Emmys Preview: ‘Happy Days,’ ‘SNL,’ ‘The West Wing’ Cast Reunions and Jelly Roll’s ‘In Memoriam’ Performance
variety.comMichael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Get ready for more nostalgia on Sunday’s 76th Emmy Awards — the second one this year, we keep reminding you — but with a twist.
Unlike the 75th ceremony in January, which focused on cast reunions, this time the producers are mashing together iconic stars and their characters, past and present.
That means famous TV moms like Meredith Baxter (“Family Ties”), cops like Jimmy Smits (“NYPD Blue”), lawyers like Gina Torres (“Suits”), doctors like Zach Braff (“Scrubs”), TV villains like Giancarlo Esposito (“Breaking Bad”) and more. (And that’s just some of the names that have already been confirmed to present). “The response to January was incredible, and we felt like people really connected to the nostalgia,” said Dionne Harmon, who executive produces for Jesse Collins Entertainment along with Collins and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay. “So, we wanted to figure out a way to bring that nostalgia to the show on Sunday without doing the exact same thing.
We really focused on television shows that everyone loved in January and Sunday, we’re going to focus on the characters, individual characters from all kinds of shows.” Added Rouzan-Clay: “Instead of trying to top ourselves, we wanted to just make sure that it was different enough that people felt like we celebrated TV in a different way.” That may also mean some unexpected faces in some of the categories. “When you think TV cops, are you thinking Niecy Nash?” Harmon said. “Probably not, but there’s ‘Reno 911!’ We wanted to cover the gamut of all kinds of TV moms, all kinds of TV cops, all kinds of villains.
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