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The 78th Emmys producers are planning a tribute to the late Dolly Parton, and have also signed up roots country music sensation Noah Kahan to perform “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” to accompany this year’s In Memoriam
segment.
That’s among the details that the producers at Jesse Collins Entertainment, while also confirming — as Variety reported yesterday— that the stars of “Charlie’s Angels” will return to mark the show’s 50th anniversary, while Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz will reunite to celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.”
Details on the celebration of Parton, who died on Aug. 25 at 80, are slim as the Jesse Collins producers put the finishing touches on the tribute.
“We’re holding it back,” said Collins. “But I think it will be a very beautiful tribute to Dolly.”
As for the Kahan performance, Collins said the artist chose to sing “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” because “it’s a song that is very meaningful to him. Paul Simon is one of his favorite artists. So it was really about coming up with an arrangement that does the song justice. He’s such a pure musician, and he’s worked really hard with our team to create something I think people are going to love.”
Host Mariska Hargitay, exec producers Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay, Television Academy chair Cris Abrego, the org’s president Maury McIntyre and NBC’s Jen Neal, the exec VP of live events and specials, helped roll out the step-and-repeat carpet (color blue this year, in honor of NBC’s 100th anniversary) on Thursday morning in sweltering heat outside the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live.
Among the burning questions: How is Hargitay prepping, a few days before Monday’s ceremony?
“My co-star Kevin Kane, he was like, ‘If you want to try out any material, we can go down to the comedy clubs,’” Hargitay said. “And I was like, ‘Whoa, I’m not there yet!’ But it’s been really fun. I think the gift that I’ve given myself through all this is really to just do it my way and not have to hit anything. I’m not a professional comedian, and so I don’t feel that kind of pressure that they might feel. I’m just doing what I do. I’m having the time of my life.”
It’s also become a bit of a family affair: Her brother Mickey Hargitay Jr., who owns Mickey Hargitay Plants in Los Angeles, is providing olive trees for the red carpet. And after the Emmys, the plants will be donated to the homeless shelter House of Ruth, which houses women who have faced domestic abuse.
“It’s been kind of extraordinary. I feel very supported, and I feel like I’ve got some angels around me.”
That included winning two Emmys over the weekend for her doc “My Mom Jayne,” which took some of the pressure off prepping for Monday. “To get that behind me, now it’s just fun and play,” she said. “But it’s been an extraordinary time, and I’m very aware of the rarefied air I’m breathing and what a magical moment this is in my life.”
As for the decision to move five categories to Night 2 of the Emmys (formerly known as the Creative Arts Emmys), the goal was to free up more time for the NBC telecast. Abrego and McIntyre said it was mission accomplished.
“It’s definitely created more time. And look, it’s a big show. We have a lot more entertainment to do. “We have, unfortunately, a lot more people to honor,” Abrego said. “Some very iconic people have passed this year. We want to have the time to celebrate those names. And of course, to really give time to this year’s winners in terms of their separate speeches. It absolutely has created more time.”
McIntyre noted that supporting limited/anthology series actor and actress winners David Harbour and Linda Cardellini will be presenters on Tuesday, with their wins recognized on air. “We fully intend to be as respectful as possible to those winners at the telecast as well,” he said. “They get a second bite at the apple coming across the red carpet, so in some ways they they’re getting a lot more press. They’re going to be on stage.”
Some of that time will go to the Parton tribute, while this year’s ceremony will also take time to honor Michael J. Fox with the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. It will likely be a pretty emotional night. “And we want to make sure there’s room to breathe in that emotion,” McIntyre said. “We want people to be able to sit with that.”
Meanwhile, how are the producers planning to use any extra time?
“I think it’ll give it’ll just give the show a little bit more pace,” said Collins. But Harmon said the show will now have more time to showcase Hargitay — and not just have her be one of those awards show hosts who disappears midway through the ceremony. “She’s a triple threat, and she gets to show all of that throughout the show,” Harmon said. “That extra time gave us time to showcase all of her talent.”
Will that include some references to “Law & Order: SVU?” “We’ve got pretape stuff. There’s some live stuff. There may be a ‘dun dun,’” Collins said.
Might there also be a cameo by Hargitay’s pal, NBA champ (and New York Knick) Jalen Brunson? “She’s got a lot of friends,” Rouzon-Clay teased. “I’m excited to see what she’s got here. Her contacts are deep.”
Meanwhile, according to the new TV Academy rules, in the revised variety series category, any nominee that receives a “yes” vote from 90% of voters will win. If no one hits that threshold, the top vote-getter wins. What if multiple, or all, of the variety series nominees win? “Local news is going to be late,” Collins said. “That’s what’s going to happen. If multiple people win, each would get up to give their speech and it’ll be a TV moment.”
Last year, host Nate Bargatze had a plan in place to try to keep speeches short — what about this year? “We have the world’s favorite cop on the show, so hopefully, there’s some law and order,” Collins quipped. “See what I did there?”
As NBC prepares to air the Emmys on Monday, it will be the last telecast under the current four-broadcast-network wheel deal. As Variety has covered extensively, negotiations are ongoing — but with the TV Academy’s attention currently on the 78th Emmys, there hasn’t been any movement on a new deal. The issue, of course, comes down to license fee as the org explores whether to negotiate a new wheel deal (perhaps with new participants), go with a single network or platform or attempt a simulcast (the idea fronted by Variety that appears to be unlikely at this point).
Then there’s the ongoing negotiations to reunite the West Coast Television Academy with the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. NATAS head Adam Sharp was at Thursday’s carpet unrolling, and both sides say talks are ongoing.
“It’s a heavy lift. It’s not as easy as you would think,” Abrego said. “But we are moving in that direction. It is moving forward. It’s going to be really incredible. I think it’s going to strengthen the academy. It’s going to help the academy evolve. I think we want to get it right, and be very thoughtful. It’s not just merging the two; it’s looking forward to what the plan is, and when they become one, and what that plan is. We took an envoy to New York. They brought one back to L.A. And so on both sides and with the steering committees, we’re putting a lot of thought into it. It’s really exciting.”
The 78th Emmys broadcast live from the Peacock Theater at LA Live on Monday, Sept. 14, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on NBC and Peacock.
“Law & Order SVU” star/exec producer Mariska Hargitay, who won two Emmys over the weekend for her doc “My Mom Jayne,” is host. Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay of Jesse Collins Entertainment and Mariska Hargitay will serve as executive producers of the telecast.
