Lifestyle
Tired of waiting for the delayed Emmys? Our TV critic presents The Deggy Awards
So what if the second season of The Bear isn’t eligible for Monday’s Emmys? The annual, imaginary Deggy Awards aren’t concerned with arbitrary cutoffs or categories. Above, Jeremy Allen White and Molly Gordon in The Bear, Season 2.
Chuck Hodes/FX
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Chuck Hodes/FX
So what if the second season of The Bear isn’t eligible for Monday’s Emmys? The annual, imaginary Deggy Awards aren’t concerned with arbitrary cutoffs or categories. Above, Jeremy Allen White and Molly Gordon in The Bear, Season 2.
Chuck Hodes/FX
There may not be a more confusing time for the 75th Emmy awards to take the stage.
That’s because 2023’s Emmys ceremony, delayed by the Hollywood writers and performers strikes to Monday, Jan. 15, will probably wind up honoring a different set of TV episodes than the programs honored a day earlier by the Critics’ Choice Awards or this past Sunday by the Golden Globes.
Let’s look at FX’s The Bear – a searing drama with touches of humor, already confusingly classified as a comedy. It’s nominated at the Emmys for its first season, which aired before the May 31, 2023, cutoff for the current nominees. But at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, The Bear is judged on episodes from its second season, which dropped on Hulu June 22, because those shows can honor anything that aired in 2023.
Jamie Lee Curtis as Carmy’s mother, Donna, in Season 2 of The Bear.
Chuck Hodes/FX
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Jamie Lee Curtis as Carmy’s mother, Donna, in Season 2 of The Bear.
Chuck Hodes/FX
(So please, don’t send me any emails or social media posts complaining that Jamie Lee Curtis got robbed at the Emmys. Her excellent turn in The Bear‘s second season as Carmy Berzatto’s unhinged mom won’t be eligible until this fall, when she will likely scoop up all the flowers she deserves at the 76th Emmy awards.)
All this serves as a poignant argument for why the Emmys academy (officially known as the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences) might need a little help picking out the best TV performances in a turbulent year. Yes, TV fanatics, it’s time for my own, annual – strike-delayed – edition of The Deggys.
Improving the Emmys with The Deggys
Through tireless TV watching and a know-it-all critic’s stubborn insistence that my opinion can kickstart a fun pop culture conversation, I’ve managed to turn The Deggys into something of an NPR tradition. The rules are pretty simple – there aren’t many. That’s because too often those knuckleheaded requirements – like cutoff dates for when series are eligible – can keep the most deserving efforts from the winners circle. Not on my watch, pal.
Here’s is where I get to dish on what should and will win, with few-holds-barred and a skeptical eye out for groupthink and prevailing trends.
As a bonus, this can be your handy guide to what’s worth watching on TV from 2023 that you might have missed. So let’s get into it!
Best Drama Series
Nominees: Andor (Disney+), Better Call Saul (AMC), The Crown (Netflix), House of the Dragon (HBO), The Last of Us (HBO), Succession (HBO), The White Lotus (HBO), Yellowjackets (Showtime).
And the Deggy goes to … Succession.
Matthew MacFadyen and Sarah Snook in HBO’s Succession.
HBO
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Matthew MacFadyen and Sarah Snook in HBO’s Succession.
HBO
One of the toughest things to do in television is to provide a finale that is surprising, thrilling, appropriate and completely true-to-form for a high-quality series that, frankly, every fan on the planet has already gamed out with their own proposed endings. But somehow, creator/showrunner Jesse Armstrong and the crew at Succession pulled it off, denying Jeremy Strong’s man-child Kendall control of the family-run, Murdoch-ish media behemoth, while staying true to the series’ incisive look at a corrosive family and America’s dysfunctional political/business systems.
I also wonder if Emmy voters will even remember some of these competing series enough to consider them seriously as contenders. Disney+’s Star Wars spinoff Andor debuted in September 2022; Better Call Saul concluded its stellar run with a mesmerizing finale in August 2022. Good as some of these other contenders were, none of them achieved what Succession did in a final season where sticking the landing justified the obsessive focus so many of us had on this show from its very first season.
OK, but who will actually win? That’s also Succession. For years now, I’ve been giving away my big secret for predicting awards show winners, which involves looking at the list of most-nominated programs overall. That tells you what the voting body thinks of each series, and Succession has the most nominations of any series this time around at 27 – including nominations for just about every major performer on the program. So it seems like the Emmy academy is tracking with my own taste on this one, despite strong competition from The Last of Us (24 nominations) and The White Lotus (23 nominations).
