As Emmys host Mariska Hargitay prepares for her debut, here are the nominees she’s watching
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It’s the weekend before the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, which means it’s the perfect time to catch up on the series you either didn’t get to start or finish, so you can begin making your predictions.
This year’s top nominees include “The Pitt,” “Hacks,” “Widow’s Bay,” “Pluribus” and “Beef,” and according to The Times’ awards columnist Glenn Whipp, the winners are relatively easy to predict. He leans toward Apple TV’s “Widow’s Bay” winning comedy series, though HBO Max’s “Hacks,” which had a strong fifth and final season, could also have a shot. On the drama side, Season 2 of “The Pitt” on HBO Max is the top contender. For limited series, he’s going with HBO’s “DTF St. Louis,” which has already garnered acting wins for David Harbour and Linda Cardellini, but Season 2 of Netflix’s “Beef” could also sneak in a win.
If you’re looking for shows that you can finish in a day, nearly all of the nominated comedies have episodes with running times of about 30 to 40 minutes, including “Hacks” and “Widow’s Bay” (for what it’s worth, our critic says it “captures the welter of emotions many people feel at this moment”). Limited series “DTF St. Louis” and “Beef” are both doable in a day as well. HBO’s “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” part of the “Game of Thrones” universe, is the shortest among the nominated dramas with six episodes, running 30 to 40 minutes each. If you haven’t started “The Pitt,” you’d have to commit today — Season 2’s 12 episodes run an hour apiece. Plus, it’s a medical drama; you might want to take it slow.
As for the Emmy Awards on Monday, red carpet coverage is slated to begin at 2 p.m. across a variety of platforms, and the ceremony will start at 5 p.m. Pacific on NBC and Peacock. Need more info? Check out our guide to all things Emmys. We’ll also be covering the show live, so visit latimes.com for the latest. Also, this year’s host Mariska Hargitay spoke to Yvonne Villarreal about her decision to take on the gig amid her very busy (and successful) year. But there was so much more they discussed that we decided to include some outtakes from the interview in today’s newsletter, which you can read below.
Also in this week’s Screen Gab, our writers recommend a pair of comedies — one recent, one from the past — that are sure to get you laughing. — Maira Garcia
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Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times
“Adults,” Season 2 (Hulu)
Based on the social media conversations I’ve read, FX’s comedy about five friends rooming together at a house in Queens, New York, has found its legs, though I’d argue that to have a great show, you have to set a solid foundation first. Season 2 of the series premiered late last month, and creators Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw have managed to build upon the hijinks and gags involving the tight-knit group at the core of the show. Central this season is the relationship involving Issa (Amita Rao), Paul Baker (Jack Innanen) and Anton (Owen Thiele) — a possum, cue cards inspired by “Love, Actually,” and a perfectly timed balloon drop will be key moments. Other highlights include Billie’s (Lucy Freyer) fixation with feeling young, Julian Manjerico’s return as the absolutely unhinged Zack-Carlos and a brilliant penultimate episode about casual use of the C-word (hey, the British do it). — M.G.
“SCTV” (Netflix)
The other great sketch show to come out of Second City is now available to stream in its six-season entirety, including the early seasons with Harold Ramis and the later ones with Martin Short, along with John Candy, future “Schitt’s Creek” partners Catherine O’Hara (in a much different array of wigs) and Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Joe Flaherty and Dave Thomas. A mosaic of fake ads and film and television takeoffs, it takes place during and behind the scenes of the “broadcast day” of a local television station in the small town of Melonville, exact location undetermined. What sets it apart from other sketch shows is its world-building framework — at times it flips into a workplace comedy. Flaherty is Guy Caballero, the station’s cranky president; Candy plays dissolute auteur Johnny LaRue, its biggest star; Moranis and Thomas are the McKenzie Brothers, Bob and Doug, the back-bacon-grilling, beer-drinking hosts of “Great White North” (later broken out into “Strange Brew,” the only “SCTV” movie). Flaherty also plays newscaster Floyd Robertson, who himself plays horror movie host Count Floyd. And so on. 20th century cultural literacy is helpful to fully understand the parodies, let alone the very idea of local television, but the brilliance of the performers supplies its own sort of context. Funny is funny, even when you don’t quite know what’s going on. — Robert Lloyd
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A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching
Even while holding one of the longest-running roles in television history as Capt. Olivia Benson in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” Mariska Hargitay has become a pro at professional development outside her day job. With “My Mom Jayne,” an exploration of her late mother, actor Jayne Mansfield, Hargitay made her debut as a documentary director — and earned an Emmy for directing earlier this week. Earlier this summer she wrapped her six-week Broadway debut run in the one-woman show, “Every Brilliant Thing.” But this Monday adds a title to her multihyphenate ambitions that she never saw coming: Emmys host.
