Friday, September 9, 2022

'The White Lotus' leads limited series nominees at the 2022 Emmy Awards

My interest in covering entertainment awards consists mostly of covering shows that portray history, government, politics, and other social issues, like diversity and representation, or are speculative fiction. While the nominees in the limited series categories do that, they are the ones that have won and will likely win fewer awards at this year's Emmy Awards. That's because the big winner so far and probably the big winner on Monday is "The White Lotus," which is a comedic social satire about a bunch of well-off vacationers and the people making their vacations possible. The show definitely explores class issues and some of the legacy of colonialism, but many of the other nominees, including the other limited series winners at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, do more thorough and serious looks at these subjects and are better examples of speculative fiction.

Since I'm moving on to the Primetime Emmy Awards, I'm letting the Television Academy's videos help tell the story, beginning with 74th Emmy Nominations: Limited Or Anthology Series.

The nominees for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series are Dopesick, The Dropout, Inventing Anna, Pam & Tommy and The White Lotus.
All of these nominees have at least one crime or scandal, real or fictional, at their cores, real in the cases of "Dopesick" (opoid crisis) "The Dropout" (Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos), "Inventing Anna" (Anna Sorokin), and "Pam & Tommy" (the theft and illegal distribution of an infamous sex tape), and fictional in "The White Lotus." Based on what I've seen of the shows themselves as well as the opinions of the critics at Gold Derby, "The White Lotus" is most likely to win.

Next, 74th Emmy Nominations: Lead Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie.

The nominees for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie are Colin Firth, Andrew Garfield, Oscar Isaac, Michael Keaton, Himesh Patel, and Sebastian Stan.
The crime theme continues with Colin Firth in "The Staircase" and Andrew Garfield in "Under the Banner of Heaven," who join Michael Keaton from "Dopesick" and "Sebastian Stan" from "Pam & Tommy," but not either of Oscar Isaac and Himesh Patel; "Scenes from a Marriage" is a character study and there isn't enough law left in the world of "Station 11" for there to be crime, although a lot of the action there would be criminal in a world where law and civilization still existed. Based on the critical opinion, I think Keaton will win.

Today's final video from the Television Academy is 74th Emmy Nominations: Lead Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie.

The nominees for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie are Toni Collette, Julia Garner, Lily James, Sarah Paulson, Margaret Qualley, and Amanda Seyfried.
Crime continues with Sarah Paulson for "American Crime Story: Impeachment" and Margaret Qualley for "Maid," although the domestic abuse in the latter gets legal but not criminal attention in the story, joining two portrayals of criminals and one of a victim. The contest seems to be between Amanda Seyfried playing Elizabeth Holmes and Lily James as Pamela Anderson, at least according to the editors at Gold Derby, who are picking Seyfried over James eight to five. Joyce Eng is picking Seyfried, so I am, too.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
Murray Bartlett – The White Lotus as Armond (HBO/HBO Max)
Jake Lacy – The White Lotus as Shane Patton (HBO/HBO Max)
Will Poulter – Dopesick as Billy Cutler (Hulu)
Seth Rogen – Pam & Tommy as Rand Gauthier (Hulu)
Peter Sarsgaard – Dopesick as Rick Mountcastle (Hulu)
Michael Stuhlbarg – Dopesick as Richard Sackler (Hulu)
Steve Zahn – The White Lotus as Mark Mossbacher (HBO/HBO Max)
The Gold Derby editors unanimously think Murray Bartlett will win and I think they're right.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
Connie Britton – The White Lotus as Nicole Mossbacher (HBO/HBO Max)
Jennifer Coolidge – The White Lotus as Tanya McQuoid (HBO/HBO Max)
Alexandra Daddario – The White Lotus as Rachel Patton (HBO/HBO Max)
Kaitlyn Dever – Dopesick as Betsy Mallum (Hulu)
Natasha Rothwell – The White Lotus as Belinda (HBO/HBO Max)
Sydney Sweeney – The White Lotus as Olivia Mossbacher (HBO/HBO Max)
Mare Winningham – Dopesick as Diane Mallum (Hulu)
The Gold Derby editors also unanimously pick Jennifer Coolidge and I agree.

Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
Dopesick: "The People vs. Purdue Pharma" – Danny Strong (Hulu)
The Dropout: "Green Juice" – Michael Showalter (Hulu)
The Dropout: "Iron Sisters" – Francesca Gregorini (Hulu)
Maid: "Sky Blue" – John Wells (Netflix)
Station Eleven: "Wheel of Fire" – Hiro Murai (HBO/HBO Max)
The White Lotus – Mike White (HBO/HBO Max)
Twelve of the Gold Derby editors picked "The White Lotus" to win. Since the one dissenter who chose "Dopesick" isn't Joyce Eng, I'm going with "The White Lotus."



The Gold Derby editors unanimously think "The White Lotus" will win Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, too. If they are right, then "The White Lotus" will win five awards to go with the five it has already won at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards for a total of ten. We'll see Monday night.

Speaking of the Gold Derby editors, watch three of them debate the limited series likely winners in 2022 Emmy Awards slugfest: We debate 'White Lotus' vs. 'Dopesick' for limited, plus variety, reality.

“I was assuming that we would all be on the same page about Best Limited Series,” declares Rob Licuria about what he thinks should be a relatively easy category to predict. "It's one of the most important categories of the night, and as far as I'm concerned, I thought 'The White Lotus' is winning that in a heartbeat! [But] maybe I'm not necessarily on the right path."

He’s joined by fellow Gold Derby senior editor Matt Noble and contributors Charles Bright and Tony Ruiz to debate the most likely winner in the Best Limited Series race along with their picks for the other limited/movie categories, plus their choices for Best Competition Program, Best Variety Sketch Series and Best Variety Talk Series. Above, watch our 2022 Emmy predictions slugfest video on the limited, variety and reality categories.
You can see where I'm getting my opinions.

Follow over the jump for the limited series and TV movie winners at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.


As I wrote, "The White Lotus" won five Creative Arts Emmy Awards, Outstanding Casting for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music, Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special (Original Dramatic Score), Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. To celebrate its wins, I'm embedding the two winning pieces of music, beginning with The White Lotus Opening Credits Theme Song | The White Lotus | HBO.

Aloha! - Main Title Theme of The White Lotus from composer Cristobal Tapia De Veer...

A social satire set at an exclusive Hawaiian resort, The White Lotus follows the vacations of various hotel guests over the span of a week as they relax and rejuvenate in paradise. But with each passing day, a darker complexity emerges in these picture-perfect travelers, the hotel’s cheerful employees, and the idyllic locale itself.
I tap my toes and bob my head every time I hear this, including just now.

Now, Honeymoon from Episode 3, "Mysterious Monkeys."


That's enchanting, if a bit melancholy.


Just as it's likely to win one Emmy at the Primetime Emmy Awards, "Dopesick" won one award at the Creative Arts Emmy awards, Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Congratulations!


In what is likely to be its only Emmy Award, "Impeachment: American Crime Story" won Outstanding Contemporary Hairstyling. Congratulations!


"Moon Knight" won Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special, one of only two Emmy Awards for Marvel shows on Disney+, the other going to the late Chadwick Boseman as Star Lord T’Challa in "What If...?" I'll be examining both shows in Part 3 of superhero nominees at the 2022 Saturn Awards.


"Pam & Tommy" may or may not win an Emmy on Monday, but it has one in the bank for Outstanding Period And/Or Character Makeup (Non-Prosthetic), which did a great job of transforming Lily James into Pamela Anderson.


I picked "The Survivor" in Comedy and tragedy in television movie nominees at the 2022 Emmy Awards but had second thoughts in Guest acting nominations at the 2022 Emmy Awards — Gold Derby weighs in.
I'm going to revisit television movie nominees. I leaned toward "The Survivor" as the favorite and so do the majority of Gold Derby editors. Seven of them picked "The Survivor," five picked "Chip 'n' Dale: Rescue Rangers," and one picked "Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas." That one of those five predicting "Chip 'n' Dale: Rescue Rangers" is Eng and the movie is about Hollywood is enough to make me think it has a good chance of winning. If so, that would be a good example of the Television Academy voters picking a good movie about Hollywood when everything else is equal.
I was right to think I might be wrong and Eng might be right. She was.

That's it for today. I'll be back tomorrow with comedy nominees and winners. Stay tuned.

Previous posts about the 2022 Emmy Awards

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