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Four Oscar Telecasts Have Won Emmys as the Year’s Best Variety Program: Here’s What Happened on Those Shows


The Oscars have been televised every year since 1953, but only four times has the show received a Primetime Emmy as the year’s best variety program.

The show featured performances by three of the hottest pop singers of the era: Donna Summer (“Last Dance”), Olivia Newton-John (“Hopelessly Devoted to You”) and Barry Manilow (“Ready to Take a Chance Again”). The WGA refused to grant a waiver permitting writers to work on scripted dialogue for the show, so Goldwyn booked comedians such as John Candy, Billy Crystal, Eddie Murphy and Robin Williams to improvise jokes. The performance featured cameos from Gosling’s Barbie co-stars Kingsley Ben-Adir, Scott Evans, Ncuti Gatwa and Simu Liu, and musicians Wolfgang Van Halen and Slash.

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