Best Comedy Series
Nominees: Abbott Elementary (ABC), Barry (HBO), The Bear (FX/Hulu), Jury Duty (Peacock), The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Prime Video), Only Murders in the Building (Hulu), Ted Lasso (Apple TV+), Wednesday (Netflix).
And the Deggy goes to … The Bear
Jeremy Allen White as Carmy Berzatto in The Bear.
Chuck Hodes/FX
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Jeremy Allen White as Carmy Berzatto in The Bear.
Chuck Hodes/FX
This, of course, is the reason why FX decided to place the show in this category, where its gritty emotionalism would stand out, away from the cage match of Succession vs. White Lotus vs. The Last of Us. Normally, I wouldn’t reward such shenanigans, but The Bear is a show which has flowered mightily over two seasons, finding its voice while speaking on issues of class, race, capitalism, and found family vs the biological kind, and the scars each can leave. That edges it past Ted Lasso‘s less-assured third season (Apple TV+ still won’t even say if that was the show’s finale run) and inspired-yet-not-quite transcendent turns from Only Murders in the Building and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Runner-up: Barry, which turned TV upside down with so much of its production and content. But the finale was even grimmer than The Bear, and left me less excited about the show overall.
OK, but who will actually win? Ted Lasso. Looking at the total nominations, Ted Lasso has nearly twice the number as The Bear (21 versus 13). And in this oddball, delayed Emmycast, Ted Lasso‘s finale season, which wrapped up May 31, is competing against The Bear‘s first season, which was a little less impressive than its world-building, cameo-filled second go-round. Fortunately, the Deggys can cut through all that deadline stuff to focus on the episodes which aired in 2023.
Best Limited or Anthology Series
Nominees: Beef (Netflix), Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer series (Netflix), Daisy Jones & the Six (Prime Video), Fleishman Is in Trouble (FX), Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney+)
And the Deggy goes to … Beef.
Steven Yeun as Danny in Beef.
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Steven Yeun as Danny in Beef.
Andrew Cooper/Netflix
For me, it’s not even close. This gonzo look at how an incident of road rage in a parking lot spirals into a blood feud that exposed the hollow hypocrisy of two lives – in the process taking on everything from Asian American family culture to runaway capitalism and forgiveness – is one of the most unexpected pleasures of last year’s TV season. Add in Steven Yeun and Ali Wong acting their behinds off – yes, they’re getting Deggys for best actor and actress in a limited series, to go with their Golden Globe wins – and you have an undeniable triumph. Which is why…
OK, who will actually win? Beef, once again. Mostly because it doesn’t have the moral complications of elevating a serial killer like the Dahmer series, or the uneven story of Daisy Jones and Fleishman or the inexplicable nomination of a moribund Star Wars series in Obi-Wan Kenobi. Even the Emmy academy can’t mess up this category that badly. I hope.
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama
Nominees: Aubrey Plaza, The White Lotus; Elizabeth Debicki, The Crown; J. Smith-Cameron, Succession; Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus; Meghann Fahy, The White Lotus; Rhea Seehorn, Better Call Saul; Sabrina Impacciatore, The White Lotus; Simona Tabasco, The White Lotus.
And the Deggy goes to … Elizabeth Debicki, J. Smith-Cameron AND Rhea Seehorn.
Elizabeth Debicki in The Crown
Netflix
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Netflix
Elizabeth Debicki in The Crown
Netflix
Didn’t I say there were few rules here? This follows in a couple of Deggy traditions, handing an award to Seehorn — an actor criminally overlooked by the Emmys during her time on Better Call Saul – and giving multiple honors to deserving nominees in the same category (still waiting on my “thank you” from Steve Martin and Martin Short for 2022, by the way).
Rhea Seehorn in Better Call Saul.
Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures TV
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Rhea Seehorn in Better Call Saul.
Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures TV
But these performers all turned in mind-boggling performances this cycle, from Smith-Cameron’s exasperated, always-surviving underling Gerri to Debicki’s spellbinding ability to embody Princess Diana without ever looking like she was delivering an impression or mimicry. And Seehorn already has a Deggy for her bravura performance as Kim Wexler, a woman who decided to save her soul by leaving behind a man she loved. Fortunately, for the Deggys, I don’t have to pick between them.
OK, who will actually win? Jennifer Coolidge. The Emmy academy loves her take on The White Lotus‘ needy, self-absorbed heiress Tanya McQuoid. And since she – spoiler alert – dies in the most recent episodes, this is the last chance to get a show-stopping Coolidge acceptance speech in the telecast.
