Deadline’s Contenders TV: Documentary + Unscripted Kicks Off Today

What does it take to get Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness to show up on time for shoots on their Emmy-winning Netflix series? “Tough love,” jokes fellow cast member Bobby Berk.

That’s one of the many revelations — humorous and otherwise — you can expect from Deadline’s all-day Contenders Television: Documentary + Unscripted virtual event, which gets underway Saturday at 9 a.m. PT and takes you inside the hottest nonfiction series and films competing for honors this TV awards season.

Click here to sign up for and watch the livestream.

Among the 21 series and 60 stars, creators and showrunners being showcased in the all-day event, Lucy and Desi director Amy Poehler reveals how she uncovered the “human story” of television icons Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, mining a trove of never-before-heard audio tapes of the showbiz couple. W. Kamau Bell tells us about taking on a fallen TV icon, Bill Cosby, in his Showtime series We Need to Talk About Cosby, revealing when he first began to believe scores of women accusing the actor-comedian of sexual assault.

Big-wave surfer Garrett McNamara, the larger-than-life subject of HBO’s documentary series 100 Foot Wave, explains in dramatic detail what it’s like to be chased by a tsunami-sized wall of water, and Daymond John, one of the stars on Shark Tank, boldly declares he’s the only Shark on the ABC entrepreneurial series “bringing any kind of flavor.”

The Masked Singer panelist Robin Thicke throws shade at his fellow judge Ken Jeong, and the show’s EP details his strategy for keeping the Fox show “fresh and inviting” for viewers, concealing celebrities in costumes ranging from an armadillo and a baby mammoth to a space bunny and a queen cobra. Queens of another sort make a glittering appearance: the stars of VH1’s RuPaul’s Drag Race.

The executive producers of Amazon Prime Video’s LuLaRich and the upcoming Apple TV+ series The Big Conn break down an emerging subset of the true crime documentary genre–stories devoted to alleged fraud on a massive scale. The Big Conn goes deep with the aptly named Eric C. Conn, a colorful Kentucky lawyer convicted of pulling off a Social Security disability scam that ran to $550 million. LuLaRich takes an entertaining look at DeAnne and Mark Stidham, founders of LuLaRoe, a company that made billions on leggings and other apparel before authorities in Washington State accused the firm of operating as a pyramid scheme. Series executive producer Cori Shepherd Stern brought some real-life experience to the project, having earlier witnessed her own mother get caught up in a different “multi-level marketing” operation.

Each panel begins with a compelling clip from the film or show in question. The selection from Jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy contains a moving moment from Kanye West’s past, when the rap star went back home to Chicago to visit his mom. That tees up a discussion of what the late Donda West meant to her famous son, especially as he struggled to make the transition from acclaimed record producer to performer in his own right.

Janet Jackson goes home again too, in the Lifetime multi-parter Janet Jackson, visiting Gary, IN, where she spent the first few years of her life before she followed her famous brothers onto the concert stage. The show’s EP and director tell us what it was like to accompany the pop icon on that journey.

Check out the day’s schedule and lineups below, and follow our coverage all day on Deadline and via social media channels using the hashtag #DeadlineContenders. On Monday, we’ll launch a streaming site that will be home to the complete panel videos.

CONTENDERS TELEVISION: DOCUMENTARY + UNSCRIPTED
(all times PT)

9 a.m. – Livestream begins

HULU

9:06-9:23 a.m. – The Kardashians

Kim Kardashian (Star/Executive Producer)
Ben Winston (Executive Producer)

ABC

9:23-9:40 a.m. – Shark Tank

Clay Newbill (Executive Producer)
Yun Lingner (Executive Producer)
Kevin O’Leary (Shark, Executive Producer)
Daymond John (Shark, Executive Producer)

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

9:41-9:58 a.m. – Life Below Zero

Joe Litzinger (Executive Producer)
Sue Aikens (Executive Producer)
Crofton Diack (Field Producer)
Michael Cheeseman (Cinematographer)

SHOWTIME

9:58-10:17 a.m. – We Need to Talk About Cosby

W. Kamau Bell (Director/Executive Producer)
Katie A. King (Executive Producer)

NETFLIX

10:17-10:35 a.m. – Queer Eye

Bobby Berk (Host)
Karamo Brown (Host)
Tan France (Host)
Antoni Porowski (Host)
Jonathan Van Ness (Host)

10:35-10:52 a.m. – Jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy

Coodie Simmons (Writer/Director/Producer/Cinematographer)
Chike Ozah (Director/Producer)

10:52-11:07a.m. – Cheer

Monica Aldama (Subject)
Vontae Johnson (Subject)
Greg Whiteley (Creator/Director/Executive Producer)

VH1

11:07-11:24 a.m. – RuPaul’s Drag Race

Angeria Paris Vanmichaels (Queen)
Bosco (Queen)
Kornbread (Queen)
Lady Camden (Queen)
Willow Pill (Queen)

AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

11:24-11:40am – Lucy and Desi

Robert A. Martinez (Editor)
Amy Poehler (Director/Producer)
Justin Wilkes (Producer)
Jeanne Elfant Festa (Producer)

11:40-11:56 a.m. – Phat Tuesdays: The Era of Hip Hop Comedy

Guy Torry (Creator/Executive Producer)
Reginald Hudlin (Director/Executive Producer)

11:56 a.m.-12:12 p.m. – LuLaRich

Jenner Furst (Co-Director/Executive Producer)
Julia Willoughby Nason (Co-Director/Executive Producer)
Blye Faust (Executive Producer)
Cori Shepherd Stern (Executive Producer)

12:12-12:42 p.m. LUNCH BREAK

APPLE TV+

12:43-12:58 p.m. – The Big Conn

James Hernandez (Director/Executive Producer)
Brian Lazarte (Director/Executive Producer)

12:58-1:13 p.m. – Dear…

Donny Jackson (Executive Producer/Showrunner)
Jenna Rosher (Director/Cinematographer)

WARNER BROS TELEVISION

1:14-1:29 p.m. – True Story with Ed & Randall

Ed Helms (Host/Executive Producer)
Randall Park (Host/Executive Producer)

1:29-1:45 p.m. – The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

Jen Flanz (Showrunner/Executive Producer)
Dan Amira (Head Writer/Producer)
Roy Wood Jr (Correspondent)

LIFETIME/A&E