Cynopsis Media presents:
The Primetime Emmy® Awards 2010
08.04.10

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, August 4, 2010, and this is the fifth and final installment of our special five-part series on this year’s Primetime Emmy® Awards.  Each weekly installment will concentrate on one or two award categories with information about each of the nominees as listed ATAS and if provided, a description sent to us by the nominee and/or the nominee’s representatives.  Each installment will also open with an editorial about the category, written for Cynopsis by Daisy Whitney.  As always with any special edition, we hope you find the information relevant, interesting and informative, and encourage your feedback.

In the category of ”  Outstanding Non-Fiction / Special”
by Daisy Whitney

The leading contenders for the Outstanding Non-fiction Series Emmy® Award couldn’t be more different or harder to handicap.

In one corner, you’ll find Discovery’s Life, a show that’s four years in the making and documents the myriad of living creatures around the globe, and in another corner is IFC’s documentary on the influential and beloved comedy troupe Monty Python, a group that has, incidentally, never won an Emmy®. But then, the acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns, owner of ten Emmy® Awards already, should never be counted out of an awards race. His PBS series chronicling the history of America’s National Parks is another leading contender.

Others in the running include Discovery’s Deadliest Catch, as well as two more PBS entrants   American Experience and American Masters. American Masters has won the statuette seven times in the last decade and will make a go of it this year too. The 23-year-old history series American Experience took home the award most recently in 1999.

With so many worthy contenders, this category is one of the toughest to peg in advance, Emmy® experts say. However, the strength of its ratings performance may give “Life” the edge.

“Probably Life is the frontrunner since it was a big hit for the Discovery Channel,” said Chris Beachum, an Emmy® expert with AwardsHeaven.net and LATimes.com. “Never count out Ken Burns though, since he has won quite a few Emmys®.”

But there may be a feel-good sentiment that sways voters to the IFC series Monty Python: Almost the Truth. Many prognosticators have suggested this could be the year for the comedy group to win some gold.

On the specials side, it will be hard to beat HBO’s By the People, Beachum said, because it had the perfect mix of great ratings, reviews and buzz. That show was produced by Edward Norton and documented President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. A dark horse in the category is  Morgan Spurlock’s documentary The Simpsons: 20th Anniversary Special – In 3-D! On Ice! that explored the cultural impact of The Simpsons and was lauded for its scope.

AND THE NOMINEES ARE …

Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story – EPIXHD – Salient Media presents a Halyon Films production in association with Ella Communications
Max Burgos, Executive Producer
John Gore, Executive Producer
James Goddard, Producer
Sarah Townsend, Producer

By The People: The Election Of Barack Obama – HBO – Green Film Company, Citi Productions, Class 5 Films and GOOD in association with HBO Documentary Films
Amy Rice, Produced By
Alicia Sams, Produced By
Edward Norton, Produced By
Stuart Blumberg, Produced By
William Migliore, Produced By
Description:  Nearly a year before Barack Obama announced his candidacy for the presidency on Feb. 10, 2007, filmmakers Amy Rice and Alicia Sams began to roll cameras on the young senator.  Over the next 19 months, they found themselves travelling all across the country, chronicling the daily ups and downs of the campaign trail as experienced by Obama, his family, his staff and volunteers.  While Obama’s meteoric rise to the White House has been well documented in the press, few have witnessed the behind-the-scenes story of the passionate campaigners who helped a young African-American freshman senator attain the nation’s highest office.

Johnny Mercer: The Dream’s On Me – TCM – Rhapsody Productions in association with TCM, Arena/BBC and Warner Home Video
Clint Eastwood, Executive Producer
Bruce Ricker, Produced By
Description: Commemorating the 100th anniversary of his birth, TCM’s Johnny Mercer: The Dream’s On Me celebrates the legendary personality behind such movie songs as “Hooray for Hollywood,” “Jeepers Creepers,” “That Old Black Magic,” “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe,” “Skylark,” “Blues in the Night,” “Moon River” and “The Days of Wine and Roses.”  Executive-produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Clint Eastwood, the special features countless performances of Mercer’s work and an abundance of new and archival interviews detailing his life and career.

