It’s time to start thinking about the Emmys. Well, it’s time for Emmy voters to start thinking about them. Here come the For Your Consideration (FYC) events! Last night Showtime got the cast of Masters of Sex together to entice members of the Television Academy with a panel discussion about the show and whoopie pies (nice touch). Cast members Michael Sheen, Lizzy Caplan, Beau Bridges, Caitlin Fitzgerald, Annaleigh Ashford, Teddy Sears, Jocko Sims, and Betsy Brandt joined producers Michelle Ashford and Sarah Timberman in a panel discussion after a sizzle reel highlighting Season 2 of the show and teasing Season 3, which they are currently taping.
I caught up with Beau Bridges (Barton Scully) before he went into the Cary Grant theater (and walked past a medical office set complete with exam table) on the Sony lot. He had this to say about the drama, which is based on the lives of Dr. William Masters and Libby Johnson and their revolutionary research on sex: “I was a teenager when this book [Human Sexual Response] came out. I remember it keenly. I remember guys thinking you ladies were along for the ride and Masters and Johnson said, ‘No, they are driving the bus.’”
During the panel discussion, Annaleigh Ashford (Betty DiMello) recalled a recent gyno visit where she told the doctor the show she was on, “She literally looked past my knee at my face and said, ‘You’re Betty!’ Then she said that the Masters’ study helped people every day.” Lizzie Caplan (Virginia Johnson) joked, “I feel like my gynecologist and I are colleagues.”
Michael Sheen (Dr. William Masters) laughed when asked about the show’s lack of male full frontal nudity and seemed game. “I come in every Monday swinging my penis around,” he joked. Producer Michelle Ashford added that the show is “determined” to make full-frontal male nudity happen in Season 3.“We love penises!” he said. “We’re all for it!”
The cast mingled with voters, chatting and taking snaps. The Good Wife’s Josh Charles joins the cast in Season 3, which jumps ahead to 1966—the sexual revolution. Masters of Sex’s third season starts on July 13 and I think Emmy voters have a lot of consider in this drama.
