What do we love on TV this week? Lots. We've been loving James Corden on CBS' The Late Late Show since he took over for Craig Ferguson. He's funny, self-deprecating, queer-friendly, British, musical. Oh, is he musical. Now it's been announced he's going to be hosting the 2016 Tony Awards.
We gave last year's Tony hosting by Kristen Chenoweth and Alan Cumming a mixed review, but it was definitely tres gay. And though Corden is straight, he has a lot of flaming characteristics that we love. He also has an OBE, and he's only 37.
One of our fave bits Corden does is "Carpool Karaoke." In these pre-taped segments, Corden drives around with famous singers and sings with them. (We told you he was musical.) Trust us, it's fabulous. This week it was Coldplay's Chris Martin. Last week it was Elton John. But our fave was the debut: Corden with Adele, who is just charmingly down-to-earth and oh-so-sweary. Because it was like driving around with Corden and Adele in the back seat, it became the most viral video from a late-night show since 2013, accruing 42 million hits in the first five days. Corden is going to be brilliant at the Tonys. He has a natural, easy-going humor, and he can sing and dance. We can't wait. In the interim, check him out on CBS and the carpool lane. All the segments are at CBS.com.
Speaking of awards shows, the SAG Awards on Jan. 30 slapped the #OscarsSoWhite really hard. Some of our faves took home well-deserved awards, like Idris Elba, who's been oh-so-good on Luther (he won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries). Uzo Aduba won Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series for Orange Is the New Black, and OITNB and its multicultural cast of women (and a few men) won for best ensemble performance by a comedy.
Viola Davis won Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series for her riveting performance as the bisexual Dr. Annalise Keating on ABC's How to Get Away with Murder. Queen Latifah won Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries for her role as Bessie Smith in HBO's Bessie . Another winner of note: Jeffrey Tambor for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as an elderly transwoman in Transparent.
Our money is on Sarah Paulson getting one of these next year for her role as Marcia Clark in American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson. The limited series, which premiered Feb. 2 on F/X, is among the best shows on TV right now, and another of Ryan Murphy's productions. We didn't think we could stand to watch the series after a year of covering the actual trial back in 1995. Yet here we are. Rapt. The story is the same. But the casting and the acting are so fine that it's impossible not to be enthralled. Especially good is the incredible Paulson.
Paulson is always working. She's been on several seasons of American Horror Story, for which she's received three Emmy nominations, and is currently on the big screen in Todd Haynes' lush lesbian drama Carol. She was most unforgettable for us as the epitome of white female privilege in 12 Years a Slave. Paulson is dating actress Holland Taylor, and was on Entertainment Tonight talking about whether this might be her year for an Emmy (she deserves one!) and what Taylor thought of her beloved in the role. Taylor gave Paulson a thumbs up, but "she may be a bit biased," Paulson told ET.
Paulson is the best of the cast, but everyone is really good. The more we see of Courtney B. Vance (Johnnie Cochran), whom we've been watching since Law & Order: Criminal Intent, the more we think he epitomizes just how cheated Americans are of superb black actors because of white producers. Murphy and his producing partner Brad Falchuk have made some effort to bring actors of color into their series. Glee was diversely cast, as has been much of AHS. Vance's wife, Angela Bassett, has starred on several seasons of AHS .
Vance is also a theater actor and has been nominated for several Tonys. Last season he guest-starred in an episode of Scandal as the father of a teen killed by a white police officer in one of the most searing scenes we can recall about race in America. Vance was brilliant in a role that needed the control of a truly superb actor to make it work. In The People v. O.J. Simpson, Vance's Johnnie Cochran gives us entree into what lay behind the flamboyance we witnessed in the courtroom. But everyone gives strong performances here: Cuba Gooding, Jr. as O.J., Nathan Lane as F. Lee Bailey, Bruce Greenwood as Gil Garcetti, David Schwimmer as Robert Kardashian.
End of the world
NBC's new comedy You, Me and the Apocalypse is a British-American production that's hard to define. A group of people living their own lives unconnected are introduced until it is announced that a comet is scheduled to hit Earth in 34 days. Some of these people can be seen in a bunker together under a town called Slough in the U.K. as they watch the end of the world on TV. There are elements of Monty Python, as well as of more arcane British comedies, which is to say the humor is more wry than thigh-slapping. Nevertheless, it's compelling, and the characters are well-drawn and -acted. Among the ensemble cast are a few American headliners: Jenna Fischer (The Office), Megan Mullally (Will & Grace ), Rob Lowe (Grinder ). The inimitable Diana Rigg is also in the cast. The star is British actor Michael Bayton in a dual role. Bayton co-starred with James Corden in the British series The Wrong Mans, which the two co-wrote.
The story moves between England, America and Vatican City. People are falling apart as the time clicks out, doing things they never would have dreamed of were it not for looming annihilation. By turns charming and implausible, it is thoroughly engaging. Mullally is as good as a white supremacist as she was as a pampered lady who lunches on Will & Grace .
