Sunday, August 24, 2025

'SNL50: The Anniversary Special' leads nominees for Outstanding Variety Special (Live) at the Emmys


I decided to resume my Emmy Awards series for today's Sunday entertainment feature with the nominees for Outstanding Variety Special (Live) and the other nominations. I begin with the program category at the Primetime Emmy Awards.
Outstanding Variety Special (Live)
  • The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar (Fox)
  • Beyoncé Bowl (Netflix)
  • The Oscars (ABC)
  • SNL50: The Anniversary Special (NBC)
  • SNL50: The Homecoming Concert (Peacock)
SNL50: The Anniversary Special leads with 13 nominations, followed by its companion special SNL50: The Homecoming Concert and last year's winner The Oscars tied at six, then The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé Bowl tied at four. The prognosticators at Gold Derby agree that SNL50: The Anniversary Special has the lead, as 93.3% of experts, 83.3% of editors, and 89.8% of users have picked it to win. The 6.7% of users along with the same percentage of experts are enough to push Beyoncé Bowl into second, while 1.8% of users is holding The Oscars down despite 16.7% of editors expecting the movie awards ceremony to repeat. I'd go with the editors myself. The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar and SNL50: The Homecoming Concert trail with 1.0% and 0.6% respectively.

Follow over the jump for the rest of the nominations for SNL50: The Anniversary Special, SNL50: The Homecoming Concert, and their competitors at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.



I wrote that Nate Bargatze vs. Conan O'Brien for Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) at the Emmys was "a wrap for all the program categories at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards except Emerging Media. I might cover those when I blog about live variety specials." That's because two of the nominees are immersive or VR presentations of live specials, one of which is SNL 50th The Anniversary Special: Immersive Experience, so it fits today's theme.
Outstanding Emerging Media Program
  • Impulse: Playing with Reality (Meta)
  • Shawn Mendes: Red Rocks Live in VR (Meta Quest)
  • SNL 50th The Anniversary Special: Immersive Experience (Meta Quest)
I'm picking SNL 50th The Anniversary Special: Immersive Experience simply because the other nominees will have a hard time overcoming a celebration of television. Electorates matter.

I get to announce the first winners in this series, as White Rabbit won Outstanding Innovation in Emerging Media Programming, a juried award. Congratulations!


 I get to announce another winner, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Shiona Turini, Erica Rice, Molly Peters, Chelsea Staebell, and Timothy White won the juried category Outstanding Costumes for Variety, Nonfiction, or Reality Programming for Beyoncé Bowl. I don't know about the rest, but this is Beyoncé's first Emmy. Congratulations!

Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special
  • The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar – Hamish Hamilton (Fox)
  • Beyoncé Bowl – Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Alex Rudzinski (Netflix)
  • The Oscars – Hamish Hamilton (ABC)
  • SNL50: The Anniversary Special – Liz Patrick (NBC)
  • SNL50: The Homecoming Concert – Beth McCarthy Miller (Peacock)
  • 77th Annual Tony Awards – Glenn Weiss (CBS)
Gold Derby's odds for the Creative Arts Emmy Awards have SNL50: The Homecoming Concert in first with 57.1% of experts, 75.0% of editors, and 65.3% of users picking it overSNL50: The Anniversary Special, which has the support of 28.6% of experts and 18.8% of users. The professionals and users are split over the next two, with 9.9% of users choosing Beyoncé Bowl, while 14.3% of experts and 25.0% of editors, but only 2.8% of users, voting for The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar. The Oscars, last year's winner, trails with 2.3% of users and 77th Annual Tony Awards brings up the rear with only 0.9% of users.

I'm continuing with a category from Nate Bargatze vs. Conan O'Brien for Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) at the Emmys because it's the other one I'm examining today with Gold Derby odds.

Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special
  • Conan O'Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor – Jon Macks, Chris Convy, Lauren Greenberg, Skyler Higley, Ian Karmel and Sean O'Connor (Netflix)
  • Cunk on Life – Charlie Brooker, Ben Caudell, Erika Ehler, Charlie George, Eli Goldstone, Jason Hazeley, Lucia Keskin, Diane Morgan, Joel Morris and Michael Odewale (Netflix)
  • Sarah Silverman: PostMortem – Sarah Silverman (Netflix)
  • SNL50: The Anniversary Special – James Anderson, Dan Bulla, Megan Callahan-Shah, Michael Che, Mikey Day, Mike DiCenzo, James Downey, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fowlie, Alison Gates, Sudi Green, Jack Handey, Steve Higgins, Colin Jost, Erik Kenward, Dennis McNicholas, Seth Meyers, Lorne Michaels, John Mulaney, Jake Nordwind, Ceara O'Sullivan, Josh Patten, Paula Pell, Simon Rich, Pete Schultz, Streeter Seidell, Emily Spivey, Kent Sublette, Bryan Tucker and Auguste White (NBC)
  • Your Friend, Nate Bargatze – Nate Bargatze (Netflix)
SNL50: The Anniversary Special would definitely win a game of "one of these things is not like the others" in this field, as it's the only live variety special and non-Netflix show nominated. The prognosticators at Gold Derby think it will win the award, too, as 83.3% of experts, 75% of editors, and 84.1% of users have picked it. Conan O'Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor sits in second with the support of 16.7% of experts, 25% of editors, and 6.0% of users, followed by Cunk on Life with 5.6% of users, Your Friend, Nate Bargatze with 2.8%, and Sarah Silverman: PostMortem with 1.6%. Note that the writing teams rank higher than the solo writer-performers.
At least one more expert has picked SNL50: The Anniversary Special over Conan O'Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor to as the former is now the choice of 85.7% of experts compared to 14.3% for the latter, which is benefiting from users shifting their votes from lower ranking nominees, as it now has 7.9% of users picking it. In contrast, user support for Cunk on Life, Your Friend, Nate Bargatze, and Sarah Silverman: PostMortem has declined to 4.9%, 2.5%, and 0.5%, respectively.

I'm revisiting a category I covered in 'Pee-wee as Himself' vs. 'Will & Harper' for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special on Tequila Day next.

Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics
  • Agatha All Along: "Circle Sewn with Fate / Unlock Thy Hidden Gate" – "The Ballad of the Witches' Road" by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (Disney+)
  • Andor: "Who Are You?" – "We Are the Ghor (Planetary Anthem)" by Nicholas Britell and Tony Gilroy (Disney+)
  • The Boys: "We'll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here" – "Let's Put the Christ Back in Christmas" by Christopher Lennertz (Prime Video)
  • SNL50: Anniversary Special – "50 Years" by Dan Bulla and Adam Sandler (NBC)
  • Will & Harper – "Harper and Will Go West" by Sean Douglas, Kristen Wiig and Josh Greenbaum (Netflix)
Gold Derby has odds on this category, too. "50 Years" from SNL50: Anniversary Special is currently the choice of 80% of experts, 60% of editors, and 55.6% of users. My pick, at least until I listen to the other nominees, "Circle Sewn with Fate / Unlock Thy Hidden Gate" – "The Ballad of the Witches' Road" from Agatha All Along has the support of 20% of [experts], 40% of editors, and 35.8% of users. "Harper and Will Go West" from Will & Harper sits in third as the choice of 5.6% of users. I'll embed it at the end of this post. Andor's "Who Are You?" – "We Are the Ghor (Planetary Anthem)" has the vote of 1.8% of users. I'll embed that in this year's version of Star Trek vs. Star Wars at the 2024 Emmy Awards for Star Trek Day. Finally, "We'll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here" – "Let's Put the Christ Back in Christmas" from The Boys sits in last place as the choice of 1.3% of users.
Support for "50 Years" from SNL50: Anniversary Special has been consolidating during the past month as it's now the choice of 85.7% of experts, 75% of editors, and 66.7% of users. I'm embedding this song at the end of the post. "Circle Sewn with Fate / Unlock Thy Hidden Gate" – "The Ballad of the Witches' Road" from Agatha All Along still has the support of 14.3% of experts, 25% of editors, and 27.4% of users, a decline, but still better than what happened to "Harper and Will Go West" from Will & Harper, "Who Are You?" - "We Are the Ghor (Planetary Anthem)" from Andor, and "We'll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here" – "Let's Put the Christ Back in Christmas" from The Boys, which are the choices of 4.8%, 1.1%, and 0% (!) of users.

