| | | | | Hello from 35,000 feet... I'm on the way to a Google summit in Mountain View... now here's what happened on TV's biggest night: | | Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale's" won five Emmys on Sunday night. The biggest win was the last one -- outstanding drama -- making Hulu the first streaming service to ever win the TV world's biggest prize.
Sandra Gonzalez emails from L.A.: I don't think we can oversell how important Sunday night was for Hulu. It's not just about numbers -- the awards themselves carry different weight. The fact that Hulu took two top prizes (overall drama and lead actress) for a show in its first season is no small thing.
Among the scripted wins, HBO won for a show that's heading into its final season, "Veep, and two limited series, "The Night Of" and "Big Little Lies." Regarding the latter, all involved have insisted they won't do a second season unless they find more story to tell. You can bet these wins are going to make HBO deploy all the resources it can for that search party. | | Huge night for Mike Hopkins and co. | | Immediately after the awards telecast, Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins was savoring the moment backstage with the cast and producers. He emailed me this reaction from the auditorium: "This is an incredible night for Hulu and The Handmaid's Tale. We're so proud and grateful that this groundbreaking story has made Emmys history!" Long night of partying ahead...
-- Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw tweeted: "Hulu wins best drama before Netflix or Amazon. Who saw that one coming?"
-- THR's Matt Belloni: "Wow. Netflix spends $6B a year on content and Hulu got the top Emmy first. Pretty amazing feat..." | | The Scoreboard: HBO still on top | | | An exec emails: "Richard Plepler is a happy guy tonight." HBO finished the night with 10 statues... leading the pack for the 17th consecutive year... while NBC had 6, Hulu had 5, Netflix had 4, and FX had 2. When you tally up all the Creative Arts Emmys, the grand total was HBO 29, Netflix 20, NBC 15, Hulu 10, ABC 7, FX 6, etc... Joe Adalian has the list here... | | Broadcast "still overwhelmed" | | | I asked BTIG's Rich Greenfield for his reaction: "I think it's more about yet another year that broadcast TV appears irrelevant. Even when it appeared they had a show with buzz." (He's talking about NBC's "This Is Us." Sterling K. Brown won the best actor drama, but the show lost in its other categories.) Broadcast was "still overwhelmed by SVOD, whether that be HBO or the Internet..." | | | Lisa Respers France emails: In keeping with the rally call that the Oscars could learn a thing or two from TV, there were some high profile and historic wins, including Donald Glover's win for directing a comedy series and Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe's win for comedy writing... | | Spicer trying to repair his battered image... | | Sean Spicer's surprise cameo during Stephen Colbert's monologue got the celebs laughing... But there was an immediate wave of criticism on social media. These tweets from CNN's Kaitlan Collins summed up why it rubbed so many people the wrong way: "Is it supposed to be comical that the former White House spokesman is now tacitly admitting that he lied to the American people? Because, as someone who covers this White House and expects those who work in it to be truthful, I don't find it humorous." There will be a lot of debate about this on Monday...
-- Lawrence O'Donnell tweeted: "Emmys helped Spicer pump up his 'lecture' fees which is all that matters to him now..."
-- Keep in mind, lots of Trump loyalists thought the entire awards show was a turn-off... "Hollywood Trump haters celebrating each other..."
-- 🔌: I'll be on CNN's "New Day" in the 6 and 8am ET hours with more on this... | | The Emmys cast Trump in a key supporting role | | Brian Lowry writes: The Emmys provided fertile terrain for satirizing and commenting upon the political moment, a mood that permeated everything from host Stephen Colbert's monologue to the diverse winners and onstage banter...
More: The President's presence hovered throughout the evening, beginning with "Saturday Night Live's" strong showing, honoring Alec Baldwin -- who played Trump on the show -- and Kate McKinnon, who thanked her alter ego, Hillary Clinton, for her grace. "At long last, Mr. President, here is your Emmy," Baldwin quipped in his acceptance speech. Read Lowry's full column here... | | -- Julia Louis-Dreyfus took home her sixth consecutive win for best actress in a comedy category for her role on "Veep," "placing her in the history books for most Emmys won by a single performer for one role," Sandra Gonzalez reports...
-- "Last Week Tonight" won in the variety talk series category for the second year. Bill Carter tweeted: John Oliver "is great of course, but one must note in fairness: 4/5 shows a week is a harder deal" than once a week...
-- The Emmys telecast producers cut off Sterling K. Brown's acceptance speech, so he finished the speech backstage in the press room...