Best Talk Series
Nominees: The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Comedy Central), Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC), Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC), The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS), The Problem with Jon Stewart (Apple TV+).
And the Deggy goes to … Late Night with Seth Meyers and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
Seth Meyers on Dec. 13, 2023.
Lloyd Bishop/NBC
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Seth Meyers on Dec. 13, 2023.
Lloyd Bishop/NBC
This time around, the Emmy academy rejiggered its rules so Oliver, who wins this category most every year, would be shunted off to compete against Saturday Night Live, which always wins its category, Scripted Variety Series. But Meyers’ and Oliver’s shows belong in the same category, so I’m undoing that nonsense. Oliver deliberately tackles some of the toughest topics on television and makes them entertaining, insightful and impactful (please check out this one on freight trains, this one on dollar stores and this story on how they hijacked New Zealand’s Bird of the Century contest). Meyers seems to relax into his own skin more every season, offering incisive political takes with an ease and charm that impresses.
Honorable mention/shoutout: The Daily Show, which has reinvented itself every week to accommodate guest hosts since Trevor Noah left the program in late 2022. And props to every show nominated, which saw new episodes halted for months by the Hollywood writers strike, just as questions about the survival of the genre have grown.
OK, so who will actually win? Colbert in his category and Oliver in his. Because Emmy loves those guys in ways they have certainly earned.
In the year since his death, there has been no hard pivot at Armani. The shadow of the founder has stayed in place over the Milan HQ, where the brand seems happy to leave it. Armani is not just plumbing the past for continued inspiration, it’s reselling it.
Today, Giorgio Armani is announcing Archivio, a grouping of 13 men’s and women’s looks, plucked from the brand’s back catalog and remade for today. (And, yes, at today’s prices.) There’s a jacket in pinstriped alpaca of 1979 vintage; a buttery one-and-a-half breasted jacket with a maitre d’s flair that first appeared in 1987; and an unstructured silk-linen suit that will activate ’90s flashbacks for die-hard Armani clients and those who want to capture that era’s nostalgia. The advertising campaign was shot and styled by Eli Russell Linnetz, who has his own label, ERL, but always seems to be the first call brands make when they want sultry photos with the aura of Details magazine circa 1995. (He did a similar thing for Guess recently.)
Linnetz’s images are a reminder of how Armani’s work still reverberates decades later.
Archivio is also a canny recognition of what shoppers crave now. On the resale market, Armani wares are as coveted as can be. Every week it seems as if I get an email from Ndwc0, a British vintage store, announcing a new drop of meaty-shouldered ’90s Armani power suits. They sell for less than $500. At Sorbara’s in Brooklyn, you can buy a tan Giorgio Armani vest for $225.
That vintage-mad audience is in Armani’s sights: To introduce the collection, it’s staging an installation, opening today, at Giorgio Armani’s Milan boutique. It will feature the hosts of “Throwing Fits,” a New York-based podcast whose hosts wear vintage Armani button-ups and shout out stores like Sorbara’s.
It’s prudent, if a bit disconnected. Part of the charm of old Armani is that it can be found on the cheap. I’m wearing a pair of vintage Giorgio Armani corduroys as I write this. I bought them for $76 on eBay. Archivio is reverent, but its prices, which range from $1,025 to $12,000, may scare off shoppers willing to do the searching themselves.
If you ask me, the next frontier of this archive fixation is that a brand — and a big one — will release a mountain of genuine vintage pieces. J. Crew and Banana Republic have tried this at a small scale, but a luxury house like Armani hasn’t gone there. Yet. Eventually, Armani (or a brand like it) is going to grab hold of the market that exists around its brand, but through which it gets no cut.
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Lifestyle
The story behind this rare architectural speaker from cult Japanese fashion brand TheSoloist
This story is part of Image’s April’s Thresholds issue, a tour of L.A. architecture as it’s actually experienced.
You hear it before you see it.
Turning the corner of the 15th floor corridor of the historic American Cement Building, a low thrum of electronic sounds seeps through the door of Archived, an L.A. luxury vintage curator. Inside, standing 43 inches tall, a silver speaker from Takahiro Miyashita’s brand TheSoloist vibrates high fidelity through the showroom.
Constructed of 3D-printed polycarbonate resin and aluminum, with a wide amp frequency range of 20Hz to 25KHz, the object looks less like a speaker and more like a relic of time. It is an artifact set in concrete, chiseled away to reveal a replica of the Flatiron Building in New York City. Containing seven audio channels and two bass speakers, its vibrations can be felt against the skin.
