Emmy Awards: What You Didn’t See on TV – Reunions, Selfies and Football

This year’s Emmy Awards were all about TV reunions, while audiences around the country got to see the cast of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Cheers” reunite, there were some unofficial ones that didn’t make the live broadcast.

Take the “Yellowjackets” cast and crew, who got back together before the show started.

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The show was nominated for two Emmys including best drama series and lead actress in a drama for Melanie Lynskey. Hours before the show aired, the teen cast including Liv Hewson, Courtney Eaton, Sophie Nélisse, Sammi Hanratty and Kevin Alves had gathered in the lobby, chatting and taking selfies before doors to the main theater were open. They were joined by Warren Kole and later director Karyn Kusama and showrunners Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, as well as Tawny Cypress.

Yes, season 3 is being written and the show is expected to be back in production in late May. Lynskey was not in attendance, since the actor posted via her Instagram page that she had caught COVID.

Lynskey was not the only nominee to miss out due to COVID, Two-time Emmy winner Christopher Storer (“The Bear”) was absent for the same reason. “Chris, sadly, is home sick with COVID,” the show’s star Ebon Moss-Bachrach later revealed in the press room.

Another reunion not captured by the cameras took place in the lobby of the JW Marriot. Moments before they walked the carpet, the queens of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 15 had gathered, and they turned heads, especially Princess Poppy who had come out of retirement for the occasion and dressed up as a green goblin. Princess Poppy had announced she was retiring from drag during the show. The cameras did capture the on-stage reunion when the show picked up the Emmy award for outstanding reality competition program.

“Ted Lasso’s” Nick Mohammed, who wore an AFC Richmond soccer jersey under his tuxedo, was mobbed as he made his way into the crowded lobby for selfies.

Similarly, Riley Keough, who was nominated in the outstanding actress in a limited or anthology series category for “Daisy Jones and the Six,” brought her grandmother Priscilla Presley as her date. As they entered the lobby, Keough giggled, holding on tight to her grandmother as a few people tried to grab photos.

Inside the room, some stars who made their way to their seat early were Kieran Culkin and wife Jazz Charton, J. Smith-Cameron and husband Kenneth Lonergan and “Yellowjackets” star Lauren
Ambrose.

During the commercial break, the choice of music was classic TV themes. Among the tunes played were the theme songs from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Cheers,” “Scooby Doo” and “Happy Days.” A few people, including Variety co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton, found themselves singing along to the vintage tunes — “Three’s Company,” “Good Times” and “Welcome Back Kotter” generated particularly full-throated responses.

Approximately 15 minutes before showtime, Anthony Anderson’s mother Doris Bowman, aka Mama Doris, reminded everyone of the housekeeping rules. “You only get 45 seconds for your speech, and you can only have one person speak,” she said, keeping things simple.

Meanwhile, since the Emmys were happening at the same time as the Philadelphia Eagles playoff game, a few people, including “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” star Rob McElhenney used the commercial break to catch up on the score.

And if you made it out to the lobby for a restroom break or even wanted to grab a drink at the bar, you had approximately two minutes. If you didn’t make it back in time, you were stuck outside or behind a barrier until a suitable break in the show.

Wrapping the night up, Anderson reminded everyone about Martin Luther King’s birthday. As the credits rolled, his “I Have a Dream” speech played on the screen, and a few cast members of “Succession” who were walking offstage after winning best drama series paused to pay their respects until the end.

See the full list of winners here.

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