Joey Moser looks at the unveiled contestants on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Drag Race Season 9 premieres March on Logo.
Our Drag Race Mother has delivered…again.
RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season 2 just ended in October, but we already have another batch of queens ready to fight it out for Drag Race Season 9 of the now Emmy Award-winning reality show. We don’t even have time to shop for a new lace front! There is one rule when watching these first glimpses: never judge a queen by her Meet the Queens video! Don’t be shady, be a lady.
There will be 13 queens this season, and there are some babies in this bunch! We also get a semi-British import from the show’s oldest ever contestant, Charlie Hides.
With all the bright colors and energy, it’s clear that they are keeping it light and bright this year. Ru even says at the end of the promo that this is the show we need right now. Amen! It looks like a CoverGirl advertisement with spokesqueens that actually want to be there.
Gawk at all the new queens from this season and let us know who you are rooting for this year, and then check out the first teaser for the season.
Valentina
Absolutely love her. Big hair and a big heart? I’m digging her 60’s Raquel Welch vibe she’s giving out in this video. Guido Contini would try to sleep with her.
Aja
Sorry, Aja, but I’m not a fan of this. Give us something!
Kimora Black
Confidence is key in a competition like this, sure, but maybe Miss Kimora Blac should serve a tinge of humility? And, yes, she is hot as a boy. The thirst is going to be major when the queens see him in the Werk Room for the first time. Brace yourselves.
Jaymes Manfield
First of all, I love her name. Secondly (and more importantly), she isn’t hiding that she is hungry for it. I can’t wait to see her on Snatch Game.
Charlie Hides
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Charlie Hides?
Farrah Moan
I love how up front she is about her personal preferences (Farrah Moan is an awesome name), but that might put some people off. She’s got a kewpie doll face with a sexually forward attitude. Intrigued about this one.
Eureka O’Hara
YAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!
Nina Bo’nina Brown
Dig the name. Dig the commitment. I love a lot about this. Check out some of her other pictures, however, and chunky makeup is the only thing I can see. Says the guy who has never applied anything to his face, so I should probably shut the hell up.
Sasha Velour
I wrote Sasha Velour off just from one picture, but look at those eyebrows. She’s going to be fun. Plus, she knows her stuff.
Alexis Michelle
Classy and sassy? I’m listening…
Alexis Michelle may sound like a generic name (what’s in name…?), but she doesn’t seem like she’s going to be shaken by anyone anytime soon. The last time a helpful queen was vocal about being secure about herself, it was Bianca Del Rio. And we all know how that turned out.
Shea Couleé
Am I the only one distracted by her bedazzled headpiece?
Peppermint
What a warm presence Miss Peppermint exudes! Is she tough enough to survive the competition? Points for her Endora drag in this vid.
Trinity Taylor
The color is nice, but that’s all I got. Blue blue blue. Who is Trinity Taylor again?
Season 9 Full Promo
RuPaul’s Drag Race season 9 will premiere in March on LOGO.
Netflix’s gross-out comedy ‘Santa Clarita Diet’ pulls absolutely no punches with the gore.
Drew Barrymore stars in Netflix’s newest comedy Santa Clarita Diet. Here, she plays half of a middle class real estate agent couple. Cautious and rather wan, Barrymore plays Sheila as the kind of woman either proud of or ignorant of her “mom jeans” status. While showing a coveted house to prospective buyers, she falls violently ill, eventually vomiting an internal organ and dying. Husband Joel (Timothy Olyphant) discovers what he presumes to be her corpse. He’s pleasantly surprised to discover she’s not really dead after all. Or is she dead? Or is he pleasantly surprised?
Given what develops, he may end up wishing for the alternative.
Sheila demonstrates many of the hallmarks of a zombie: the insatiable appetite, the uncontrollable ID, and the sudden love of human flesh. She remains, however, cogent and, on the surface, as normal as she ever was. Santa Clarita Diet feels and looks like a Showtime comedy in the Weeds era. It’s the kind of show where, yes the lead is now a talking zombie, but she learns to embrace life, dammit! As if Oprah produced The Walking Dead. As a zombie, Barrymore learns to embrace her authentic self.
