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EMMYS: Campaigners Pull Out All the Stops

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday August 24, 2012 @ 7:42pm PDTTags: Awardsline, Breaking Bad, Emmys, Mad Men, TV

Paul Brownfield is an AwardsLine contributor

Decorum holds that during For Your Consideration season, it’s important for campaigners to make sure TV Academy members know how special a series’ last season has been, while flattering its show creator by spending generously to help win a statuette—whether it’s the first or the fifth.

In an effort to position Mad Men toward an all-time record fifth drama win, the Emmy campaigners behind Matthew Weiner’s AMC series decided that voters needed something more than the high-end mailer they were already receiving. So they invited TV Academy members to a screening of the show’s season finale on June 10, the day the episode was set to air. Overnight, there were more RSVPs than seats, according to Murray Weissman, the veteran campaigner whose PR firm, Weissman/Markovitz, is consulting for AMC.

The 5 p.m. screening, at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre, was followed by a Q&A and reception with Weiner and some of the cast.
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‘Mad Men’ Co-Stars January Jones, Vincent Kartheiser & Elisabeth Moss Finalizing Two-Year Deals, Christina Hendricks In Talks

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday August 1, 2012 @ 5:46pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Christina Hendricks, Elisabeth Moss, January Jones, Mad Men
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: As AMC’s flagship series Mad Men gears up to start production in October on its sixth season, series’ producer Lionsgate TV is working on locking down the period drama’s key cast members January Jones, Vincent Kartheiser, … Read More »

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Sundance Channel Heads To Thailand, Expands In China, Europe

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Friday July 27, 2012 @ 8:49am PDTTags: AMC, Mad Men, Sundance Channel

For the first time, Sundance Channel will be available in Thailand via a deal with TrueVisions, the country’s largest pay-TV operator. AMC/Sundance Channel Global made the announcement today along with a deal for Sundance On-Demand, which will debut … Read More »

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Elisabeth Moss Will Return To ‘Mad Men’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday July 26, 2012 @ 12:40pm PDTTags: AMC, Mad Men

Mad Men creator Matt Weiner has told our sister site TVLine that Elisabeth Moss’ character Peggy Olson “is going to be on the show next year”. He added: “I can’t say how much, in … Read More »

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Frank Pierson: Writer, Director & Industry Leader Never Had “Failure To Communicate”

By PETE HAMMOND | Monday July 23, 2012 @ 2:38pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Frank Pierson, Mad Men, Writers Guild Of America
Pete Hammond

Frank Pierson had a magical way with words, so it is ironic that the most famous movie line he ever wrote is: “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate”. Frank Pierson never suffered “failure to communicate”. That iconic phrase uttered by Strother Martin to Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke (1967) – one of Newman’s greatest movies EVER — was even voted by the American Film Institute as the No. 11 greatest movie quote of all time. It’s even now part of a Guns N’ Roses song, “Civil War”. But Pierson, who died today at age 87 after a short illness, didn’t even know if he would be allowed to keep it in the script that also has Donn Pearce credited; he was author of the original book in which the line doesn’t exist. Isn’t that always the way with such immortal lines? Thank God it was left in. It’s hard to imagine this great film without it.

Pierson was nominated for an Oscar in the adapted screenplay category for Cool Hand Luke. It was his second nomination there: Two years earlier, his script for the classic comedy Western Cat Ballou landed him his first nomination, even though, as he said, he was the “11th writer” on the project. But he was the one (with inspiration from the film’s “10th writer”, Walter Newman) who finally cracked it. turning the dramatic Western into a comedy. It won Lee Marvin the Best Actor Oscar and made a star out of a drunken cross-legged horse to whom Marvin offered half his Oscar. It too contained another now-famous line said by a young Jane Fonda: “You won’t make me cry. You’ll never make me cry”. And of course his Oscar-winning original screenplay Dog Day Afternoon (1975) saw Al Pacino chanting another famous phrase, “Attica! Attica!” According to movie lore though, that may have been improvised on set, but there can be no doubt whenever Pierson’s name was on a script it was bound to contain immortal bits of dialogue to go with great screenplay structure and high-class writing.

