“Raisin” & Rainn among Emmy nominees
July 18, 2008 at 9:46 am by Curt Holman in A&E“A Raisin in the Sun,” the TV movie directed by Atlanta’s Kenny Leon, artistic director of True Colors Theatre, earned three Emmy Award nominations yesterday. Based on Leon’s 2004 Broadway staging of the Lorraine Hansberry stage play, “A Raisin in the Sun” won nominations for Best Made for Television Movie, Best Actress for Phylicia Rashad and Best Supporting Actress for the particularly worthy Sanaa Lathan.
Coincidentally, I happened to be interviewing one of the Best Supporting Actor nominees while the Emmys were being announced. Rainn Wilson, who plays the sublimely jerky assistant manager/beet farmer Dwight Schrute on “The Office,” was in town promoting his comedy The Rocker, which opens nationwide on August 20. Cool as a the proverbial cucumber (or less proverbial beet), Wilson chatted with me about his work during our interview at the W Hotel, completely ignoring the Emmy announcements being televised in a room away. At some point after chatting with me, Wilson stopped by the CNN newsroom for an impromptu weather report:
Two of the biggest winners yesterday were dramas on basic cable, AMC’s swanky period piece “Mad Men” and FX’s legal drama “Damages,” which raked in multiple nods and set records as the first basic cable series to receive nominations for Best Drama. Until yesterday, on shows on networks or pay-cable channels like HBO had received nominations. I’m getting caught up on “Mad Men” even as we speak, and it deserves all honors. The comedy “30 Rock” racked up more nominations than any other show, and one hopes that its ratings will catch up with its acclaim.
Disrespected by the Emmys, however, were the basic-cable sci fi drama “Battlestar Galactica,” which at least deserved an acting nomination for Mary McDonnell as dying President Laura Roslin, and the final season HBO’s crime drama “The Wire,” acclaimed across the board as one of the best-written, best-acted dramas in TV history. Both shows only received nominations in the writing category.
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