The West Wing, Happy days, Saturday night live, Riba AND The Schitt Stream were among the most popular series to reunite their casts at the 2024 Emmys.
With NBC The West Wing Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the series' premiere on September 22, 1999, the show's stars Martin Sheen, Dulé Hill, Janel Maloney, Richard Schiff and Allison Janney took the stage in front of a replica of the Oval Office set. Aaron Sorkin created the show, which ran for seven seasons and focused on the administration of President Josiah Bartlet (Sheen).
“It's hard to believe that just 25 years ago, Aaron and the writers had to use their imaginations to create interesting storylines for The West Wing,” Janney joked. Schiff added, “Unlike today, where storylines can be lifted straight from the news, storylines that the writers would have thought were a little far-fetched, if not downright ridiculous, 25 years ago.”
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Happy days premiered on ABC on January 15, 1974, sitcom stars Ron Howard and Henry Winkler appeared in front of a replica of the show's familiar setting, Arnold's Restaurant. In the Garry Marshall-created series that ran for 11 seasons, Howard played Richie Cunningham, while Winkler played Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli.
Happy days with Ron Howard and Henry Winkler at the 2024 Emmys.
Images by Kevin Winter
“It feels like home,” Winkler said of Howard in front of the backdrop. Howard then noticed that the show’s memorable theme song wasn’t playing and urged Winkler to do something about it.
When Winkler explained that he was out of practice, Howard replied, “You went to the Yale School of Drama, Henry. You know you can do this.” Winkler then nudged the jukebox, as his character did on the show, and the theme song began to play.
Earlier during the Emmys broadcast, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Seth Meyers and Bowen Yang took the stage during the Saturday night live reunion, and some of them were dead wrong about series creator Lorne Michaels' win-loss record at previous ceremonies.
Maya Rudolph, Seth Meyers, Kristen Wiig and Bowen Yang at the 2024 Emmys.
Images by Kevin Winter
Wiig informed the crowd that the group had heard a rumor backstage that Michaels had been nominated for an Emmy 85 times in the past but had never won. She turned to Michaels, who was in the audience, saying, “You have value, you are worthy, and you are not and have never been a loser, even though you have lost a lot.”
Rudolph agreed and told Michaels, “Every one of those 85 times you lost, you were robbed.”
Yang added: “It gets better. Simply because SNL didn't work, doesn't mean your next idea won't work. Keep dreaming.”
Finally, Meyers stepped in to correct his colleague. SNL distinguishes itself by explaining that Michaels has, in fact, won 21 Emmys, while the NBC sketch series has collected more than 200 trophies.
Suddenly, the presenters changed their minds. “It's too much,” Wiig said of SNL'cumulative loot. Rudolph said, “I can't believe you're complaining about this, Lorne. Not to be rude, but grow up.”
They too gathered on stage to present an Emmy Riba co-stars Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman. The couple boasted that they didn’t need a teleprompter and that they had everything memorized in case of technical problems.
“We don't do it on the phone anymore,” Peterman said. “We show everyone that we have all the candidates memorized. Eyes closed.” Needless to say, their memory wasn't as flawless as they might have hoped.
The stars of also gathered The Schitt Streamwhile Emmy co-hosts Dan Levy and Eugene Levy were joined onstage toward the end of the ceremony by fellow series co-stars Annie Murphy and Catherine O'Hara.
This story was originally published on September 15 at 6:40 p.m.