The Brief

It's going to be a strange Emmys year. It just is.

This year's awards come in an atmosphere of profound labor unrest, most obviously in the form of the writers' strike that's been going on since May and the threat of a Screen Actors Guild strike that could happen as soon as this week. (In fact, the SAG contract is now set to expire on July 12, the same day the nominations are announced.) Emmy campaigning has already been affected by the WGA strike, and if either strike is still going on in mid-September when the telecast is scheduled, those conditions will scramble the whole thing. And on a deeper level, that unrest — along with developments like the publication of Maureen Ryan's blistering industry exposé Burn It Down — has put enthusiasm about good television in a complicated position alongside ambivalence about how streaming TV is made and the toll that the business takes on well-known and little-known people alike.

Even in a less tempestuous year, it can feel like Emmy history that's more than about five years old is irrelevant. How do you compare the Emmys of the 1980s -when there were essentially three commercial channels plus PBS to choose from with 2023? How do you compare a time when mainstream success often meant running for 10 or 11 seasons with a situation like we're in now, where four or five is a really good run? Or analyze seasons of 22 or 23 episodes alongside ones with only eight or ten? Or compare a time when there were five nominees in a category to now, when there are eight?

Of course, one answer is that the Emmys (and awards in general) don't matter, but what matters is a tricky calculation. The Emmys remain television's highest-profile form of acclaim, and something like the strong showing last year from Abbott Elementary can help in the critical task of broadening what the industry thinks of as its best work. It's easy to say Emmys don't matter when you're swimming in money and you're already powerful in your field. The more I've watched awards seasons, the more I've thought of them strategically, as things that could help strengthen the hands of writer-creators (like Abbott's Quinta Brunson) at a time when their work feels particularly precious.

Big debuts

One big way that the Emmy can matter is in welcoming and boosting new shows — and they still do that, even in the crowded landscape we have now. Big awards recognition out of the gate helped the profiles of shows like Squid Game, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Ted Lasso, and The Handmaid's Tale. So where might new shows make a big splash?

Of the eight comedy series nominated last year, two aren't eligible this year (Hacks and Curb Your Enthusiasm), so there are at least two spots there that might well go to new shows. The leading candidate is probably FX/Hulu's The Bear, which one could argue is misplaced in the comedy category, but which seems likely to land a comedy series nomination as well as nods for writing, directing and acting.

Slightly longer shots that would still be richly deserving could include Peacock's Poker Face, the throwback crime-of-the-week show featuring Natasha Lyonne, or Shrinking, the Apple comedy series that seems like a good bet to bring Harrison Ford his first Emmy nomination. Poker Face could rack up a lot of nominations in part because of its stellar lineup of guest stars, 21 of whom (including big shots like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lil Rel Howery, Adrien Brody, Stephanie Hsu and Hong Chau) have had their names submitted as potential nominees.

Natasha Lyonne stars in "Poker Face."

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Karolina Wojtasik

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Peacock

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The drama, oh, the drama

This is one place where you do get into a little math. The most obvious new entry, and one that could end up with a lot of nominations, is HBO's The Last of Us, its highly praised adaptation of the video game. Beyond that, this likely roster gets tricky.

The drama series category looks at first glance like it's intriguingly open this year because of the absence of five of eight of the 2022 nominees: Ozark, Euphoria, Stranger Things, Squid Game and Severance. (Ozark is over; the others are hibernating.) However! 2023 brings the return to eligibility of both The Crown and The White Lotus, which have been nominated before but weren't in the running last year. Assuming those are both nominated, along with remaining 2022 nominees Yellowjackets, Succession and Better Call Saul, plus The Last of Us, that leaves two more slots in drama series. There are big franchise entries like Andor, The Mandalorian and House of the Dragon that could fill those slots, certainly. The power of Netflix might boost something of theirs like The Diplomat, which starred Keri Russell, who was a staple of golden-age prestige cable TV and a three-time nominee for The Americans.

Kevin Costner as John Dutton in "Yellowstone."

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Paramount Pictures

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But perhaps the most intriguing possibility is Yellowstone, which has benefited for years from public theorizing that its popularity makes its lack of nominations suspect or political (an argument that seems never to attach to the many broadcast procedurals that are also very popular and rarely nominated). Given the sheer power of the Taylor Sheridan machine, Yellowstone just might get that drama series nomination and, oddly, take a blow to its narrative of being a Hollywood outsider despite being, in many ways, a very traditional nighttime soap.