His films as a screenwriter included some very fine underrated movies in his later career like Presumed Innocent (1990), which starred Harrison Ford, and In Country (1989) with Bruce Willis. But for me, a nifty little 1971 caper picture starring Sean Connery, The Anderson Tapes, has become a hidden gem in the filmography of both Pierson and its director Sidney Lumet. Of course, they would collaborate four years later on Dog Day Afternoon, but check out Anderson, like Dog Day a great crime/heist picture but one that almost seems forgotten 40 years later. It shouldn’t be. Read More »

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EMMYS: Drama Series Nominations – ENTV Video

By ENTV YouTube | Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 7:45pm PDTTags: Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey, Emmy Awards, ENTV, Mad Men

Deadline’s Pete Hammond and Awardsline’s Christy Grosz discuss Emmys nominations for Drama Series (and a couple cases of category jumping that made a big difference) with ENTV YouTube channel host Brian Corsetti:

Watch video on YouTube

Related:
EMMYS: Comedy Series Nominations – ENTV Video
EMMYS: Reality Competition Series Nominations – ENTV … Read More »

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EMMYS ANALYSIS: Big Year For ‘Downton Abbey’, ‘Homeland’, ‘Girls’ & ‘Veep’; Not So Good For Commercial Broadcasters

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 12:32pm PDTTags: Downton Abbey, Emmys, Homeland, Mad Men
Nellie Andreeva

“I didn’t think this was gonna happen,” Mad Men creator Matt Weiner said in his acceptance speech when the AMC period drama won its fourth consecutive best drama series Emmy last September. Weiner should be even more concerned this year as two hot newcomers are entering the drama field: Downton Abbey, which switched from the movie/miniseries to the drama series category, and Homeland, which has dominated 2012 awards races to date. Mad Men kept its title as most nominated series with 17 noms but by a hair, with Downton Abbey right behind it with 16. Mad Men‘s other serious rival, Breaking Bad, had 13 nominations, followed by fellow best drama series nominees Boardwalk Empire (12), Game Of Thrones (11) and Homeland (9).

Related: 2012 EMMYS NOMINATIONS

A total of four first-time series contenders entered the Emmy race in a big way this year — Downton Abbey, Homeland and new HBO comedies Veep and Girls. Both comedies landed best series and best lead actress nominations for stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Lena Dunham, who also created Girls, and helped bring new blood to all series lead acting categories. Newbies Veep and Girls ended The Office‘s streak of six consecutive best comedy series nominations (and a win in 2006). The NBC comedy failed to make the top comedy category for its first season without original star Steve Carell. Also falling out was Greg Daniels’ other NBC series, Parks And Recreation, which didn’t make the cut after scoring its first best series Emmy nom last year. The rest of the best comedy series field was familiar: reigning champ Modern Family, which once again netted the most nominations for a comedy series with 14; HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, back from an 2011 Emmy hiatus; CBS’ The Big Bang Theory; and NBC’s 30 Rock.

Related: EMMY SNUBS: ‘The Good Wife’, ‘The Walking Dead’, ‘Sons Of Anarchy’, John Slattery…

Commercial broadcast TV made a major retreat in the top series categories, from seven nominations last year — all six comedy series noms and a drama mention for The Good Wife — to three this year. Those all came in the best comedy series category, with ad-supported broadcast nets shut out completely in the best drama series category for the first time.

HBO made a strong return to the top series categories with five best series nominees: dramas Boardwalk Empire and Game Of Thrones and comedies Curb Your Enthusiasm, Girls and Veep. It was the best showing for the pay cable network in the two categories and the first time it has landed three best comedy series contenders. Overall, HBO’s tally slid to 81 nominations this year from 104 in 2011, but it still led the network pack. Among the studios, 20th Century Fox TV was tops with 62 noms.

Downton Abbey and Modern Family dominated the series acting categories, with Downton scoring noms in all four categories, and Modern Family, whose actors submit themselves as supporting, once again getting its entire adult cast nominated.

Related: EMMYS: ‘Downton Abbey’ Makes Successful Leap With Drama Series Nomination Read More »

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EMMYS: Shake-Up In Comedy But Nominees Contain Few Real Surprises

By PETE HAMMOND | Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 7:40am PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey, Emmys, HBO, Jimmy Kimmel, Mad Men
Pete Hammond

I wouldn’t say there were a lot of surprises on this morning’s Emmy nominations list, although the comedy series categories offered a lot of fresh meat for the awards show. That is mostly supplied by HBO, which came roaring back in series competition garnering three of the six nods for comedy series – Curb Your Enthusiasm, Girls, and Veep for HBO joining ABC’s Modern Family, NBC’s 30 Rock, and CBS’ The Big Bang Theory – and two of the six for drama series with repeaters Game Of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire. That’s nearly half the complete combined total in those two areas. Don’t expect it to win any of them, though, with Outstanding Comedy Series likely going predictably to favored Modern Family for a third year in a row and Outstanding Drama Series likely going again to Mad Men, which had a sensational fifth season and which co-led the field of nominees with 17 mentions (tying Movie/Mini-Series contender American Horror Story).

