The Emmys, The Fall Season, And TV Now

The Emmys are awarded — we look at what makes the best TV now, and the new season.

Emmy night last night in what’s being called a new golden age for television.  Breaking Bad and Modern Family right up top in the TV awards.

Lot of talk from the stage about all the new ways we’re watching.  Everybody at their own time, in their own way.  Binge watching Kevin Spacey and the latest from Netflix.  Streaming on all kinds of devices, right down to smartphones.

A new season breaking right now – some good, some bad, lots of talk.

This hour, On Point:  the Emmys, and where TV is headed in the new season and beyond.
- Tom Ashbrook

Willa Paskin, television critic for Slate. (@willapaskin)

James Poniewozik, writes Time magazine's Tuned In column on pop culture and society. (@poniewozik)

Time Magazine: Beyond the Usual Suspects: 5 Emmy Races to Watch Out For -- "TV is still largely a producers’ and writers’ medium, but the contributions of directors has gotten more critical and fan attention lately, and you can credit much of this group for that. But if there’s a single show among TV’s current crop that has made directing one of the stars of the show, it’s Breaking Bad, thoughtfully composed and visually imaginative, like a one-hour Coen Brothers Western aired once a week."

Slate: Oh Great, Another 'Equal Opportunity Offender' -- "Dads, a show about two annoying grown men’s extremely fraught and contentious relationships with their two unbearable fathers, is sourer than fermented lemonade, and that’s before it turns acrid with the taste of casual racism. If, in this new, subpar TV season, describing a show as one of its “best” is not that complimentary, describing a show as one of its worst means something special: Dads is the worst new comedy in quite some time."

The Washington Post: Hey, TV critic — how’s that new fall 2013 TV season? (You’ll be sorry you asked!) -- "We are now at a multimedia moment where the concept of a 'fall season'— with its emphasis on advertising, ratings and a flood of new shows all premiering within days or weeks of one another — seems like an ancient and outdated ritual. That it happens to be the way many, many millions of people still ingest television doesn’t mean that it will be for much longer. The market is changing fast."