The story of the moment

The Emmys are not a reliable gauge of quality, but they give hints about what's on the mind of the industry as a whole. Sometimes, that seems related to what's going on in the wider world, as when The Handmaid's Tale won outstanding drama series in 2017, or when the extremely gentle, catch-up-on-Netflix comedy Schitt's Creek cleaned up in the fall of 2020, when pandemic isolation was at its peak. Sometimes, as happened with the Oscars when Top Gun: Maverick was nominated for best picture, it seems to reflect gratitude for what a show was able to do for the business behind it, as when Ted Lasso became a surprise hit for Apple when that service was still wobbly. That's not to say voters didn't also love these shows; they did and do. But it can take more than that. It can take being the right story at the right time.

Ronald Gladden and James Marsden in "Jury Duty."

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Amazon Freevee

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The most interesting nominee to find itself in the right place in the right time this year could be Jury Duty, the reality-improv hybrid comedy series. It had a concept that was hard to explain: A lone man named Ronald believes he is genuinely on jury duty, but everyone around him is an actor, including actual movie star James Marsden, appearing as a version of himself. Jury Duty aired on Freevee, Amazon's ad-supported streaming service, where the ability to launch original series successfully was unproven. And while the show had one recognizable star, it otherwise revolved around performances from comic actors who were, by necessity, low-profile enough that Ronald wouldn't recognize them.

That Jury Duty built the buzz it did — The New York Times called it a "surprise hit" while acknowledging that nobody actually knows how many people watched it — undoubtedly came as a happy surprise to anyone watching for new ways forward as subscription services consolidate and cable fades. A comedy series nomination seems plausible, as does a nomination for Marsden — because people like the show, yes. But also because nothing would make some parts of the television industry happier than the idea that ad-supported streaming might be accepted by more viewers for more uses than it has been thus far — except perhaps the suggestion that highly paid stars are, in fact, not necessary.

In a strange year, an inescapable discomfort

It's been hard for the last couple of months not to think about writers the most when thinking about good television. The Bear will probably be nominated for a bunch of things this week, but Alex O'Keefe, one of its writers, said on Twitter in April: "I won the lottery, and landed a gig on a low-budget show that became a national sensation. The Bear was a gift, but in the end, The Bear was a gig. And between gigs, I barely survive."

Jeremy Allen White as Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto in "The Bear."

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FX

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It's interesting that Hollywood finds itself in conflict partly because of the lesson The Bear teaches over and over: Greatness comes from talent, sure — but also support, learning, practice, and the time to shape that talent in a functional, if sometimes chaotic, workplace. Perhaps the Emmys that most meet the moment this year would be ones that serve as a reminder that nurturing your creative community is the best way to nurture your industry.

Police divers have found the body of a patient who went missing after a medical helicopter crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Catalina Island, bringing the death toll to three while two other people were recovering from their injuries, authorities said Friday.

Divers with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department found the victim’s body Thursday in the wreckage of the helicopter after searching more than 156 square miles (404 square kilometers) over 23 hours, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

Relatives of the missing person told ABC7 that the woman was being transported from Catalina Island to the mainland for medical care after having an allergic reaction. They also said her 20-year-old son went with her in the helicopter to help translate.

The helicopter with five people aboard went down shortly after takeoff and hit the water not far from the island, officials said. The cause is not clear and the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

First responders pulled four people from the water on Wednesday night.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said that authorities were not yet identifying the victims by name. But he described the two people who died as the male pilot and a female nurse. He also said another medic and a fourth person, a man, were hospitalized.

Luna said the helicopter wreckage was about 200 feet (60 meters) deep in the water.

The helicopter’s operator, REACH Air Medical Services of Sacramento, confirmed that two of its crew members died and a third was recovering at a hospital. The company declined to provide more details.

“In the days ahead, our focus will remain on caring for our people, supporting their families and honoring the lives and service of those we have lost,” REACH said in a statement.

A memorial service was held on the island to honor the victims.

The crash came 11 days after a firefighting helicopter went down, killing two pilots in Yosemite National Park in California, and two weeks after a news helicopter crashed in Los Angeles, killing two people.

