‘We’re Here,’ ‘Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration’ Are Early Emmy Winners

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Cheating pays — for Bart and Homer, that is. This Sunday’s episode of “The Simpsons” takes on sports cheating, college admissions scandals (like “Varsity Blues”) and more, as father and son become kings of the blue-collar sports circuit. But in “Do the Wrong Thing,” Marge soon suspects that there’s something dishonest going on.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched the two-hour Season 10 Finale of “The Masked Singer,” which aired Dec. 20 on Fox. Because of you, Ne-Yo just had the time of his life on Fox’s “The Masked Singer.” The artist won the Season 10 finale of the hit series on Wednesday night, becoming the last celebrity to be unmasked this season. Ne-Yo won by performing “Rhythm Nation,” by Janet Jackson; “Take a Bow,” by Rihanna, before being revealed as Cow.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large And then there were four. Season 10 of Fox’s “The Masked Singer” airs this Wednesday with finalists Donut (Group C champion), Sea Queen (Group B winner), Cow (Group A victor) and Group A “Ding Dong Keep It On” recipient Gazelle.

The Writers Guild of America continues to express its displeasure with the exclusion of some writing categories from the 75th Emmy Awards.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large While Netflix awaits Season 2 of its breakout hit “Wednesday,” the latest adaptation of the “Addams Family” franchise, it is already eyeing a way to expand that universe. Variety has confirmed that Netflix and producer MGM Television are indeed aiming to spin off “Wednesday” to focus on Uncle Fester.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The 2nd annual Children’s & Family Emmys got underway on Saturday night, starting with the Children’s & Family Creative Arts Emmys at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. According to early results — pending final tallies — Disney+ and Netflix tied the lead with nine wins overall. The most honored program of the evening was actually Netflix’s “Lost Ollie,” which scored five trophies.

Kathy A. McDonald Finally, Hollywood’s red-carpet drought is over and the business of awards season socializing is back. In anticipation, venues in Los Angeles and New York City are primed for entertainment industry celebrations from post-premiere blow-outs to intimate tastemaker dinners.

“The Young and the Restless” was honored for outstanding writing team.Kelly Clarkson earned her third consecutive trophy for a daytime talk series and won as daytime talk host. The singer, who didn’t attend, moved her syndicated show from Los Angeles to New York this year.“It’s a pleasure to work with her.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Better late than never, the 50th Annual Daytime Emmys got underway on Friday night from downtown Los Angeles’ Westin Bonaventure Hotel, after six months of postponement due to the Hollywood strikes. Airing live on CBS, “Entertainment Tonight” hosts Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner were back to emcee this year’s event. “General Hospital” jumped out to a dominant early lead in the competition, winning six awards — including daytime drama, as well as both supporting actor and supporting actress, younger actor, guest actor and directing.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Pete Davidson has more than bupkis to say. The “Saturday Night Live” alum and star of Peacock’s “Bupkis” will star in his second Netflix hour-long special, “Turbo Fonzarelli,” which premieres Jan. 9, 2024, on the streamer.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Veteran TV director David Nutter has been selected to receive the Directors Guild of America’s lifetime achievement award for distinguished achievement in directing. He will receive the honors at the 76th Annual DGA Awards ceremony on Saturday, February 10, 2024.

Jaden Thompson Barbra Streisand has been chosen as the 59th recipient of SAG-AFTRA’s highest tribute, the SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievements and humanitarian accomplishments. The honor will be presented to her at the 30th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, which will stream live on Netflix on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large And so goes the most unusual TV awards season ever, where a delayed Primetime Emmys — with its June 1, 2022, to May 31, 2023, eligibility window — falls smack into a Globes, Critics’ Choice and guild awards season with a January to December, 2023 time frame. The Hollywood strikes also may have had an impact on the even more limited-than-usual showing for broadcast networks at the Globes.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Golden Globes exec producers Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner (of White Cherry Entertainment) don’t appear to be sweating the fact that with less than a month to go, there’s still no announced host for this year’s ceremony. “Or is there?” Weiss quipped, a bit mysteriously. “We have to leave some room for some interesting announcements along the way.” Added Kirshner: “You said, ‘announced host,’ and we still have four weeks to go.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The two Hollywood strikes will have no impact on next year’s Emmy eligibility windows for either the Primetime Emmys or the Daytime Emmys, the heads of the two television academies confirmed this week. Meeting with reporters in a joint setting — a collaboration that used to be a rarity, back when they were warring organizations, but has now become more common — Los Angeles-based Television Academy president/CEO Maury McIntyre and New York-based National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences president/CEO Adam Sharp tackled a wide range of subjects, including an anticipated drop in submissions next year in scripted categories due to the strikes; whether there will be more category realignments; if the talk show fields will be further adjusted; a major change in governance taking effect next year at NATAS; and more.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large In a sad bit of coincidence, the Hollywood, Health & Society at the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center honored its 2023 Sentinel Awards winners on Wednesday night, just hours after the passing of its namesake and inspiration, the legendary Norman Lear. Emmy-winning comedian and writer Larry Wilmore hosted the event and introduced this year’s 11 winners, including writers behind the series “Mrs. Davis,” “Fleishman is in Trouble” and “Tiny Beautiful Things.” But before the awards were handed out, Wilmore took a moment to pay tribute to Lear.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 10, Episode 10 of “The Masked Singer,” “I Wanna Rock,” which aired Dec. 6 on Fox. Ginuwine wasn’t sure he wanted to be on “The Masked Singer” when it first came calling. But the “Pony” artist ultimately couldn’t resist.

There are a pair of double Emmy winners already today as the Television Academy revealed recipients of the 75th Emmy Awards in juried categories from Animation, Costume, Hairstyling, Makeup and Motion Design.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Get ready to say yes to more “Dress.” And set aside plenty of time for at least four different versions of “90 Day Fiancé,” two different “My 600-lb Life” series, two shows in the “Little People” universe and another dive into the “Sister Wife” universe. TLC is unwrapping its winter and spring slate, and Variety can confirm the return and premiere date of ten series set to return. On tap, with what TLC has counted up to be “over 135 hours of entertainment,” are returning shows “90 Day: The Single Life,” “90 Day: The Single Life Pillow Talk,” “My 600-lb Life,” “90 Day Diaries,” “Say Yes To The Dress,” “Little People, Big World,” “7 Little Johnstons,” “My 600-lb Life: Where Are They Now?,” “90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?” and “Seeking Sister Wife.” Per TLC, the cabler is ending the fourth quarter of 2023 as the top-rated cable network in primetime (when sports is not included) among adults 18-49, adults 25-54, women 18-49 and women 25-54.

Valerie Wu Intern What is a TV “comedy” in 2023? In an era of blurred genres, it’s not so cut and dry anymore. Opening Variety’s “A Night in the Writer’s Room,” Variety’s Michael Schneider asked the nine comedy writers on stage to raise their hand if their show features a death.