Showtime’s Homeland, a critical favorite, could sweep in and upset Mad Men’s attempt to break a record for most Drama Series wins with five in a row. PBS’ switch of Downton Abbey from its winning perch as last year’s best Movie/Mini (see separate analysis here) to the Drama Series category is the great unknown here. The Academy’s continuing love affair with anything and everything British could provide trouble for Mad Men’s quest and steal it all too. Although this was the most predictable category in terms of nominations, it may turn out to be the least predictable in terms of a winner. A close contest could actually provide room for a real upset here — maybe AMC’s hugely deserving Breaking Bad breaking good with a first-time win in the top category? Just sayin’. It had an amazing fourth season and is back in the Emmy competition with its most nominations ever at 13 after being off the air and on the Emmy bench last year due to eligibility dates. Its star Bryan Cranston should easily be the favorite for Lead Actor in a Drama Series, which would be his fourth win since no actor from Mad Men ever seems to win anything. That includes star Jon Hamm, who apparently makes it look all too easy for Academy voters in the actors branch. Read More »

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‘American Horror Story’ & ‘Mad Men’ Lead 2012 Emmy Nominations: Summary

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 7:21am PDTTags: American Horror Story, Big Deals TV, Mad Men

17 Nominations
American Horror Story
Mad Men

16 Nominations
Downton Abbey
Hatfields & Mccoys

15 Nominations
Hemingway & Gellhorn

14 Nominations
Modern Family
Saturday Night Live

13 Nominations
Breaking Bad
Sherlock: A Scandal In Belgravia (Masterpiece)
30 Rock

12 Nominations
Boardwalk Empire
Game Change

11 Nominations
Game Of Thrones

9 Nominations
Homeland

8 Nominations
84Th Annual Academy Awards

7 Nominations
The Amazing Race
Dancing With The … Read More »

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EMMYS: Basic Cable Dramas’ Basic Problem Is A Lack Of Academy Love

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday June 11, 2012 @ 7:41pm PDTTags: Awardsline, Emmys, Mad Men, Men of a Certain Age, Rescue Me

Adam Buckman is a contributor to AwardsLine

Boardwalk EmpireThe Emmy Awards is a game of winners and losers — in most categories, one winner, four losers. But for a whole swath of contenders in the highly competitive drama categories — hour-long dramas on basic cable channels — the challenge is as simple as just being allowed in the final competition. Because while some of TV’s most compelling one-hour dramas are now found on channels that lay between the broadcast and premium networks, these shows are consistently left out in the cold come Emmy time.

The attention in the drama categories still consistently goes to drama series on pay cable channels or broadcast networks. Never mind the actual awards — actual nominations for dramatic series on basic cable, though not unheard of, are still few and far between even as the ranks of quality dramas on basic cable have swelled in recent seasons.

Related: EMMYS: Drama Series Overview

This lack of love from the Emmys doesn’t go unnoticed by producers of some of basic cable’s most critically acclaimed shows. “I’m a little bit rankled at the Television Academy and the Emmys because Rescue Me received so little recognition,” says Peter Tolan, executive producer of the drama series about a group of New York City firefighters that he co-created with comedian Denis Leary. Rescue Me ended its seven-season run on FX last September. Over the years, it received eight Emmy nominations, winning one — a guest-actor Emmy for Michael J. Fox. Leary was nominated once in the best dramatic actor category and lost. Read More »

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EMMYS: ‘Mad Men’ Storms TV Academy Hours Before Balloting Officially Begins

By PETE HAMMOND | Monday June 11, 2012 @ 5:03pm PDTTags: Academy Of Television Arts & Sciences, Christina Hendricks, Jon Hamm, Mad Men, Matt Weiner
Pete Hammond

Mad Men scored big in last night’s ratings race, gaining its biggest season-finale number and finishing its fifth season as the most-watched ever. But it also scored big at the TV Academy on Sunday night, when 150 members and their guests had to be turned away for an event that featured the screening of the final episode and a Q&A with creator Matt Weiner and cast members.  At least those 150 who didn’t get in didn’t go away empty-handed: Organizers gave them a jar of “Mad Men Olives” (the kind that go so well with those three-martini lunches) that was the parting gift for members of the audience. One woman, apparently confusing the Academy with Whole Foods Market, said she didn’t like olives and was wondering if she could exchange them for pickles.

