Jan 16
HBO Honcho Calls on Gay Twitter to Support 'The Gilded Age'
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
The executive in charge of content at HBO and Max, Casey Bloys, appealed to Gay Twitter to send out support for the recently renewed series "The Gilded Age," which aired its second season finale earlier this month.
Bloys was speaking about the slate of wins HBO and Max scored at the Emmy Awards on Jan. 15, Deadline reported. It was a considerable haul; as Deadline noted, "HBO/Max topped the list of networks and platforms with 31 wins across 11 series."
"It was a good night," Bloys said, risking understatement. "Especially, I will say after the year this entire industry has gone through, it was nice to be back and celebrating artists and giving out awards," he added, in a reference to the two strikes – the Writers Guild of America and then the Screen Actors Guild – that went on for months and partially overlapped, disrupting the writing, production, and even promotion for film and TV projects, and causing a number of projects to be pushed back to later air dates than originally planned.
It was because of the strikes that the Emmys took place now, rather than back in September, as would ordinarily be the case, Deadline pointed out.
Queer favorites like "The Last of Us" and "The White Lotus" did impressively well, with the former taking eight Emmys and the latter raking in five – including a second award for Jennifer Coolidge, following her first Emmy win for portraying hot mess Tanya McQuoid on the show.
Bloys acknowledged the successes and spoke optimistically about the year ahead, talking up hotly anticipated projects like the final season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and the Jodie Foster-led "True Detective: Night Country," which had its premiere on Jan. 14, the night before the Emmys.
"And 'Gilded Age,'" Bloys went on to say. Identifying a crucial tastemaking sector, he added: "I need Gay Twitter to come out and support 'Gilded Age.'"
"Julian Fellowes' costume drama, which has developed a devoted queer following, recently landed its first major nomination for Season 2 – the one that is in 2024 Emmy contention – for SAG Award Drama Ensemble," Deadline explained. "The series starring Carrie Coon spent the last year on the bubble, facing a possible cancellation. With solid Season 2 viewership, it was just renewed for a third season, which will start filming in June-July."
Fans on Twitter – known as X now – needed little prompting; signs of strong support were already in evidence.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
