Inside the Emmys Uproar Over ‘From the Earth to the Moon’ That Upended the Limited Series Category 25 Years Ago

Cynthia Nixon is opening up about the possibility of fans seeing more of Kim Cattrall on And Just Like That.

Liam Reardon has admitted that everyone is "faking it" inside the villa as he opens up about what life is like in the iconic Love Island villa.The former islander, 23, entered the villa in 2021, later being crowned winner alongside then-girlfriend Millie Court. A year after their win the couple split, but have been rumoured to have rekindled their romance in recent months. And now, Liam has shared some behind-the-scenes secrets as he discusses the reality of life behind the cameras.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large CBS’ “Tough As Nails” was a late addition to the Eye network’s summer schedule, as broadcasters continue to adjust their primetime schedules in light of the WGA writers strike. This time out, the competitive series — hosted and executive produced by Phil Keoghan (“The Amazing Race”) takes place north of the border for the first time. Variety has a first look at Season 5 of “Tough as Nails,” which premieres with a two-hour opener on Sunday, July 2 at 8 p.m. ET. The series will then continue to air twice a week, at 8 p.m. ET on Fridays and Sundays, on CBS and Paramount+. “To be completely honest, we didn’t see the launch of ‘Tough as Nails’ 5 happening so quickly but even with a short notice we are doing everything we can to make the most of this awesome opportunity,” Keoghan told Variety. “‘Tough As Nails’ appeals to people of all ages and a lot of our audience are early to bed early to rise so the early time slot is a chance to grab people like we did when we launched in the summer of 2020 as CBS’s highest rated new reality format in the last five years. We know there’s an audience in the summer who love our show and we are extremely excited to know we have something really special to share with them this season.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large If this year’s Emmy ballots are any indication, the era of Peak TV may truly be over — which FX boss John Landgraf has of course been predicting for some time. There are 163 dramas, 95 comedies and 51 limited/anthology series that have been submitted — down from 171 dramas, 118 comedies and 61 limited/anthology series last year. That’s still a lot of TV, but with fewer contenders comes the possibility of more dark horses getting noticed.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Up until now, game shows that aired before 8 p.m. competed in a dedicated category at the Daytime Emmys (where “Jeopardy” has won six times over the past decade). Meanwhile, the Primetime Emmys lumped game shows that ran after 8 p.m. in with competition reality series like “Survivor” and “Top Chef.”

Like a proud parent marking their toddler’s height with a pencil on a door frame, Manchester’s leaders can look at the city centre and see how it has grown.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The decision to realign “variety talk” and “variety sketch” this year into “talk” and “scripted variety” didn’t do much to change that. If anything, it further narrowed the field, as perennial variety talk winner “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” has now been kicked over to scripted variety. As a result, my colleague Clayton Davis counts only 14 series eligible for the outstanding talk nomination. And it’s not much better in scripted variety, where just 10 shows appear to be eligible.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Law & Order” fans, you have Rob Lowe to thank for the entire franchise. As does Dick Wolf’s bank account. At least, Lowe says with his tongue a bit in cheek (but also with some accuracy). As the star of Fox’s “9-1-1: Lone Star” and Netflix’s “Unstable” recently told Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast, Lowe starred in Wolf’s 1988 feature flop “Masquerade.” It was just the kind of movie disappointment that would have sent Wolf back to TV — and two years later, “Law & Order” premiered. “I remember him saying to me how frustrated he was in the movie business, that he was going to write a pilot,” Lowe said. “And he wrote ‘Law and Order.’ And the rest is history. You’re welcome. Yeah, I’m happy to provide the bomb that powers your rise to dominance.”

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 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.”

A Place in the Sun star Jonnie Irwin has shared emotional snaps for his 'best Father's Day ever' as he spend the day surrounded by his loved ones.

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 America’s most famous juror is hitting the courtrooms to feed a few more Southern California citizens doing their civic duty. Ronald Gladden, the unsuspecting real-life star of Amazon Freevee’s “Jury Duty,” will join some of the show’s cast members to had out tacos this week near various Los Angeles County courthouses. This week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, “Jury Duty” will be handing out free tacos to jurors (and well, whomever shows up at the truck) in Beverly Hills, Studio City and Venice. The taco truck Emmy FYC stunt is inspired by a scene in the show’s first episode, “Voir Dire,” when James Marsden buys tacos for the jurors “in lieu of selfies.”

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.)

Megan The Stallion lights up the stage at LA Pride in the Park 2023!