I quite often find myself asking “What Would Tami Taylor Do?” (see also Leslie Knope) and now there is a t-shirt emblazoned with this question. Connie Britton has teamed up with Planned Parenthood to support the pro-choice women of Texas. When casting the Lifetime movie of Senator Wendy Davis after last week’s monumental filibuster, Connie Britton was the first name on many lists and this felt like an appropriate time to use the Friday Night Light battle cry “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose.”
Over at The Frisky they have Connie Britton’s statement from Planned Parenthood which says:
“The character Tami on Friday Night Lights is a Texas woman deeply committed to her community and to standing up for what is right for her neighbors and the people she loves. I have been inspired by how people around the country have united to stand with the women of Texas, and I can’t help but think that, in this moment, we all have the opportunity to join with and become strong, powerful Texas men and women.”
This reflects the letter that Britton wrote prior to the 2012 election after Mitt Romney started using “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose” and Planned Parenthood is one of the factors that Britton mentions as this is where her character Tami Taylor got a pregnancy test in season 1 and Smash Williams’ mother worked as a nurse.
A limited edition t-shirt in orange or white will be available throughout July and as you can see below it simply says “What Would Tami Taylor Do?” For more information on this t-shirt from Connie Britton and Planned Parenthood Action Fund head here.
I’m not normally one for slogan tees but this one is special enough to break my own rules.
The pre-Emmy nomination roundtables are in full flow and Variety has produced supporting and lead actor/actress discussions in both comedy and drama categories. These panels are all around 15 minutes long and feature actors from both cable and network shows.
Today I am going to focus on the comedy actresses (plus it’s the unofficial Ellie Kemper week here at TV Ate My Wardrobe) and the shows these are the shows that are represented; New Girl, Enlightened, Veep, Suburgatory, The Office, The Mindy Project, 2 Broke Girls, The Big Bang Theory and Cougar Town. Network and cable shows feature, along with multi-cam and single camera shows. Some of the participants are also involved behind the scenes as Zooey Deschanel is a producer on New Girl and both Laura Dern and Mindy Kaling are creators of their respective shows. Mindy Kaling is also in the writers’ room on The Mindy Project and she mentions that this helps the show be a little more feminist.
The difference in a cable show versus a network one is a lot to do with format and time restrictions; network sitcoms have to be the same length every week, whereas on cable the time can vary by a substantial amount. Network shows have a set commercial break pattern which could stifle the creative element, but all of the shows featured have found a way to work within these parameters.
When they shot Enlightened (which HBO has sadly cancelled) they had all of the scripts for the season written ahead of time, a show like New Girl adds things at the last minute and as both Zooey Deschanel and Hannah Simone mention their scripts often change from the table read to the day of shooting. Simone adds that she is constantly surprised by where they take the characters as they aren’t usually given advance notice of their season long arc. This organic approach has really helped a show like New Girl particularly with the big ‘will they/won’t they’ story in season 2. It isn’t just New Girl that has this style as Busy Philipps’ comments about Cougar Town sound like they share a similar approach. For the shows that are filmed in front of a live studio audience such as The Big Bang Theory it sounds like it needs to be more structured that this. On Veep they workshop the episode ahead of time as this is a process that creator Armando Innaucci favors and the cable format aids this. There is also a discussion about Netflix and how this digital model is even more flexible than both cable and network.
Watch both panels below and for more of Variety’s Emmy roundtable season head here.
The UK Glamour Magazine Awards were held at Berkeley Square Gardens in Mayfair, London last night. A host of stars attended the event that honored women in TV, film, fashion and music. So who were the big winners?
Chris O’Dowd was on hand to present Parks and Recreation star Rashida Jones with the Film Maker of the Year award for Celeste and Jesse Forever (which was one of my favorite films from last year and is currently in my DVD player). In her acceptance speech Jones explains her outfit saying “I wore these pajamas through the entire year since I made my movie.” Jones then followed this up with “I would like to thank Jo Elvin and GLAMOUR for recognising my filmmaking… It’s very fitting for me to be winning an award that is so glamorous, because as everyone knows, it’s very glamorous making an independent movie.” As with Sofia Coppola’s pajama choice at the Met Gala I salute this look; the silk floral Erdem two-piece suits the relaxed atmosphere of these awards. Also Chris O’Dowd is super tall.
The TV Actress category is split into International and UK meaning that two of the most talked about shows received these accolades. Zosia Mamet took home the International prize for her role as Shoshanna on Girls. Girls has received a lot of accolades in the past year but this is the first individual award for Mamet.
