Putin and Trump-Russia at the Emmy Awards

Last month, I made a prediction about this year's Emmys in a comment I left on Twelve Ham Sandwiches with Russian Dressing at Kunstler's blog: "PBS...is likely to earn a News and Documentary Emmy nomination or two for 'Putin's Revenge' on Frontline."  My prediction came true, as "Putin's Revenge" earned two News & Documentary Emmy Award nominations for Best Documentary and Outstanding Writing.  As I wrote in my original blog post, "I like sequels to award-winners.  It makes it easier to identify possible nominees, especially if the same creative teams are working on them."

Competing against "Putin's Revenge" for Best Documentary are "Chasing Coral," another film I thought would earn an Emmy nomination, "The Witness" from Independent Lens, "Life, Animated," an Oscar nominee for Documentary Feature in 2017, and "My Love, Don't Cross That River" from POV.  Out of that field, I'm rooting for "Chasing Coral," but "Life, Animated" is very tough competition.

"Putin's Revenge" faces a less tough field for Outstanding Writing, "Alma" and "The Wounds of War" from 60 Minutes, fellow "Frontline" episode "The Divided States of America," and "Cries from Syria," which tied for fourth in my ranking of the most honored political documentaries of 2017.  Out of all these, "The Wounds of War" and "Cries from Syria" are probably the toughest competition, as both have four nominations each, tied for the most nominations for any single entry with "Charlottesville: Race and Terror" by Vice News Tonight.

Too bad "Putin's Revenge" did not receive a nomination for Outstanding Research.  The program showed its work in INTRODUCING: The Putin Files | FRONTLINE Transparency Project

Now, you can see what we've seen - hours of reporting - from everyone we've interviewed, on the record, at your fingertips. This is "The Putin Files" - the complete archive from the FRONTLINE's documentary, "Putin's Revenge" - part of FRONTLINE's Transparency Project.

I'll have more if "Putin's Revenge" wins either or both awards.

Follow over the jump for more nominees about Putin and Trump-Russia from both the News & Documentary and Creative Arts/Primetime Emmy Awards.

ABC's "Nightline" also had an episode about Vladimir Putin nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy Award, "Putin's Power: A Journey Inside Russia," which is being considered for Outstanding Hard News Feature Story in a Newscast.  Take a look at a clip from that episode, Spending 10 days inside Putin's Russia: Part 1.

In Russia, where President Putin is power personified, "Nightline" met with opposition activists who participated in a national day of protest.

And this is the man Trump admires.  What a bad bromance!

The other nominees for Outstanding Hard News Feature Story in a Newscast include "Battle for Raqqa" from BBC World News America, "Syria: Gasping for Life in Khan Sheikhoun" from CNN International, "Retaking Raqqa" from Nightline, and "The Unwanted" from ABC's World News Tonight.  I have no idea which might win, but I can see there are lots of nominees about Syria.  I plan on writing about them in a future installment.

The final nominee from the News & Documentary Emmy Awards is "Special Counsel Appointed to Oversee Trump-Russia Investigation" from "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC, which contending for Outstanding News Discussion & Analysis.  I found New Questions On Donald Trump-Russia Special Counsel as an example clip.

Sari Horwitz, Justice Department reporter for The Washington Post, talks with Rachel Maddow about new questions raised by the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel to the Trump-Russia investigation.

This is the sole nomination for "The Rachel Maddow Show."  Competing against it for Outstanding News Discussion & Analysis are "All In America: Chicago" from "All In with Chris Hayes" on MSNBC, "NFL Town Hall: Patriotism, The Players and The President" from "Anderson Cooper 360^o" on CNN, "The Morning After Charlottesville" from "State of the Union with Jake Tapper" on CNN, and "High Alert: North Korea" from "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" on ABC.  I'll be looking more at this category when I examine the nominees about Syria and Charlottesville.

That takes care of the nominees examining Putin and Trump-Russia at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, but there is one nominee at the Creative Arts/Primetime Emmys on the subject, the theme music to "The Putin Interviews" by Jeff Beal, who won the only Emmy for "House of Cards" last year for Music Composition (Dramatic Score).  Here is The Putin Interviews, Main Title Theme.


I guess that is better than the main title theme for "Star Trek: Discovery," which I was hoping would be nominated, but wasn't.  Here's to hoping that, should this theme win and I tweet about it, Beal responds.  I really appreciated that.