A KILLER CAST
If you’re looking for a provocative series that will haunt your mind for days after, look no further than FX’s The Patient, streaming exclusively on Hulu. Co-writers/executive producers Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg (The Americans) have created a masterful psychological thriller chock full of Jewish themes.

Here’s the premise: Steve Carell stars as Alan Strauss, a Jewish therapist who is grieving the loss of his wife, a former cantor at a reform temple, and is estranged from his adult son, who has become Orthodox. His enigmatic new patient (Domhnall Gleeson) imprisons him, demanding that Strauss help him curb his homicidal inclinations.

While writing the script, the creators came up with the idea of making the lead character Jewish. “We were just trying to take this therapist we had and round him out,” Weisberg said. “And we thought, ‘What if we made him Jewish?’ We realized that would give us certain sorts of things to play with his character, his psyche, and his background, that we thought would probably yield a lot of fruit.”

FAMILY TREE
Ever been curious about your genealogy? One of the most popular series on PBS is Finding Your Roots, now in its 9th season. Host/professor Henry Louis Gates is thrilled that viewers have resonated so well with the show’s premise.

“I think it’s so important, especially now, to show all that we have in common as Americans and as human beings, despite our apparent differences,” acknowledged Gates at the Television Critics Press Tour. Upcoming episodes will feature celebrities like Joe Manganiello, Danny Trejo, and Tamera Mowry-Housley. “The stories we find in our guest family trees demonstrate over and over again that we are a fundamentally blended nation, held together by shared values, and we draw strength as a nation from that diversity,” said Gates. “The great physicist Steven Hawking said, ‘It is the past that tells us who we are. Without it, we lose our identity.’ And he was talking about the history of the universe, but think of how much truer that is for each of us as individuals.”

ON THE ROCKS
The Emmy Awards Governors Ball, which is considered the official after-party of the annual event, was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, making this year’s bash that much sweeter!

Ketel One Family Made Vodka returned as the official spirits partner of the Emmys, which meant lucky nominees sipped on unique award cocktails created for the black tie event. They also had a special something for fans watching across the U.S. an “at home” experience that included a bartending kit, glassware, snacking board, and an acrylic neon light box that reads ‘Cocktails,’ among other entertaining essentials. In the kit, Emmy nominee Colman Domingo also provided cocktail fans with food pairing ideas and cocktail recipes.

“I’m excited to be working with Ketel One and share a bit of what I’ve learned from my time behind the bar and in front of the camera,” said Domingo.
We can’t wait to see what the event has in store for next year, with Emmy nominees slated to be announced in July.

THE LEAGUE IS BACK
Some films are so timelessly iconic, it’s no wonder Hollywood gets the idea to create a series around it. Such is the case for Amazon’s A League of Their Own, which stars Abbi Jacobson (who is also an executive producer/co-creator), Chanté Adams, and Gbemisola Ikumelo.

Both the 1992 comedy (which starred Madonna, Geena Davis, and Tom Hanks) and the series tell the story of the women who dreamed of playing professional baseball, both in and outside of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1940s. “We really wanted to make it our own and shine a light on a lot of the stories that were not told in the film,” explained Jacobson. “From our earliest conversations, it was about expanding this world and that really stemmed from doing the research and finding out about what a broader look at this generation of women playing baseball in the 1940s looked like and what their experiences were, and that was where we really learned a lot.”

TRUE CRIME TIME
It seems like Hollywood has a voracious need to rip real life stories from the headlines and turn them into movies. This is why the true-crime network ID and its streaming home Discovery+ have been so popular with viewers. One of ID’s next programming initiatives is FEDS, a multi-project collaboration deal with Academy Award-winning actress and executive producer Octavia Spencer, her production company Orit Entertainment, and October Films. The six-part series will take viewers inside the FBI and feature exclusive access to active-duty FBI agents, revealing high-profile, dangerous, and unusual cases as told by agents, informants, undercover operatives, and victims.

FEDS is genuinely unique,” said Spencer. “As viewers, we have never been as inside the case as we are in this series. Being a true crime follower myself, speaking to active special agents with the FBI has been a thrill, and I could not be more excited to share FEDS with the ID audience.” “When we partnered with Octavia, we knew her passion for telling unique and powerful stories would bring our audience inside exciting new worlds of true crime storytelling,” said Jason Sarlanis, president of crime and investigative content, linear and streaming.