you can get. We wanted to know how she prepared to play a character so drastically different from her, and she started talking about Shelly’s relationship with Maura.

“It’s not the gender you fall in love with, it’s the soul. It’s the person you fall in love with. And Shelly loves Maura deeply. If Maura is going to be Maura then she’s going to love Maura. That’s just the way it is. I thought that was truly remarkable.”

Judith Light is very open with us about her relationships on set and her advocacy with the LGBTQ community. It’s a deeply moving and honest discussion.

All three seasons of Transparent are now streaming on Amazon.

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USA Network’s Mr. Robot co-star Carly Chaikin joins the Water Cooler to talk technology, filming That Season 2 Scene, and her favorite Darlene moments.

Carly Chaikin, co-star of USA Network’s critically-acclaimed Mr. Robot, takes her character, Darlene, into wild places over the course of Season 2. As the season expanded roles for women, Darlene ventured into one particularly dark area. In Episode 6, she makes a life-altering decision to kill someone she’s captured. A total spur-of-the-moment event, it still changes Darlene and taints our impression of Darlene for the rest of the season.

Yet, the moment feels entirely believable thanks to the acting skills of Carly Chaikin. Remembering Darlene’s tortured backstory, she understood – but not condoned – Darlene’s actions. Here, on our podcast, she goes into depth about the moment.

“It’s one of those things where we’re always like, ‘If I ever saw that person again, I’d kill them,’ ” Chaikin shared. “Obviously, most of us don’t, but it’s interesting that she says later, ‘I thought there was something that would stop me.’ I just loved that scene and going through that story.”

On Technology

Chaikin also talks about her pre-Mr. Robot relationship to technology…

“Hacking, hackers, or the idea of that was never anything that crossed my mind or I thought about,” Chaikin explained. “After I started the show, it was really fun and interesting to learn about the hacking world or what that entails. What is possible, which was also at the same time really terrifying.”

…and how Mr. Robot changed all that.

“The show completely changed the way I look at the world in general. For the better and for the worse. It’s funny. I’ll go somewhere and walk into a room and go, ‘I can hack that. I can hack that.’ I’ve also learned how few people don’t even have the concept in their mind that it’s possible for a woman to even be a hacker.”

Enjoy our podcast with Carly Chaikin as we dive into Mr. Robot Season 2.

Note

Hackers (or maybe Mr. Robot himself) unfortunately targeted our phone connection. You will hear some audio interference. Apologies for the inconvenience.

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The Cooler gang returns to an old favorite podcast topic: If We Had an Emmy Ballot. We reveal our personal choices for the 2017 Emmy race.

Today marks the beginning of the 2017 Emmy voting window. As voting at the Television Academy begins today, Joey, Megan, and Clarence reveal their personal choices for the 2017 Emmy nominations in If We Had an Emmy Ballot. Again, these aren’t our predictions. These are our own personal choices as to who we would nominate in the Drama, Comedy, and Limited Series/TV Movie categories. As with last week’s Emmy wish list, feel free to leave your personal Emmy ballot below.

Better yet, enter your selections Tuesday in the 2nd Annual Coolie Awards here at Awards Daily TV. That’s right, this year we’re giving readers a voice, so be sure to enter your personal nominees and help shape Awards Daily TV’s Coolie Awards.

Our weekly TV Tidbits segment revisits the controversy surrounding Real Time with Bill Maher host Bill Maher. Last week, Maher used “the n-word.” This week, he made attempts at amends. Was he successful? And is there still any impact to his 2017 Emmy fortunes? And speaking of Emmy, FX launched a new Emmy campaign for The Americans this week. Is it appropriate given our current political environment? Finally, we speak briefly about this weekend’s passing of pop culture icon Adam West and what he meant to each of us.

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the television we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

Thanks for listening and thank you, in advance, for subscribing and rating us on iTunes!

04:00 – TV Tidbits
18:28 – If We Had an Emmy Ballot: 2017 Edition
1:13:39 – Flash Forward

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