Noah Kahan just brought one of music’s most beloved songs to television’s biggest night. The “Stick Season” singer performed a soulful rendition of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” during the In Memoriam segment of the 78th Emmy Awards, which aired live on Monday, September 14, from the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles.
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Catherine O’Hara was remembered with a deeply personal tribute during Monday night’s Emmy Awards, led by three actors who once played her children on screen.
Macaulay Culkin, Annie Murphy and Dan Levy took the stage to reflect on what O’Hara meant to them both as a performer and as a person.
Culkin recalled calling his “Home Alone” co-star “mama,” explaining that O’Hara felt like a mother figure to him long after the cameras stopped rolling.
Murphy and Levy, who played her children on “Schitt’s Creek,” also spoke about the lasting impression she left on their lives and careers.
The ceremony later moved into its traditional In Memoriam segment, with Noah Kahan performing Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” as the Emmys remembered stars including Rob Reiner, Sam Neill, Tim Curry, Isaiah Whitlock Jr., James Van Der Beek and O’Hara.
Jamie Lee Curtis also appeared during the ceremony to remember late television director James Burrows and Reiner.
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“Bridge Over Troubled Water” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six straight weeks after its 1970 release and later won Grammys for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. It joined the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
Remembering Television’s Lost Voices
Each year, the Television Academy uses its In Memoriam segment to remember the performers, writers, directors, and behind-the-scenes figures who helped shape the industry.
Among those honored this year are:
- Director James Burrows
- “General Hospital” star Anthony Geary
- “Seinfeld” director Tom Cherones
- “H.R. Pufnstuf” co-creator Sid Krofft
- Director Howard Storm
- “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” star Louise Lasser
- “Emergency!” actor Randolph Mantooth
- Longtime late-night producer Peter Lassally
- Entertainment attorney Dixon Dern
- Filmmaker Rob Reiner
- Journalist Peter Arnett
- Director Bruce Bilson
- CNN founder Ted Turner
The ceremony is also marking the 30th anniversary of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” with Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz. The reunion carries added emotion after the series lost three original cast members this year:
- Michelle Trachtenberg
- Nicholas Brendon
- Anthony Head
Reba McEntire Honors Dolly Parton
The Emmys are also setting aside a moment for country star Dolly Parton, who passed away Tuesday, August 25, in Nashville. Reba McEntire, a close friend of Parton’s for more than four decades, leads a special tribute to the “9 to 5” singer during the broadcast.
Parton, 80, and McEntire’s bond deepened in 1991 after McEntire lost band members in a plane crash and Parton loaned her own band to help her keep touring.
Parton’s ties to television reach beyond her music career. She won a Primetime Emmy as an executive producer of “Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square,” which took home Outstanding Television Movie in 2021.
Mariska Hargitay Leads a Star-Studded Night
Mariska Hargitay hosts this year’s ceremony, becoming the first woman to helm the Emmys in 15 years. The “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” star arrives with momentum, having won two Emmys at the Creative Arts ceremony for “My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay,” her HBO Max documentary about her mother, actress Jayne Mansfield.
Hargitay took home Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program and Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special for the film.
Presenters for Monday’s show include Zendaya, Keke Palmer, Amy Poehler, Jamie Lee Curtis, Matthew McConaughey, Florence Pugh, Jon Hamm, Sally Field, Sofía Vergara, Woody Harrelson and John Mulaney.
The 78th Emmy Awards air live Monday, September 14, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on NBC and Peacock.
