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Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: June 20, 1967
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Nicole Kidman is one of the biggest movie stars and best actresses on the planet. The anniversary of her birth — 50 years ago today in Honolulu, Hawaii — is a big deal. But is it a big deal in TV circles? Nicole Kidman is a movie star. Why should this humble TV column care?
Oh ho ho, sir! Perhaps you have been under a rock for the duration of 2017 (honestly not a bad idea, considering). Because with Big Little Lies and the upcoming second season of Top of the Lake, Nicole Kidman is a bona fide TV star. We did it, television! We got Nicole Kidman!
So in order to celebrate Ms. Kidman’s first birthday as a legitimate star of the TV screen (it’s no longer a “small screen” if she’s on it), here are Nicole Kidman’s five greatest TV moments:
1. Big Little Lies: Still fresh in our minds, probably going to win her an Emmy, very possibly the best thing that’s been on TV in 2017. Big Little Lies brought us so much greatness in its brief little run, but bringing a movie star like Nicole Kidman into our living rooms every Sunday and not losing one bit of her quiet power might be the biggest coup of the year.
2. This appearance on Ellen: It’s going to take a LOT to unseat this clip from May on the Ellen show, where Nicole and Ellen team up to bully Giada De Laurentiis and tell her that her food is garbage and they’d rather be doing anything else. “It’s a little tough,” grimaced Nicole. IT IS INDEED A LITTLE TOUGH, NICOLE.
3. Grace of Monaco: Proving that even divinely beautiful and talented movie stars can be vexed by overbearing ogre bosses just the same as you or me, Nicole Kidman’s Grace Kelly bio-pic went from a Cannes premiere to getting dumped onto Lifetime in the span of just one short year. While the TV premiere was a bit embarrassing, the mere presence of a Nicole Kidman world premiere on Lifetime was appointment viewing for many … if only to see how bad it was. (It was bad!)
4. “By a nose…”: Nicole Kidman’s perfect performance in the 2002 film The Hours completed what remains the defining stretch of her career, going from the Tom Cruise divorce to a Best Actress Academy Award in just two years. And despite Denzel Washington’s cruel attempts to diminish her accomplishment by chalking the victory up to an over-discussed prosthetic, Kidman got her moment right up there on (inter-)national television.
5. This Stevie Nicks music video: As you can see, we’re kind of running out of Nicole Kidman TV moments. Come back next year when there will be Top of the Lake moments! For now, though, and with honorable mentions to all those times she’s gone to the Grammys and had the most fun bopping along to Katy Perry songs and whatnot, instead we’re just going to mention that in 1998, Kidman and Sandra Bullock made a little movie called Practical Magic, about two man-murdering witches who are sisters. And the music video for that movie (remember when basically all movies had hit songs with music videos) was by noted man-murdering witch Stevie Nicks and aspiring-witch-who-never-got-past-basic-training Sheryl Crow. The clips of Practical Magic shown within the music video for “If You Ever Did Believe” were shown on TV (mostly on VH1), and I’m sorry, but that totally counts.
So happy 50th birthday, Nicole Kidman! Please keep making movies, but also thank you for grace(of Monaco)-ing our TVs with your presence.
