Variety’s ‘The Take’ Celebrates One-Year Anniversary: Here Are the 10 Biggest Moments

William Earl
·5 min read
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One year ago, “The Take” launched at Variety, quickly becoming one of the brand’s flagship video series. Over the past 365 days, the weekly show has covered the biggest stories in entertainment news, including Will Smith’s Oscars slap, Britney Spears’ conservatorship, Johnny Depp’s trial against Amber Heard, while also delivering insightful box office analysis and unparalleled year-round awards coverage.

Hosted by Variety chief correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister and senior awards editor Clayton Davis, “The Take,” presented by Apple TV+, is a weekly series that navigates the week’s top stories from entertainment, pop culture and media, providing expert takes and exclusive insight on what’s buzzing in Hollywood. Filmed in Variety’s state-of-the-art studio in Los Angeles, new episodes are released on Fridays on Variety.com, YouTube and social media.

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“The Take” has led Variety’s ever-growing video strategy, which includes news, interviews, red carpets, short-form documentary, awards coverage and more with new content in development. “The Take” is executive produced by Variety’s vice president of video, Alex Castro.

To celebrate the anniversary, here are some of our favorite moments from the biggest stories of the year.

“The Take” Predicts “CODA” Will Win the Oscar

Long before anyone was predicting “CODA” could win the best picture Oscar, “The Take” got it right. With the industry’s leading awards journalist as one of our hosts, “The Take” brings unparalleled awards’ analysis all year long. Variety’s senior awards editor, Clayton Davis, gives his predictions on the show each week, long before anyone is even talking about them — and that was most certainly the case for “CODA.”

“The Take” Takes on Cannes

“The Take” has covered every fest from Toronto to Venice to SXSW, delivering the latest news on the projects coming out of the festival circuit. This past year, Wagmeister and Davis touched down in Cannes for a special episode, live from the South of France.

“The Take” Brings Courthouse Coverage From Britney Spears’ Conservatorship Case

“The Take” has been covering Britney Spears’ conservatorship saga from the very beginning. Wagmeister has lead Variety’s coverage on the pop star’s legal battle with live reports from inside the courtroom and outside the courthouse with the #FreeBritney movement. From the singer’s passionate testimony in June to her 13-year conservatorship being terminated this past November, “The Take” has been on the scene.

“The Take” Live on Oscars Night

On Oscars night, Davis was at the ceremony, and we loved being joined on-set by a special guest host, Variety’s senior entertainment writer, Angelique Jackson, who helped break down the story that everyone is still talking about: Will Smith slapping Chris Rock.

“The Take” Emmys Special

Of course, the Emmys are no exception from awards season. Our awards’ coverage on “The Take” brings the best in television and film, letting those who matter in the industry know which series and movies they should be paying attention to.

Oscar Isaac Visits “The Take”

In a conversation with our host Davis about his work, including “The Card Counter,” “Scenes From A Marriage” and “Dune,” Oscar Isaac weighed in on the IATSE fight.

The Rock Pledges to Stop Using Real Guns On-Set

In the wake of the “Rust” tragedy, Wagmeister interviewed Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on the red carpet. She asked one of the world’s biggest action stars his stance on using firearms on set, prompting Johnson to pledge stop using real guns on all of his movies.

“The Take” Tackles Louis C.K.’s Controversial Grammy Win

When Louis C.K. won a Grammy award, our host, Wagmeister — who has covered the #MeToo movement extensively from Matt Lauer, Harvey Weinstein, R. Kelly and Bill Cosby — weighed in on Hollywood’s hypocritical handling of abusers in power, no matter their fall from grace.

David Spade Visits “The Take” to Celebrate “Paradise”

“The Take” covers everything in Hollywood — the good, the bad; the serious and the fun. So when David Spade stepped into Chris Harrison’s shoes as guest host on “Bachelor In Paradise,” we had to talk to the comedian about his time in Mexico with the ABC dating show, and his take on “cancel culture” in comedy.

 

“The Take” Renewed Through 2022

“The Take” has been greenlight through all of 2022, and that might just be our favorite moment. What a year it’s been, and we can’t wait for the next. Thank you to all of our viewers, and please, continue to weigh in on Variety’s social media to let us know: What’s Your Take?

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