Weiner, who flew in for the day from the North Carolina location of his feature directorial debut You Are Here and flew back right after the reception, had not wanted to screen the Season 5 finale in advance of its airing Sunday night but agreed it could be shown at this AMC-produced special event for Emmy voters (but not officially sanctioned by the Academy) two hours before airing on the East Coast. It was followed by the Q&A that also featured cast members Christina Hendricks, January Jones, John Slattery, Vincent Kartheiser, Jessica Pare, and Kiernan Shipka. Series star Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss and Jared Harris were advertised but all were said to be stuck overseas filming and didn’t make it. Read More »

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‘Mad Men’ Scores Most-Watched Season Finale; ‘True Blood’ Premiere Slightly Down

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday June 11, 2012 @ 1:14pm PDTTags: Longmire, Mad Men, Ratings, True Blood

The Season 5 finale of AMC’s Mad Men drew 2.7 million viewers last night, making it the most-watched season ender ever for the Emmy-winning drama. The total was up 11% compared with the fourth season’s final episode. Sunday’s numbers included … Read More »

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EMMYS: ‘Mad Men’s Jessica Paré

By PETE HAMMOND | Saturday June 9, 2012 @ 7:50pm PDTTags: Awardsline, Emmys, Jessica Pare, Mad Men
Pete Hammond

Boardwalk EmpireWhen Jessica Paré made her debut during the fourth season of Mad Men, few might’ve guessed she would emerge as one of the key characters on AMC’s multiple-Emmy-winning series. Least of all Paré. Still, at the end of that season she was engaged to Jon Hamm’s lead character, Don Draper, and in the current season five she has had many memorable scenes that have sparked plenty of talk that her performance may add to creator Matt Weiner’s Emmy haul.

AWARDSLINE: Did you have an idea when you joined the show that this would become a break-out character?
PARÉ: Oh God no! Absolutely not. I mean, as a fan of the show I’m sure you know that there are a lot of secretary characters that don’t really ever come to the forefront or have a storyline of their own necessarily. When I first auditioned, I used scenes from previous seasons. So I had no concept of what she was like at all. Never mind what her arc would be. So it was, well, excuse my profanity, it was fucking shocking!
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UPDATE: Dish Network Says It Will Drop AMC Networks Due To Price, Not VOOM

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Friday May 4, 2012 @ 10:49am PDTTags: AMC Networks, Dish Network, Mad Men

UPDATE, 10:50 AM: Dish says its customers will lose channels including AMC, IFC, WEtv, and Sundance at the end of June – but that’s “solely” due to “their high renewal cost when compared to their low viewership. Dish will make alternative high-value channels available to our customers as replacements.” Dish notes that the suite of network “overall have had significant declines in viewership among DISH subscribers.” What’s more, the networks’ hit shows including Mad Men are “available to our customers through multiple other outlets such as Amazon.com, iTunes and Netflix.” What about AMC Networks‘ charge that Dish is retaliating for the cable networks company’s breach of contract suit involving the VOOM HD channels? Dish says that’s “a separate matter.” The satellite company “decided to exercise its right to terminate the VOOM agreement. The questions involved in the discovery dispute do not change those facts.” Read More »

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January Jones And Ed Harris Star In ‘Sweetwater’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday April 17, 2012 @ 10:27am PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Ed Harris, January Jones, Mad Men
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Mad Men‘s January Jones and Ed Harris have signed to star in Sweetwater, a film that will be directed by Logan and Noah Miller and will start production July … Read More »

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‘Mad Men’s Jared Harris Books Lead In Hammer’s ‘The Quiet Ones’

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Monday April 16, 2012 @ 4:07am PDTTags: Hammer, Mad Men, The Quiet Ones

Jared Harris, who’ll next be seen in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, will star as an unorthodox professor in the latest production from the UK’s Hammer. Supernatural thriller/horror pic The Quiet Ones will be directed by Quarantine 2‘s John Pogue. Harris will … Read More »

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Mad Man Matt Weiner In Perilous Indie Film Territory – Interview

By PETE HAMMOND | Tuesday April 10, 2012 @ 6:04pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Big Deals TV, Jon Hamm, Lionsgate, Mad Men, Matt Weiner, Owen Wilson, Zach Galifianakis
Pete Hammond

When we began our interview, I asked Matt Weiner, “So all those Emmys aren’t good enough? You’re going for the Oscar now?” He laughed and said, “I don’t expect  to enter at that level but I’m getting to make something really important to me. So I’m really excited.” … Read More »

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New Mad Man Joins AMC Period Drama

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday March 30, 2012 @ 5:41pm PDTTags: AMC, Mad Men
Nellie Andreeva

Ben Feldman (Lifetime’s Drop Dead Diva) has quietly joined the cast of AMC’s hot drama series Mad Men for its current Season 5. Like everything related to Mad Man, Feldman’s character is shrouded in secrecy but I hear he is playing a … Read More »

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CAA Signs Kiernan Shipka, Better Known As Don Draper’s Daughter On ‘Mad Men’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday March 29, 2012 @ 7:09am PDTTags: CAA, Mad Men
Mike Fleming

CAA has signed Kiernan Shipka, who is back for the fifth season of AMC’s Mad Men and plays Sally Draper, daughter of iconic ad man Don Draper. The 12-year old Shipka has won two SAG Awards for her work on … Read More »

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