Welcome to my Monday newsletter! This week, I am looking at the season finale of Hacks, my most anticipated Summer 2024 shows and my Emmy nominations preview for Supporting Actor in a Limited Series.
Hacks concluded its terrific third season with another banger of an episode. Spoilers abound in this post of course. It took awhile for the episode to ramp up. For the first half of it, I was thinking "not much has really happened" as Deborah ramped up to becoming a late night host. But then we got the bombshell moment, courtesy of Helen Hunt's network executive, that Deborah lied to Ava and it was Deborah making the choice to not make Ava head writer, not the network's. That catapulted the show to a really brilliant finish.
I have been skeptical of the late night arc in general and I've been kind of worried that Ava's character seems to sometimes be stuck in neutral, especially when she's apart from Deborah. Well the last couple minutes of the third season finale put both those concerns to rest. The show has done Ava vs. Deborah plenty of times but, for the first time, it seemed like Ava had the upper hand and Hannah Einbinder's take no prisoners face right before the credits rolled as she basically blackmailed Deborah was a side we have never seen from that character and she reached that place so organically. It made me wish the fourth season started right now because it will be a fresh dynamic between the two lead characters.
There was also some really strong Jimmy/Kayla stuff in the finale and they are the only other two characters who really work (sorry but Carl Clemons-Hopkins still has nothing to do. I have to wonder if the show will phase him out). The show also took Jimmy and Kayla to the next level as a professional partnership. Their fight was so well crafted because it was very clear to see both sides and that they both truly had good intentions in their decisions. Hacks was renewed the same day its finale premiered and the show is set up beautifully to continue its excellence into a fourth season.
Summer 2024 is still fairly light on new programming. Part of that is the season (summer is always lighter), part of it is lingering effects from last year's strikes and part of it is the general contraction of the industry. But there's still plenty of exciting things coming up this summer and perhaps some shows, particularly later debuts, that haven't been announced yet. Here are my most anticipated Summer 2024 shows!
5. Clipped (FX/Hulu, June 4) - The reviews that have come out for this show have been mixed so far but I'm still quite intrigued. With a great cast led by Laurence Fishburne and Ed O'Neill and a compelling story (that's for once not focused on the Lakers), I think it has enough juicy material to be a soapy, fun time.
4. Bad Monkey (Apple TV+, August 14) - This series stars Vince Vaughn and comes from Bill Lawrence but seems like it might be closer to a dramedy than a straight comedy. Based on a novel, it deals with the seedy underworld in Florida and the Bahamas. I've enjoyed enough things from Lawrence to be interested in what he can do here even if the premise doesn't immediately grab me.
3. Lady in the Lake (Apple TV+, July 19) - This show has been in the works for quite awhile so it's exciting to finally see it get a premiere date. Natalie Portman stars as an investigative journalist in 1960s Baltimore who clashes with a black activist (Moses Ingram). I think Portman is a great actress and this has a compelling setting.
2. Presumed Innocent (Apple TV+, June 14) - I thought the trailer for this limited series, which is from JJ Abrams and David E. Kelley and stars Jake Gyllenhaal, looked pretty darn good. Yeah, it could be overly melodramatic as Kelly can be sometimes but I think there's enough pedigree here to make Gyllenhaal's first foray into TV a good one.
1. The Bear Season 3 (FX/Hulu, June 27) - Obviously this is going to come in at #1. The Bear now has a late June tradition of releasing and the third season's trailer makes it look like it will be as good as ever. I thought the second season was better than the first. The first season was famously frenetic and intense but the second season reached much more depth with the characters. I'm very excited to see where the main characters go in the third season and also the famous guest stars that show up. Thank you Chef!
Some of the Limited Series races got a lot more interesting once Shogun departed the category for Drama. Baby Reindeer might be seen as the frontrunner in general but they don't have a player in the Supporting Actor category unless you count Tom Goodman-Hill who seems like a long shot but I wouldn't totally rule him out if the show really has a big haul of nominations. This category is interesting because an obvious frontrunner could be Robert Downey Jr. for The Sympathizer but even though Downey is well-liked and was in a flash role, the show was underseen in general. Fargo will become the FX priority in this field with Shogun elsewhere so they'll put their muscle behind Joe Keery, Sam Spruell and Lamorne Morris with Keery the most likely of the three to get in. Lewis Pullman also feels like a safe bet for a nomination for Lessons in Chemistry but I have a hard time seeing him as a contender to win. Another underseen performance that could definitely get a nomination is Jonathan Bailey for Fellow Travelers. I remain a bit lukewarm on the chances for Feud: Capote vs. the Swans but you can't rule out the late Treat Williams earning a nod. Another show that might stand to benefit from the Shogun exit is True Detective: Night Country so that could help John Hawkes or Finn Bennett. And while The Regime was a mess, you can't rule out Hugh Grant snagging a nom. Masters of the Air could be a stronger contender and if the show overperforms then I wouldn't be shocked to see Barry Keoghan or Anthony Boyle in here. Ditto for Mark Ruffalo or Hugh Laurie for All the Light We Cannot See and Johnny Flynn for Ripley. Some dark horses include Hamish Linklater for Manhunt, the late Ron Cephas Jones for Genius: MLK/X and Harvey Keitel for The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
Projected Nominees (ranked in order of confidence):
1. Lewis Pullman, Lessons in Chemistry
2. Robert Downey Jr., The Sympathizer
3. Joe Keery, Fargo
4. Jonathan Bailey, Fellow Travelers
5. John Hawkes, True Detective: Night Country
6. Treat Williams, Feud: Capote vs. the Swans
7. Tom Goodman-Hill, Baby Reindeer
Possible Spoilers
8. Sam Spruell, Fargo
9. Barry Keoghan, Masters of the Air
10. Finn Bennett, True Detective: Night Country
SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
With the calendar turning to June and a new season of Emmy eligibility, things start to ramp back up a bit. Tuesday has the premiere of The Acolyte on Disney+. This is the first Star Wars series to debut in nearly a year as Disney is slowing down their Marvel and Star Wars TV output. I'm not a Star Wars guy but there seems to be reasonable excitement for this one. Also on Tuesday, FX/Hulu debut Clipped, the limited series already discussed above. On Thursday, Paramount+ premieres the second season of Criminal Minds: Evolution. The first season of the revival series was a pleasant surprise and a step above the case of the week CBS drama that ran for 15 years. Also on Thursday, Netflix debuts the third and final season of Sweet Tooth. On Friday, Hulu has the premiere of Queenie, a series about a Jamaican Brit based on the 2019 novel. Friday also has the premiere of Fantasmas on HBO from the people who did Los Espookys. Also on Friday is the final season premiere of Power Book II: Ghost on Starz.
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