Matthew Rhys presented this award and Mamet thanked the UK “for embracing Girls as much as the US has.” Wearing a black Preen dress with floral embroidery Mamet looked very happy posing with her Glamour statue, which isn’t always the case for Mamet on the red carpet. Mamet has been popular with Glamour magazine as she also recently took part in their “These Girls” event in New York.
One show that is just as popular on both sides of the Atlantic is Downton Abbey and so it isn’t surprising that an actress from this show scooped the UK prize. Joanne Froggatt who plays Anna, the head housemaid received this award from fellow Downton Abbey co-star Allen Leech. Froggatt thanked the magazine readers for voting for her adding that is has “made me very, very happy”
It’s been a good year for Rebel Wilson as she has taken the film world by storm with roles in Pitch Perfect and Pain & Gain, as well as hosting the MTV Movie Awards. Wilson will be making the transition to TV in the fall with her ABC show Super Fun Night. Wilson is also the cover star of the new issue of Glamour and she tweeted a photo of it; Wilson is wearing a whole lot of jewels and bubbles and not much else in the shot. Wilson gave fellow Aussie Kylie Minogue a shout out in her speech “Thank you so much Kylie, I just feel so lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky.”
Presenter of the Year could only really go to one woman and that is the extraordinary Clare Balding after collecting a special award from BAFTA last month. Balding was the highlight of the presenting team at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and in her speech she mentioned an important current political moment “While here at dinner tonight …the House of Lords voted 2-1 in favour of supporting the equal marriage bill… Joan Collins, who was sitting on my table, asked me when me and Alice (Arnold) are going to get married. Alice said in three years, which I didn’t know but apparently that’s right.” Congratulations Clare!
It’s the time of year when The Hollywood Reporterproduces Emmy related TV roundtable discussions and while the quality of the conversations varies, the drama actress one is always lively and is generally my favourite of the bunch. Once again they have a group of women from shows that cover both network and cable, with the added new platform of Netflix to discuss their roles on TV, the industry and their past experiences. This year the participants are Monica Potter (Parenthood), Kerry Washington (Scandal), Kate Mara (House of Cards), Connie Britton (Nashville), Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad) and Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men, Top of the Lake).
The nature of this kind of roundtable discussion means that some candid remarks are made, but the participants are also guarded as they tell stories of bad experiences but don’t fill in all of the details. Monica Potter discusses her first post-baby audition where she was considered “too fat” for the role and body image is a topic that comes up more than once (I’m intrigued as to whether the guys will cover this area, doubtful but you never know as Hollywood has body issues with both genders). Elisabeth Moss rightly mentions that “It’s not just actresses, it’s all women. We all have this perception of what we’re supposed to look like.”
Expectations of how an actress should look comes up later but in a different way as they mention the backhanded compliments that people give such as they look “younger/skinnier” in real life. So don’t ever say this, it’s bad. This is part of the notion of intimacy between the viewer and the characters that come into our living rooms on a weekly basis and how the relationship is different between movies and TV; there is an investment in TV that doesn’t exist in the same way as in movies that generally have a beginning, a middle and end (depending on how long running the franchise is).
One aspect that I enjoy about these discussions is how they try to dispel the idea that everyone hates each other and it’s a relentless competition; while I’m sure there are those factions they make a point of mentioning how supportive actresses can be. Monica Potter mentions that having successful women on TV “should be fun and celebrated” and Connie Britton reiterates this by saying that “It’s a lot more fun if you can share stories and make friends, and be in it together with people as opposed to if you isolate yourself.”
Several topics are covered including other audition woes (Kerry Washington talks about the lack of roles for women of color), social media, political involvement and if they contribute to the creative process of their character. One thing I would like to see with these roundtables is a change in some of the questions as I feel like the best advice/worst advice comes up every single time. The penultimate question is a fun one as they are asked if they could be on any show in history what would it be? I love that both Kate Mara and Elisabeth Moss geek out over My So-Called Life (and earlier Moss is very open about her love of Parenthood).
With any group discussion there are always some participants that are more vocal than the rest but at no point does it feel like one person is railroading the conversation. Elisabeth Moss comes across as very funny, something we don’t get to see that often on Mad Men and Connie Britton seems as wise as Tami Taylor. This is definitely a group of women I would like to go for drinks with.
Watch the whole interview below and head over to The Hollywood Reporterfor behind the scenes photos of the group. The monochromatic styling of the cover is on trend and I much prefer this more casual approach they over last year’s gown affair. In unsurprising news I really want to find out the shades/brands of lipstick they are wearing (especially Elisabeth Moss’).