Saturday Night Live In The 2000s: Time And Again – NBC – Barking Dog Productions
Ken Aymong, Supervising Producer
Ken Bowser, Produced By
Declan Baldwin, Produced By

The Simpsons: 20th Anniversary Special  In 3-D! On Ice! – FOX – Warrior Poets
Morgan Spurlock, Executive Producer
Jeremy Chilnick, Executive Producer

Teddy: In His Own Words – HBO – Kunhardt McGee Productions in association with HBO Documentary Films
Dyllan McGee, Executive Producer
Jacqueline Glover, Supervising Producer
Peter Kunhardt, Produced By
Sheila Nevins, Produced By
Description:  Edward “Teddy” Kennedy, the nine-time Senior Senator from Massachusetts, served in public office for almost 50 years, believing it to be the highest calling in life.   Enduring countless personal tragedies and the burden of oversized family expectations, he forged a career unparalleled in the history of American politics. The documentary tells the story of Camelot’s last male survivor through his own words, profiled in never-before-seen home movies and photos, from his childhood through his historic speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The HBO Documentary Film is from the Emmy® Award winning producers of JFK:In His Own Words and Bobby Kennedy: In His Own Words.

OUTSTANDING NONFICTION SERIES

American Experience – PBS – A Steeplechase Films production for American Experience
Mark Samels, Executive Producer
Sharon Grimberg, Senior Producer
Susan Bellows, Series Producer
Ric Burns, Produced By
Mary Recine, Produced By
Bonnie Lafave, Produced By
Robin Espinola, Produced By
Description: Television’s most-watched history series, American Experience has been hailed as “peerless” (Wall Street Journal), “the most consistently enriching program on television” (Chicago Tribune), and “a beacon of intelligence and purpose” (Houston Chronicle).
On air and online, the series brings to life the incredible characters and epic stories that have shaped America’s past and present. Acclaimed by viewers and critics alike, American Experience documentaries have been honored with every major broadcast award, including twenty-four Emmy® Awards, four duPont-Columbia Awards, and fourteen George Foster Peabody Awards, one most recently for Two Days in October.

American Masters – PBS – A Production of Wolf Films and Strange Pictures LLC in association with Rhino Entertainment and Thirteen’s American Masters for WNET.org
Susan Lacy, Executive Producer
Prudence Glass, Series Producer
Julie Sacks, Supervising Producer
John Beug, Producer
Jeffrey Jampol, Producer
Dick Wolf, Producer
Peter Jankowski, Produced By

Deadliest Catch – Discovery Channel – Produced by Original Productions, LLC for Discovery Communications
Thom Beers, Executive Producer
Jeff Conroy, Executive Producer
Paul Gasek, Executive Producer for Discovery Channel
Tracy Rudolph, Executive Producer for Discovery Channel
Matt Renner, Co-Executive Producer
Ethan Prochnik, Supervising Producer
Eric Lange, Producer
Description:  Multiple Emmy®-nominated DEADLIEST CATCH follows the now legendary captains and crews of crab-fishing vessels on the Bering Sea, doing one of the deadliest and most lucrative jobs in the world. The ultimate tough guys of television battle storms – personal, financial and natural – until the job is done.
From treacherous weather to crew conflict to personal tragedy, this season takes viewers through some of the toughest situations the captains and crews have had to face on the high seas.

Life – Discovery Channel – A BBC/Discovery Channel/SKAI Co-Production in association with RTI Spa
Catherine McCarthy, Executive Producer for BBC
Michael Gunton, Executive Producer
Susan Winslow, Executive Producer for Discovery Channel
Paul Spillenger, Producer for Discovery Channel
Martha Holmes, Series Producer
Description: Multiple Emmy®-nominated LIFE is the definitive exploration of the adaptability and diversity of life on earth, revealing the most spectacular, bizarre and fascinating behaviors that living things have devised in order to thrive. More than four years in the making, with over 3,000 days of filming, the series spans every continent and every habitat.
As the follow up to the Emmy®-winning PLANET EARTH, LIFE features never-before-seen animal behaviors using the latest in state-of-the-art high definition filming techniques. Epic in scope, yet intimate in storytelling, each episode focuses on a different animal or planet group. This 11-part series, narrated by Oprah Winfrey, showcases life as no one has ever seen it before.

