Emmys Postponed until January over Hollywood Strikes

This Sept. 22, 2019 file photo shows a view of the stage at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. (AP)
This Sept. 22, 2019 file photo shows a view of the stage at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. (AP)
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Emmys Postponed until January over Hollywood Strikes

This Sept. 22, 2019 file photo shows a view of the stage at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. (AP)
This Sept. 22, 2019 file photo shows a view of the stage at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. (AP)

The Emmy Awards have been postponed by almost four months, organizers said Thursday, as crippling strikes by Hollywood's actors and writers drag on with no resolution in sight.

Television's equivalent of the Oscars had been due to take place this September, but will now be held in mid-January next year, broadcaster Fox and the Television Academy wrote in a statement.

"We are pleased to announce that the 75th Emmy Awards will now air on Monday, January 15, 2024," said a Fox spokesman.

The Emmys are the most significant entertainment event so far to be delayed by Hollywood's first industry-wide walkout by both actors and writers in more than 60 years.

The last time the Emmys were delayed was in 2001, when the ceremony was postponed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Due to the ongoing actors' strike, A-list stars and nominees would not currently be allowed to attend the Emmys -- a development that would be disastrous for television ratings.

Writers would also not be allowed to script a monologue or jokes for the telecast's host and presenters.

The lengthy delay is intended to allow both sides time to resolve their differences, although the various parties have barely spoken through any formal channels since the writers' strike began 100 days ago.

Writers Guild of America (WGA) members were joined on the picket lines last month by the far larger Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA.)

Both are asking for better pay, and guarantees that artificial intelligence will not steal their jobs and income, among other demands.

Reports of an Emmys delay had been circulating in recent weeks, but until now the postponement had not been confirmed, nor any new date announced.

Mid-January lands the Emmys right in the middle of Hollywood's packed film awards season.

The Emmys will now take place one week after the Golden Globes, and just 24 hours after the Critics Choice Awards.

The Oscars are set to be held on March 10.

Deadlock

The Hollywood strikes have essentially shut down all US movie and television productions, with limited exceptions such as reality and game shows.

Members of SAG-AFTRA and the WGA are barred from promoting their movies and series.

The unions' demands have focused on dwindling pay in the streaming era, and the threat posed to their careers and future livelihoods by artificial intelligence.

Writers and actors say studios have been methodically eroding their salaries for years, making it impossible for all but the very top ranks to earn a living.

They contend that the rise of streaming platforms -- who do not generally reveal viewing figures -- has deprived them of giant paydays when they create global hits.

Writers and studios tentatively gathered last Friday to discuss formally reopening talks for the first time since May, but even that sitdown so far has not yielded any tangible results.

Meanwhile, nominations for the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards were announced last month, just hours before talks between studios and SAG-AFTRA collapsed.

"Succession," the HBO drama about an ultra-wealthy family fighting for control of a sinister media empire, led the nominations with a whopping 27 nods, including best drama.

"The Last of Us" became the first live-action video game adaptation to earn major nominations, with 24, while satire "The White Lotus" earned 23 nods.



Actor Gene Hackman and Wife Found Dead at Home 

Actor Gene Hackman with wife Betsy Arakawa in June 1993. (AP)
Actor Gene Hackman with wife Betsy Arakawa in June 1993. (AP)
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Actor Gene Hackman and Wife Found Dead at Home 

Actor Gene Hackman with wife Betsy Arakawa in June 1993. (AP)
Actor Gene Hackman with wife Betsy Arakawa in June 1993. (AP)

Gene Hackman, the intense character actor who won two Oscars in a more than 60-year career, has died alongside his wife, pianist Betsy Arakawa, and their dog at home, the sheriff's office in Santa Fe, New Mexico, said on Thursday.

The county sheriff's office said deputies had found the 95-year-old actor and Arakawa, 64, deceased on Wednesday afternoon at around 1:45 p.m.

"Foul play is not suspected as a factor in those deaths at this time, however exact cause of death has not been determined. This is an active and ongoing investigation by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office," it said.

Hackman, a former Marine known for his raspy voice, appeared in more than 80 films, as well as on television and the stage during a lengthy career that started in the early 1960s.

He earned his first Oscar nomination for his breakout role as the brother of bank robber Clyde Barrow in 1967's "Bonnie and Clyde." He was also nominated for best supporting actor in 1971 for "I Never Sang for My Father."

It was his turn as Popeye Doyle, the rumpled New York detective chasing international drug dealers in director William Friedkin's thriller "The French Connection," that assured his stardom and a best actor Academy Award.

He also won a best supporting actor Oscar in 1993 as a mean sheriff in the Clint Eastwood western "Unforgiven," and was nominated for an Academy Award for his turn as an FBI agent in the 1988 historical drama "Mississippi Burning."

Hackman could come across on the screen as menacing or friendly, working with a face that he described to the New York Times in 1989 as that of "your everyday mine worker."

A method actor, he drew from his personal experience to flesh out a role. His characters were sometimes raw and violent and ranged from a small-town basketball coach in the 1986 sports film "Hoosiers" to Superman's archrival Lex Luthor.

He retired in his 70s, saying the parts he was offered were too grandfatherly. His last substantial role was in the 2004 comedy "Welcome to Mooseport."

Living outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, Hackman was married twice and had three children - Christopher, Elizabeth Jean and Leslie Anne, with his late ex-wife, Faye Maltese, who died in 2017. He married Arakawa in 1991.