In just over a month Diane Kruger will be on screens in FX’s The Bridge, an adaptation of the Scandinavian show Broen. This new version is swapping out the Swedish/Danish setting and using the border between Mexico and the U.S. as its location. As a fan of the original series I have high hopes for this venture, even if the AMC version of The Killing is enough to make me cautious in my optimism. Kruger is playing Sonya Cross, a brilliant investigator who lacks empathy, is blunt to the point of being rude and falls somewhere on the autism spectrum. The man that Cross will have to work with to solve the series of connected crimes that occur on U.S. and Mexican soil is Marco Ruiz (played by Oscar nominee Demián Bichir) and he faces an extra challenge as his department is corrupt. I look forward to how they will use the political backdrop and what aspects from Broen will remain and evolve to match the setting.
Diane Kruger tends to stand out on the red carpet and I’m looking forward to all of the press events that will occur before The Bridge’s July 10 premiere date. Yesterday Kruger attended Joel Silver’s Memorial Day party in L.A. and demonstrated that it isn’t just high fashion that she excels at. Wearing a polka dot blouse (!), grey skater skirt and monochrome brogues Kruger looks like the epitome of summer chic. Plus bonus Joshua Jackson, also rocking a perfect casual look for the sunshine. I’m not the only one wants to emulate Kruger’s style as Mad Men’s January Jones recently told The Editthat Kruger “always looks fantastic so I watch what she wears. We like to go to shows or look online and then fight each other for the best [pieces].”
The Bridge will premiere Wednesday, July 10 on FX. To watch a preview check out the video below and I kind of hope they keep the leather trousers that Kruger’s counterpart wore in Broen.
Glamour Magazine held its second “These Girls” event this week; a night of monologues from women in TV and comedy held at Joe’s Pub in New York City. The notion of “Stars, They’re Just Like Us” is something we see weekly in tabloid magazines (“They eat ice cream!’ ‘They snap photos!’) and it generally induces eye rolling. The opposite can be said for an event like this one, where a group of famous women each perform a personal monologue that highlights some painful aspects of life that we all experience including rejection, low self confidence and social media negativity. It’s not all doom and despair, laughter as we know can help with all of these things and some very funny women including Amy Poehler (who also took part in last year), Amy Schumer and Lucy Punch performed. The night also featured Dianna Agron, Alexa Chung, Zosia Mamet, Emma Roberts and was kicked off by Gloria Steinem saying “These girls deserve my all-time favorite word, which is fan-fucking-tastic.”
The internet and social media was a big topic of conversation with Lucy Punch revealing that she struggles with technology as her mother didn’t want her to learn how to type – she didn’t want her daughter to end up as a secretary. Punch also told the audience that she is “terrified of being misjudged by thousands of faceless Twitterers,” something I’m sure we can all relate to. Emma Roberts followed on with this theme of facing online criticism after she tried to attempt a ‘normal life’ by going to college, instead it made her realize that maybe normal for her is a movie set and a particularly scathing blog post hammered home this idea. Roberts joked that “I do have high hopes. When I’m 30, playing 21, maybe I’ll have the graduation I always dreamed of.” Dianna Agron continued with this theme of figuring out who you are and how it takes time explaining that she had an “11-year awkward phase.”
How we use social media to judge other people was the theme of Alexa Chung’s “Heartbreak Heals, but Instagram is Forever” as she talked about seeing your ex-boyfriends new girlfriend on Instagram and how filters will always make them look more attractive. Chung also suggested that “Every time you post a picture of yourself looking fake happy, a fairy dies.” These are wise words to live by as a happy profile page doesn’t automatically give you the perfect life you are projecting; this also applies to the content on the pages of other people.
Comedian Amy Schumer added to this by talking about feelings of low self-esteem during college and how even now one comment is enough to break you. Her response to these criticisms, about her weight and her looks is this and it’s wonderful: “Fuck that. I say if I’m beautiful. I say if I’m strong … I will never apologize. I stand here and I’m amazing for you, not because of you. I am not who I sleep with … I am not my weight. I am myself.”
Ah Millennials, the generation that received this Time cover (here are 5 alternate better versions) and also the subject of Girls’ Zosia Mamet’s “Generation ‘I Want it Now.'” Mamet took part in last year’s “These Girls” and discussed her adventures in dating, this year she talks about falling in love and how technology still makes her anxious when it comes to relationships. Being part of this generation means that some things are available at the tap of a screen, but love isn’t something that is necessarily obtainable at a click of a button. It’s all about balance and it turns out like most people Mamet doesn’t have the answer “How do we reconcile the excitement of impulse with the proven value of time? Fuck if I know.”