Final Verdict
Santa Clarita Diet offers fairly standard takes on suburbia spiced up with a few twists here and there. And then there’s the gore. When people tell you “Don’t watch that while eating,” listen. They’re not joking. The gore, all handled with as light a comic touch as possible, is super gross. Vomit. Organs. Blood. Hewed limbs. More blood. More organs. Even the scenes of Barrymore eating raw meat made me long for a vegetarian lifestyle. I’ve only seen the pilot, but it would be interesting if the show explored the “meat” (animal or human) topic farther.
I suspect it won’t. It’s a fairly breezy show that blends the gore with toothless suburbia satire. Exactly what you’d expect from series creator Victor Fresco, a writer whose freelance script spawned ALF. I’m not exactly sure what attracted Barrymore and Olyphant to the show. She’s fine in the role in that true Drew Barrymore “being a zombie is so magical!” way, but it’s not an Emmy role. He gives a standard sitcom dad performance, pointing more toward the sitcom satiric nature of the series.
Nonetheless, Santa Clarita Diet is a fairly inoffensive and amusing show if you can stomach the gore.
Or maybe you can’t. It may just prove to be the perfect weight-loss diet.
“Netflix and Chill” isn’t just a hashtag. It’s a February lifestyle. AwardsDaily TV offers some higher profile February titles for your mass consumption.
February is the month to officially “Netflix and Chill.” Granted, for the past few years, we’ve been accustomed to the Emmy-winning drama House of Cards dropping. Alas, they’re taking extra time this year and won’t premiere until later in the year. Still, you’ve got a few nice options to keep you warm in these cold winter months.
American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson
You know what this is, and, if you haven’t seen it, now’s your chance. Or maybe you want to see it again. We fully support and encourage that.
Santa Clarita Diet (February 3)
Joel (Timothy Olyphant) and Sheila (Drew Barrymore) are husband and wife realtors leading vaguely discontented lives in the L.A. suburb of Santa Clarita with their teenaged daughter Abby, until Sheila goes through a dramatic change sending their lives down a road of death and destruction…but in a good way.
Santa Clarita Diet stars Drew Barrymore as Sheila Hammond, Timothy Olyphant as Joel Hammond, Liv Hewson as Abby Hammond and Skyler Gisondo as Eric Bemis.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 (February 11)
Binge the 13-episode second season of the critically acclaimed Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The second season offers surprising moments from the cast, an unexpected departure, and a deepening of the characters in unusual and interesting ways.
White Nights (February 14)
This is not the 1985 dance drama with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines. And it’s worse-off for it. Instead, a coldhearted heiress, a man from her past and an ambitious new hire in her company all become entangled on a battleground for money and power. TBD on the dancing…
(Photo: Saeed Adyani / Netflix)
I don’t feel at home in this world anymore. (February 24)
From the producers of Kelly Reichardt’s “Certain Women” and Jeremy Saulnier’s “Green Room” comes the story of Ruth (Melanie Lynskey), a nursing assistant suffering through a crisis of existential despair. But when her house is burglarized, Ruth discovers a renewed sense of purpose in tracking down the thieves. Accompanied by her obnoxious martial-arts-enthusiast neighbor Tony (Elijah Wood), they soon find themselves dangerously out of their depth against a pack of degenerate criminals.
Written and directed by Macon Blair (“Blue Ruin,” “Green Room,”) in his directorial debut, with a distinctive look courtesy of cinematographer Larkin Seiple (“Swiss Army Man,” “Cop Car”), the film also stars David Yow, Jane Levy, Devon Graye, Christine Woods, Robert Longstreet, Lee Eddy and Gary Anthony Williams. The film was produced by XYZ Films and filmscience.
