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“Adolescence,” “The White Lotus,” “Severance,” and “The Penguin” are among the top contenders at the upcoming Emmy Awards, the television industry’s most prestigious ceremony.
Owen Cooper, the 15-year-old British star of “Adolescence,” the Netflix series centered on a teenager accused of murdering a classmate, is in contention to become the youngest male actor ever to win an Emmy.
Separately, a campaign spearheaded by US chat show hosts following the cancellation of “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert could potentially see the program awarded outstanding talk series for the first time.
The ceremony is scheduled to take place on Sunday evening at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles.
“The Studio,” “Andor,” “Hacks,” “Slow Horses,” “The Bear,” “Nobody Wants This,” and “The Last of Us” are also competing for the evening’s top honors.
Here’s a comprehensive preview of television’s biggest night:
US comedian Nate Bargatze will serve as this year’s Emmys host.
While perhaps not a household name in the UK, Bargatze is a familiar face to American audiences, having sold more tickets to his shows than any other stand-up comedian in the US last year.
In addition to his own stand-up specials, Bargatze has made appearances on a range of late-night talk shows, including those hosted by Seth Meyers, Conan O’Brien, and Jimmy Fallon, as well as the variety show “Saturday Night Live.”
The 46-year-old is not expected to emulate Ricky Gervais with a potentially controversial opening monologue. He is recognized as a more family-friendly comedian, known for his observational humor.
Bargatze has expressed his “huge honour” in hosting the event, and has devised some intriguing rules. He intends to inform nominees that he will donate $100,000 to charity on the night, with the donation decreasing for any acceptance speech exceeding the allotted time.
“Is thanking your second manager worth taking food from a child?” he quipped. “I don’t think so, but we’ll see what Hollywood thinks.”
The Emmy Awards divide their nominations into three primary categories: comedy, drama, and limited series.
Outstanding drama is typically regarded as the most prestigious award of the evening. This year’s field is particularly open, given the absence of last year’s winner, “Shogun,” which is not yet in production for its next season.
Instead, this year’s contenders include the wealth satire “The White Lotus”, the Star Wars spin-off “Andor”, the dystopian drama “Paradise”, and the sci-fi thriller “Severance.”
Also nominated in the category are the video game adaptation “The Last of Us”, the medical series “The Pitt,” the espionage drama “Slow Horses”, and the political thriller “The Diplomat.”
In the comedy categories, two former winners are vying to reclaim their titles: the kitchen drama “The Bear” and the entertainment satire “Hacks.”
Their competition includes the school-based “Abbott Elementary”, the romantic comedy “Nobody Wants This,” and the crime mystery “Only Murders in the Building.”
The category is rounded out by the vampire mockumentary “What We Do in the Shadows,” the therapist comedy “Shrinking,” and the Hollywood satire “The Studio”.
Meanwhile, the limited and anthology series category is headlined by “Adolescence”, a show known both for its one-take shooting style and its exploration of the impact of smartphones on teenagers.
It faces competition from the dystopian “Black Mirror,” the Batman spin-off “The Penguin”, the erotic cancer comedy “Dying for Sex,” and the true-crime adaptation “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”
At 15, Cooper would not be the youngest winner for acting in Emmys history. That record is held by Roxana Zal who was 14 when she won in 1984 for her role in TV movie Something About Amelia.
Other notable teenage winners over the years include Kristy McNichol and Scott Jacoby, while the list of youngest nominees includes Frankie Muniz, Claire Danes, Millie Bobby Brown and Keshia Knight Pulliam, who was just six when she was nominated for The Cosby Show.
But Cooper would be the youngest ever winner in his category – best supporting actor in a limited series – as well as the youngest male winner overall in any acting category.
Other supporting actors and actresses nominated at the Emmys this year include Aimee Lou Wood, Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Catherine O’Hara, Sam Rockwell, Colman Domingo, Harrison Ford, Javier Bardem and Erin Doherty.
In the lead categories, nominees include Cate Blanchett, Jake Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell, Ayo Edebiri, Jean Smart, Kathy Bates, Jeremy Allen White, Bella Ramsey, Gary Oldman, Pedro Pascal, Michelle Williams and Stephen Graham.
There is also considerable attention surrounding the variety talk series category this year, following a turbulent period for the late-night circuit.
CBS announced in July that it would be cancelling “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert, which he has hosted since 2015.
The network cited a financial decision, but the announcement was met with surprise within the industry, given the show’s relative popularity. Some speculated that political pressure may have contributed to the cancellation.
Other talk show hosts, including some of Colbert’s fellow nominees, have publicly expressed their support, stating that they will be voting for him at this year’s Emmys and encouraging others to do the same.
A billboard ad in West Hollywood, commissioned last month by Jimmy Kimmel, one of Colbert’s rivals in the category, featured the talk show host declaring: “I’m voting for Stephen.”
“The Late Show” already secured its first Emmy last week, winning a directing prize at the Creative Arts Emmys, a separate ceremony held prior to the main event.
The ceremony will commence at 17:00 PT / 20:00 ET on Sunday, which translates to 01:00 BST on Monday for UK viewers.
US viewers can watch the event live on CBS or via the streaming service Paramount+.
In the UK, the broadcast will begin at 01:00 BST on Monday morning. However, no British broadcaster is currently scheduled to provide live coverage.
Nevertheless, the BBC News website will offer live coverage throughout the red carpet arrivals and the ceremony itself.
Given the extensive number of categories at the Emmys, many awards have already been presented, leaving only the most prominent categories for Sunday night’s event.
The remaining winners were announced over two evenings at last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys. Details of the winners can be found here (night one) and here (night two).
Read more about the nominated shows:
If he wins, the 15-year-old Brit will be the youngest male winner of an acting Emmy.
Test how closely you’ve been paying attention to what has been going on over the past seven days.
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