Is âSchittâs Creekâ the greatest TV show ever?
Home prices are soaring. Electric vehicle sales might soon follow suit. And it looks like Iâm finally getting that super deluxe Tom Petty âWildflowersâ set Iâve been hearing about for years. I feel like the King of Milwaukee. Or a boy in short pants. Either way, thereâs peace in the valley, little honey bee.
From the Oscars to the Emmys.
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Oh, and the Emmys happened Sunday. And apparently âSchittâs Creekâ is the greatest show in the history of television.
Iâm Glenn Whipp, awards columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of the Envelopeâs Friday newsletter. Please join as I venture into the great wide open ...
âSchittâs Creekâ makes history
If you tuned into the virtual Emmys on Sunday night and had never dipped a toe into âSchittâs Creek,â you probably watched the first hour of the ceremony in utter bewilderment. The feel-good series, a coproduction of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the little-known American basic cable channel PopTV, won everything, sweeping all the comedy categories, becoming the first program in television history to pull off such a feat.
Was it a little much? Maaaaybe. I like âSchittâs Creekâ and all, but I canât say it deserved each and every Emmy it won. And I wouldnât rank the series on the same level as âThe Mary Tyler Moore Showâ or the first five seasons of âCheersâ or âAtlantaâ (or either version of âThe Officeâ or âSeinfeldâ or âTaxiâ ... I could keep going). But who cares? âSchittâs Creekâ brought joy into peopleâs lives when they needed it, and for Emmy voters that was clearly enough for them to vote the party line for the whole ticket. So, good for Dan and Eugene Levy, Catherine OâHara, Annie Murphy and the rest of the gang ... and good for you if youâve been waiting for the showâs final season to finally drop on Netflix next month. Itâll make you smile.
You want more Emmys? We got you
Christi Carras collected the must-see moments, including Zendayaâs historic win. Times fashion writer Adam Tschorn ran down the non-pajama fashion highlights. Greg Braxton and I delved into why âWatchmenâ felt like the only TV show that mattered this year. Meredith Blake summed up why the virtual ceremony felt like the perfect awards show for our times. And there are dozens of other stories, because we watched a lot of television these past few months, even if it felt like Emmy voters watched only âSuccession,â âWatchmenâ and âSchittâs Creek.â
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And now ... on to the Oscars?
The Venice and Toronto film festivals are over, while an elongated New York Film Festival is underway. Weâve been watching the movies from the safety and relative comfort of our homes, and The Timesâ movie writers compiled a list of the 14 best films from Toronto, including two that I really appreciated â âNomadlandâ and âPieces of a Woman,â which showcases a towering turn from Vanessa Kirby.
With studios continuing to move movies into 2021, the Oscars â if they happen â are going to feature a lot of indie titles, a lot of Netflix movies and a lot of uncertainty about whether audiences will be interested in the ceremony. Both the motion picture academy and the British Academy of Film & Television Arts have used this moment to take self-inventory, with the latter group making some dramatic changes to voting procedures for its BAFTA Awards.
The question now is: Just how many movies will there be this year for voters to consider?
Feedback?
Iâd love to hear from you. Email me at [email protected].
Canât get enough about awards season? Follow me at @glennwhipp on Twitter.
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