The night ended with Amy Poehler singing Alicia Keys’ “Girl on Fire” and sadly there is no video of this yet, come on internet do your best work. You can find regular Amy Poehler advice over at her “Ask Amy” page which is aimed at teenage girls but really works no matter how old you are.
Last night the 2013 Met Gala was held in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and while all eyes were on what Beyonce, Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow were wearing, here at TV Ate My Wardrobe we want to highlight what the women of television were wearing. Actresses from both comedy and drama were at the event and as this is meant to be fun night of outlandish and creative fashion we’re going to focus on the women of comedy.
The theme of the night was “Punk” as the Costume of Institute Gala celebrates the opening of Punk: Chaos to Couture; an exhibition examining the impact that punk has had on high fashion from the 1970s to the present day.
It’s a broad theme and as you will see from the variety of outfits and some took this to mean dramatic make-up, whereas others like Miley Cyrus embraced the punk look from head to toe.
Girls creator and star Lena Dunham arrived at the event in Erdem and with designer Erdem Moralioglu in a black floor length gown with a polka dot (!) mesh panel. This panel meant that you could see Dunham’s back tattoo and worked well with the punk theme. The combination of the floral print on the dress and the polka dot is pattern clashing at its best and this is my favorite red carpet look of the night. Both her make-up and hair are simple, opting for smokey eyes that were a bang on trend at the Gala (darker make-up equals punk in the fashion world).
Aubrey Plaza has featured several times on TV Ate My Wardrobe’s “Look of the Week” list for her April Ludgate costumes that I covert and while this outfit isn’t something you would see on Parks andRecreation,it is also one of my favorite ensembles of the evening. Plaza was dressed by Vogue magazine in a Marios Schwab dress with Barbara Bui heels. A dress with a built in cape satisfies my inner superhero and one that sparkles as much as this does is an instant hit.
Zooey Deschanel’s one shouldered Tommy Hilfiger might not automatically suggest anything remotely punk, but her clutch purse featuring an image of a safety pin in hot pink adds a slight punk edge to this classic look. Deschanel doesn’t go for the heavy make-up approach and she’s also ditched her famous bangs for the evening giving a fresh face appeal. Like many others on this red carpet Deschanel hasn’t fully embraced the theme, but the New Girl star looks elegant with a dash of punk with her purse.
Mindy Kaling (seen above with Mindy Project/The Office co-star B.J. Novak) joked to Popsugar TV that she was the “antitheses of punk” as she couldn’t stop smiling on the red carpet. Kaling also claims that the most punk thing she did when she was growing up was to stay up late to watch Saturday Night Live. This early foray into television comedy has certainly paid off as after a rocky start, The Mindy Project has found its feet and is my favorite new comedy of the year (though sadly it doesn’t have much competition). Kaling embraced the smokey eyes and photos on her Twitter page reveal a close look at her hair and make-up (bonus sparkles). Bold lips and eyes can be hard to pull off, but Kaling does just this. There were a lot of updos but Kaling rocks a textured hair down approach which goes with the make-up and dress choice (you can follow Kylee Heath who did Kaling’s hair on Twitter).
This last addition is cheating a little, but as Taylor Swift is appearing on the New Girl season finale next week her inclusion doesn’t feel too outlandish. Plus she looks really great and different from the usual sweet Taylor that we see on the red carpet. Wearing a black J. Mendel gown with mesh cutouts, Swift is one of the starlets that looks more punk than her usual appearance. This is another example of heavy eyeliner and dark eyeshadow, which was rather ubiquitous at the Gala and it strikes a nice balance with the soft pink lip color. Like Kaling, Swift has gone for ruffled hair and she’s also added a subtle dash of pink to her blond locks.
Amy Poehler’s appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon took a fun turn when she recreated the cover of a 1930s issue of Cosmopolitan. Last month on Cosmopolitan’s site they posted the uncanny likeness after they had been digging through their vintage archives. The headlines in the 30s were a lot different to now boasting “2 Complete Short Novels” as opposed to “When Your Vagina Acts Weird After Sex.” How things have changed.
Thanks to some helpful props of a glass of champagne and a super cute hat Poehler demonstrated that she does indeed look like the cover (though she claims it looks more like her grandma). This impression also includes both Poehler and Fallon using old timey voices (my favorite kind) and Poehler suggesting that the hat has magical drunk inducing powers.
The high waisted pencil skirt/red polka dot blouse combination that Amy Poehler is rocking with her shorter hair is a really good look (. The video also includes a clip of this Thursday’s Parks and Recreation season 5 finale.
Over at The Frisky they have Connie Britton’s statement from Planned Parenthood which says:
TV Ate My Wardrobe 