The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Columnist and host of the Awards Chatter podcast Scott Feinberg talks all-things Emmys. Though the pandemic has led to production shutdowns, TV teams found inventive ways to produce episodes that are now Emmy eligible.
00:00I'm Tiffany Taylor for The Hollywood Reporter, and today I'm joined by Scott Feinberg.
00:04He's THR's awards columnist and the host of our Awards Cheddar podcast.
00:08Scott, how are you doing?
00:10Hey, you know, as well as can be.
00:12I'm still standing.
00:12That's the big thing.
00:13How about you?
00:14Same, same.
00:16I mean, the coronavirus has changed all of our lives, but Hollywood has been keeping us entertained through it all.
00:21So today, we are talking all things Emmys and breaking down how all this coronavirus-era entertainment could factor into this year's Emmy nominations.
00:30So, for Scott, talk to me about the Variety Talk Series category.
00:34Well, you know, this is a category that has not had that much shifting over the last few years.
00:39It's been pretty much the same late-night guys that are getting in and that are being left out.
00:44No Fallon recently, but you have had Trevor Noah.
00:47You have had Samantha Bee.
00:48This year, we might have a new entry, which is kind of interesting, exciting, and it was certainly unplanned.
00:55That's John Krasinski's Some Good News, which we are the first to report, has actually been submitted in the Variety Talk category.
01:03It was only eight episodes, but it was very uplifting to people at a time when things were not looking so up.
01:10It was nice to get some good news.
01:12While everyone has been staying home, there have been a lot of remotely recorded specials that have aired.
01:17So, how could those factor into this year's Variety Specials pre-recorded and live categories?
01:23I think we're likely to see some representation from the corona-created content, and there is some that is pre-recorded, and there is some that is live.
01:33Those are the two variety categories.
01:35I think that in terms of the pre-recorded, we're likely to see, at least in the mix, things like Graduate Together, where LeBron and President Obama and people all tried to salvage the graduation ceremony for young people.
01:50In terms of the live, it's harder to say because those have had some great moments, but they've also had some pretty rough ones, as one might expect with live projected content.
02:06But, you know, there's been a lot of things that were created as a result of this pandemic.
02:11So, everything from One World, the syndicated Lady Gaga thing that went out to tons and tons of people all around the world, to Disney family sing-alongs.
02:21So, it really, it's going to depend on what voters are in the mood for.
02:25Sure. So, in terms of, you know, the live content, it's interesting that in other categories, it may pop up as well.
02:33Variety, sketch series, three of the episodes of Saturday Night Live at the end of the season were done remotely from at home.
02:40One, first of all, with Tom Hanks, the corona survivor.
02:44And then, also, American Idol did several of its last episodes from all over the country with its competitors recording themselves on iPhones.
02:52That's in the reality competition series category, along with The Voice, which did the same.
02:57So, we may have corona representation across a lot of different categories.
03:01Scripted programming usually takes the longest to turn around, but there were three shows that did remote filming and really incorporated pandemic-era realities into their shows.
03:10So, how could that factor into this year's nominations?
03:12It's hard to say with scripted because we don't know what episodes voters have seen, which are being, you know, how heavily weighted they are going to be towards these particular episodes.
03:23But it is noteworthy that CBS's legal drama, All Rise, Apple TV's new show, Mythic Quest, the comedy, and also the sort of reunion of Parks and Rec, it's called the Parks and Recreation Special on NBC, all managed to kind of do things with their cast at their homes, of course.
03:45And so, just the creativity of that and the way they were executed, I think in particular with Mythic Quest, there's a potential for some recognition in one category or another.
03:56For instance, with Mythic Quest, the directing episode that was submitted, or the episode that was submitted for directing consideration, was that one.
04:06So, we know that that's a possibility.
04:09Now, the Emmy nomination voting period runs July 2nd through the 13th, and the nominations will be announced on July 28th.
04:16Scott, thank you for your insight as always, and if people want more from you, where can they go?
04:21My pleasure, and they can follow my content at thr.com slash the race or via their podcast app to search Awards Cheddar.
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