Ultimate Beastmaster (February 24)
Ultimate Beastmaster is the first international competition series of its kind with six customized local versions featuring local languages, competitors and hosts from each competing country. Those countries are: Brazil, Germany, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and the U.S, The series is produced by Sylvester Stallone (Creed, Grudge Match) and Dave Broome (The Biggest Loser, Strong). The U.S. host is Terry Crews (Brooklyn Nine-Nine).
The 10-episode event series will feature 108 competitors, 18 from each country, in total. Each hour-long episode will feature 12 competitors, two from each country, who will take their shot at running one of the most physically demanding obstacle courses ever devised, “The Beast.” At the end of each episode, a ‘Beastmaster’ will be crowned and in the final episode of the season, the nine individual winners from each episode will compete against each other for the chance for one contestant to become the Ultimate Beastmaster.
Megan McLachlan talks to Siddhartha Khosla, composer on NBC’s critically acclaimed hit This Is Us, about his subtle, complimentary score.
One thing you may not always notice about NBC’s This is Us is its original score, which the composer, Siddhartha Khosla, sees as the ultimate compliment.
“That is the trick,” said Khosla. “You never want the score to be distracting, unless it’s a montage where there’s no dialogue.” The music, with its nostalgic strings and melodies, adds more emotional punch to scenes, without the audience even knowing it.
For example, in Episode 13 of Season 1 titled “Three Sentences,” one of the most powerful and revealing moments of the episode (and perhaps the series) is when Kate (Golden Globe nominee Chrissy Metz) participates in a drum-therapy class to lose weight. As she drums, the insistent, guitar-strumming score pushes Kate toward acceptance, culminating with the release of a scream and a big revelation.
“We see something we’ve never seen on the show yet, and it’s haunting.”
The show plays on the uncertainty of life. In the pilot, we learn that Rebecca (Mandy Moore) and Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) are the flashback parents to modern-day characters Kate (Metz), Kevin (Justin Hartley), and Randall (Sterling K. Brown).
(Photo: Alden Wallace)
“For this particular show, [creator] Dan Fogelman sent me his script before I saw any footage of the pilot. Immediately, as I read the script and the ending of that pilot episode, a sound came to me. This is a very honest show about life’s twists and turns. There’s enough surprises in life that happen just by virtue of people being born or dying.”
In the opening scene of the pilot, we see a box of photos labeled “’78 to ’79” and that sets the tone for the entire series. There’s a sentimental feeling to the show, like the sensation of a warm vinyl sound from a needle on a record. Khosla often plays on this wistfulness and longing for the past.
“I approach everything I do like I’m making an album,” something Khosla has a lot of practice at, having released albums with his band Goldspot. “I really focus on creating organic sounds that you don’t really hear anywhere else. From the score’s perspective, I wanted it to have simplicity without being simplistic, so there’s a lot of acoustic guitars, with Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell influences. I never want it to feel too trendy, just classic and timeless.”
But if Khosla is being honest about this “very honest show,” he had no idea it was going to be a huge hit.
“You never expect that. You usually just feel so fortunate that you’re making music for a living and at this level. So the fact that all of this is happening is exciting.” And with the series being renewed for two more seasons, there’s an added bonus of job security. “In this back half of the first season, the show is going to a darker emotional place. I’m seeing cuts of the show and am able to suggest placing music here and there.”
Some characters have developed their own melodies that drive the story, as well. “There’s definitely a Kate and Toby theme. It’s romantic, as if Joni Mitchell got behind the scenes and started playing guitar.” But mostly, Khosla works in episodic themes, with music depending on what’s going on in a particular episode.
Khosla has composed music for everything from film (upcoming Fat Camp, which has a more hip-hop sound) to commercials, but television brings its own unique challenge.
“Your time is compressed. Movies can take years to score. With TV, the challenge is committing to something very quickly, going with it, getting everybody to approve it, and going through everyone’s revisions and changes.” Plus, Khosla works under a very intense schedule, with typically only a week to do an episode. “It forces you to work with your instincts a little more, instead of going down 15 different paths to get to ultimately the same goal.”
