The countdown to the Emmys is officially on, as host Mariska Hargitay rolled out the carpet in downtown L.A. on Thursday.
She was joined at the photo-opp by executive producers Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay, as well as TV Academy chair Chris Abrego and NBC’s Jen Neal. Just outside of the Peacock Theater, the group unveiled this year’s carpet — which is not the typical red, but instead blue in honor of NBC’s milestone 100th anniversary. The group also made a handful of announcements ahead of Monday’s show, revealing that Noah Kahan will lead this year’s in memoriam tribute and the telecast will feature special celebrations for Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s 30th anniversary and Charlie’s Angel‘s 50th.
Hargitay is coming off of her own pair of Emmy wins at last weekend’s Creative Arts ceremony, where she was recognized for her documentary My Mom Jayne. After her wins, the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star revealed backstage that she was working with The Late Show with Stephen Colbert writing team on her hosting material and added, “I just can’t believe at this place in my life — the third act is starting and it’s pretty awesome.”
At the carpet rollout, Collins confirmed that former Colbert head writer Ariel Dumas was leading the writing team and the writers have “been working with Mariska for the last couple months.” Harmon added, “They set up shop actually at the SVU offices so that she can pop in and out,” and had been collaborating with the writers during downtime on her show.
