News

The Emmy Awards ballot for Best Variety Series Directing lists 31 episodes, so there will be only five nominees in this category for the first time in three years, under the new Emmy rules. Under the proportional-representation rules for this category, two slots are reserved for the 16 submitted episodes of sketch series, two are reserved for the 15 submitted talk series and the last slot is a free-for-all. The six nominees last year were:

“Documentary Now!” (Alex Buono & Rhys Thomas): “Waiting for the Artist” “Drunk History” (Derek Waters): “Are You Afraid of the Drunk?” “Last Week Tonight” (Paul Pennolino): “Psychics” “The Late Show” (Jim Hoskinson): “Live Midterm Election Show” Winner — “Saturday Night Live” (Don Roy King): “Host: Adam Sandler” “Who is America?” (Sacha Baron Cohen & Nathan Fielder & Daniel Gray Longino & Dan Mazer): “Episode 102”

There is a new rule this year that only two co-directors can be credited per submission.

Alfonso Cuarón has triumphed at the Directors Guild of America Awards, making the “Roma” auteur the official frontrunner as we near the Academy Awards in just a few weeks. There’s significant overlap between the two voting groups, and the DGA winner tends to be similarly awarded by the Academy — their selections have diverged only seven times since 1949. Cuarón previously won the award for “Gravity,” for which he also won the Oscar.

Here’s the full list of winners:

Feature Film

Bradley Cooper, “A Star Is Born”

Alfonso Cuarón, “Roma” (winner)

Peter Farrelly, “Green Book”

Spike Lee, “BlacKkKlansman”

Adam McKay, “Vice”

Documentaries

Morgan Neville, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”

RaMell Ross, “Hale County This Morning, This Evening”

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, “Free Solo”

Tim Wardle, “Three Identical Strangers”

Betsy West and Julie Cohen, “Rbg”

First-Time Feature Film

Bo Burnham, “Eighth Grade” (winner)

Bradley Cooper, “A Star Is Born”

Carlos López Estrada,...

The 71st Annual Directors Guild of America Awards will be held Saturday, Feb. 2, with awards to be given out in 11 categories across film and television.

Alfonso Cuaron is the runaway favorite to take home his second feature film DGA Award for “Roma,” which would set him up for the corresponding Oscar since the two bodies have only ever disagreed seven times in 70 years. He previously won both for “Gravity” (2013). Spike Lee (“BlacKkKlansman”) is in second place in our odds and would be the first black winner in DGA history.

Last year, Cuaron’s friend Guillermo del Toro took home the DGA and Oscar for “The Shape of Water.”

See DGA Awards: Alfonso Cuaron all but certain to win key Oscar precursor

On the TV side, “The Americans” is predicted to bag another farewell prize, while it’s a tight one between “Atlanta” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” for comedy honors.

Comedy series creators dominate this year’s roster of Directors Guild of America TV awards nominees. Donald Glover is contending for an episode in the sophomore season of “Atlanta,” which also reaped a bid for Hiro Murai. Both Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband Daniel Palladino vie for installments in the second edition of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” And Bill Hader is nominated for the pilot of “Barry.”

Among the TV drama helmers is Adam McKay for an episode of “Succession.” He could well be a nominee for his film “Vice” as well. He contends here against “Ozark” star Jason Bateman, long-time “Homeland” helmer Lesli Linka Glatter, Chris Long for “The Americans” series finale and Daina Reid for a second season episode of “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

On the telefilm/limited series side, Barry Levinson made it a lucky 13 DGA nominations with his bid for “Paterno.” He faces off against Cary Joji Fukunaga...

The Director’s Guild of America gave its stamp of approval to a number of actors-turned-directors Monday afternoon, nominating a slew of famous faces for its 2019 DGA Awards.

Jason Bateman (“Ozark”), Bill Hader (“Barry”), Sacha Baron Cohen (“Who Is America?”), and Ben Stiller (“Escape at Dannemora”) all landed their first DGA nominations, while Donald Glover (“Atlanta”) scored his second nomination for the series.

“Atlanta” was one of a few projects scoring multiple nominations, as Hiro Murai was also selected for his work on “Teddy Perkins” (IndieWire’s pick for the best TV episode of 2019). Daniel Palladino and Amy Sherman-Palladino were both nominated for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and three directors were honored from “A Series of Unfortunate Events”: Barry Sonnenfeld, Bo Welch, and Allan Arkush were all chosen in the Children’s Programs category.

Despite Sherman-Palladino’s nod, women only snagged three nominations in the three predominant categories: drama,...

Since the creation of the Best Variety Series Directing Emmy category in 2009, NBC’s late night staple “Saturday Night Live” has prevailed a whopping six times (2010-14 and 2017) for director Don Roy King. In addition, Dave Wilson also won for directing “SNL” back in 1976 when the category was called Best Comedy-Variety or Music Series. No program even comes close to matching “Saturday Night Live’s” seven wins in this category, with “The Carol Burnett Show” coming in second place with four victories for Dave Powers. Now “SNL” has leading 2/11 odds to win again, which would increase its record to eight directing Emmys.

SEE2018 Emmy nominations complete list: All the nominees for the 70th Emmy Awards

King submitted the Donald Glover-hosted episode for Emmy consideration, which also earned a nomination for Glover as Best Comedy Guest Actor. Memorable sketches from this show include Glover humorously boasting during his monologue that...

The Directors Guild of America has announced the nominees in the documentary and television categories for this year’s DGA Awards, with O.J. Simpson present in both fields: “O.J.: Made in America” and “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” both picked up nods. Other contenders include “Atlanta,” “Westworld” and “The Eagle Huntress.” The feature film nominees, meanwhile, are scheduled to be announced tomorrow.

This year’s ceremony takes place on February 4 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Full list of nominees below:

Read More: 2016 Producers Guild Awards TV Nominations: ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Atlanta’ and ‘Westworld’ All Land Nods

Dramatic Series

The Duffer Brothers, “Stranger Things,” “Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers”

Ryan Murphy, “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” “From the Ashes of Tragedy”

Jonathan Nolan, “Westworld,” “The Original”

Miguel Sapochnik, “Game of Thrones,” “The Battle of the Bastards”

John Singleton, “The People v.

Exclusive: Brian McAloon, the only person to ever direct CBS’ Late Late Show throughout all of its incarnations, is leaving the late-night show and the company that produces it, David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants. Taking over directing duties on Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson is McAloon’s longtime assistant director, Tim Mancinelli. McAloon spent a total of 30 years with Worldwide Pants, starting off on Letterman’s Late Night on NBC and Late Show on CBS and segueing to The Late Late Show at its 1995 launch with Tom Snyder as host. He has directed every episode of the show (more than 3,400 in total) for hosts Snyder, Craig Kilborn and current host Craig Ferguson, all on Late Show‘s current stage. His departure comes as Ferguson is finalizing a new deal that involves the show moving to a bigger studio. Here are internal emails sent out today by the show’s...