BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA — The hunt for the next “Game of Thrones”-style fantasy blockbuster, the battle for eyeballs in an ever-evolving media universe, and the thin line between current controversies and TV were all part of what jumped out as the Television Critics Association 2019 summer press tour swung into gear.
Twice a year, TV critics and reporters gather in Los Angeles, to hear network executives, producers, writers and stars talk about new and returning shows. For journalists, the press tours offer a chance to cut through the overwhelming clutter of content, and hear from those involved in programming and making shows about why we should care. For TV professionals, the tour is a way to spotlight what they’re excited about and concerned about.
Here are highlights from the summer TV press tour, so far:
Current affairs meets TV: Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has been responsible for many thought-provoking PBS series exploring history and how race has become a politically divisive issue in American culture. He was at the tour again to discuss the upcoming sixth season of “Finding Your Roots,” the series in which celebrities learn about their ancestors and family history.
After talking about the new round of “Finding Your Roots” episodes, with Justina Machado (“One Day at a Time”) and Sasheer Zamata (“Saturday Night Live”), who are both among the guests in the new season, Gates was asked about contemporary controversies over immigration, and the U.S. role in absorbing newcomers.
Answering the question, Gates alluded to how, in addition to producing “Finding Your Roots,” his production company also makes PBS series exploring black history, as with the recent “Reconstruction: America After the Civil War.”
‘Reconstruction: America After the Civil War’: PBS documentary explores events that still divide the country
In the four-hour, two-part documentary, “Reconstruction: America After the Civil War,” Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and other historians shed light on one of the least understood, but most painfully significant, chapters in U.S. history.
“Reconstruction was about 12 years of black freedom immediately following by the Civil War, followed by an alt-right rollback,” Gates said. That sound familiar to anybody? Who is an American?”
Continuing in that vein, Gates spoke about the history of the Reconstruction era.
“As you well know, after 1877, the South rose again. Cotton still needed to be picked. Cotton remained the leading export in the United States through the 1930s. They needed a cheap source of labor, so they instituted sharecropping. They instituted convict leasing. If you could see black men idling on the street, you could arrest them, put them on a chain gang. Why? To go pick that cotton. The sharecropping system was slavery by another name.”
Gates went on, “And then they invented voter suppression. Each southern state rewrote their constitution, starting in 1890, with Mississippi.” The movement was to, Gates said, “disenfranchise all these black men who had gotten the right to vote with the 15th Amendment, aided and abetted by a conservative Supreme Court, which in the year 1873, declared the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional.”
Again, Gates indicated the parallels between then and now.
“Sound familiar?” he said. “We are reliving the rollback to Reconstruction.”
Gates went on to link the election of Barack Obama to the present moment, with its racial divisions and conflicts.
The election of Obama, Gates said, led to articles “about the end of race and the end of racism.”
That was then, Gates said. “Nobody believes that now.” The presence of the Obama family in the White House inspired many to take hope.
In contrast, Gates said, “so many others of our fellow Americans were profoundly disturbed by that. And the demons of white supremacy that we thought had been long dead and buried started to come up out of the ground like a bad B-film zombie movie. And that’s what we’re fighting today.”
Gates said he hoped Ken Burns’ new “Country Music” documentary, like “Finding Your Roots,” will help reveal the reality that lives beyond the stereotypes.
Ken Burns on new ‘Country Music’ documentary: ‘You join a family’ when you become a country music fan
The PBS documentary series, “Country Music,” tells the story of the forces that built this “mutt” and “mongrel” American sound.
“That will, I think, do a lot to show our common bonds between people with different geographical backgrounds who might like different kind of music but who are Americans, and love freedom, and love the idea of well, love the idea of defending the ideals of our country just like we do,” said Gates. “And that’s why we need programs like ‘Finding Your Roots,’ because we have to fight those forces that are trying to tear us apart.”
Fantasy Hopes: No matter how you felt about the final season, HBO’s “Game of Thrones” was an epic success. No wonder streamers and other networks are scrambling, trying to find another fantasy series to fill the gap left by the departure of George R.R. Martin’s vision.
Obviously, HBO isn’t snoozing on the job, and has a spinoff/prequel in the works. In the meantime, Amazon Prime Video has been dropping vague hints about its “Lord of the Rings” series for a while now.
Though Amazon top brass — including Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, Albert Cheng, COO and co-head of television with Amazon Studios and Vernon Sanders, co-head of television for Amazon Studios – took questions during the press tour executive session, details about “The Lord of the Rings” series were scarce.
For example, Cheng said they wouldn’t confirm where the series will shoot.
OK, then. How about telling us when the tale is set?
“We’ve already shared with the fans,” Sanders said, “that it will be during the Second Age.”
As the journalist asking about it said, “The Second Age is 3,441 years long.”
Specifics? Nope. Sanders merely said, “Correct,” as some in attendance laughed, and we learned zippo
“That’s a tiny expanse of time in the ‘Lord of The Rings’ saga,” Salke said.
So, in other words, don’t hold your breath waiting for specifics on Amazon Prime Video’s “Lord of the Rings” series.
After controversy, ‘Transparent’ will end with a main character’s death and a musical finale: ‘We had to come back to joy’
A morning packed with panels on Amazon Prime Video shows included the cast and creators of “Transparent” discussing how the show will handle the death of Jeffrey Tambor’s character.
Competing for viewers: Though the streaming giant, Netflix, didn’t present any panels or executive sessions, there was plenty of talk about why viewers should watch fill-in-the-blank, instead of the throw-everything-at-the-wall Netflix approach.
Sarah Barnett, president of AMC Networks Entertainment group, referred to “the crazy volume of content today, as well as the rapidly changing nature of content platforms,” while noting that what remains constant is showcasing great work.
Craig Erwich, Hulu’s senior vice president for originals, said, “In the television business, the need to stand out is greater than ever. As creative executives, we love and quite frankly need these giant undeniable television events that have the muscle to break through in the marketplace.”
In addition to events, Erwich said, “Another way to cut through the noise is to bring razor-sharp original voices to television. And we’ve done that very well within our comedy brand, with the debut of ‘Shrill, ‘Ramy,’ and the Emmy-nominated ‘Pen15.’”
Such shows help build the Hulu comedy brand, Erwich said. “Audiences are not just coming for one show. They’re coming for our entire comedy slate. Nearly half of ‘Shrill”’ watchers also watch ‘Pen15,’ and vice versa.”
Portlanders will know that “Shrill,” starring Aidy Bryant, of “Saturday Night Live” fame, is set in Portland, and filmed Season 1 in the Rose City last summer. Season 2 is currently filming, and is expected to stream on Hulu in 2020.
— Kristi Turnquist
kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist
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