And the nominees are (and aren't)...

Emmys, SAG goes on strike, a 'What We Do In the Shadows' twist, 'Full Circle,' and more

This week’s What’s Alan Watching? newsletter coming up just as soon as I have my sound machine on the “rainy night at a leaky castle” setting...

Strike squared

By far the biggest TV news of the week is that SAG-AFTRA went on strike as of midnight Wednesday, when the AMPTP failed to reach agreement with the actors union on a new contract. Many actors have already been joining WGA members on the picket lines, but now the two groups will be officially joined.

In talking off the record with various writers and actors I know, there seem to be two possible ways things could go now:

1. The studios did not seem to be expecting a SAG strike, given recent anonymous commentary in the news. And they really do not want a prolonged one, since it makes production entirely impossible, whereas some things (like Ryan Murphy’s shows) had managed to keep shooting when it was just the writers on strike. As a result, this second strike will scare the AMPTP into quickly cutting a deal the actors will accept, which in turn will pave the way for a WGA deal, even if that one takes longer because there are a number of writer-specific concerns. Or…

2. The fact that the AMPTP allowed things to get to this point with the actors means that the companies are really dug in on issues that the writers and actors consider existential threats to their ability to make a living, like streaming residuals and AI protections. If so, this could go on a terribly long time; there was a nasty Deadline story earlier this week with anonymous comments from the studio side saying that some execs are hoping to drag this out long enough that writers are at risk of losing their homes due to lack of income, and have to come groveling back to the bargaining table.

There are many other ways this could go, as well, including the possibility that the various studios split up, with some of them cutting their own deals with the guilds, while others remain at an impasse. The rhetoric yesterday, though — particularly from Fran Drescher spitting absolute fire at SAG-AFTRA’s strike-announcing press conference — suggests we may be in for Scenario 2, unfortunately. But as William Goldman famously said about this business, nobody knows anything.

It’s an Obi-Wan just to be nominated?

In a strange but very Hollywood juxtaposition, the SAG strike was preceded half a day earlier by the announcement of the nominations for this year’s Emmys — which may not be presented anytime soon if the actors are still striking in September.

I was on Emmy snubs and surprises duty this year, running through 10 examples of one or the other. It took all my willpower not to devote the majority of the list to various FX (or FX on Hulu) shows that got ignored. I vented about Atlanta and Reservation Dogs being shut out, but didn’t do the same regarding What We Do in the Shadows, The Patient (which somehow couldn’t get nominated in the limited series categories over the terrible Obi-Wan Kenobi), Dave, etc. The Bear and Fleishman Is In Trouble deservedly cleaned up — even if it’s ridiculous that The Bear was eligible as a comedy, rather than the half-hour drama it is — so it’s not like the voters simply aren’t aware FX exists. Very frustrating.

One thing I didn’t get into much is the voters’ recent trend of trying to nominate every member of the ensembles of their favorites, which makes the overall list feel more homogenous than usual. The most glaring example of this was in the drama supporting actor category, which was entirely filled by performances from either Succession or White Lotus. (As a result, it means Jonathan Banks and Giancarlo Esposito are never going to win Emmys for playing Mike Ehrmantraut and Gus Fring, respectively. It’s almost a relief that Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn got nominated for the final Better Call Saul season. I’m not expecting either to win — though Bob has a slightly better chance if the three Succession actors split the vote — but those are the two wins that would make me happiest.) On the other hand, there were times when I wish the voters had applied this approach to more series. It seems insane to me, for instance, that Sarah Goldberg wasn’t nominated for either of the final two Barry seasons, when she gave that show’s best performance each year, and that Stephen Root couldn’t crack the list this season.

Anyway, here’s the full list. What nominations made you happiest? Most frustrated? And who do you most wish had gotten nominated?

A What We Do In the Shadows surprise

Last night saw the return of the aforementioned What We Do in the Shadows, with the first two episodes of Season Five debuting on FX ahead of them streaming this morning on Hulu. I wrote about how pleased I was with the way the new season is dealing with the question of whether Guillermo has finally become a vampire or not. I won’t spoil that here — imagine me as Don Draper screaming, “That’s what the column is for!” — but the comments are, as usual, a spoiler free-for-all, so read carefully if you haven’t watched yet.

A broken Circle

This week’s most notable premiere was Max’s Full Circle, a six-episode limited series directed by Steven Soderbergh, and starring, among many others, Claire Danes, Timothy Olyphant(*), Zazie Beetz, CCH Pounder, Dennis Quaid, Jharrel Jerome, and Jim Gaffigan. It’s an event whenever the man who directed The Knick comes back to television, but Full Circle is unfortunately a big muddle, the kind of show that has to periodically stop itself so a character can attempt to explain the plot to the audience. And even then, I still couldn’t quite follow everything that was happening. A disappointment, to be sure.

(*) Speaking of Mr. Timothy Olyphant, let me pre-empt all the questions about whether I’m reviewing Justified: City Primeval by saying that yes I will, but the review will be publishing on Monday morning, the day before it debuts on FX. And also that on Tuesday, I’ll be publishing a very lively interview with Olyphant. More and more these days, we’re aiming to publish reviews relatively close to when shows debut — and, at times, several hours after they’ve already been released on streamers — rather than many days or even weeks in advance. As to my opinion on said revival? While the embargo technically lifted back on July 4, and thus I don’t have to redact anything, I also don’t want to disincentivize people from reading my review, which will be on my Rolling Stone author page on Monday. Some things, it’s been said, are worth the wait.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds recaplet: “Charades”

This is a longer newsletter than normal, so I’m going to be a bit brief on the latest Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. “Charade” continues what I hope will be an annual tradition of Spock-centric comedy episodes. Last year, we got a body swap, while this season brings us the spectacle of Spock accidentally becoming fully human, right at a moment when he has to act extra Vulcan to impress T’Pring’s anti-human mother. Ethan Peck is always at his best in this role when playing the lighter side of Spock. This one really let him go to town, especially because the script positioned things so that Spock wasn’t just acting human, but acting like a human teenager. T’Pring does not like hijinks, but I certainly do.

I have some minor quibbles, like the fact that T’Pring’s parents do not respond to Spock’s revelation by asking exactly how he is suddenly human. But the jokes before that were hilarious. And the concluding scene where Spock and Chapel finally talk about their feelings, and then kiss, was so effective and cathartic that I left the episode on an emotional high. T’Pring will find out eventually, of course, and my hope is that when she does, Spock makes like Ross from Friends and insists:

That’s it for this week! What did everybody else think?