As the Emmy Eligibility Calendar Ended, Memorial Day Weekend Offered No Rest for TV Viewers

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large We’ve all made the “Cop Rock” jokes. The Steven Bochco musical drama, which premiered in fall 1990, was a big swing: marrying original music with procedural storytelling. It was a colossal flop that we still talk about three decades later, and a reminder that musicals are hard. Music has been a part of the TV landscape going back to the 1950s and shows like “Your Hit Parade.” But few series have successfully integrated regular music performances into their storytelling: “The Monkees” and “The Partridge Family” worked in the 1960s and ’70s. “Fame” did it in the early ’80s. And then “Cop Rock” scared people off the concept.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Marc Maron’s recent HBO standup special “From Bleak to Dark,” yes, touches on subjects that might be considered bleak and dark. But of course, it’s much more than that. Sure, Maron opens the special by pointing out that society seems to be on a collision course with disaster, and there’s little that can be done about it. But, as the comedian, actor and podcaster tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast, he’s just being a realist. “There’s a truth to it,” he says. “And I think that the first 15 or 20 minutes of that special addresses a lot of things in in a fairly broad way, because I wanted it to have some longevity. The negative things I talk about aren’t going anywhere. But also framing the special like that, like ‘I don’t want to be negative, I don’t think anything’s ever gonna get better ever again,’ is an acceptance. If you have acceptance around that, it gives you a bit of freedom of mind. There’s a sort of ‘zero fuckness’ to it.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Most of this year’s limited or anthology series Emmy frontrunners had several choices on where to compete. “Dahmer: Monster — The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” is part of a new “Monster” anthology series, but it could have gone drama. “Beef” might have found a home in drama or comedy, but landed in limited (same goes for “Mrs. Davis”). All of these series have a trailblazer to thank for the flexibility that comes with the limited/anthology category: HBO’s “From the Earth to the Moon.” It’s been 25 years since that landmark miniseries was an Emmy contender — and it’s remarkable to look back at what a controversial decision it was at the time to even call it a “miniseries.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Tyler James Williams has experienced several different kinds of fandom since childhood, starting with films like “Unaccompanied Minors,” and then his starring role in “Everybody Hates Chris,” and even a stint on “The Walking Dead.” But there’s nothing that compares to the passionate audience of teachers who have gravitated his latest series, ABC’s hit comedy “Abbott Elementary.” On this episode, Williams talks about the show’s resonance, his experience as a child actor, where his character’s relationship with Quinta Brunson’s character might be heading and so much more. Listen below! “It’s such a blessing that they feel so represented by it,” Williams tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit podcast. “Now I feel like, if there’s a teacher within ten blocks of me, I’m going to know about it. They’re going to say something. I didn’t realize how much this show resonated with them until going back out into the world. And seeing how willing they are to give all of the love towards us. It’s really been one of the more beautiful experiences of my career.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Netflix’s controversial reality competition show based on its smash South Korean drama “Squid Game” will finally debut in November, and the streamer offered up a very brief glimpse of reality show “Squid Game: The Challenge” on Saturday during its global, virtual Tudum fan event from Brazil. “The world’s most notorious game becomes reality,” the teaser clip says, before showing contestants exiting their rooms and heading to the game of “Red Light Green Light” — featuring the giant, killer doll that in the scripted “Squid Game” swivels its head around and fires gunshots to eliminate players who were moving. The unscripted game show, which was first announced in June 2022, was shot across two studios in the U.K. and produced by Studio Lambert and The Garden. Like the series, 456 contestants were cast (in this case, from around the world) to compete in various challenges based on the Korean children’s games featured on the show, as well as new games. The winner receives a $4.56 million cash prize.