Will Virtual Reunions for Beloved Shows Like ‘Friends’ and ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ Get Emmy Love?

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeAs Hollywood slowly returns to normal, the TV Academy is prepping for a limited in-person Emmy ceremony in September that could very well live up to the hype as the industry’s biggest night.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeWho’s on first? Depends on your definition of a platform. As the Television Academy announced the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards nominations on Tuesday morning, the combo of HBO and HBO Max proclaimed victory with a total of 130 nominations, followed closely by Netflix with 129.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeShowtime has picked up the half-hour comedy series “I Love This For You,” based on former “Saturday Night Live” star Vanessa Bayer’s own story of overcoming childhood leukemia. Bayer co-created the series and will executive producer and star in it.Fellow “SNL” alum Molly Shannon will also star, while Cybill Shepherd, who had originally signed on to star opposite Bayer and Shannon, has departed the project.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeRaven-Symoné and Loni Love have been tapped to host the next two Daytime Emmy ceremonies, which will be held virtually this weekend by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.Supplementing the 48th Annual Daytime Emmys telecast on CBS last month, the Daytime Emmys Children’s & Animation awards will be handed out on Saturday, July 17 at 8 p.m.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeCBS looked inside its own neighborhood to find this year’s Emmy host: Cedric the Entertainer will take the stage when the 73rd Primetime Emmys airs on Sept. 19.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeGreetings from Variety Awards Headquarters! Today is June 28, 2021, which means nomination-round voting ends TODAY. Get your votes in! Meanwhile, it’s 15 days until nominations are announced on July 13; 52  days until final-round voting starts on Aug.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeThe Daytime Emmys aren’t over yet.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeIn time for the 2021 BET Awards, BET has unveiled a new logo and branding effort that represents perhaps the largest transformation in the network’s 40-year history. BET called it a “pivotal shift for our brand and a commemoration of our 40-year legacy of Black excellence.”Perhaps the most noticeable change: BET’s logo now forms a square, with “B” and “E” on the top line, and “T” and the network’s signature star underneath.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeThe National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is handing out the awards for this year’s broadcast portion of the 48th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, airing on CBS.Among the big winners: “Jeopardy!” once again picked up award for best game show. Executive producer Mike Richards dedicated the award to late host Alex Trebek.“We’ve heard from so many of you since he passed and we know how much he meant to you,” Richards said.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargePlaying John Brown in Showtime’s limited series “The Good Lord Bird” required an intensity from star and executive producer Ethan Hawke that pushed him to his limits. “It was the first time I knew what having a heart attack might feel like,” Hawke told Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeConan O’Brien ended his 11-year run on TBS’ “Conan” by touting the “intersection between smart and stupid.” And that’s why, perhaps it was all too appropriate that final guest Jack Black wound up on stage wearing a walking boot for a sprained ankle — an injury he received while rehearsing a song and dance number he had planned for O’Brien’s finale.The irony of the moment: As originally planned, Black was pre-taping a big musical number that involved a

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” has named Erin Irwin, Molly McNearney and Jennifer Sharron as executive producers. All three previously served as co-executive producers.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeThe National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences is prepping for a return to normalcy in 2022, including a live, in-person Daytime Emmys at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. But that’s next year.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeThe Television Academy is making a small, but meaningful change in how it recognizes gender-nonbinary performers in the Emmy competition.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large“Ted Lasso” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” are among the first batch of this year’s Peabody Award winners.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeThe 28th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will take place next year on February 27, 2022. That was the date originally reserved for the 94th Academy Awards — but with the Oscars moving to March 27, the SAG Awards will now fill that date.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeThe loophole that allowed docs to somehow compete in both Oscars and Emmys was always a bit bizarre. It couldn’t happen in scripted, where the rules have been ironclad: If you were released theatrically first, you’re a movie; if you’re on television, you’re, well, TV.In documentary, though, it’s often TV outlets such as HBO, PBS or Nat Geo commissioning and funding the projects to air on their networks — making them, arguably, TV projects.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeThe Television Academy first expanded the short form categories in 2016, buoyed by the promise of original fare from Maker Studios, Fullscreen, AwesomenessTV, YouTube Red, Adult Swim and others. Maker and Fullscreen basically don’t exist anymore, and the excitement of the short form races has perhaps further cooled after the Quibi debacle.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeIt was one of Ted Danson’s daughters who gave him perhaps the best perspective on his “Cheers” role, Sam Malone. “He was the reformed alcoholic in a bar,” Danson says of his ironic character.