CNN and Variety Team Up for Live Emmy Red Carpet Pre-Show on September 14
CNN and Variety will bring viewers straight to the red carpet of the 78th Emmy Awards with an exclusive live pre-show on Monday, September 14.
Titled "CNN & Variety Red Carpet Live: TV's Biggest Night," the special begins at 5 p.m. ET — three hours before the ceremony itself kicks off at 8 p.m. on NBC and Peacock. The pre-show streams on CNN.com/watch and the CNN app for CNN's streaming subscribers, according to Variety.
CNN correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister and Variety co-president and co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh will host. The pair last shared hosting duties for CNN and Variety's Oscar pre-show in March, when the partnership covered the 98th Academy Awards red carpet live on TBS and the CNN app. That broadcast featured interviews with actors including Andy Garcia, Karla Souza, and Wilmer Valderrama, per Variety.
The Emmy pre-show builds on a content partnership that CNN and Variety formally expanded in July. Under that agreement, the two outlets plan to develop, produce, and distribute premium programming centred on the people, moments, and trends shaping entertainment, as reported by Variety. Last awards season, the partnership produced the Oscars red carpet special, a town hall with Timothée Chalamet, and the latest season of "Actors on Actors" — a long-running interview series pairing performers in conversation.
Season 24 of "Actors on Actors," which earned a Daytime Emmy nomination, featured Mariska Hargitay, Jamie Lee Curtis, Colman Domingo, Sally Field, Claire Danes, Lisa Kudrow, Noah Wyle, Sarah Pidgeon, and Rhea Seehorn. It drew strong audiences for CNN and ranked among the top drivers of new CNN All Access subscriptions during its June premiere, according to Variety. Not every invite landed: the stars of "Heated Rivalry" turned down participation in that season, Variety reported.
Wagmeister also fronts "Coming Up," a pre-Emmy interview series featuring conversations with this year's Emmy-nominated actors, streamable on CNN.com/watch and the CNN app.
The 78th Emmy Awards themselves fall on a Monday rather than the traditional Sunday — NBC's "Sunday Night Football" pushed the ceremony to September 14, as Variety reported in November 2025. Nominees were unveiled on July 8 by actors Liza Colón-Zayas and Jeff Hiller, with the hospital drama "The Pitt" leading the field at 25 nominations, according to CNN.
For viewers, the pre-show offers a free-flowing window into the arrivals, the fashion, and the nominees in the hours before television's awards night gets underway.
