Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson Front ‘Ponies’ Emmy Campaign Across 20 Comedy Categories

Making the eyebrows? :p

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Hello Emilia

She was great in White Lotus too

In the last two episodes when Lu’s story really comes together she was especially phenomenal.

Maybe true, but I thought Emilia’s performance fit the part more

In the beginning she felt kind of over the top (and I’m sure it was just a me thing) but by like the midpoint I had the most fun watching her and I really appreciated her performance. I hope they get a season 2, it was a fun story and I fell in love with the two lead ls and their relationship

Hailey Lu was pure charisma in this! Such a fun show!

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every scene, Haley Lu's mouth is agaped. that's her only expression

Ponies is MUCH funnier than The Bear. Haley Lu is hilarious in it. Yes, it has a lot of very serious elements, but also a lot of very farcical ones.

I had a feeling they might go that route. I'm torn on how to feel about it. I liked season 1, but I don't really like the idea of dramas trying to pass as comedies for awards.

Any attempt at labelling the genre of this show should absolutely include the word comedy in it in my opinion. It wasn't just a drama with occasional bits of comedy in it

This is a comedy, compared to slow horses or the Americans

I thought it had some hilarious moments and it definitely didn't take itself too seriously

Eh, clearly trying much harder for a comedic tone than The Bear (especially later seasons) but yeah it's still more of a drama first with funny moments rather than the reverse. I enjoyed it but I'm not sure I'd really push it for awards beyond maybe costuming/set. It was a *good* good show but not *great,* y'know?

I was going to say the same thing, didn't feel like a comedy at all.

The categories basically correspond to run time rather than content.

That's not accurate, btw, but I'll come back to that later. I've written this up before, and if I'm doubling up with you, my apologies. But it's an interesting question from a structural viewpoint thinking about the show as a whole and how it needs to develop. Ponies (like many shows) is trying to juggle and mix multiple genres. That's pretty basic. It mixes up the formula and helps the showrunners hide the twists. It also gives them a little more freedom to take big swings, because the show can jump from comedy to suspense to action to tragedy and back to comedy very quickly. If the showrunners write themselves into a jam, something silly or off the wall can happen and they're clear. (E.g., Ivanna popping out unexpectedly from behind a door and clobbering Andrei with a standing ashtray before he kills Bea.) Genre hopping can be useful. If I had to pick one genre lane that is the throughline, I'd say it is the buddy story between Bea and Twila. That's a classic odd couple matchup that unexpectedly clicks and will be the center of the show going forward. But there's also the spy vs. spy drama, the mystery/action/adventure theme, the tragedy, and -- never far from the surface -- the comedic element. Twila is written as an over-the-top caricature at the start because she carries most of the comedic load for season 1. She's a wrecking ball and all the other characters play off her. HLR played opposite Jennifer Coolidge as Tanya in The White Lotus, so that comparison comes to mind. Twila is Ponies' Tanya. The thing about outrageous clowning is not only that it is exaggerated (Archie Bunker, Ron Swanson, Tanya, there are many examples), but that it can become one-dimensional, predictable and boring if carried on too long. So the question for any show with this character near the core is how to develop the clown.  A LOT depends on how long the showrunners think they will have to unmask the clown ... and that's a hard call, because once the clown is unmasked and we see the real character underneath, the clown is not nearly as funny. We come to see the real person beneath the mask. That person may be hostile, dangerous, hurting, vulnerable, empathetic or whatever, but they're wearing a mask to hide something.  Ponies begins with Twila presented as someone abrasive enough to be dislikeable. By the end of episode 8, she's a vulnerable and sympathetic character, at least when she's talking to Bea, who she now trusts -- and for Twila, trust is very hard. But as to the "one facial expression:" nonsense. Twila's unmasking starts in episode 1, when Dane pulls Bea and Twila out of the Christmas party and gives them the bad news. Bea is of course instantly shattered. Twila reorients instantly. There is no mouth agape sneer when -- her first reaction -- she calmly asks Dane, "What are we supposed to tell people?" Nor is there any sneer when she takes Bea in hand and starts to talk her through it. The sneer does reappear, however, when Dane gives her the cover story, which Twila instantly spots as a cover story, and that makes her angry. Twila isn't sneering on the plane ride home as she's flipping through her passport. The mask slips off and back on a couple of times at the memorial service at the CIA: she's open and supportive when she steadies Bea; she sneers when she realizes that a small memorial star and a cover story are all that she and Bea are going to get from the CIA. She's not sneering when she and Bea have a drink afterwards, share a bit, and make the spur of the moment decision to go back. And on and on. Twila is code switching all the time. The mask is off with people she trusts. It's on with people she doesn't know, or who she distrusts, or who seem threatening. A lot of Twila's best scenes are in the bubble -- and jog my memory here: is there any scene in which she's mouth agape sneering when she's talking to Ray? Cheryl, yes, to the extreme. But she and Ray seem to instantly understand each other. They are going to be a team. Her scenes with Dane are great. The more Twila builds a circle of trust, the less she will wear the mask. Twila reorients instantly because she's a graduate of the school of hard knocks. She could give Rocky Balboa pointers about picking oneself up off the canvas. The reason the first Rocky Balboa movie is by far the best of that franchise (which has gone on far too long) is that it's the long, slow unmasking of Rocky. And once the mask is revealed for what it is, viewers can never again see him with any aura of mystery. That's going to be the tricky part of writing Twila going forward. Once the mask is off, viewers will be rooting for the Twila we've come to know -- and the mask will now be reduced to nothing more than Twila's con job when she feels the needs to play too tough to be hurt. Where is the show going to find its comedy once Twila is unmasked? Bea now sees the real Twila. I think Ray does too, although he doesn't know as much as Bea. Dane has a pretty good idea; his scenes with Twila are terrific for both characters. The more Twila is unmasked, the less she can be a clown.

this why most good shows get canceled after one season

Major cliffhanger lol fun show all around though I still wouldn't skip it even if you feel it might not be renewed

You don't want to watch the show because it might get cancelled, but it's only going to get cancelled if people aren't watching it.

It’s US Cold War propaganda, no reason for it to be streamed in the UK.

Yes. The show works best if you treat it like a live action spinoff of *Archer*. It's not as funny as that, but it's the only version of the show that makes any sense.

Peacock

Oh I disagree completely. I liked the beginning but the 2nd half devolved into utter nonsense that I found impossible to take seriously, even when the show was playing it completely straight as serious spy business.

i found the bear funnier then ponies

no it didnt

They need to create a dramedy category, there are too many shows that ride that line now.

I really loved this show but I it didn’t know what it wanted to be which ultimately hurts it

it hasn't been renewed yet

I watched both of those. Very unhappy with the situations there.

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If they were on HBO,Apple or Netflix they probably wouldn't have to spend anything on an ad campaign or sending out screeners to voters to get people to watch. But if they want to get any Emmy nods they will have to proactively try and convince some people to watch it who might not be aware of the show.

Yeah I have seen that one, great movie