Now back to categories I haven't covered before.

Outstanding Music Direction
  • The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar – Kendrick Lamar and Tony Russell (FOX)
  • The Kennedy Center Honors – Rickey Minor (CBS)
  • The Oscars – Michael Bearden (ABC)
  • SNL50: The Anniversary Special – Lenny Pickett, Leon Pendarvis and Eli Brueggemann (NBC)
  • SNL50: The Homecoming Concert – James Poyser and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson (Peacock)
SNL50: The Homecoming Concert leads the Gold Derby odds as the choice of 85.7% of experts, every editor, and 83.4% of users. The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar has the support of 14.3% of experts and 12.0% of users. The rest of the nominees have weak user support with last year's winner The Oscars picked by 2.9%, The Kennedy Center Honors 1.7%, and SNL50: The Anniversary Special with none.

That completes the categories I'm covering today with Gold Derby odds. Now for the ones where I'm flying with only Wikipedia and my gut to guide me.

Outstanding Production Design for a Variety Special
  • Beyoncé Bowl - Willo Perron, Brian Stonestreet, Gloria Lamb, Jonathan Stoller-Schoff, and Marina Skye (Netflix)
  • The 67th Annual Grammy Awards - Julio Himede, Kristen Merlino, Gloria Lamb, Ellen Jaworski, Margaux Lapresle, and Kaydee Lavorin (CBS)
  • The Oscars - Misty Buckley, Alana Billingsley, John Zuiker, and Margaux LaPresle (ABC)
  • SNL50: The Anniversary Special - Akira Yoshimura, N. Joseph DeTullio, Patrick Lynch, Melissa Shakun, Charlotte Hayes Harrison, and Sabrina Lederer (NBC)
  • SNL50: The Homecoming Concert - Keith Ian Raywood, Anthony Bishop, and Aaron Black (Peacock)
The Oscars is the defending winner, so it's a nominal favorite, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if SNL50: The Anniversary Special wins instead.

Outstanding Choreography for Variety or Reality Programming (Juried)
  • The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar: "Humble" / "Not Like Us" – Charm La'Donna (Fox)
  • Beyoncé Bowl: "My House" / "Sweet Honey Bucklin'" / "Texas Hold 'Em" – Truck Patterson, Charm La'Donna, Christopher Grant, and Parris Goebel (Netflix)
  • The 67th Annual Grammy Awards: "Doechii Musical Performance – Robbie Blue (CBS)
  • The Lion King at the Hollywood Bowl: "He Lives in You" – Jamal Sims (Disney)
  • The Oscars: "James Bond Tribute Performance" / "Quincy Jones Tribute Performance" – Mandy Moore (ABC)
My gut says Beyoncé Bowl, but this is a juried award, so my political sense is useless. I'd actually have to watch the performances and rely on my experience as a marching band judge to make a call. Not today.

Outstanding Hairstyling for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program (Juried)
  • American Idol: "Finale" – Dean Banowetz, Amber Maher, Cory Rotenberg, Ryan Randall, Kathleen Leonard, Theresa K. Casillas, Lorenzo Martin, and Jayson Stacy (ABC)
  • The Boulet Brothers' Dragula: "Welcome to Hell" – Marco Gabellini (Shudder)
  • Dancing with the Stars: "Halloween Nightmares" – Kimi Messina, Joe Matke, Marion Rogers, Amber Maher, Florence Witherspoon, Brittany Spaulding, and Melanie Ervin (ABC)
  • Fantasmas: "The Void" – Amber Jasmin Morrow, Allison Imoto-Suh, and Naomi Indira (HBO)
  • SNL50: The Anniversary Special – Jodi Mancuso, Cara Hannah, Inga Thrasher, Amanda Duffy Evans, Chad Harlow, Gina Ferrucci, Brittany Hartman, and Katie Beatty (NBC)
  • The Voice: "Live Semi-Final Performances" – Jerilynn Stephens, Darbie Wieczorek, Marion Rogers, Kathleen Leonard, Dominique Diaz, and Conrad Hilton (NBC)
This was the category I left out of 'RuPaul's Drag Race' leads nominations for Outstanding Reality Competition Program, but 'The Traitors' will likely win again when I examined competition show nominees, which is why I'm illustrating it with a promotional Twitter/X image for Dancing with the Stars. That written, SNL is last year's winner, so I think SNL50: The Anniversary Special is the favorite.