Emergency personnel were called to the Catalina crash shortly before 8 p.m. on Wednesday. Two people were pronounced dead at the scene, and two, in stable condition, were brought to hospitals on the mainland, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.

The helicopter landed on the island shortly after 7 p.m., following a 24-minute flight from an airport in Oceanside, according to the flight tracking service Flightradar24.

At Signature Post in Burbank, Mariella Abaunza, the post-production company’s executive vice president for business development, shows off a photo of her talking to Gov. Gavin Newsom at the recent signing of AB 2319 at the Television Academy in North Hollywood.

Marielle Abaunza holds a photo of her and Gov. Gavin Newsom at the signing ceremony for California's new stand-alone post-production tax credit.

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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

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LAist

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She was there with the coalition that lobbied for the creation of a new stand-alone tax credit for post-production work done in California.

“It definitely restored my faith in government. ... Advocacy works,” she said.

It was a sizable coalition. Abaunza is president of the California Post Alliance, the post-production industry’s trade group. Leaders of the Motion Picture Association and the Editors Guild were there too.

The post-production tax credit is aimed at stopping the flight of TV and film work to other states and countries, attracted by generous tax incentives.

While there are existing tax credits for filming in California, under the new law, productions qualify for a 35% to 50% tax credit if post-production work such as editing, color correction, scoring and sound mixing is done in California, even if the filming was done outside the state.

But industry advocates acknowledge there’s a weakness in the law: Proponents initially asked lawmakers to set aside $100 million for the post-production tax breaks. By the time Newsom signed the bill into law, that amount had been drastically reduced to $10 million.

“That's going to get used up in a couple days. … It's not hard to allocate $10 million in post-production in California,” said Stephen Weizenecker, an entertainment lawyer based in Atlanta who advises TV and film productions on how to take advantage of tax credits in U.S. states and overseas.

But he said that regardless of the much lower cap, the credits will make California more competitive.

Abaunza hopes it will be a boost for Signature Post. The 6-year-old post-production company, which mixed sound for films and shows like  "Everything Everywhere All at Once," "American Fiction," and "Lessons in Chemistry," has been experiencing a slowdown, like many others.

“We're still ahead of the game, and we still have the largest concentration of post-production talent of anywhere in the world,” Abaunza said of Southern California.

But she said that post-production advantage has been eroded by new facilities and worker talent in the U.K. and Canada, among other countries.

Monica Levinson, executive producer of FX’s "Love Story," "Say Nothing," and many other TV and film projects, points out that those countries have another advantage: a lot more government social services.

She compared that to the U.S. “The one thing that this country has are unions, and it has health insurance, and it has pension plans, and the things that need to be put into the budgets of productions,” she said.

Weizenecker also noted that as much as producers might want to keep production in California or the U.S., they may not be the ones making the decisions about where work is done.

“ If Netflix only gives you so much to spend on the production, including post,” he said, “you're gonna go where it's the most cost-effective.”

Federal game changer

While the California tax credit is a step in the direction of keeping productions in the state, a much bigger tax credit is now making its way through the federal legislative process that may be even more transformative.

It’s called the Motion Picture, Television and Entertainment Revitalization Act and was co-authored by U.S. Sens. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, and Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina. President Donald Trump has also said he supports it.

If the bipartisan birth and early life of the bill isn’t enough to raise eyebrows, what it promises may be: a 20% federal, labor-based tax credit to U.S. TV and film productions where 75% of the days spent on principal photography happen in this country.

The bill would also favor post-production work and extend benefits to productions in some rural areas and places affected by disasters.

Marielle Abaunza is executive vice president of business development for Signature Post in Burbank.

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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

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LAist

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“These things could be real game changers to bring back the work here,” Levinson said. She’s the co-chair of the legislative committee for Producers United, a 3-year-old group that advocates for established TV and film producers. That position led her to join the coalition of groups working to get the federal bill passed.

TV and film production and post-production used to be dominated by California, and L.A. County in particular. But Hollywood, as it refers to what you see on the big and small screen, is a national business now.

“Everybody in this country is behind this federal incentive. And therefore, that's why it's become such a bipartisan effort because there's production in every state right now,” Levinson said.