Dream Liu, along with his partner Marquel Williams, founded Archived in 2019 to resell rare vintage collectibles. Their designer wardrobe houses some of the most sought after pieces in the industry — like a 1990 Chrome Hearts biker jacket— but the collection of homeware, including a Giovanni Tommaso Garattoni glass chair or a Saint Laurent arcade machine, is what greets you when you walk in. “That’s one way we stand out from all the other archival brands,” Liu says. “We’re very much deep into everything design-related, not just fashion.”
Liu first encountered TheSoloist speaker a few years ago at the home of a friend, a lighting designer working in music who he admired. The speaker, he says, lived at the back of his mind ever since. Archived eventually sourced it directly through TheSoloist’s manufacturer, now acting as an intermediary seller. Only a few hundred of the silver color-way, on display in the showroom, were produced. Even fewer exist of the black, for sale on their website for $9,500.
Miyashita, the cult Japanese designer behind early-2000s punk label Number (N)ine and later TheSoloist, is known for fusing meticulous Japanese craftsmanship with distinctly American motifs. The speaker, for instance, pays homage to New York City, where he opened his original store. Without even seeing a single garment, his style is clear: avant-garde, grunge and very rock ’n’ roll.
(Archived)
Six months ago, Archived opened its MacArthur Park showroom, a brightly lit loft with exposed beams, floor-to-ceiling windows and a panoramic view of downtown. Today they are a team of about six people. Distinctive objects like TheSoloist speaker are an extension of not only the brand’s imprint, but the architecture that houses it. “The speaker fits perfectly into this space.”
Archived, whose clientele consists mostly of celebrities and high-profile curators such as Timothée Chalamet, Travis Scott and Don Toliver, sources its pieces through consignments from sellers and endless hours spent hunting across international marketplaces. When it comes to selecting which piece makes it to the floor, Liu looks for collectible items and whatever fits the brand’s taste, which can be described as minimal avant-garde with a touch of fine craftsmanship.
“Nothing is random,” Liu says. Every item at Archived has a story, from the Giseok Kim aluminum shelf where an unworn pair of 2005 reconstructed Nike Dunks are displayed, to the Marc Newson racks which archival Rick Owens hangs off.
The speaker is valuable, Liu admits, because of Miyashita’s reputation as one of the greats, placing him alongside designers like Jun Takahashi and Yohji Yamamoto. “Our audience knows his designs and all of his great collections,” he says. “So the speaker itself speaks volumes.”
Originally from West Palm Beach, Fla., Liu moved to California to study fashion merchandising at FIDM in San Diego. Before that, he had dabbled in architecture. “It’s always been in the back of my mind,” he says.
Liu said he recognizes that designers, after a time, get fatigued with profit-driven conglomerates and begin to delve into other art forms. “Fashion is just another art form, and I think eventually, when [designers] tire of making clothes — Helmut Lang as an example, even Tom Ford — they transition to art.”
If the nature of design is building upon and taking from existing works, then creating an archival space is collecting pieces of history. “Everything is a reference point,” Liu says. “Every piece here has made an impact on the current climate of fashion.”
To Liu, items like the speaker are worthy of preservation because some of them are only getting rarer and rarer to find. “Pieces like this deserve to be presented properly, and be in spaces that reflect the caliber of the clothing,” he says. “You can put random objects in a beautiful space and that object becomes important.”
The scene recalled the frenzy that unfolds backstage during fashion week: On a recent Monday, in a room full of clothing racks, the stylist Micaela Erlanger was working alongside a team of tailors and assistants. But they were not preparing for your average fashion show.
Ms. Erlanger and the group had assembled at her studio in Manhattan to prepare looks for the actress Meryl Streep, Ms. Erlanger’s client of 11 years, to wear during the press tour for “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” the buzzy sequel to a beloved film set at a fictionalized version of a certain glossy fashion magazine.
In the sequel, Ms. Streep steps back into the stilettos of Miranda Priestly, the publication’s glamorous editor in chief. She stars alongside Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt, who also reprise their roles as Andrea Sachs and Emily Charlton, characters who served as Miranda’s assistants in the original film. Based on a novel and released in 2006, it has become a cult favorite among serious and casual followers of fashion alike.
To prime fans for the sequel, Ms. Streep has appeared on the cover of Vogue and, along with some of her co-stars, has traveled to Mexico, South Korea, China and Japan in recent weeks for premieres. On Monday, cast members appeared in New York, and they will travel to London for more events before “The Devil Wears Prada 2” is widely released on May 1.
