Louis C.K. and Lena Dunham are on a collision course.
The Emmy nominations announced Thursday highlight their parallel approaches to television. For their acclaimed comedies “Girls” and “Louie,” they’re each nominated for directing, writing and acting, separated only by gender in the acting category.
Lena’s shift from independent film to TV was partly inspired by “Louie.” Her fandom is so great that she dressed as the comedian for Halloween. (She tweeted a photo at the time, complete with a balding cap and faux facial hair.)
“I’m really hoping to meet him and take a lot of photos with him and explain to him that we shouldn’t necessarily get married, but maybe we should, like, have another kid together,” said Lena on her way to shoot the second season of “Girls.”
Performers who act, direct and write have traditionally gravitated toward the movies. But both Louis and Lena have brought an auteur sensibility to television, where the fertile cable environment (“Louie” airs on FX, “Girls” on HBO) has grown increasingly alluring.
Both are New Yorkers whose shows are set in the city but offer very different visions of it. “Girls” is a portrait of a young, post-collegiate generation in New York, while “Louie” proceeds out of Louis’ stand-up act and his singular perspective on life as a father. Yet both shows are clearly the work of one author and are predicated on an usual degree of honesty.
Louis confesses he’s only seen part of an episode of “Girls” because he has little time to watch TV, but calls Lena “a very individual voice.” Still, the gulf between the two is perhaps a little wider from his viewpoint.
“This may sound patronizing, but how old is Lena?” wonders Louis, who at 44 is easily senior to the 26-year-old Lena. “Well I’ve got two daughters, so for me, honestly, I’m happy for her that this is her first year on TV and she got a nomination in every job she has on her show and she’s a young woman. That makes me really happy.
“I’ve got two girls, so you root for girls, literally,” he adds.
“Girls” was nominated for a total of five Emmys, including best comedy series. Louis, himself, earned a remarkable seven nominations: three for “Louie” and four for his stand-up special “Louis C.K.: Live at the Beacon Theatre.” The comedian also wrote, directed and starred in the special, which he famously distributed on his own through his website.
“I’m just a curious person,” said Louis, who has since also evaded Ticketmaster by selling all tickets to his fall stand-up tour himself. “I’m just trying stuff, you know? These all could have been little things that just didn’t work so nobody would care.”
The two certainly reacted to their nominations differently. While Louis met the news with characteristic humility and a lack of audible excitement, Lena said she had “the shriekiest morning of my life.”
“I jumped around in my bed and I ran down the hall that’s in my apartment building that’s not even part of my house without my pants on,” she said.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More