Another surprisingly enjoyable dramedy cum police procedural/sci-fi fantasy is Fox's Lucifer, starring the super sexy Welsh actor Tom Ellis (Rush ) as the title character. Lucifer was developed by Tom Kapinos (Californication ) from a work by Neil Gaiman. So yes, it's awesome. The series focuses on Lucifer Morningstar, described by Fox as "bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell, he resigns his throne and abandons his kingdom for the beauty of LA, where he gets his kicks helping the LAPD punish criminals." He runs a super hot club in LA, and plays piano when not bedding women.
In the opening episode, a young woman whom Lucifer once aided getting into show business is murdered. Lucifer may be out of hell, but he's still into punishment and wants to avenge the young woman's death by doing something hellish. In the process, he meets Chloe Decker, whose resistance to his powers intrigues him. Chloe is played by Laura German, who became a lesbian heartthrob as Leslie the lesbian on Chicago Fire until, like so many lesbians on the tube, she met an untimely end.
Ellis and German have great chemistry, much like Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic on Castle, which has some similar threads to Lucifer. There is lots of witty and urbane banter, some fun backstory, and then, naturally, because hell is involved, some monstering. Other members of the cast include the intolerably sexy Leslie-Ann Brandt as the pansexual Maze, the war leader of the Lilim, a race descended from Lilith, which we hope bodes well for lesbian action. Maze is Lucifer's one real confidante. But even she can tell there's something happening to him. D.B.Woodside (Suits ) plays Amenadial, a dark angel who swoops in at the most inopportune times to warn Lucifer that if he doesn't come back to the fiery pit, things will get ugly. Which they soon do.
This is a very enjoyable series, and one of the many reasons to watch is that One Million Moms says it glorifies Satan and wants the show taken off the air. Seriously. "The new program Lucifer glorifies Satan as a caring, likable person in human flesh," One Million Moms exhorts. "The program includes graphic acts of violence, a nightclub featuring scantily-clad women, and a demon. The message of the show is clear. Lucifer is just misunderstood. He doesn't want to be a bad guy, it's God who is forcing him to play that role." Saying all that like it's a bad thing.
Speaking of moms, Mom revealed Bonnie (Alison Janney) to be bisexual on the Feb. 4 episode. Her ex? Jeanine, played by none other than Rosie O'Donnell. Sounds fab, right? No. They meet up again at a 12-step group. Bonnie tries to make amends for having duped Jeanine into thinking she was a lesbian, telling her daughter Christy (Anna Faris) that "I faked it with a man. I could fake it with a woman." At least Bonnie had the excuse she was homeless, an active alcoholic and trying as best she could to provide for herself and her daughter. But then Jeanine reveals that she used to give Bonnie Quaaludes and alcohol so Bonnie would stay with her. Well, that's nice, and Bill Cosby creepy.
Jeanine: "You gonna tell me why you're here?"
Bonnie: "Why do you think? I need to make amends. You were so good to me and Christy, and I just treated you horribly."
"I accept your amends."
"Really? It's that easy?"
"Well, in all fairness, I did my best to keep you loaded so you'd stick around. So I guess I owe you an amends, too."
"Wait, I'm confused. All these years I thought I was the one who took advantage of you. Now you're saying I was the victim?"
"Some victim. I kept a well-stocked bar, I tossed you a couple of Quaaludes, and you lived with me for two years rent-free."
"Two years?"
"Time flies when you put bourbon on your pancakes."
Yikes. We know this is supposed to be funny, but it just gave us the creeps. And having real-life lesbian Rosie playing a rapey lesbian taking advantage of a homeless single mother? Do better, CBS. The Basic Instinct days are over.
We wish the election were over. We aren't sure we will make it to November if the media biases in TV news continue the way they have been. Feb. 4, after the Democratic debate in New Hampshire on MSNBC, ABC's Nightline didn't cover it. At all. The news of the day. Their lead? Trump. In-depth interview, backstory about the campaign, blah blah blah.
The coup de grace for us had to be Bob Woodward on MSNBC's Morning Joe after the Iowa caucus saying Hillary Clinton's big problem is "shouting": "She shouts. There is something unrelaxed about the way she is communicating, and I think that just jumps off the television screen." For the next 10 minutes, it was deconstruction of the shouting.
"I'm sorry to dwell on the tone issue," Woodward said, clearly not even remotely sorry, "but there is something here where Hillary Clinton suggests that she's almost not comfortable with herself, and, you know, self-acceptance is something that you communicate on television."
Host Joe Scarborough chimed in, "Has nobody told her that the microphone works? Because she always keeps it up here." That's "just not natural," he added. Not natural. Wow. Cokie Roberts attempted to explain that being at a rally often demands yelling to be heard. She was ignored.
"She could make a case for herself if she could just kind of lower the temperature and say, 'Look, this is what I've done, this is what I can do, this is what I believe in.' And kind of get off this screaming stuff," Woodward said. All of which might be comical were it not on one of the top morning shows and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist wasn't saying it.
The "she's shouting" meme continued through the New Hampshire town hall and the Democratic debate. Even Geraldo Rivera, several years older than Clinton, weighed in, telling Fox News that Clinton shouts because she's hard of hearing. Meanwhile, the candidate everyone knows is a shouter is Bernie Sanders. But apparently it's okay if you're a man.
So for your up-to-the-minute political info and the best new shows of 2016, you know you really must stay tuned.