Emmy Magazine Features
The Coast Was Clear
Decades after it was a book, then a movie, The Mosquito Coast is finally a series. And for the principals, the decision to join the Apple TV+ project — about an idealistic family on the run — was easy, despite the expected hardships of production.
Tempers were flying — and so was my hair — when Robert Conrad and I faced off for Battle of the Network Stars. A TV genre took hold, as did a 40-year grudge.
For Thuso Mbedu, the road that led to The Underground Railroad was marked by trauma. But like the series itself, her journey affirms the hardy human spirit (as seen in her tattoo that reads: Faith, Hope, Love).
To tell a very human story about both sides of the border, two old friends enlisted a like-minded colleague, creating a team that prized authenticity and a wide range of points of view.
In HBO’s Mare of Easttown, Kate Winslet assumes an unlikely role: a no-nonsense detective in small-town Pennsylvania. Authenticity was key — as were commitment, compassion and a quiet heroism.
Whether he’s plotting the next move for Snowfall’s Franklin Saint or pounding out yet another novel, Walter Mosley reveres the freedom to create.
Elizabeth Tulloch, the newest Lois Lane, looks up to those who came before her and those yet to come.
Who better to run a network whose core demo is Black women than an executive as sharp on the business side as the creative and who — in the words of Oprah Winfrey — “has the lived experience of being Black and female”?
The passion of cast and crew making Queen Sugar is more than matched by the emotions of its ardent fans, who include Oprah Winfrey, an executive producer of the OWN drama.
NBA players are moving easily from the court to the set, landing TV production deals in many genres.
Pandemicked TV fans are cheering Ted Lasso, the sweetly comic tale of a hapless U.S. coach in England, fumbling through that other kind of football. combining the best of buddy comedy, sports television and even rom-com, it scores as an ode to compassion.
Even before the invention of television, this firm was lending four-legged friends to the entertainment industry. Now, much of its product is animatronic. But no matter the medium, no animals have ever been harmed.
As he steps into a series lead, a grateful actor thanks those he’s learned from along the way.