Emmy Spotlight: Veep

If at any point this essay devolves into just a running list of one-liners, I apologize. But with a show as consistently, uproariously funny as Veep, it’s nigh impossible to resist the urge to simply revel in the wonderful blue humor of Armando Ianucci’s vulgarity-ridden zingers. In the hands of the talented ensemble that fills…

Emmy Spotlight: True Detective

Can you believe that we’re far enough past True Detective’s finale to have already arrived at the True Detective backlash? Neither can I, but here we are nonetheless. In the words of the ever-quotable Gawker Media, Nic Pizzolatto is a schmuck, and he probably also hates women? Pizzolatto mostly disregards that criticism, and mostly he…

Emmy Spotlight: Silicon Valley

For people of a certain generation, the works of Mike Judge in general, and the film Office Space in particular, are something of a cultural milestone. In fact, Office Space has defined for me (and likely for you, too) my entire approach to corporate culture, and also the restaurant business, and frankly just what it…

2014 Emmy Predictions: TV Movie

This is by far the easiest category to predict. The Normal Heart is pretty much running this race unopposed. It did extremely well in the nominations with 16, leading all TV movies, and it did receive critical acclaim. If there is a very unlikely upset, it would probably be Sherlock: His Last Vow. There's no…

Emmy Spotlight: The Normal Heart

The Normal Heart arrives on HBO with somewhat lofty expectations, and yet, being a Ryan Murphy production, I wouldn’t blame anyone for approaching it with a healthy measure of skepticism, as well. It’s in many ways a spiritual sequel to Angels in America, another adaptation by HBO of another well-regarded period piece about the AIDS…

Emmy Spotlight: “Killing Kennedy”

When I say there isn't a contender more underrated than Killing Kennedy, I mean it. Although it was a fairly successful entry for the History Channel, have you heard someone walking down the street saying, "have you seen that new JFK movie on the History Channel?" However, although the History Channel is basically doing to…