The Primetime Emmy nominations came unusually late this year, pushed by the coronavirus pandemic. The week or so delay from their traditional time frame made the announcement almost concise with Norman Lear’s July 27 birthday. The TV great turned 98.
Lear, who last September became the oldest Emmy winner in history with a victory in the category of Outstanding Variety Special (Live) for ABC’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s ‘All In the Family’ And ‘The Jeffersons,’ is nominated again in the same category for the followup Live In Front of a Studio Audience special, which aired Dec. 18 while the House of Representatives was voting to impeach President Donald Trump. It was interrupted for updates from ABC News.
The timing was not lost on Lear who framed his Emmy nomination reaction today with references to Trump’s impeachment and the upcoming Presidential election. The statement came from him and Brent Miller of Lear’s ACT III Prods, who executive produce the Live In Front of a Studio Audience ABC/Sony Pictures TV franchise with Jimmy Kimmel. The December special, Live In Front Of A Studio Audience: “All In The Family” And “Good Times”, earned a total of four nominations.
“We are deeply grateful to Sony Pictures Television and ABC for their ongoing support of this series — and let us not forget this special aired the night of Trump’s impeachment,” Lear and Miller said. “With 98 days left until the election, and the day after one of us turned 98, it all seems so poetic.”
In September 2019, Lear took the stage to accept his statuette at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
“Thank you, thank you, and holy sh*t,” he exclaimed. “I got a great reaction, saying that when opening a Christmas present when I was seven years old. It’s 90 years later, and I feel much the same.”