Monty Python: Almost The Truth (The Lawyer’s Cut) – IFC – Eagle Rock
Entertainment Production, in association with IFC. Produced by Bill & Ben Productions
Christine Lubrano, Executive Producer for IFC
Harold Gronenthal, Executive Producer for IFC
George Lentz, Executive Producer for IFC
Andrew Winter, Supervising Producer
Bill Jones, Series Producer
Ben Timlett, Series Producer
Description: Forty years ago, Monty Python’s Flying Circus ignited a comedic revolution. Setting the bar for satire, slapstick and silliness, The Pythons rose to iconic status, from comedy troupe to cultural phenomenon.  All surviving Python members: John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, (along with archive representation for the late Graham Chapman) gathered together on camera one last time to retell the entire Python phenomenon start to finish. The legendary troupe tell the tale of how their lives and careers began Post-WWII, their early struggles turned extreme successes, BBC censorship, the success of  ‘Holy Grail’, the misinterpreted and controversially banned The Life of Brian, and recall their last movie, The Meaning of Life and its relevance to Graham Chapman’s memorial service. The series also features interviews with Jimmy Fallon, Lorne Michaels, Eddie Izzard, Olivia Harrison, Stephen Merchant, Dan Aykroyd, Russell Brand and Seth Green among many others.

The National Parks: America’s Best Idea – PBS – A Production of Florentine Films and WETA Washington, D.C.
Ken Burns, Produced By
Dayton Duncan, Produced By
Description:  The National Parks: America’s Best Idea  a six-episode, twelve-hour series from acclaimed filmmakers Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan  is a breathtaking journey spanning a century and a half of our nation’s history and ranging from one corner of the country to the other: from the southernmost tip of Florida to the frozen tundra of Alaska, from the rocky coast of Maine to the volcanic Hawaiian islands. It is the story of an idea as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence and just as radical: that the most magnificent places we possess should be preserved not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone  and for all time. Here are the stories of those spectacular places and the unforgettable people who kept them from destruction  stories of struggle and conflict, stirring adventure and enduring inspiration, set against a backdrop of stunning beauty and grandeur.

OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR NONFICTION PROGRAMMING

The Amazing Race – I Think We’re Fighting The Germans, Right? – CBS – World Race Productions Inc.
Bertram van Munster, Director

By The People: The Election Of Barack Obama – HBO – Green Film Company, Citi Productions, Class 5 Films and GOOD in association with HBO Documentary Films
Amy Rice, Director
Alicia Sams, Director
Description:  Nearly a year before Barack Obama announced his candidacy for the presidency on Feb. 10, 2007, filmmakers Amy Rice and Alicia Sams began to roll cameras on the young senator.  Over the next 19 months, they found themselves travelling all across the country, chronicling the daily ups and downs of the campaign trail as experienced by Obama, his family, his staff and volunteers.  While Obama’s meteoric rise to the White House has been well documented in the press, few have witnessed the behind-the-scenes story of the passionate campaigners who helped a young African-American freshman senator attain the nation’s highest office.

Monty Python: Almost The Truth (The Lawyer’s Cut) – Lust For Glory – IFC – Eagle Rock Entertainment Production, in association with IFC. Produced by Bill & Ben Productions
Bill Jones, Director
Ben Timlett, Director
Description:  First meeting when they were 4 years old, Bill Jones and Ben Timlett grew up together in Camberwell, South London.  During their teenage years they developed a passion for films and filmmaking, spending a significant part of those formative years making short films together, predominantly pastiches of films they loved while growing up.
In 1998 Bill and Ben formed Bill and Ben Productions, a small boutique film editing company.  After several years of editing films, commercials and music videos for other people, they decided to focus their company on producing as well as editing.
Early Bill and Ben productions included documentaries Never Mind the Sex Pistols for BBC, and Rebel: Truce: The History of the Clash for Sky One. Drama productions include Mockingbird staring Olivia Williams (Sixth Sense), Chemical Wedding starring Simon Callow (Shakespeare in Love) and the critically acclaimed and award winning comedy feature film The West Wittering Affair.