Outstanding Lighting Design / Lighting Direction for a Special
  • The 67th Annual Grammy Awards – Noah Mitz, Andy O'Reilly, Patrick Boozer, Ryan Tanker, Erin Anderson, Madigan Stehly, William Gossett, Bryan Klunder, Hannah Kerman, Matt Benson, Matthew Cotter, Guy Jones, and Kevin Faust (CBS)
  • 2024 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony – Allen Branton, Felix Peralta, Kevin Lawson, George Gountas, Bianca Moncada, Alex Flores, Guy Jones, and J.C. Castro (ABC)
  • SNL50: The Anniversary Special – Geoffrey Amoral, Rick McGuinness, William McGuinness, Trevor Brown, Tim Stasse, Frank Grisanti, and Reginald Campbell (NBC)
  • SNL50: The Homecoming Concert – Tom Sutherland, Harry Forster, Hunter Selby, Bobby Grey, Ryan Tanker, Chris Roseli, Matt Cotter, JM Hurley, and Bob Benedetti (Peacock)
I think this award will be decided at the intersection between music awards shows and SNL's 50th anniversary, which is SNL50: The Homecoming Concert.


Outstanding Technical Direction and Camerawork for a Special
  • Bono: Stories of Surrender – Erik Messerschmidt, Mark Goellnicht, Brian S. Osmond, Vince Vennitti, Charles Libin, Christine Kapo Ng, Richard Rutkowski, and Luke McCoubrey (Apple TV+)
  • An Evening with Dua Lipa – Nick Kauffman, Lincoln Abraham, Gareth Beeson, John Clarke, Alex Dodd, Curtis Dunne, Dave Emery, Dave Evans, Ben Frewin, Lisha Gilbert, Matt Gladstone, Dom Jackson, Rob Mansfield, Ali Miller, James Neal, Sophie Penwill, Mark Sayers, Alan Wells, and Shaun Willis (CBS)
  • An Evening with Elton John & Brandi Carlile – Dan Winterburn, Bill Ashworth, Curtis Dunne, Alex Dodd, Ben Frewin, Sam Keogh, Marcus Leon Soon, Lewis Mutongwizo, Mark Sayers, Andre Seraille, Carl Veckranges, Shaun Willis, and Alan Wells (CBS)
  • The Lion King at the Hollywood Bowl – Brandon Smith, Tim Farmer, Jofre Rosero, David Rudd, George Prince, Karin Pelloni, Rob Palmer, Bobby Delrusso, Rob Vuona, Austin Rock, John Perry, Adam Margolis, Danny Bonilla, and Danny Webb (Disney+)
  • 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony – Eric Becker, Danny Bonilla, Kary D'Alessandro, Dave Driscoll, Curtis Eastwood, David Eastwood, Nathanial Havholm, Jeff Johnson, Zachariah Jones, Jay Kulick, Dave Levisohn, Adam Margolis, Rob Palmer, Tim Quigley, Jofre Rosero, David Rudd, Chad Smith, Matt Trujillo, Easter Xua, Tom Zaleski, and Jeremy Freeman (ABC)
  • SNL50: The Anniversary Special – Bill DiGiovanni, John Pinto, Paul Cangialosi, Anthony Tarantino, Dave Driscoll, Brian Phraner, Daniel Erbeck, Michael Knarre, Anthony Lenzo, Ansel Nunez, and Rick Fox (NBC)
SNL proper won the series award last year, so that might transfer over to SNL50: The Anniversary Special.

