Author: Natalie Jarvey

August 07, 2016 1:59pm PT by Natalie Jarvey

‘The Man in the High Castle’  Courtesy of Amazon

Frank Spotnitz left the Amazon drama midway through production on its second season.

The Man in the High Castle is continuing at Amazon without a showrunner. 

Season one showrunner Frank Spotnitz left the project midway through production on its second season this spring. At the time Amazon said he would remain an executive producer on the project but that the need to base all creative efforts for the series, which was filming in Vancouver, on the West Coast contributed to his departure. Now, the team behind the show have explained that they are continuing on without a showrunner.

“We’re running, in many ways, like a republic,” executive producer David Zucker said during the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour. “There are senior powers in every aspect of the realization of the show.” 

He explained that production on the second season of the series was quite expansive, with a writers room in London, filming in Vancouver and post-production in Los Angeles. But he noted that there have been few creative changes to the show following the departure of Spotnitz. “The process with Frank was an extraordinary one,” he said. “I think the one thing that’s probably most notable to acknowledge is that nothing has changed within the ensemble of the show and all of the talents who are contributing to fill what he so brilliantly set in course.” 

The X-Files alum Spotnitz had been working for a number of years to bring Philip K. Dick’s dystopian novel to the screen, and eventually found a home for it on Amazon. The series premiered last November as one of the streamer’s first buzzy drama projects. It quickly set a new record as the most-streamed original series with members of Amazon’s Prime service and was renewed for a second, 10-episode season. 

Season two, explained executive producer (and Dick’s daughter) Isa Hackett, will involve meeting the mysterious Man in the High Castle and will continue to pull from its source material. “The narrative progression is different in the show than it is in the book,” she said. “There’s quite a bit of jumping around so there’s still quite a bit to do.” 

Hackett also revealed that the final scene in season one is not meant to be interpreted as a dream but as a dual reality to the one that was explored throughout the first season. 

Season two returns to Amazon on Dec. 16. 

Amazon Studios The Man in the High Castle Television Critics Association

August 05, 2016 6:00pm PT by Natalie Jarvey

‘Triumph’s Summer Election Special 2016’  Hulu

Creator Robert Smigel teased a Roger Ailes lookalike and self-defense training for RNC journalists in his August comedy special.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog will pull no punches in his upcoming election special on Hulu. 

Comedian Robert Smigel, who created and voices Triumph, teased during the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour what his puppet alter-ego was up to when he crashed the Republican National Convention in July for the filming of his upcoming Summer Election Special 2016, and it included a Roger Ailes lookalike. 

The idea was born out of a New Yorker article that Smigel read about self-defense training programs for journalists ahead of the RNC, which simulated potential violence from Donald Trump supporters. “We brought a nerdy crew of reporters to one of these sessions,” Smigel explained, adding that during the taping Triumph then warned of other potential dangers and brought in an impersonator of Roger Ailes, the former Fox News CEO who recently resigned following widespread sexual harassment allegations. “He looked so much like Ailes that I brought him to the convention,” Smigel added with a laugh. “I actually gained more access by walking through areas where I wasn’t supposed to go.” 

Smigel also teased that he brought a fake Telemundo reporter to the convention but he wouldn’t give away any other details, saying that he didn’t “want to spoil the the joke.”

One joke that didn’t make the cut: During a carnival that Triumph hosted for Trump supporters, Smigel wanted to fill an arcade claw machine with a pile of guns. “We couldn’t get the look right in time,” he said. “Somewhere else we’ll do that one, as well.” 

Triumph’s Summer Election Special 2016 hits Hulu on Aug. 11 but Smigel revealed that it might not be the last that viewers see of the foul-mouthed dog before Election Day. He said he is in talks with Hulu to bring the character back this fall, whether through another special or a different format show. Triumph could even come back after the election is over. “One of the reasons I chose Hulu is because that they felt like people who were really interested in doing something long term, not just a special,” he added.