-- Here's the compete winners list... | | Kate Bennett's fashion report | | I asked Kate Bennett of CNN's COVER/LINE for her red carpet highlights: I have a theory about awards shows of late. I think a handful of Hollywood's top stylists get together and pick out their favorite three trends from the season – then, in agreement, they go dress their clients. At the Emmys, the three trends were clearly silver (either full length or in detail), red, and feathers. It's just a theory, but something to keep in mind for my "bests:"
1. Claire Foy ("The Queen") in Oscar de la Renta. Let it be known, I love a jumpsuit. The silver rope knot and trim elevate this look to a really wonderful moment.
2. Jessica Biel in Ralph & Russo Couture. I think it takes a certain amount of just pure, unadulterated glamour to be a standout on the red carpet. It felt sort of 80s and "Dynasty," especially with her hair.
3. Nicole Kidman in Calvin Klein by Appointment. Normally not a fan of Kidman's award show looks, but tonight's red, ankle-length gown was retro and modern at the same time.
4. Priyanka Chopra in Balmain. If just for the sleeves, this dress (which combined silver and feathers) felt different and beautiful compared to so many others.
5. Tie: Sarah Paulson in Carolina Herrera. The silver sparkler came straight from last week's Spring/Summer 2018 runway show in New York. Tracee Ellis Ross in Chanel Haute Couture. A controversial choice, but, man, I love fashion and this is Fashion. | | Wenner wants to sell Rolling Stone | | NYT's Sydney Ember with the scoop: Jann Wenner is "putting his company's controlling stake in Rolling Stone up for sale." The process is just beginning. "One possible suitor is American Media Inc., the magazine publisher led by David J. Pecker that has already taken Us Weekly and Men's Journal off Wenner Media's hands."
Ember: "The sale plans were devised" by Gus Wenner, Jann's 27-year-old son. "We are being proactive and want to get ahead of the curve," Gus told her... "Publishing is a completely different industry than what it was. The trends go in one direction, and we are very aware of that..."
-- Joe Hagan's much-anticipated biography of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone will come out on October 24... Here's the Amazon page... | | For the NYT, this steakhouse expense was worth every penny | | | The other day at BLT Steak in downtown DC, the NYT's Ken Vogel overheard Ty Cobb and John Dowd "casually and loudly" talking about the White House's handling of the Russia investigations. That conversation formed the basis of this blockbuster NYT story. No summary will do it justice... Click here the read the whole thing. Vogel even tweeted a picture of his vantage point... | | -- This Sunday piece by Paul Farhi is a must read about journalist Kevin Deutsch and his many doubters... (WashPost)
-- Also a must read: Eliana Johnson's story about Joe Lindsley's book on Roger Ailes. Lindsley was "as close to the late Fox News chairman as anybody. Now, for the first time, he's giving his account of their dramatic split..." (Politico Mag)
-- Snapchat "has followed a request from the Saudi Arabian government to block access to Al Jazeera news articles and videos on its Snapchat social-media app to residents in the country..." (WSJ) | | One week til Megyn Kelly's 9am premiere | | "We are just bracing ourselves and hoping it is less bad than the reception of the Sunday show." One week til the premiere of Megyn Kelly's new morning show, and that's what one (anonymous) NBC staffer is saying to VF's Sarah Ellison. The headline on her story is "Has Megyn Kelly's Star Already Been Eclipsed?"
Several other NBC insiders Ellison interviewed "professed excitement about the show..." But outside NBC, skepticism abounds... Mark Joyella channeled it in a Forbes column that starts this way: "No, NBC still hasn't figured out what to do with Megyn Kelly..." | | Sunday's statement from Facebook confirming Friday's reporting: "We are providing information to Special Counsel, including ads and related account information."
-- Related from Sunday's "Reliable Sources:" Here's Spencer Ackerman explaining why it's so significant that Robert Mueller obtained a search warrant... | | Essay: Why Trump's errors aren't "old news" | | I didn't think we'd have time for this segment about President Trump's latest errors and exaggerations. But in our show meeting on Saturday, we decided we would make the time. And that was sorta the point of the resulting segment -- journalists must keep making time to point out Trump's fact-free assertions.
Why? Because the Trump White House's credibility crisis affects the country every day. And it affects how world leaders perceive the United States, too. With Trump's first UN General Assembly coming up, here's my look at some of his latest screw-ups and slip-ups... some of them minor... but all of them part of a pattern that deserves continued attention. You can read the text or watch the video version on this page... | | "A plot twist presidency" | | | My Q to Nancy Gibbs about Trump's deals with Dems -- "Is this a case of journalists loving a plot twist?" Her answer: "Well, this is a plot twist presidency, right? When are we going to stop being surprised at being surprised by what he does? This is someone who wants to command attention... so we really shouldn't be surprised anymore..." | | Hillary has almost "given up on the MSM" | | The most-tweeted-about segment on Sunday's "Reliable" was my interview with Amy Chozick about Hillary Clinton's numerous media critiques. I pointed out that it's not just Trump loyalists who despise the national news media -- many, many Clinton fans have their own objections. Chozick shared lots of insights... and said it's almost as if Clinton has "given up on the mainstream media..." Watch the discussion here...
