Relatively speaking,
it was actually easy to find the SAG awards on the Netflix channel on YouTube.
I have no idea how many other people made the effort one way or the other, but I
personally had my usual good time.
First, most of the
predictions I made on Friday did not prove out to be correct. That was the case
last year and I was fine with it then, and I was all things considered, mostly
fine with it now. I was dead on when I predicted that Abbott Elementary would
win best Comedic Ensemble (as we shall see, Quinta Brunson and her cast
actually had better luck at a different awards show last weekend.) I was not
entirely surprised that Jean Smart ended up taking the Best Actress in a Comedy
award, considering her track record this year, and given her condition a worthy
proxy was there: her co-star Christopher McDonald, a worthy actor in his own
right. Reading a speech that she sent via text, Smart paid tribute to the guest
cast on the series, some of whom received Emmy nominations, some of whom didn’t.
Considering it is unlikely Hacks will
complete shooting in time to be eligible for this year’s Emmys, I’m fine with
Smart taking yet another prize, and its not like she didn’t deserve. Jeremy
Allan White continued his streak by taking the Best Actor in a Comedy for The
Bear, and at this point, I’ll be stunned if he doesn’t take the Emmy.
I was somewhat surprised
(but no less delighted) to see Jennifer Coolidge prevail for her superb work on
The White Lotus and honestly, much as I really wanted Better Call
Saul to prevail for its last season, given the category its really hard to
argue The White Lotus didn’t have the Best Ensemble this year, full
stop. I was further charmed when F. Murray Abraham, one of the most undervalued
great actors of all time, was allowed to speak for the cast and gave a fairly charming
speech about how this was the greatest cast he’d ever worked with (probably not
an exaggeration) how much fun he’d had shooting the series, and his more than
due shoutouts to the fighting in Ukraine, the survivors of the Turkey
earthquake, and his final cheer for the union. Hell, as much as I wanted Bob
Odenkirk to win, I can’t even work myself to get that upset Jason Bateman took
the Best Actor in A Drama series for Ozark Bateman has always been one of my favorite
actors and among his fellow cast members he seems to have been lacking the recognition
among the awards group that Julia Garner has gotten. (The Golden Globes did not
nominate him this year.) I think he was entitled to take a bow for Ozark as
it ended. It might well be an overrated series, but my feelings do not extend
to the cast.
I was overjoyed by
Jessica Chastain’s victory for Best Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie: I
thought she was more than deserving but I was certain that Amanda Seyfried or
Niecy Nash-Betts would prevail. Chastain now moves slightly ahead in the race
for Best Actress in a Limited Series this fall, and I hope that the Emmys can
find room for Michael Shannon. And I don’t think anybody – certainly not Sam
Elliott – expected him to take the prize for Best Actor in a Limited Series for
his work in 1883. But Elliott, like Abraham, has been one of the most
undervalued great actors who has worked in Hollywood and has received almost no
recognition from any awards show for it. Do I think he has a realistic chance
of winning an Emmy or even being nominated? Honestly, no. But I would love to
see him up there in some form, nearly as much as I’d like to see Chastain.
As for the awards
themselves, they remained as they always are: light, fluffy and usually
hysterical. There were so many wonderful presentations throughout the night
that it’s hard to pick a favorite. Aubrey Plaza and Jenna Ortega came out,
remained dead silent for ten seconds before both muttering in what was their
trademark deadpan: “I don’t know why they sent us out here together.” The Parks
and Recreation reunion when Amy Poehler and Adam Scott came out and Poehler
in her trademark fashion needled Scott for being too elitist ‘now that he’s
working in the dramas.’ Or Jenny Slate and James Marsden coming out there to
present Best Ensemble in a Drama and Slate continuously mocking every aspect of
Marsden’s presentation. Really makes you want other awards shows to continue to
process of pairing actors and actresses together; the SAG awards really seem to
have turned into an art form.
And while I do not
usually comment on the film awards part of it, I was overjoyed by so many of
the wins that Everything Everywhere All At Once got. Jamie Lee Curtis’
speech was incredible, particularly when she told them about wearing a wedding
ring her parents once wore: “They hated each other at the end, by the way”, acknowledging
that she was that proud term ‘nepo baby’ and utterly saluted Michelle Yeoh.
Yeoh’s win brought almost as much gratification to my soul, as I’ve loved
watching her in almost everything she’s done and I really hope she wins Best Actress.