Smigel’s first special for Hulu, which was released in February, was nominated for an Emmy in the variety special writing category. And Smigel says that Triumph will likely make an appearance at the Emmy Awards in September. “They have to invite Triumph. All nominees have to be invited,” he said. “I’m a member of the Academy, and there’s no stipulation that you can’t put your hand up anything’s ass and still go to the Emmys, no matter what you shove your hand up. So, yea, I’ll probably bring Triumph just to be an asshole. I’ll probably make a remote out of it. That’s what I did when Triumph was nominated for a Grammy. It was like, oh this is an opportunity to make fun of the Grammys.” 

Smigel’s time in the hot seat wouldn’t have been complete without an appearance from Triumph, who made a surprise cameo at the start of the panel to take a few shots at Hulu and the TCA audience. “The last time I was here, I referred to the TCA as the Triple Chin Association,” he said to laughs.

Triumph then took aim at Hulu. “You know everybody loves Hulu,” he said. “Time Warner just announced that it now owns a piece of Hulu. Fox owns Hulu. NBC owns Hulu. Even Disney. Yes, Hulu has so many fingers inside of it that it could easily be a member of the Duggar family.”

Hulu Television Critics Association

July 27, 2016 10:50am PT by Natalie Jarvey

‘The Crown’  Alex Bailey/Netflix

“Brexit was a great box office for her,” Peter Morgan says of Queen Elizabeth II.

Britain’s decision to leave the European Union could change the lens through which viewers watch Netflix’s upcoming royal drama The Crown. 

Brexit has caused people to “interpret what it is to be British and what Britain means and what we expect for our leaders,” said series creator Peter Morgan during Netflix’s session at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour. He went on to explain that “in a moment like that, it causes people to think about the role of Queen Elizabeth and “it does make you look at someone who has given up their life and accepted the responsibility of their duty in a slightly different way. Brexit was great box office for her. It’s been a desperate box office for democracy and for the democratic process.” 

The Crown, which debuts Nov. 4 on Netflix, explores the early life of Queen Elizabeth II, starting with her marriage to Philip Mountbatten. The 10-episode series is inspired by Morgan’s play, The Audience, but he says that he chose to start the story before Elizabeth became queen so that he could place a focus on how her reign affected her relationships.

“The Windsors have a tradition of sitting for a long time, and she could have quite reasonably expected 20 — maybe 30 — years as a young woman married to a young naval officer and for him to have a career and for them to live somewhat out of the public eye,” Morgan explained. “The story of the crown landing in her lap, or on her head, way sooner than she imagined is essentially the central narrative of the first season… We all imagine it’s a fairy tale but it’s anything but.” 

One of the challenges for Morgan and the actors who play Elizabeth (Claire Foy) and Philip (Matt Smith) was to embody not just the version of these people that the public sees, but also who they are behind the scenes. Foy and Smith said the show’s research department provided them with extensive materials about their characters. But Foy acknowledged that she had to think of the role as separate from the person, explaining that “immersing myself in Peter Morgan’s queen and the real queen are two separate things.”

John Lithgow, who plays Winston Churchill, also sought out video and audio of the former Prime Minister and was especially struck by a video of him eating with soldiers during the war where “all you see is his physical behavior.” He explained that he approached the role like any other, “there’s me and there’s the real life character. It’s a Venn diagram, an amalgam of the two of us. The entire challenge is, in my own mind, forgetting the real Churchill at a certain point and making viewers forget the real Churchill and making him as authentic as I can.”  

The royal family’s reaction to the series also weighs over its upcoming premiere. Morgan noted that “they are very, very aware of it,” adding that “there’s a sense that they’re both very nervous and very excited.”

He continued: “I think they don’t like not having control, but I think they also understand that dealing with this subject matter with some degree of respect and even objective scrutiny is a rare thing. These are people used to slander, cartoon, satire. These are not people who are used to being taken seriously. Whilst that might be a terrifying prospect, it’s also the only worthwhile way of looking at our recent history.” 

The Crown will use the royal family as a backdrop to the events that shaped the 20th Century, including World War II. But while the first season will not reach present day events or touch on issues like Brexit, Morgan speculated a little about how Queen Elizabeth handled that news. “With her, you’ve got to filter it now through a European thing but through a Commonwealth thing,” he said. “Privately, if she would have voted I bet you she would have voted Brexit. But probably to her eternal agony or to her eternal pleasure, she’s never voted in her life.” 

Netflix