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Rod Aissa, the executive VP, unscripted content at NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, is departing the company after 11 years. Aissa oversaw all unscripted lifestyle and documentary programming across NBCU’s broadcast, cable and streaming platforms: NBC, Bravo, E!, Oxygen True Crime, Syfy, Universal Kids, USA Network and Peacock. Rachel Smith will take on the interim role of leading the unscripted lifestyle and docuseries group, which reports to Susan Rovner, Chairman, Entertainment Content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. NBCU said it would “be doing a broad search to fill the role.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Imagine you’ve been given a role in a pilot: The exciting news appears in the trades, you film the episode and take the cast publicity photos. Then your show is picked up! But there’s a caveat: Your role is being re-shot with a new actor. Devastating! Cue sad trombone sound effect. That’s why I like these kinds of stories better: The background actors, guest stars and recurring actors who eventually graduate to series regular status thanks to sheer persistence and talent. That’s the case this season for “Ted Lasso” standout James Lance, who plays Trent Crimm — formerly of The Independent, now just independent — on the show.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large We still don’t know when the Daytime Emmys will take place — the kudocast was delayed this month in the wake of the WGA writers strike — but when it does, we do know that daytime icons Susan Lucci and Maury Povich will be honored. Lucci, who famously spent years waiting to finally win a Daytime Emmy (for her long-time starring role on “All My Children”) and talk show host Povich, who recently hung up the microphone after years of paternity test reveals, will receive the lifetime achievement award at the 50th annual Daytime Emmy Awards. The New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which administers the Daytime Emmys, announced the honors on Friday.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The Emmys have been here before. In 1980, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (back then, they were two separate unions negotiating a joint contract with the studios but are now the combined SAG-AFTRA) went on strike for three months. That year’s Emmy telecast happened to fall right in the middle of it. Actors boycotted the ceremony, but for some reason, the TV Academy went ahead with the Emmy telecast anyway. Famously, only one out of 52 nominees attended: Powers Boothe, who said when accepting his trophy for playing cult leader Jim Jones: “This is either the most courageous moment of my career or the stupidest.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large I bring all this up not just to boast, but also to note that one of the categories in which I was nominated was for “feature under 1,000 words,” for a piece I did giving a behind-the-scenes account of how Netflix revived the comedy “Girls5eva” after it was canceled by Peacock. It was a fun piece to report, and I got to tell a quick, first-hand account of how things all went down. But it wasn’t a sweeping, long piece of magazine journalism, and so it rightfully shouldn’t be compared to a 3,500-word opus. (Those go in another category.)

Sophia Scorziello editor Variety’s annual TV FYC Fest was packed with big names and your favorite stars from the small screen. Christina Applegate (“Dead to Me”) made a rare appearance to accept the Legacy Award, Brooke Shields spoke passionately about the reality of co-existing in the world of social media and Kerry Washington (“UnPrisoned”) joined a collective of equally hilarious actresses including Elle Fanning (“The Great”), Janelle James (“Abbott Elementary”) and Gina Rodriguez (“Dead To Me”) to discuss forging vanity for laughs and embracing the “messy” woman. The all-day discussion also tackled the state of television today amid a writers strike and an ever-changing landscape of streaming. We’ve rounded up the standout moments from Variety’s TV FYC Fest panels and presentations which brought out important — and at times hilarious — conversations about this season of shows.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large When I arrived in Los Angeles and first started covering television, it was summer 1996. I was a young 22-year-old kid suddenly thrust into reporting at events like the Television Critics Association press tour, where nearly everyone else around me was a crusty newspaper journo twice my age. (And lying to network execs by telling them I was 25 — apparently, I thought that made me sound seasoned?) That first TCA was a boot camp in learning how new TV shows are launched, and I still vividly remember that freshman crop of fall 1996 series. In those hopeful months before September premieres, anyone has the chance to break out and go the distance. One of those sitcoms was ABC’s “Life’s Work,” starring a promising, brash, hysterical comic named, you guessed it, Lisa Ann Walter. She had already starred in a short-lived comedy for Fox, a midseason entry that didn’t get much attention. But this was the one that was going to be a hit, inspired heavily by her own routine as the working mother aiming to “have it all.”