My Lai – PBS – An Ark Media production for American Experience
Barak Goodman, Director
Description:  What drove a company of American  soldiers-ordinary young men from around the country deployed to liberate a small foreign nation from an oppressive neighbor-to dehumanize and murder more than 300 unarmed civilians? Were they “just following orders” as some later declared? Or, as others argued, did they break under the pressure of a misguided military strategy that measured victory by body count? Today, as the United States once again finds itself questioning the morality of actions taken in the name of war, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Barak Goodman (The Lobotomist, Scottsboro: An American Tragedy) focuses his lens on the 1968 My Lai Massacre, its subsequent cover-up, and the heroic efforts of the soldiers who broke rank to halt the atrocities. Produced for PBS’s American Experience, My Lai draws upon the eyewitness accounts of Vietnamese survivors and the men of the Charlie Company 11th Infantry Brigade and recently discovered audio recordings from the Peers Inquiry to recount one of the Vietnam War’s darkest chapters.

Terror In Mumbai – HBO – Quicksilver Media in association with HBO Documentary Films
Dan Reed, Director
Description:  On the evening of November 26, 2008, ten young Pakistani men reached Mumbai in a small hijacked fishing boat, having slaughtered its captain and crew, and glided unnoticed into the teeming Indian port city.  Over the next three days, armed with cell phones, machine guns, and fruit and nuts to sustain them, they unleashed coordinated attacks across the city that left at least 170 people dead and more than 300 wounded, sending shockwaves of fear around the world. Narrated by Mumbai-born Fareed Zakaria, CNN host and Newsweek International editor, and directed by award-winning filmmaker Dan Reed (HBO’s “Terror in Moscow”), TERROR IN MUMBAI provides a 360-degree view of a terrorist act, recounting in harrowing detail the bloody events of that 60-hour period.

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR NONFICTION PROGRAMMING

America The Story Of Us – Division – HISTORY – Produced by Nutopia for History
Jenny Ash, Writer
Ed Fields, Contributing Writer
Description: AMERICA THE STORY OF US produced by Nutopia for HISTORY, with first time nominee, Jenny Ash (Writer) and previous prime-time Emmy® winner for writing (Lost Civilizations), Ed Fields (Contributing Writer), was an epic six-night television event covering 400 years of American history. In conjunction with the broadcast, HISTORY launched its largest ever educational outreach initiative and offered a DVD of the entire 12-hour series to every school in America. Introduced by President Obama and narrated by Liev Schreiber, AMERICA is a look at the forces that have shaped our nation – the people, places and things that created this most astounding country, looking at the moments where invention and technology advanced human progress. The series is also a story of conflict – with Native American peoples, slavery, the revolutionary war that birthed the nation, the Civil War that divided it and the great world war that shaped its future.

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations – Prague – Travel Channel – Zero Point Zero Production, Inc.
Anthony Bourdain, Writer

The Buddha – PBS – David Grubin Productions, Inc.
David Grubin, Writer
Description:  Two and a half millennia ago, a new religion was born, generated from the ideas of a single man, the Buddha, an Indian sage who attained enlightenment while he sat under a large, shapely fig tree.  The Buddha never claimed to be God or his emissary on earth.  He said that he was only a human being who, in a world of unavoidable pain and suffering, had found a kind of serenity which others could find too.  The Buddha tells the story of his life, a journey especially relevant to our own bewildering times of violent change and spiritual confusion. 

Life – Challenges Of Life – Discovery Channel – A BBC/Discovery Channel/SKAI Co-Production in association with RTI Spa
Paul Spillenger, Writer

The National Parks: America’s Best Idea – The Last Refuge – PBS – A Production of Florentine Films and WETA Washington, D.C.
Dayton Duncan, Writer
Description:  The National Parks: America’s Best Idea  – a six-episode, twelve-hour series from acclaimed filmmakers Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan – is a breathtaking journey spanning a century and a half of our nation’s history and ranging from one corner of the country to the other: from the southernmost tip of Florida to the frozen tundra of Alaska, from the rocky coast of Maine to the volcanic Hawaiian islands.  It is the story of an idea as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence and just as radical: that the most magnificent places we possess should be preserved not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone – and for all time. Here are the stories of those spectacular places and the unforgettable people who kept them from destruction – stories of struggle and conflict, stirring adventure and enduring inspiration, set against a backdrop of stunning beauty and grandeur.

