SEPTEMBER 19 • 2019 | 43 Arts&Life Sarah Silverman Borstein, plays a non-Jewish character. Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin won 2019 Golden Globe awards for their Kominsky Method roles. The series began in November 2018 and this is its first year for Emmy consider- ation. Both have good chances to win the Emmy. However, I think Tony Shalhoub, who lost to Henry Winkler last year, will probably best Winkler (and oth- ers) this year in the supporting actor category. Winkler was a sentimental favorite in 2018. He had been nominated six times before he finally won an Emmy last year. DIRECTING, WRITING The directing and writing awards cite a specific episode, which I have omitted. Director, comedy series: Amy Sherman-Palladino, 53; Mrs. Maisel; Director, drama series: David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, both 48, Game of Thrones, and Miguel Sapochnik, 45, Game of Thrones; Director, limited series, movie or dramatic spe- cial: Ben Stiller, 53, Escape at Dannemora and Stephen Frears, 78, A Very English Scandal; Director, variety series: Sacha Baron Cohen, 47, Nathan Fiedler, 35, and Dan Mazer, 47, are nominated as co-directors of an episode of Who is America?; Writing, comedy series: Natasha Lyonne, co-writer of an episode of Russian Doll; and Allison Silverman, 47, writing (alone) another Russian Doll epi- sode; and David H. Mandel, 49, Veep; Writing, drama series: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, Game of Thrones and Bruce Miller, 54ish, for co-writing an episode of The Handmaid’ s Tale. Writing, limited series or movie: Craig Mazin, 48, Chernobyl; and Michael Tolkin, 68, co-writer, Escape at Dannemora; and Steven Levenson, 35, co-writer of Fosse/ Verdon. DIRECTING/WRITING NOTES Amy Sherman-Palladino com- petes with her husband, Daniel Palladino, for best director, com- edy. They co-created Mrs. Maisel and they each directed a Maisel episode that was nominated. Natasha Lyonne’ s acting and writing nominations are wonderful “ratifications” of her amazing comeback. She had a pretty hot career in good films like The Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), but she gradually fell into alcohol and heroin use and seemed on a terminal slide in 2004-5 (arrests, etc.). But she totally cleaned-up her act and gradually re-built her career. She was helped by a big part on Orange is the New Black from 2013-2019. Michael Tolkin’ s father, Mel Tolkin (1913-2007), was a great, Emmy-winning comedy writer who wrote for everybody big in his era (Sid Caesar, Danny Kaye, Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope). BEST SERIES/ MOVIE CATEGORIES The “best” awards are normally given to the producers of the nominated program. My prac- tice is to list the nominated shows and TV movie(s) that have a Jewish creator or co-cre- ator. Usually the creator(s) are a producer of their show, too. Comedy series: Curb Your Enthusiasm, created by Larry David, 72; and Glow, co-created by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, 36ish; and Silicon Valley, co-cre- ated by Mike Judge, John Altschuler, 56, and Dave Krinsky, 56; Drama series: Game of Thrones, created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (above); and The Americans, created by Joe Weisberg, 50ish; and The Crown, created by Peter Morgan, 56; and The Handmaid’ s Tale, created by Bruce Miller (above); and This is Us, created by Dan Fogelman, 43; Variety sketch series: Drunk History, co-cre- ated by Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner, 39ish; and I Love You America, created by Sarah Silverman, 48; Limited series: Chernobyl, creat- ed by Craig Mazin (above); and Fosse/Verdon, created by Steven Levenson (above) and Thomas Kail; and Escape at Dannemora, co-created by Michael Tolkin (above) and Brett Johnson; TV movie: Deadwood: The Movie, written by David Milch, 74, creator of the Deadwood series. “BEST” NOTES Craig Mazin, nominated for writing and creating Chernobyl, was Sen. Ted Cruz’ s roommate when they both were freshmen at Princeton. Glow, co-created by Carly Mensch, has some Jewish con- tent and I figured that some- body named Mensch connected with this show had to be Jewish. But so far as I can tell, nobody has asked Mensch, a respected playwright, about her back- ground. Well, I checked family history sources and found out that both her parents are Jewish and her paternal grandfather, an orphan who became a big guy in the suburban lumber business, was born Israel Mensch(!) Is there a more Jewish name than that? (He went by the name Edward I. Mensch as an adult). INTERNATIONAL NOTE Miguel Sapochnik, Stephen Frears, Sacha Baron Cohen and Dan Mazer are Brits. Eugene Levy, Sarah Goldberg and Nathan Fiedler are Canadians. IMDB Dan Fogelman Ben Stiller FACEBOOK Miguel Sapochnik FACEBOOK David H. Mandel IMDB IMDB Sacha Baron Cohen FACEBOOK FACEBOOK/HULU