Emily Longeretta Thirty years after “Cheers” came to an end, the cast and creatives got back together on Friday night, courtesy of the ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas. The reunion panel, hosted by Variety‘s Michael Schneider, included co-creators James Burrows, Les Charles and Glen Charles and actors Ted Danson, George Wendt and John Ratzenberger. During the conversation, the iconic creators reflected on the making of the show and the cast opened up about how they joined the series and how it’s affected their lives over the years. “Teddy and Shelly auditioned together and they had chemistry that only makes writing better,” Burrows said of casting Danson and Shelley Long, who portrayed Diane Chambers, Sam’s love interest for five seasons.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large I’ve been doing this long enough to remember the days when film folks saw doing TV as a bit of a step down, or a one-time novelty — and even TV folks felt like they were in the minors, waiting for that call to join the movie big leagues. That hasn’t been the case for a while, and I like to needle my film colleagues with the now-established fact that TV is where it’s at. The rise of streaming just cemented that. It’s still fun, though, to chat with creatives who have spent most of their career in film, and hear about their experiences in working on TV series. Inevitably, they must admit that working in TV was both gratifying — and perhaps the hardest thing they’ve ever done.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large It’s still unbelievable to think that Riley Keough didn’t have any real singing experience before starring in Amazon Prime Video’s “Daisy Jones & the Six.” Actually, most of the cast didn’t — which makes the tremendous sound of the band all the more impressive. “Daisy Jones & the Six” did what few other shows have done (perhaps “The Monkees” being the other most notable): turned a group of actors playing characters in a band… into an actual band. But back to Keough for a second. Yeah, every story about her and “Daisy Jones” says the same thing: What? She hadn’t sang before? But she’s ROCK ROYALTY. (Granddaughter of Elvis Presley, c’mon, you know the drill by now.) Some might argue it’s in the genes, but that’s just a fraction of it. Don’t sell Keough short. It was hard work and talent. And a lot more hard work. Keough and the “Daisy Jones & the Six” cast also had a bit of weird timing on their side too, as COVID-related production delays forced them to keep practicing. And after all that rehearsal time, they got good. Real good.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Ch-ch-check it out: Hulu’s gotta fight… for the right… to part–ake in some Emmy FYC campaigning. The streamer hopes it has a sure shot at nominations for “Only Murders in the Building,” which is why it has partnered with Yeastie Boys to give out what’cha what’cha want (what’cha want): free food. “Only Murders in the Building”-themed bagel sandwiches will be passed out by Yeastie Boys this weekend and next, prior to the start of Emmy voting on June 15. Of course, it’s only while supplies last, so no sleep till Brooklyn. Here’s why Hulu says it went with bagels for this FYC stunt: “The series takes place in a typical New York apartment building and we wanted to celebrate New Yorkers’ favorite breakfast meal.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The simultaneous demise of both Twitter and The CW as we knew it reminds me, however, of one of my favorite industry Tweets of all time. On July 19, 2012, a sharp CW social media staffer posted this: “#Emmy nomination day! Or as we call it, Thursday.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large During the early days of the 2007-08 writers strike, even after pens went down, many showrunners were still at work. They weren’t writing, but they were handling other aspects of production as cameras continued to roll on preexisting scripts. Eventually, they realized that showrunners might take themselves out of writing, but there’s no way to take writing out of showrunner duties. “It’s obviously part of the storytelling process, because you need a showrunner to keep a sense of the overall story,” says one high-profile writer-producer. “Every decision you’re making, from a craft servicesdecision to a costume decision, is something only you can make because you’re putting it into a whole story. There’s no part of my job that isn’t storytelling.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large And of course, at the top of that list is star Bob Odenkirk, who turned what began as a guest spot on “Breaking Bad” into one of the most iconic characters in TV history. Last year we finally got an Emmy nomination for Rhea Seehorn, and the show overall has landed 46 noms over the years. But that’s not enough.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The Television Academy has canceled plans to hold its 16th Television Academy Honors, which had been slated to take place next Wednesday, May 31. “After discussions with the WGA and out of deference to those impacted by the ongoing labor dispute, the Television Academy is cancelling the Television Academy Honors reception which was scheduled for the evening of May 31. We appreciate everyone’s understanding,” the org said on its website. “The Academy would like to congratulate this year’s Honors recipients and thank them on behalf of the entire industry for their groundbreaking and inspiring work,” the org added. HBO Max’s “We’re Here,” Netflix’s “Mo” and Amazon Prime Video’s recently canceled “As We See It” were among the programs set to be recognized at the event.