-- Breitbart highlighted this Chozick quote: "The way she presents it in the book is a little bit like it was our job to get Hillary Clinton elected..." | | | Senator Chuck Grassley is not a fan of Fox News Channel's recent makeover. Here's his Sunday night tweet, slightly cleaned up to make it more readable: "I don't like new ticker format on FNC -- CANT READ -- CNN is my favor ticker -- READABLE." | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- Monday is the day when the Fox News lawyers are supposed to submit court filings about the network's mishandling of the Seth Rich story, David Folkenflik notes... (NPR)
-- This is a short, pointed essay by Jay Rosen on how journalists are "normalizing" Trump for the sake of being able to report on him... (PressThink)
-- ICYMI: James Fallows says HRC's book "sets out questions that the press, in particular, has not done enough to face..." (The Atlantic) | | This weekend's developments | | -- Jason Gay's Monday WSJ column: "The Great ESPN Pile-On"
-- "Over the last 72 hours a number of prominent African-American sports journalists have changed their avatars to the face of Jemele Hill," SI's Richard Deitsch reports. "It is, they say, their way of showing support for the ESPN commentator and her First Amendment rights."
-- On Sunday's show, we led with "Trump v. ESPN," with comments from Wesley Lowery, Britt McHenry, Christine Brennan, Michael Oreskes, and Nancy Gibbs. Check out the video clips on CNN.com... listen to the podcast of the show on iTunes... or read the transcript... | | Tucker says he turned down a Putin interview opportunity | | Oliver Darcy emails: Tucker Carlson said in a new podcast with Jamie Weinsteinthat he turned down interviews with Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad because "it just wasn't worth the criticism."
Carlson said he was in touch with someone who knows Assad a couple months ago and could have likely scored an interview with the Syrian leader, but "thought the downside outweighed the upside, being called a puppet of Assad." Carlson also said he "had an opportunity to interview Vladimir Putin recently" which he turned down for the same reason. Carlson also commented that "I think an interview with Putin would have to be for print rather than television..." | | | For the record, part three | | | By Julia Waldow:
-- Ellen Pao asks: "Has anything really changed for women in tech?" Pao is promoting a new book about her discrimination case... It comes out on Tuesday... (NYT)
-- Ten EU countries have expressed support for a law that would allow governments to impose heavier taxes on Google, Amazon, and other big tech companies, as an alternative to traditional taxes on profits... (FT)
-- Bing will now preview fact-checking tags in its results, with "true" and "false" verdicts from sites like PolitiFact and Snopes highlighted in bold... (The Verge) | | Layoffs at RealClearPolitics | | | I missed this depressing news last week: RealClearPolitics has laid off a big chunk of its relatively small editorial staff. Among the journalists affected: Alexis Simendinger, Emily Goodin, David Byler, Sandra Erwin, and others. "Everyone was taken by surprise," a source says. Poynter's Jim Warren wrote about the cuts here... | | "It" scares up an audience, "mother!" just scares | | | Frank Pallotta reports: "It" is still scaring audiences. Meanwhile, Jennifer Lawrence's psychological horror film "mother!" brought in a box office that's, well, a bit scary. "It" nabbed an estimated $60 million in its second weekend. After two weeks, "It" has become the largest grossing film in September box office history. As for "mother!," the film brought in an estimated $7.5 million. That's the lowest wide release opening ever for Lawrence... Read more... | | | Brian Lowry emails: CinemaScore grades for movies are notoriously generous, so it was jarring to see "mother!" assigned an "F" by audiences -- as THR noted, an extremely rare occurrence. The reaction suggests that the marketing and perhaps some of the favorable reviews didn't adequately convey how unorthodox and potentially off-putting much of the movie is, and after a weak $7.5 million opening weekend, it will be interesting to see if the bottom drops out in week two. And no, the negative response is not blowback against Jennifer Lawrence for criticizing Trump, even if certain conservative quadrants appear to be delighting in the film's failure on those grounds... | | "The Strain" series finale | | | Brian Lowry emails: In addition to the Emmys and "The Vietnam War," Sunday's TV menu includes the series finale of FX's "The Strain," an underrated vampire series based on books co-written by Guillermo del Toro. Here's the review... | | | Email reliablesources@cnn.com... we appreciate every message. The feedback helps us craft the next day's newsletter! | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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