Annual TV critics meeting draws cross-section of stars
PASADENA, Calif. — When members of the Television Critics Association gather each January to preview upcoming programs and hear from those who make them, the result can be a kind of exotic celebrity zoo. This year’s mixed crowd included reality stars, Oscar winners and a politician.
There were odd role reversals. Hillary Rodham Clinton discussed a documentary about her life and career, Hulu’s “Hillary,” and was asked only a few questions about current events. In a panel for Oxygen’s “Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project,” the aspiring lawyer spoke less about herself and more about her efforts for prison inmates.
For those who cover TV, the meeting can yield access, news and insights; for those in the industry, the goal is publicity. Panels are held from morning to night over two weeks, weekends included. As brisk and carefully planned as it is, and as practiced as celebrities are, discernibly genuine moments can happen.
Paris Hilton was charmingly nervous as magician David Blaine, set for a YouTube appearance this fall, asked her to serve as his assistant. During a subsequent panel for YouTube’s “This Is Paris,” a somber-looking Hilton said she’d been reluctant to do a candid biographical film “because I wasn’t ready to really show myself. I’ve been playing this character for so long.”
National Geographic network executive Courteney Monroe choked up as she introduced panelists for “The Cave,” the Oscarnominated documentary about the brave efforts of a group led by Dr. Amani Ballour to care for residents of a besieged Syrian town. “I may actually start crying,” Monroe said, a reaction made understandable by clips showing the dangers that Ballour, her colleagues and patients endured.
It was deja vu over again, and again, as a notable number of actors appeared on different panels for different shows — an outcome of the voracious Peak TV appetite. Networks, cable channels and streaming services end up sharing in-demand talent from a Hollywood pool that may be shallower than suspected, at least when it comes to those with a track record and name recognition.
Josh Gad was on a panel for HBO’s space satire “Avenue 5, and back again for “Central Park,” an Apple TV Plus animated comedy. Martin Freeman discussed his role as a police detective in Britbox’s drama “A Confession,” and switched gears to tout FX’s comedy “Breeders,” about struggling parents.
Gad was in good form for his appearances: “We like to think of ourselves as the ‘Game of Thrones’ of comedies,” he said of “Avenue 5” in response to a question about the number of characters who die in its early episodes. “There’s quite a big body count, just you wait.”
On the “Central Park” panel, co-star Kristen Bell recounted her childhood love for musical theater and an obsession with “Cats.” Gad seized the opening: “Are you sad you weren’t in the ‘Cats’ movie?” he asked, slyly, of the widely panned film adaptation.
Among others pulling double duty in new series pitched to critics: Cynthia Erivo in HBO’s “The Outsider” and National Geographic’s “Genius: Aretha”; Rob Lowe in Fox’s “9-1-1: Lone Star” and Britbox’s crime drama “Wild Bill”; John Slattery in FX’s “Mrs. America” and Fox’s “neXt” and Daveed Diggs in TNT’s “Snowpiercer” and “Central Park.”
Three members of the Oscar club were one and done, including Al Pacino for Amazon’s “Hunters,” Nicole Kidman for HBO’s “The Undoing” and Cate Blanchett for “Mrs. America.” Reese Witherspoon was on hand for the Apple TV series “The Morning Show,” and for Hulu’s “Little Fires Everywhere.”