But the best came for
last. It came as a surprise to no one that the film won Best Ensemble, but the acceptance
speech, which started out in tandem, eventually became a tributed to arguably the
most successful Asian-American in history James Hong. And Hong was incredible:
he started out by speaking in Chinese. Yeoh started to translate, but then Hong
said that he was just doing in case they saw it in Hong Kong. He then pointed
out just how hard it was for Asians to earn roles when we was getting started
in the business, being very clear to point out just how cringeworthy The
Good Earth looks in hindsight “because Asians could not command box office.
But look at us now!” He then said he was thrilled to be in an all Asian cast,
then saluted Curtis by saying “Jamie Lee is a good Chinese name’, said he hoped
to be here when he turned 100, and then paid tribute to Yeoh by quoting her the
last time they tried to play her off stage: “She can kick your butt.” It was a
glorious speech for a superb movie and moment, and few will object when the
inevitable triumph for this movie comes.
The only person who
might have been disappointed by last night’s events was Angela Bassett. Her
Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever almost
made her triumph for an Oscar inevitable until Curtis’ victory. But it’s not
like her weekend was all bad. The previous night, she had been basically the
guest of honor at the NAACP’s Image Awards, and it was her night to shine. Not
only did she win Best Supporting Actress and Entertainer of the Year (over Quinta
Brunson) but she also managed to upset Zendaya by taking Best Actress in A
Drama for her work on 9-1-1. I’ll admit I was slightly surprised by
this, not because Bassett’s performance isn’t superb, but because it’s the type
that doesn’t generally earn awards or nominations any more. But there are going
to be some vacancies in this year’s Best Actress in a Drama category (Zendaya
and Laura Linney will not be eligible, for one) Maybe Bassett will have a
chance.
It probably won’t
come as a shock that Abbott Elementary utterly dominated the Comedy
Awards, taking Best Comedy, Best Actress for Brunson, another Supporting Actor prize
for Tyler James Williams, and a Best Supporting Actress prize for Janelle
James, instead of Sheryl Lee Ralph this time. It also prevailed for Best
Teleplay, while Best Directing went to Atlanta which I don’t mind one
bit.
The big winner for Dramas
turned to be Starz’ P-Valley, which took Best Drama, Best Actor for Nico
Amman and Best Supporting Actress for Loretta Devine. Method Man prevailed for
Best Supporting Actor for his work in Power Book II Ghost. Sadly despite
their excellence, it is highly unlikely any of these series will be at the
Emmys, along with the soon to conclude Snowfall. Still, I am grateful
for the wins given to Women of the Movement for Writing and Giancarlo
Esposito for Directing Better Call Saul.
As I expected Niecy
Nash prevailed for her work on Dahmer and is likely to continue this parade
to an Emmy this fall, though whether they rank her as Actress (as they did at
both the SAG Awards and here) or Supporting (as she did when she triumphed at
the Critics Choice) remains for her and the Academy to determine. The major
winner in Limited Series was The Best Man which took Best Limited
Series, Best Actor for Morris Chestnut and Best Supporting Actress for Nia
Long. I think the series has little chance
of prevailing at the Emmys this fall, though again I have to give a lot of
credit to any awards show that acknowledged Women
of the Movement and Ptolemy Gray. Seriously Emmys, try to do better?
Black Panther dominated the movie
awards, taking Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress
(like I said Bassett had a great night) Another major winner was the overlooked
The Woman King which took Best Director and gave another prize for Viola
Davis, who already managed an EGOT this year. Incidentally, despite all of the
controversy due to Slapgate Will Smith still won Best Actor in A Film for Emancipation,
which did very well at the Images. Perhaps if Will had kept his seat last
year…
Unfortunately because
the Images are spread out over several nights, most of the awards had already
been given before Saturday’s broadcast. Which is a great pity because I liked a
lot of what I saw: Damson Idris and Method Man arguing about who’s sexier; the
cast of The Best Man bickering over who fans were most exciting to see
back (and Harold Perrineau joking about how none of the cast still knows how to
pronounce his last name) and Issa Rae teasing Jonathan Majors about his astrological
sign. Queen Latifah remains a superb host who I wish Hollywood would use more
often. And by the nature of the Images this maybe the only awards show where
political grandstanding is basically encouraged by the people running it and it
was hard not to cheer for Brittney Griner’s appearance with her wife on stage
or Gabrielle Union and Dwayne Wade’s being recognized for their advocacy work
for the LGBTQ+ community. This is the rare awards show that I think was far too
short, I would have been overjoyed to see as many awards, presenters and
acceptance speeches given as possible.
In any case, we’re
done with awards involving TV for at least the next three to four months. I’ll
be back to talk about that most likely in June when some of the other major
critics groups start giving nominations. By then of course, the landscape will
have changed significantly but we’ll deal with that when we get there.
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