Emmys 2020: Jimmy Kimmel Returns as Host, While Big Questions Still Loom
Late-night TV vet Jimmy Kimmel is set to three-peat as host of the Primetime Emmy Awards, even as big questions still surround this year’s telecast.
This much is certain, as of now at least: Kimmel — who previously lorded over TV’s biggest night in 2012 and then 2016 — will host this year’s ceremony, which is currently scheduled to be held Sunday, Sept. 20. He will also serve as an executive producer.
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Other details about the pandemic-era awards show, however, will be announced “soon,” says ABC.
As Kimmel himself aptly put it in a statement, “I don’t know where we will do this or how we will do this or even why we are doing this, but we are doing it and I am hosting it.”
Said ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke, “We know Jimmy Kimmel will deliver a uniquely entertaining, funny and moving Primetime Emmys show. He’s a true master of ceremonies who reveres this industry and its people; and just as Jimmy has done with his own show over the past few months, he will tackle this momentous event with heart and humor, and bring some much-needed joy and optimism to our television colleagues and viewers at home.”
How has the pandemic and quarantining affected other EGOT ceremonies? This year’s Tony Awards (originally scheduled for June 7 on CBS) were postponed back in March and have yet to be rescheduled. Next year’s Grammys are scheduled for Jan. 31 on CBS, while ABC’s broadcast of the Oscars was just pushed back two months, to April 25, 2021.
As far as this year’s Daytime Emmys, CBS will host a virtual ceremony on June 26.
Kimmel’s previous hosting of the Emmys drew 9.7 million total viewers, which at the time represented the gala’s smallest TV audience ever. Last year’s Emmys, airing on Fox, drew 6.9 million total viewers, marking a sixth straight year of decline.
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