OUTSTANDING VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SPECIAL

Bill Maher “…But I’m Not Wrong” – HBO – Bill Maher Productions and Moffitt Lee in association with HBO Entertainment

Hope For Haiti Now – Tenth Planet Productions and MTV

The Kennedy Center Honors – CBS – A George Stevens Jr. Presentation, Kennedy Center Television Productions, Inc.
Description: THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS recognizes talented individuals for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts.

Robin Williams: Weapons Of Self Destruction – HBO – Fiat Risus, MBST / CKX, and Funny Business in Association with HBO Entertainment

The 25th Anniversary Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Concert – HBO – Playtone, Tenth Planet Productions and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation in association with HBO Entertainment

Wanda Sykes: I’ma Be Me – HBO – Sykes Entertainment in association with HBO Entertainment

OUTSTANDING MINISERIES

The Pacific – HBO – Playtone and Dreamworks in association with HBO
Miniseries

Return To Cranford (Masterpiece) – PBS – BBC/WGBH in association with Chestermead
Description:  Dame Judi Dench (also an Emmy® nominee) reprises her role as Matty Jenkyns in the two-part sequel to the Emmy®-nominated “Cranford” mini-series, based on Elizabeth Gaskell’s beloved novels about a small village in the 1840s on the cusp of great change.

OUTSTANDING MADE FOR TELEVISION MOVIE

Endgame (Masterpiece) – PBS – Channel 4, Target Entertainment Group and
Masterpiece present A Daybreak Pictures Production
Description:  A nation teeters on the brink of civil war in this real-life political thriller about the negotiations that led to the end of apartheid in South Africa.  Seemingly doomed to failure, the secret talks were held against a backdrop of terrorism, spying, blackmail and escalating unrest.  The international cast includes Chiwetel Ejiofor as President Thabo Mbeki, William Hurt, Jonny Lee Miller, Michael Young, Derek Jacobi and Clarke Peters as Nelson Mandela.

Georgia O’Keeffe – Lifetime – Sony Pictures Television for Lifetime Television
Description: The Lifetime Original Movie Georgia O’Keeffe’s nine Emmy® nominations, including Outstanding Made for Television Movie, are topped off by Joan Allen’s nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, which features her “finely tuned, passionately restrained performance” (O, The Oprah Magazine) as the fiercely independent and celebrated artist.  Chronicling the turbulent, 20-year affair between O’Keeffe and photographer Alfred Stieglitz (Jeremy Irons), the critically-acclaimed biopic showcases Allen’s mesmerizing portrayal of O’Keeffe searching for solace and finding new creative inspiration for her paintings – and ultimately her own voice – in the New Mexico landscape.  In addition to starring in the film, for which she also secured Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations, Allen executive produced alongside Joshua D. Maurer and Alixandre Witlin.  Produced by Sony Pictures Television, Georgia O’Keeffe was directed by Bob Balaban, who received an Emmy® nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special.

Moonshot – HISTORY – Produced by Dangerous Films LTD for History
Description:  MOON SHOT, a 2-hour television movie that premiered on History, dramatizes the July 1969 Apollo 11 mission of astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins.  The danger and excitement of being the first men to land on the moon is portrayed through a seamless blend of drama and archive, including NASA archive transferred to HD and actual audio from the capsule and Mission Control, as well as news footage from around the world.  The drama tells the behind-the-scenes story of the astronauts’ training and their 8-day journey to the Moon, reveals the clash of egos over who becomes commander, and who walks on the Moon first, and delves into their home lives.  The dramatic script is based on transcripts, books and interviews. 

The Special Relationship – HBO – A Rainmark and Kennedy/Marshall Production in association with HBO Films

Temple Grandin – HBO – A Ruby Films, Gerson Saines Production in association with HBO Films

You Don’t Know Jack – HBO – Bee Holder, Cine Mosaic and Levinson/Fontana Productions in association with HBO Films

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

This 5-part series of 2010 Primetime Emmy® Award Special Reports are available to read or download on the Cynopsis website in our special Primetime Emmy®2010 section.

Later  — Cyn
08.04.10

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