The actor will emcee the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, which will air on NBC and stream on Peacock. Over two interviews — one in person during a stop in Los Angeles for an FYC event, the other by phone during a break from filming the 28th season of “SVU” — Hargitay spoke with me about adding another memorable experience to her year. But we saved some tidbits to enjoy here. — Yvonne Villarreal
I know you didn’t have a lot of time with your mother, but in exploring her life in “My Mom Jayne” — her journey in this industry, the roadblocks she faced — what do you think she would think of this moment that you’re in?
I asked my sister that. Really. Last night. [She pulls out her phone to show me the text.] She said she’d be so proud and so thankful to me for showing the real Jayne. She would be happy to be seen because she wasn’t seen; she was put into a box. That’s a hard way to live when people see one side of you. I feel so happy to know her in this three-dimensional way, and in ways that I never dreamed, and in ways that I wasn’t aware of at all. I talk a lot about my judgment or my lack of knowing and how I had to sort of cobble these things together of thinking who she was, or making my assumptions based on some photographs or something like that.
I always felt like I was the one that got the least amount of time. We didn’t have that bonding and attachment, and so one of the gifts [from the film ] — I mean, there are many gifts from the film — but one of them ... is that I just got a stack of baby photos of me with her that I didn’t even know about — I didn’t put in the film. I see us interacting in these sacred, profound moments where I can go, “We had that and we had that and we had that.” The movie has given me a life back that I didn’t even know that I had or that I lived, but is so stored in there. Not only did I get to make a movie, but I got to make a movie with her, and the kind of movie that I think she would have wanted to be in.
And you’re experiencing opportunities that show us different sides of you. That continues with you being this year’s Emmys host.
Like, what? It’s funny because I’ve always said, “Don’t put me in a box because you don’t know what I am. Don’t say I’m just this thing because I’m not.” It’s been such an exciting journey to see how complex she was, how multi-layered she was, and that ... part of who I became as a person is in reaction to what happened to her. I know what a hard worker she was. I know how gracious she was, what she tolerated, what she sacrificed and how she did things for the first time. I mean, taking five kids on “The Merv Griffin Show”? What I saw as a kid was possibility. You make the rules. You decide.
How does Peter [Hermann], your husband, feel about it?
He was very sweet. He was, like, “Of course, they asked you ... and can we take a minute with what’s on your plate?” It was the same thing with the movie. I was shooting “SVU” while, for three years, I did that movie on weekends, a little bit in summer and on vacations. It’s a lot to have your full-time job and then have every cell of you in other things. He just wants me to be healthy and safe and and calm the nervous system and recover. Because it has been you know a marathon, not to mention the Knicks. Truly, it’s been the movie and then the play, then the Knicks winning.
And Taylor Swift’s wedding ...
I mean, right? Come on. Then this. He felt very protective at first. And they kind of undersold the workload, right? Because they’re like, “Oh yeah, you come out, you rehearse maybe on Saturday.” It’s like, is that really what it is? Then he got on board, and it’s just been so exciting. One friend said, “If this is not something that you’ve been begging to do your entire, like one of your life goals,” and I went, “Well, it’s not. Didn’t even think of it ever.” They were like, “Don’t do it.” But then it kind of only made me want to do it more.
You’re squeezing this undertaking in while shooting Season 28 of “SVU” — and it’s approaching its 600th episode. You were initially asked to direct that milestone episode. Did that have to shift with all that’s on your plate?
It absolutely did because it was just too much. I’ve been doing a lot of things, not just “SVU” and the Emmys, but things that were planned before that I couldn’t get out of. And I have three children and a husband and a foundation, so I figured it out, but I’m so fulfilled and grateful.
I know you love TV, but how do you have time? Are you trying to catch up on stuff?
I’m starting to. There’s shows that I’ve watched for years that I love that are no-brainers. I just started “The Gilded Age” last night. I already watched “DTF St. Louis,” “The Pitt” [mouths, “I love ‘The Pitt’”]. “Task.”
Have you done “Widow’s Bay”?
I’m four in. Fantastic. Fun. It’s such an interesting genre. It’s a lot of “What is this?” And then you’re like, “OK!” But you know, a lot of shows, I find, take a minute. One of my favorite shows ever was “Succession.” And I thought it took a minute to get in. But I have a list, and I’m just going through it. It’s homework. I’m not going to say it’s not.
Before I let you go, I wanted to ask about your mom’s piano, which you went to great lengths to acquire and bring into your home, as we see in the documentary. Have you played the piano lately?
That was the plan, and then the play came. And then the Emmys came. So, truth, I haven’t. But it’s in my living room, and it couldn’t look more beautiful. And when things calm down in the fall, that’s when I’ll start. And I’m very excited.
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