March 23, 2023 Breaking News, Latest News, and Videos

Emmys and the Resistance

By Steve Stajich

Full Disclosure: Just a few years back, I had certain feelings about awards and especially award broadcasts. There was always a vibe to the Oscars that made it feel as though a golden echelon of humanity got to live above the rest of us, concerned with campaigning for validation of their abilities even after they’d received ridiculous salaries and global attention for their work. The Emmys seemed to be the same, albeit on a smaller scale and having somewhat less impact on the planet.

Then about three years ago, I started to get nominated for a few awards for my theater writing and guess what? My attitude changed. Now I wanted to win a few, lose a few, and play whatever the game was. Productions of my plays outside of L.A. caused me to get attention for my work that I doubt will ever come right here “in town,” if you will. When a poster claimed I was an “award winning playwright” earlier this year, I thought, “Okay. They were smallish awards but they were given to me by some very nice people who were peers.” And if it helped sell tickets, then great!

So perhaps you should question any observations I make concerning last Sunday night’s Emmy Awards. That said, the Emmys this year seemed to be wrestling with at least three issues at the same time: The on-going dissonance between TV that is produced by networks and that which is produced and distributed by streaming sites, the hope of correcting past oversights of minorities by giving awards to artists representing those groups, and then Hollywood’s desire to keep bringing large audiences to the tent for their work despite feeling an obligation to fully state its resistance to the current administration in the White House.

The first two issues seemed to have been aggressively dealt with by last week’s Emmys. There were historical “firsts” for women, people of color, Muslim characters and storylines, and for the industry in general in terms of a “Best Drama” win for “The Handmaid’s Tale” which is distributed by a streaming site. But then something funny happened on the way to resisting our current President.

While jokes aimed at the President abounded, Emmy host Steven Colbert interacted with former White House press secretary Sean Spicer who made an appearance declaring something or other about the broadcast that was meant to align, I believe, with all the hokum (nee lies) Spicer was part of during his tenure. While reactions from the audience seemed to indicate that a memorable bit of comedy was in play, the laughs were not as robust as some had expected… and rightly so. That Spicer later attended the various Emmy galas and got more than his share of selfies with shiny stars didn’t help things much.

Some have said since that it was simply too early to use Spicer in a TV comedy bit. It wasn’t too early; it was wrong. I think it was just a little less wrong than when “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) yielded to the temptation to let the current President host that show when he was still running for office. But both mistakes were born of the same motivation: A desire to seek and get the free promotion that “viral” events get now in our Internet influenced culture.

New York Times columnist Frank Bruni was among those bumped by the Spicer inclusion in the Emmys. “It was precisely and perfectly emblematic of Trump’s all-out, continuing assault on facts and truth itself. And it signaled Spicer’s full collaboration in that war, which is arguably the most dangerous facet of Trump’s politics, with the most far reaching and long lasting consequences.”

Possibly anticipating that the next morning’s reviews might be harsh because of his show’s earlier deployment of Trump as ratings bait, longtime “SNL” director Don Roy King spoke backstage at the Emmys about the importance of comedy in a fraught political environment. “This year it felt different, more important, like we were holding people accountable, doing some healing” King said. Actor Alec Baldwin won an Emmy for playing Trump on “SNL” and Bruni wrote that the idea for including Spicer at the Emmys was “reportedly” Stephen Colbert’s. It’s all just one big funny mash-up…

So, should collaborators get access that unquestionably helps to normalize Trump’s “assault?” I feel I can state with a degree of certainty that any more air time for Anthony Scarramucci – even in podcasts – won’t help anybody do anything. But with Spicer and the Emmys my concern is for whatever soul one can fret about when it comes to show business. You can’t sell me that “resistance” to Trump from that which is called “Hollywood” can also employ any viral stunt it wants and still deliver a clear message. Back in the early 70s, cranky old Bob Hope used to do comedy sketches with various senior comic actors who would pretend to be “hippies”… you know, stoned and wearing bad wigs and flowery pants. Hope would ‘dis’ the anti-Vietnam war movement in prime time, then smile and think he was pulling the nation together with his comedy. It wasn’t comedy; it was agitprop for war. If Hollywood now truly wants to resist, then it first has to resist temptation and – thank you Nancy Reagan – just say “No” to exposure for the other side.

Related Posts

Column: SB 9 Ended R-1 Zoning, but It’s Not Meeting Goals

March 11, 2023

March 11, 2023

By Tom Elias More than a year after it took effect, the landmark housing density law known as SB 9...

SMa.r.t. Column: The Urgency to Retrofit Earthquake-Deficient Buildings

March 6, 2023

March 6, 2023

Recent early-morning tremors off the Malibu coast, and the huge and terrible earthquake in Turkey and Syria have made us...

SMa.r.t. Column: ​​Reinforcing the Future – A Revisit

February 27, 2023

February 27, 2023

Six years go we discussed, in these pages, the city’s then-renewed earthquake-retrofit rules. At the time we argued that the...

Column: The Inevitable Conversions Begin Multiplying

February 25, 2023

February 25, 2023

By Tom Elias It’s a phenomenon from New York to Dallas to Fresno and Los Angeles, one that seemed inevitable...

Column: The Fantasy World of California Housing Policy

February 20, 2023

February 20, 2023

By Tom Elias If you’re looking for sure things among bills under consideration in the state Legislature, think of one...

SMa.r.t. Column: Santa Monica City Council – Planners, Politicians, or Developers?

February 19, 2023

February 19, 2023

Santa Monica – a progressive city 20 years ago, a chaotic city today! A city that is struggling for its...

SMa.r.t. Column: What’s Wrong With This Picture?

February 16, 2023

February 16, 2023

The picture shown above is the future of Santa Monica. Large tall buildings along the Boulevards and Avenues plus Downtown...

SMa.r.t. Column: To a Better Housing Element

February 3, 2023

February 3, 2023

Your City is busy rewriting much of its zoning code to implement our new Housing Element as demanded by the...

Santa Monica Police Chief’s Message to the Community

January 30, 2023

January 30, 2023

January 27, 2023  Dear Santa Monica Community,  The Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) would like to extend our heartfelt condolences...

Column: State Usurping Key Powers From Cities

January 28, 2023

January 28, 2023

By Tom Elias All over California last fall, hundreds of the civic minded spent thousands of hours and millions of...

Column – A California Positive: Kids Swarm Extra Classes

January 24, 2023

January 24, 2023

By Tom Elias It’s become a cliché, the shibboleth that California has lousy public schools and most of the kids...

SMa.r.t. Column: Let’s Get Real and Apply Practical Common Sense

January 20, 2023

January 20, 2023

This week’s column is a letter to the City Council, written by Arthur Jeon and sent in this past week....

SMa.r.t. Column: Water Water Everywhere

January 13, 2023

January 13, 2023

The new year has started with water, lots of WATER. The west coast and particularly central and northern California have...

S.M.a.r.t. Looks Ahead

December 31, 2022

December 31, 2022

It’s that time of the year again, when people and organizations look ahead and make resolutions to try to do...

SMa.r.t. Column: Refugees in our Midst

December 22, 2022

December 22, 2022

We published this article exactly five years ago. We leave it to the reader to consider whether this article is...