Supporters have not said how much less money would go to public coffers if this federal tax credit passes.

A long-running court battle between California veterans and the Trump administration will continue, as federal officials consider asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s order to build more housing for unhoused L.A. veterans.

A federal appeals court on Thursday agreed to temporarily pause the order to construct more than 2,500 new housing units on the Veterans Affairs campus in West L.A.

Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney with Public Counsel representing the plaintiffs, told LAist the delay could spell life or death for unhoused veterans, especially as the region braces for strong El Niño-driven storms.

“These are veterans who risked their lives and suffered both the visible and invisible wounds of war,” Rosenbaum said. “What the government is saying to them is, you're supposed to stay on the street."

VA officials did not immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment.

Veterans' lawyers in a court filing called a possible appeal to the Supreme Court a “hopeless shot.”

“The government has lost every time they have taken this to court. No court has ruled for them on any of these matters,” Rosenbaum told LAist. “This is part of the administration’s war on its own veterans, and it’s time for that war to come to an end.”

Could long-running case end up at the Supreme Court?

The litigation was initiated in 2023 by L.A. veterans struggling with homelessness. The case has centered on the 400-acre V.A. campus, which U.S. District Judge David O. Carter has ruled should offer more housing to the approximately 2,250 veterans experiencing homelessness in L.A. County.

In 2024, Carter ordered officials to add thousands of temporary and permanent homes, and end leases with UCLA, a private K-12 school and an oil drilling company, which he said did not serve the needs of veterans.

An appeals court last month blocked the federal government’s efforts to halt the housing construction. But veteran advocates knew that federal officials could ask for further delays as the case winds through the courts.

VA officials now have until Dec. 10 to decide whether to appeal their fight to the Supreme Court. Judges with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals told lawyers for the federal government that if they do not decide to appeal by Dec. 10, “the stay will be lifted immediately.”

The Los Angeles Unified School District shortened the application window for specialized academic programs this year, and will no longer accept paper forms.

Applications for the district’s magnet, dual language and affiliated charter schools for the next academic year opened Oct. 1 and are due Nov. 6, 2026.

How does it work?

If you want your child to attend their neighborhood school, enrollment is fairly straightforward. There’s a separate process for the district’s specialized programs called Choices.

There are two windows to apply — on-time and late. The latter consists of all the spaces left after families who applied on time accept their offers.

Here’s the timeline for the 2027-28 school year:

• Sept. 2026: School fairs start.
• Oct. 1, 2026: Choices application opens.
• Nov. 6, 2026:  Deadline to apply online.
• Dec. 1, 2026:  Late applications begin. 
• February 2027: On-time applicant results sent. 
• March 5, 2027: Deadline to accept or decline school offers for on-time applicants. School assignments for late applications follow the processing of on-time applications. Students may be offered a spot through the start of the spring semester. 
• Aug. 12, 2027: The school year begins.

LAUSD will no longer accept paper Choices applications. If families do not have a computer, they can use a smartphone to complete an application. LAUSD will also allow families to use computers at school parent centers.

How to prepare

Every child within LAUSD boundaries is assigned a school — find yours through the district’s “resident school identifier.”

But there are also hundreds of other programs available through the Choices process.

Those include:

• Magnets: Programs on a specific theme, such as science, math, language, advanced studies or art. These programs were originally established to integrate segregated schools and have a unique “points” system to prioritize applications. 
• Dual language or immersion: Students learn in English and in a second language such as Spanish, Mandarin, Korean or Armenian. 
• Affiliated charter schools: District-run schools with more freedom to try different types of teaching or other programs. 

No one type of school is inherently better than another, and no one metric defines a great school — there are many factors beyond test scores to consider, and we go over some of those here.

By far the most frequent piece of advice we’ve heard is to go on an in-person school tour if possible.

“The very best thing that people can do is go to the school and try to watch the way that educators interact with students, the way that students interact with each other, and the way that families are included or not in the life of a school,” said Jack Schneider, a University of Massachusetts, Amherst, education researcher and parent. “Once you do that, you really get a sense of what kind of place kids are going to school.”

Some schools post tour information online, but you may need to call for details.

LAUSD also hosts fairs, organized by geographic region, where multiple schools table and share information about their programs, through mid-October.