Damian Lewis, left, and Claire Danes, starring in “Homeland,” which won the Emmy Award for best drama series. Lewis and Danes also each won an Emmy — for best actor and actress. (Showtime)
NEW YORK (6NoBacon) — Sunday night’s 64th Primetime Emmy Awards revealed a new reality — award voters in Hollywood would much rather be scared by potential terrorists than sexist advertising agencies — as “Homeland” grabbed six Emmys and dethroned “Mad Men” as the top drama on television.
“Homeland,” which is based on the Israeli show “Hatufim” (Prisoners of War), among its Emmy haul won for best drama, best actress in a drama (Claire Danes as agent Carrie Mathison), best actor in a drama (Damian Lewis as Sgt. Nichoas Brody) and best writing, with Gideon Raff — creator of the original Israeli version — sharing in the recognition. The second season of the critically acclaimed Showtime series starts next week.
In the comedy category, “Modern Family” was tapped as best show for the third straight year, with Jewish creator Steve Levitan also taking the prize in the best directing category. Jon Stewart and his “Daily Show” picked up the Emmy for Best Variety Series for the 10th consecutive year. Yep, 10 times. Even Stewart joked about it during his acceptance speech, saying, ”Years from now when the earth is just a burning husk and aliens visit, they will find a box of these and they will know just how predictable these f***ing guys can be.”
Among the Jewish nominees who didn’t go home with a statuette — Lena Dunham (“Girls”), Larry David (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) and Max Greenfield (Schmidt on “New Girl”).
Edon Pinchot to play the GA
“America’s Got Talent” semifinalist Edon Pinchot will be showing up in November in Baltimore for the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America, JFNA said this week. The teen sensation, who wore a yarmulke during his run on the reality show, is listed as a speaker for a plenary session titled “For the Good.” Speaker? Hopefully he’ll be breaking out the pipes, too.
Gene Simmons wants you to study — in Hebrew
Gene Simmons, or Chaim Weitz, went back to his roots by publishing a video with a personal message to Israeli students at the World ORT-affiliated Shifman High School in Tirat HaCarmel, near Haifa. Simmons was born in Haifa but went to school in Tirat HaCarmel. In the video, Simmons starts with a little Hebrew — it was pretty impressive despite some minor grammatical errors — and switches to some words of encouragement for the students to stop being lazy and start working hard, so they can be great rockers like him. Or at least get a good job.
Scarlett meowing on Broadway
Scarlett Johansson will return to the New York stage in January in the Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” The 27-year-old actress and model will play Maggie the Cat, starring next to Benjamin Walker. “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” tells the story of Maggie, who escapes poverty to marry the wealthy Brick Pollitt (Walker), but is unhappy with her new lifestyle. Johansson’s last Broadway performance was her turn in “A View From a Bridge,” a role that earned her the Tony Award for best supporting actress. In her new role, Johansson is following in the footsteps of legendary actresses such as Elizabeth Taylor and Natalie Wood.
Bethenny Frankel taking a talk-show gig
Former “Real Housewives of New York” star Bethenny Frankel is set to host a nationally syndicated talk show in 2013. The show, “Bethenny,” recently ended a successful test run on six Fox stations, doing especially well in the women 25-to-54 demographic. Warner Bros. said the show will be going national on 17 Fox-owned stations. “Bethenny” will be produced by Telepictures Productions and A Very Good Production, Ellen DeGeneres’ production company. Frankel confirmed the show’s pickup on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” last week. Frankel, who also is the creator of “Skinny Girl Cocktails” said Monday that “My heartfelt thanks go out to my dedicated fans who tuned in and helped make this great opportunity happen.”
Silverman vs. voter ID laws
After encouraging old Jewish Floridians to vote for Obama in 2008 and encouraging billionaire mogul Sheldon Adelson to stop his support for Republican candidate Mitt Romney in exchange for, um, well, see for youself, Sarah Silverman now wants to spread the word about voter ID laws.
In a video posted last week on YouTube, the Jewish comedian takes aim at GOP-backed laws requiring a state-issued ID to vote in the general election, repeating Democratic predictions that such rules will disproprtionately impact “black people, old people, poor people and students.” Of course, the advocacy was delivered in a very Silverman-y way — mostly with foul language and some harsh descriptions.
Mel Brooks curses out Jerry Seinfeld
The legendary comedian and filmmaker Mel Brooks and fellow funnyman Carl Reiner met up with Jerry Seinfeld for Seinfeld’s web show “Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee.” During a take from the filming, we see Brooks still extremely unhappy — 15 years later — over Seinfeld’s decision to end his popular NBC sitcom. Taking a page from Betty White’s playbook, the 86-year-old Brooks makes his point by dropping about half a dozen F bombs. Seinfeld tries to defend himself by comparing it to gambling — the longer you play, the more you’ll end up paying. Reiner intervenes, saying that he refused to continue “The Dick Van Dyke Show” despite a serious pay increase. In response, Brooks quips, “He has the same f***ing disease!”
Jerusalem shopkeeper sued for superhero kipahs
Avi Binyamin, owner of the Kippa Man store, is facing lawsuits from Marvel and DC Comics for selling yarmulkes with the likes of Spider-Man and Batman without permission from the respective comics book companies. “They make them in China, I just bring them,” Binyamin told The Jerusalem Post. “There are 20 stores on this street, they all sell the same thing.” Amir Ivtsan, a partner in an Israeli law firm that has represented Marvel in Israel for a decade, said this is one of many similar cases. “If they find illegal merchandise, they will tell us and we will sue them,” he said. Numerous shops along Jerusalem’s Ben Yehuda Street sell merchandise featuring the likes of superheros and college mascots.
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