I conclude the categories with three awards I'm re-examining, beginning with one from John Oliver examines 'Gang Databases' plus 'Last Week Tonight's six Emmy nominations

Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming (Segment)
  • The Daily Show: "The Dailyshowography of Kamala Harris: Just Normal" – Lauren Beckett Jackson (Comedy Central)
  • The Daily Show: "The Dailyshowography of Stephen Miller: What He Does in the Shadows" – Storm Choi (Comedy Central)
  • Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: "Facebook Content Moderation" – Anthony Miale (HBO)
  • Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: "That Stuff's American" – Ryan Barger (HBO)
  • SNL50: The Anniversary Special: "Physical Comedy" – Ryan Spears, Paul Del Gesso, Christopher Salerno, Daniel Garcia, Sean McIlraith, and Ryan McIlraith (NBC)
The Daily Show won this award last year and would normally be my pick to repeat. The fly in the ointment is that both The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver have two nominations each, so they run the risk of vote splitting, and the sentiment is likely to be with SNL's 50th anniversary specials, which I think will win this award.
Now, an award from Colbert, Lydic, and Meyers take closer looks at the EPA and Epstein and Kimmel goes down the rabbit hole on 'windmills'.

Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special
  • The Daily Show: "Jon Stewart and the News Team Live at the Chicago DNC" – John Neroulas and Patrick Weaver (Comedy Central)
  • The 67th Annual Grammy Awards – Thomas Holmes, John Harris, Eric Schilling, Jamie Pollock, Jeffrey Michael Peterson, Michael Parker, Andres Arango, Juan Pablo Velasco, Aaron Walk, Christian Schrader, Eric Johnston, and Doug Wingert (CBS)
  • The Oscars – Paul Sandweiss, Tommy Vicari, Steve Genewick, Tom Pesa, Biff Dawes, Pablo Munguia, Kristian Pedregon, Patrick Baltzell, Michael Parker, Christian Schrader, and John Perez (ABC)
  • SNL50: The Anniversary Special – Robert Palladino, Ezra Matychak, Frank Duca, Doug Nightwine, Christopher Costello, Caroline Sanchez, Josiah Gluck, Jay Vicari, Tyler McDiarmid, Geoff Countryman, Devin Emke, and Teng Chen (NBC)
  • SNL50: The Homecoming Concert – Thomas Holmes, Christian Schrader, Eric Schilling, Lawrence Manchester, Dan Gerhard, Jason Crystal, Jamie Pollock, Juan Pablo Velasco, Anthony Lalumia, Mike Bové, Cesar Benitez, Talia Krause, and Al Theurer (Peacock)
My standard take on sound categories is that music nominees have the advantage, so it's between The 67th Annual Grammy Awards and SNL50: The Homecoming Concert with the latter favored because it's a celebration of television. Electorates matter.
I examined the final category in 'RuPaul's Drag Race' leads nominations for Outstanding Reality Competition Program, but 'The Traitors' will likely win again.

Outstanding Makeup for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program
  • The Boulet Brothers' Dragula: "Welcome to Hell" – The Boulet Brothers (Shudder)
  • Dancing with the Stars: "Halloween Nightmares" – Zena S. Green, Julie Socash, Donna Bard, Lois Harriman, Brian Sipe, James MacKinnon, Tyson Fountaine, and Angela Moos (ABC)
  • The Lion King at the Hollywood Bowl – Bruce Grayson, Jill Cady, Brielle McKenna, James MacKinnon, Rochelle Uribe, Tyson Fountaine, and Angela Wells (Disney)
  • A Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter – Diana Oh, Vanessa Dionne, Alicia Carbajal, Ashley Joy Beck, and Carolina Gonzalez (Netflix)
  • RuPaul's Drag Race: "Bitch, I'm a Drag Queen!" – Natasha Marcelina, David Petruschin, Jen Fregozo, and Nicole Faulkner (MTV)
  • SNL50: The Anniversary Special – Louie Zakarian, Jason Milani, Amy Tagliamonti, Rachel Pagani, Young Bek, Stephen Kelley, and Joanna Pisani (NBC)
SNL is last year's winner, but SNL50: The Anniversary Special earned the nomination instead, so it's my pick to win. RuPaul's Drag Race, also a previous winner, will have a hard time overcoming a celebration of television. Electorates matter.
I have not changed my mind on any of these last three.

As promised, I'm closing with Adam Sandler's Song: 50 Years – SNL50.

Adam Sandler performs a song celebrating 50 years of Saturday Night Live.
I usually say something about an all-star cast. In this case, it's an all-star audience! Also, I still wouldn't vote for it, but I can sure see why it's likely to win.

That's a wrap. I think I will look at the other categories where juries have already declared winners at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards next. Stay tuned.

Previous posts about the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards
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