And for the This is Us audience watching these characters’ lives unfold over Khosla’s beautiful soundtrack, their challenge is going an entire episode without going through a box of Kleenex.
Episode 114: The Water Cooler Gang goes into reaction mode with the bevy of awards announcements coming out this week including Oscar noms, PGA and SAG awards.
We’re reacting to a slew of major awards announcements around this week’s Water Cooler. We start with a few passing comments about Tuesday’s Oscar nominations. This includes our personal reactions to the nominations and thoughts on La La Land’s historic haul. Plus, we start considering what exactly will La La Land win on Oscar night? Then, we take a look at the recent PGA and SAG winners. Who were the big winners (Stranger Things), and what do they say about the upcoming Oscar and Emmy races? But first, we dive into a few random TV-related topics in our TV Tidbits segment including Megan’s personal thoughts on the legacy of the recently departed Mary Tyler Moore. Finally, we close with the Flash Forward to the television we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.
In addition, the Water Cooler Podcast book club kicks off on the February 13 edition with Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, which will become a major HBO limited series starting February 19.
Thanks for listening and thank you, in advance, for remembering to rate us on iTunes!
Where does Alec Baldwin stand in the 2017 Emmy race? Can he Trump-up a win?
Last weekend, Saturday Night Live announced that Alec Baldwin would host the upcoming 14th episode of the season after popping up throughout the season to impersonate Donald Trump. This will mark his 11th appearance of the season, and his 17th time hosting overall. Assuming this is another 21-episode season, the move completely changes the Emmy conversation considering the “less than 50% rule” the Television Academy implemented two years ago. Any performer appearing in 50% or more of a season isn’t eligible in the guest races. Alec Baldwin will now compete in the supporting actor race, an unprecedented move for someone who isn’t even member of the SNL cast.
Even while appearing in a single sketch per episode, his presence in popular culture has been stronger than all seven of last year’s nominees combined. Whether through a simple sniff or his pronunciation of “China,” Baldwin became the viral hit of SNL. That coupled with the real-life Twitter jabs between Baldwin and Trump turned the performance into a major talking point on every news program from Fox to MSNBC. Also, Baldwin’s status as an awards industry staple (16 Emmy nominations with 2 wins) probably makes him both a strong threat for a nomination and a strong contender to win.
If nominated, he would become the sixth Saturday Night Live performer in a supporting category, but he would make Emmy history as the first SNL guest to compete in a bigger race. After eight years of continuous losses, SNL finally won its first supporting award. Opening up the Academy’s voting procedures ushered in Kate McKinnon’s win. That type of popular vote might propel Alec Baldwin into frontrunner status. That’s especially possible if enough voters want to use their ballot as a small form of protest and send a message to the 45th President.
(Photo: NBC)
A Brief History of SNL Politics at the Emmys
Emmy voters have always been partial to SNL political impersonators. The Academy rewarded Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin and rewarded Kate McKinnon’s Hillary Clinton by breaking the cast member Emmy curse. At least ten nominated performers have been recognized parallel to some iconic portrayals over the years, and although it’s debatable whether to credit their nominations solely to their presidential caricatures, one can’t deny the lasting impact they have had. From Chevy Chase’s constantly stumbling Ford to Tina’s signature “I can see Russia from my house,” these Emmy-nominated performances dictated how audiences viewed these figures.
1976 – Chevy Chase as Gerald Ford*
1978 – Dan Ackroyd as Jimmy Carter
1984 – Joe Discopo as Ronald Reagan
1989-1993 – Dana Carvey as George H. W. Bush*
1994 – Phil Hartman as Bill Clinton
2001 – Will Ferrell as George W. Bush
2009 – Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton
2009 – Tina Fey as Sarah Palin*
2016 – Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton*
2016 – Larry David as Bernie Sanders
* Indicates Emmy Winner
Which of these Emmy nominated performances is your favorite? Is Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump strong enough to last throughout the Emmy season? Sound off in the comments below!
