‘The Masked Singer’ Reveals Identity of the Poodle Moth: Here’s the Celebrity Under the Costume

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Now, imagine being a critically acclaimed drama on a premium network/streaming hybrid in a season where the drama race is pretty wide open. You’ve got big stars, high production values and well-known source material. Shoo-in, right? Not if you’ve been canceled.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Alan Cumming isn’t much of a reality TV fan — so as host of Peacock’s “The Traitors,” he enjoys being a bit blind to the baggage that many of the contestants carry to the Scottish Highlands. “When I go to do ‘The Traitors, I have a crash course in reality TV stars, and random people,” he tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast. “I don’t know who many of the people are.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large That’s why I wasn’t happy in the late 1990s when hourlong shows like “Ally McBeal” and “Desperate Housewives” entered (and won, in some cases) the Emmy comedy race. Hourlong dramedies are not comedies! No one ever called “All in the Family” — which had some deep, dark moments — a drama, and yet there were a couple of laughs in “Desperate Housewives” (which opened with a death!) and suddenly it’s a comedy? Sadly, I lost this battle years ago. And as we know, the comedy race is really now a dramedy race.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Widely respected TV publicity vet Rebecca Marks was honored on Wednesday with the Ben Halpern Lifetime Achievement Award, recognized for her ongoing career as one of the most trusted communications execs in the biz. Marks, who’s now the exec VP of publicity, communications and social media at Warner Bros.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Details follow for Season 11, Episode 13 of “The Masked Singer,” “Finale: One Mask Takes It All,” which aired May 22 on Fox. “The Masked Singer” winner Vanessa Hudgens admits she didn’t necessarily play the hiding game: At least among her friends and fans, they figured out it was her under the Goldfish costume rather quickly. “Rita [Ora] guessed it was me straight from the jump,” Hudgens said. “But she’s also my friend.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The Mouse House is bringing its Emmy-themed “Disney FYC Fest” back for the third consecutive year, kicking things off May 29 with an preview event for FX’s “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans” and ending with “Shōgun” on June 11.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Wang Chung had no idea John Mulaney’s six-episode Netflix talk show “Everybody’s in LA” would use their 1985 song “To Live and Die in L.A.” as its theme song — but they’re thrilled he did. “It’s a total surprise that it’s blown up in the way that it has,” says Wang Chung lead singer Jack Hues, who first heard of the usage on “Everybody’s in LA” via “the guy who does our merch.” For guitarist Nick Feldman, the other half of the duo, he was already a big Mulaney fan when he got the news that “To Live and Die in L.A.” was suddenly getting a new breath of life on Netflix. “It’s so nice to see it get used in such a cool way,” he says.

Miranda Lambert made sure to stay far away from ex-husband Blake Shelton during the Academy of Country Music Awards on Thursday night!

The 2024 Academy of Country Music Awards have come to an end and all of the winners have now been revealed!

It was a big night for Lainey Wilson at the ACM Awards. She opened the show with a bang and then capped her evening by winning the coveted “Entertainer of the Year” award.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Thursday’s nights Academy of Country Music Awards program will provide further evidence that we are entering a Post country music period. But not as in “post-country,” let’s be clear… we’re talking about a Post Malone country era.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 11, Episode 12 of “The Masked Singer,” “Semi-Finals: Then There Were Three,” which aired May 15 on Fox. “The Masked Singer” revealed the latest celebrity to be revealed on Wednesday night’s quarter finals, and it was Thelma Houston as Clock. Houston, of course, is best known for her classic hit “Don’t Leave Me This Way.” For Clock, Rita Ora got it right with Thelma Houston.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Is Reba McEntire running a little behind Bob Hope, as an awards-show-hosting perennial… or actually a little bit ahead? It depends how you count. Because this year marks her 17th year hosting the Academy of Country Music Awards, aka the ACMs, and Hope did the Oscars 19 times, so she’s still two years from matching his record, if we compare these gigs. However, McEntire has also hosted a rival program, the CMA Awards, five times over the years.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host Jimmy Kimmel once again shared the Disney upfronts stage on Tuesday, providing his zingers in person for advertisers and media buyers at the programming presentation for the first time in five years. That’s because last year Kimmel didn’t attend due to the Hollywood WGA strikes. And in 2022, he was in New York — but had to be beamed in to do his routine after testing positive for COVID.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Prime Video continues to expand its game show output, announcing two more new shows on Tuesday at Amazon’s upfronts presentation: “Buy It Now,” hosted by JB Smoove (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) and the holiday-themed event “Wish List Games” hosted by Nick Cannon (“The Masked Singer”). Both feature tie ins to Amazon’s shopping portals.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Hulu comedy head Billy Rosenberg is exiting the streamer after more than seven years. Rosenberg, who most recently served as senior VP of comedy for Hulu Originals, has not yet been replaced.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large On this season of Apple TV+’s “Loot,” it’s revealed that one of the show’s characters, played by Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, is a secret Taylor Swift fan — and even hides her Swift albums inside record jackets for jazz music. Don’t worry, star Maya Rudolph isn’t as clandestine. “I’ve always admired her,” Rudolph tells Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “The Bear,” “Bluey,” “Reservation Dogs,” “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” “The Last of Us” and “Jury Duty” are among the series set to receive this year’s Peabody Award, the org was set to announce on Thursday morning. The Peabody Awards’ board of 32 jurors have selected 34 winners, all of which received unanimous vote from TV, podcast/radio and web/digital nominees in entertainment, news, documentary, arts, children’s/youth, public service, and interactive programming.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Girls5eva” deserves to be heard. Yes, the laugh-out-loud comedy, from the minds of Tina Fey, Robert Carlock, creator Meredith Scardino and others, is funny. The music industry (in particular, the teen pop machine) is wickedly skewered.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large When “Curb Your Enthusiasm” began its run on HBO all the way back in 2000, creator/star Larry David had a very specific rule: He wouldn’t let the show’s cast read the episodic outlines. “The first three seasons I did not even see an outline,” “Curb” star Cheryl Hines tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast. “I wasn’t allowed.