Each affair has offered the cast members a chance to turn heads in finery on par with the clothing worn by the characters they play in the movie. Balenciaga, Chanel, Valentino and — yes — Prada are just some of the labels they have sported as they have traveled the globe.
To pull off this fashion feat — and to avoid any style faux pas — Ms. Erlanger, 40, has been in constant communication with Erin Walsh, 43, Ms. Hathaway’s stylist of seven years, and Jessica Paster, 60, who has been styling Ms. Blunt for going on two decades. The women have been operating as something of a hive mind for months, sharing details of the actresses’ looks — the brands, the accessories, the color palettes — in group chats, calls and conversations on the sidelines of runway shows.
“I got to see Erin and Micaela at fashion shows,” Ms. Paster said. “We would whisper: ‘I like that. I like that. I like this. I like that.’”
In a conversation that has been edited and condensed, Ms. Paster, Ms. Erlanger and Ms. Walsh discussed their collaborative relationship, the stakes of styling press tours and the ways they have used fashion to build hype for “The Devil Wears Prada 2.”
How have you each approached dressing your client for the press tour?
MICAELA ERLANGER With Meryl, we leaned into this idea of powerful silhouettes and shapes that you haven’t necessarily seen her in. This is a fashion movie — we’re leaning into it. I would say that there are a lot of references that the fashion community will appreciate and enjoy. We have not just been referencing the first film, but referencing references within the film. I call it “meta dressing.”
JESSICA PASTER You have to remember that Emily Charlton was an assistant 20 years ago. She has evolved. So I’m approaching her as a little stronger — a girl with power. She doesn’t need to borrow clothes anymore. Designers are now giving her the clothes, and she’s out buying clothes.
ERIN WALSH I guess I am hesitant to tell you a theme. I don’t want to encapsulate it. Ultimately, it’s always about how we make a person feel their very best.
You said you communicate via group text. What are you saying to one another?
ERLANGER We have been, from logistics to creative, kind of strategizing among ourselves. What look works best here or there? What’s the other person wearing? Will they look great together?
PASTER I remember one text among us was like: “I’m thinking red. I’m thinking a little burgundy red. And I’m thinking red, too. Is it weird that they’re all wearing red?” I said, “No, let’s lean into that, and let’s do it all in red.”
What we do is make a picture more beautiful. If we have two people who are wearing red, and one is wearing white or purple or black, that is the girl that should be in the middle of a photo. It’s not about, “My girl needs to be in the middle.” If something goes viral, it’s going to help Erin; it’s going to help me; it’s going to help Micaela; and it’s going to help the movie because it gets everyone buzzing and excited.
WALSH With our job, there are always curveballs thrown your way. By working together, we can better navigate any kind of situation in a joyful way without having breakdowns.
Styling has a competitive aspect, in that there are only so many looks, and everyone can’t always get what she wants. How are you navigating that together?
PASTER There are a lot of stories about stylists competing with each other. We’re not. We are so busy. We do not have time. Micaela is calling me because she needs something. I have so many questions to ask Erin and Micaela. If one of these two girls needs me, I will be there for them.
WALSH Removing anything competitive or not collaborative from the equation makes us stronger. It makes our work better.
ERLANGER Collaboration also benefits our clients. Everybody wins when we are aligned.
I’m curious, where were you in your careers when the original “The Devil Wears Prada” premiered?
ERLANGER We have stages of our careers that directly relate back to the first movie. I was an intern at Condé Nast, the company that owns Vogue.
WALSH I was an assistant at Vogue when it came out. I watched Anne onscreen. “The Devil Wears Prada” I knew, you know, in my skin.
PASTER I was a stylist, and, in fact, I was trying to get Emily Blunt as a client.
Modern press tours can involve several premieres in addition to other events. How has that changed how you work?
ERLANGER Social media has made every moment a photo op. Even if it is a junket day when your clients are sitting in a room for on-camera interviews, those pictures get picked up. So every single moment has become press-worthy. And, therefore, there’s more intentionality behind what clients are wearing.
PASTER People forget that we just can’t bring in a dress or two, bust out a look and call it a day. Micaela and Erin are going with nine suitcases all over the world to fit their girls, and I have two trips of fittings in Ireland.
What clothes have you been wearing during the press tour?
WALSH You’ve got to look the part. I tend to, in these situations, reach for more empowering pieces, like a shoulder pad and heels. I don’t work in flats.
ERLANGER I need a flat, and I kind of want to be more comfortable. I’m in jeans and a blazer and a button down and a flat.
PASTER I’m working in sweats and with my hair in a bun.
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