Jalal analyzes Sunday’s 2017 SAG Awards, including Team ADTV’s predictions.
The 23rd Annual SAG Awards arrive this Sunday. For the first time this season, the guilds will begin to give clues on what shows will make it all the way to this year’s Emmys. SAG voters are notorious for obnoxiously rewarding the same performances year after year, most recently having the same set of TV winners for the past two years with the exception of William H. Macy/Jeffrey Tambor. This year, voters made strides to switch things up by embracing fan-favorite genre shows like Westworld and Stranger Things over typical awards contenders like House of Cards, Maggie Smith, and Viola Davis as well as surprise nomination for cult favorite Black Mirror. How will the 2017 SAG Awards fall? Here’s what we’re thinking.
Drama Ensemble
Frontrunner: Game of Thrones Contender: Downton Abbey Dark Horse: Stranger Things
The Downton Abbey cast won the drama ensemble award the past three out of four years. However, it’s been over a year since the final season premiered, and it runs the risk of being forgotten by voters in a category filled with fresher shows. It also for the first time has to compete for votes with another popular costume drama, The Crown. Instead, the fifth time might just be the charm for Emmy winner Game of Thrones. After years of being dismissed as a fantasy show, Thrones comes across as the most prestigious drama in the group. While Game of Thrones might not suffer from genre bias, it does have to compete against a slew of sci-fi hits (Westworld, Stranger Things). In the end, the two newcomers might struggle to earn the votes of most voters. There is no precedent for a nominee like Stranger Things,and although it doesn’t seem like a real contender, it might just be able to ride the wave of 80’s nostalgia (and child SAG voters) to the biggest upset of the night.
Comedy Ensemble
Frontrunner: Orange is the New Black Contender: Black-ish
The Orange is the New Black ensemble should never be counted out at the SAG awards simply because of its massive size (larger than three other nominees combined) and diversity. Many voters will continue checking off the ensemble without taking a second look at any of the other nominees including The Big Bang Theory, black-ish, Modern Family, and Veep. With the show’s popularity diminishing, there is a chance that a new show takes the crown, and the obvious choice would be Veep. The show’s previous four seasons did fail to turn its Emmy success into major SAG success. Instead, any voter looking for an alternative might turn to black-ish which probably has the most accessible comedy in terms of humor as well as accessibility which always helps with a voting body of 160,000 members.
Male Actor in a Drama Series
Frontrunner: John Lithgow, The Crown Contender: Kevin Spacey, House of Cards Dark Horse: Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
For the past two years, Kevin Spacey channeled his status as a renowned Oscar winner on a prestige Netflix drama into SAG success, but now that the House of Cards popularity is on the decline his reign as the best male actor in a drama might be over. This year, he faces stiff competition in 9-time SAG nominee John Lithgow for a performance as Winston Churchill in The Crown, a show voters liked enough to reward with three nominations. The other contenders are all previous Emmy winners, but the most popular one (and most likely to upset) is Sterling K. Brown who voters loved enough to nominate twice this year. As the charming and relatable brother on This Is Us, he might just be able to stand out enough in a category filled with flashy, over-the-top roles.
Out of all the categories this year, the female actor in a drama race might be the most up for grabs. Past winners like Viola Davis, Maggie Smith, Juliana Margulies, and Claire Danes were either tossed out or ineligible resulting in a race filled with sci-fi newbies and political leaders. Thandie Newton gives the most nuanced performance of the five nominees, and voters might look at someone they are discovering they are a robot physically the most award-worthy. Stranger Things is the breakout hit of the year, and if Winona Ryder and Millie Bobby Brown weren’t in direct competition with each other they might be more formidable contenders. Claire Foy received a strong visibility boost from her Golden Globes win earlier this month, but The Crown still might be too new (a little over two months) to win a plurality with a group as big as SAG-AFTRA. More voters had more time to see Robin Wright on House of Cards than any of the other nominees and their respected shows but she is the only one without an ensemble nomination.
Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Frontrunner: Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent Dark Horse: Anthony Anderson, black-ish
Jeffrey Tambor won his first SAG award last year for his groundbreaking work on Transparent, and he appears pretty unstoppable when it comes to winning his second consecutive award. Some contenders are simply too obvious to bet against, and Tambor is one of them. If any actor has momentum to upset this year, Anthony Anderson fits the bill pretty well as an actor working in Hollywood for the past 20 years on top of starring in the most popular show of the five nominees.
(Photo: HBO)
Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Frontrunner: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep Contender: Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black
For the past two years, Uzo Aduba stood out in a category filled with television icons, but as Orange is the New Black‘s popularity diminishes, she might become less of a strong contender. Julia Louis-Dreyfus on the other hand only grows stronger as Veep cements itself as one of the best comedies of the 21st century. She has had trouble in the past winning over SAG voters (she’s only won once for Veep), but a television icon like herself will surely stand out to voters as they fill out their ballots. As veteran actresses, Grace & Frankie stars Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda will easily earn the support of a lot of voters but in the end will likely be hampered by competing against each other. The inclusion of Ellie Kemper proves that voters are watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, but there isn’t enough buzz for the actress to overcome the popularity of Aduba and Louis-Dreyfus.
Male Actor in a Limited Series/TV Movie
Frontrunner: Bryan Cranston, All the Way Contender: Sterling K. Brown, The People v. O.J. Simpson
Earlier last summer, Emmy voters were able to celebrate the acting achievements in The People v. O.J. Simpson without splitting the vote. Now that the two Emmy-winning performances are going head to head they might cancel each other out. Bryan Cranston on the other hand benefits from being the most recognizable name competing against two sets of costars (the other two nominees are The Night Of stars John Turturro and Riz Ahmed), so even if All The Way isn’t awards worthy his name alone might easily bring him to a third SAG award.
Female Actor in a Limited Series/TV Movie
Frontrunner: Sarah Paulson, The People v. O.J. Simpson Dark Horse: Bryce Dallas Howard, Black Mirror
After years of unsung work on American Horror Story as well as multiple roles in major Oscar players 2016 is finally the year voters started honoring Sarah Paulson. There isn’t much to say about her work as Marcia Clark that hasn’t already been repeatedly said and voters know how good she is. Good will towards Paulson as well as a lack of a real alternative makes her one of the more obvious locks of the night. Kerry Washington seemed to be a viable contender earlier in the year but after failing to find success at the Emmys or Golden Globes it’s hard to imagine her pulling off an upset here. As the apple in a bag of oranges Bryce Dallas Howard potentially benefits from a wave of Black Mirror love if enough voters suffer from TPVOJS fatigue, as unlikely as that may seem.
HBO drops the first look at The Leftovers Season 3
HBO’s award-winning The Leftovers has emerged as one of the most criminally underrated television shows in recent memory. In a rarity for multi-season series, the acclaimed drama keeps getting better and better as it goes, so expectations are high for its third and final season. The Leftovers Season 3 will debut Sunday, April 16, at 9PM ET on HBO and will consist of 8 episodes.
For those unfamiliar with the series, you can catch up via HBO OnDemand, HBO Go, or HBO Now. This Peabody Award-winning drama is created by Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta. Season 3 finds the Garvey and Murphy families coming together as they desperately grasp for a system of belief to help better explain that which defies explanation. The world is crackling with the energy of something big about to happen, a corresponding bookend to the Sudden Departure that sent them all spinning years earlier, bringing their journey Down Under.
The cast includes Justin Theroux, Carrie Coon, Amy Brenneman, Kevin Carroll, Christopher Eccleston, Scott Glenn, Lindsay Duncan, Regina King, Jovan Adepo, Janel Moloney, Margaret Qualley, Jasmin Savoy-Brown, Liv Tyler and Chris Zylka.
Enjoy this teaser look into The Leftovers Season 3.
