Full account

Organisers of the 78th Emmy Awards have confirmed two fresh additions to Monday's ceremony: New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson is set to feature in a pre-recorded segment opening the broadcast, while country star Reba McEntire will perform a song made famous by Dolly Parton as a tribute to the late singer. The additions build on a broadcast that already includes a 50th-anniversary reunion of the original "Charlie's Angels" cast and a 30th-anniversary nod to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", suggesting producers are leaning heavily on nostalgia and star cameos to open the show.

Brunson's involvement is closely tied to host Mariska Hargitay, a well-known Knicks devotee whose enthusiasm for the team has fuelled speculation for weeks about a possible on-air appearance by players. According to reporting on the production, the basketball star will feature in the taped opening before Hargitay picks up the performance live on stage alongside dancers, leading directly into her monologue. Hargitay has previously suggested in interviews that Brunson could take on a guest role on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit", the long-running drama she headlines, describing him as an eager and versatile presence when asked about a potential cameo. When pressed at a recent media event about whether the Knicks guard would turn up, the ceremony's executive producers declined to confirm details outright, hinting only that Hargitay had wide-ranging showbusiness connections.

McEntire's tribute to Parton, meanwhile, is expected to be introduced by actress Sally Field, who appeared alongside Parton in the 1989 film "Steel Magnolias" and is also nominated this year for her role in the Netflix limited series "Remarkably Bright Creatures". McEntire and Parton shared a long friendship and musical history, having previously collaborated on a reworked version of one of McEntire's own hits. The current star of NBC sitcom "Happy's Place" is now among several performers set to honour Parton's legacy during the telecast, alongside a planned rendition of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by singer-songwriter Noah Kahan to accompany the ceremony's in memoriam segment.

Beyond the musical tributes, the night's presenter line-up is reported to be extensive, drawing together recent winners such as Linda Cardellini and David Harbour with a broad cast of film and television names expected to hand out awards across the evening. A separate humanitarian honour is also due to be presented to actor Michael J. Fox. The build-up to the ceremony has, as usual, been accompanied by a heavy schedule of industry parties across Los Angeles in the preceding days, hosted by broadcasters and studios alongside charitable and advocacy events, with attendees including several of the evening's nominees and presenters.

Where outlets differ

Source 1 (Variety's awards-season reporting) is the substantive account of the ceremony's planned content, detailing the Brunson pre-tape, the McEntire/Parton tribute, presenter line-up and other segments.

Source 2 is essentially a photo gallery of pre-Emmy parties (NBCUniversal, WME, Creative Coalition and John Ritter Foundation events) and contains almost no direct information about the ceremony's programming itself; it only tangentially corroborates that figures such as Hargitay, Cardellini and Boreanaz were on the awards-season circuit beforehand.

Because of this imbalance, most substantive claims in the article rely on Source 1, with Source 2 used only as background colour on the surrounding social scene.

• variety.com
• variety.com