*By Max Godnick*
Live from Hollywood, it's a scramble for ratings.
"Saturday Night Live" cast members Michael Che and Colin Jost on Monday night will trade in their "Weekend Update" suits for tuxedos as co-hosts of the TV industry's big night ー the 70th annual Emmy Awards. They're also joining legendary SNL creator and EP of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," Lorne Michaels, in an attempt to revive the show's ailing ratings. Michaels, who has also produced a handful of sleeper-hit comedy films and heads "Late Night with Seth Meyers," will return to the award show for the first time since the late-eighties.
"Lorne Michaels has been putting together a live show for an eternity, so he knows what he's doing," managing editor of Cinemablend Sean O'Connell said Thursday in an interview with Cheddar.
But even Michaels's golden touch might not be enough.
The Emmys are consistently the lowest-rated of the four major awards shows (which include the Oscars, Grammys, and Golden Globes) and will be coming off the ceremony's second-lowest ratings ever in [2017](https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/2017-emmys-ratings-1202562498/).
But the ratings malaise is undiscriminating and near-universal ー all the major industry contests have [struggled](https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/oscars-early-ratings-shape-of-water-down-1202718015/) to sustain viewership in the streaming era.
"As a society, we're tired of awards shows," O'Connell said. "It's the same thing year after year after year."
In today's so-called golden age of TV, it would be fair to assume that an onslaught of prestige shows would naturally lead to a spike in audiences who want to see the awards fate of their favorites.
This year, the top contenders at the Emmys are among the most popular and critically acclaimed programs in the history of the medium.
"Game of Thrones," "The Handmaid's Tale," "Atlanta," and "Stranger Things" will be in the lineup of series hoping to hear their names called on Monday; there just may not be many fans tuning in to see that happen.
"It's show after show of really popular programming," O'Connell said of the nominees. "Maybe \[the low ratings are\] just because \[audiences\] decided they'd rather go watch some of those episodes."
Hemorrhaging ratings aside, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will feature some of the most competitive races in recent memory.
Netflix is the most-nominated network, [ending HBO's 17-year streak](https://cheddar.com/videos/netflix-dethrones-hbo-in-most-emmy-nominations) of dominance. But the likeliest recipients of the night's most prestigious award, "Outstanding Drama Series," hail from HBO and Hulu. It's been over a year since viewers last traveled to Westeros, and the final season of "Game of Thrones" will not arrive until 2019. Even still, its seventh season is the Emmys' most-nominated show. It will face off against the season two of the category's defending champion, Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale."
O'Connell thinks the long absence will ultimately hurt HBO's flagship series.
"'Handmaid's Tale' has stayed really relevant," he said. "It's stayed in the headlines, it's such an incredible program, I could see it dominating on Monday."
The competition is also strong in the "Outstanding Comedy" field, where mainstays "Modern Family" and "Veep" are missing for the first time since 2010. That will leave space for newcomers "Barry" and "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" to emerge as the genre's victor. O'Connell thinks Bill Hader's raved-about portrayal of a hitman-turned-actor will be rewarded.
"Sometimes the Emmys like to surprise and get ahead of the curve," he said. "I think that they could make a statement by choosing \['Barry'\] as best comedy."
The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards will air Monday night on NBC.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/can-the-emmys-broadcast-fix-its-ratings-problem).
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: CEO of HereAfter AI discusses how artificial intelligence can be used to preserve family history and stories, and allow you to 'talk' to loved ones that have passed; Creator of the board game 'Travel Explore Discover' explains how she came up with the idea for this informative and educational board game, and how she's using the proceeds to give back to her community; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'The Humboldt Current.'
According to the Federal Reserve, the investment gap between Black and white Americans has remained substantial, with only 34 percent of Black households joining in on the historic rise in the markets. Stacey Tisdale, the first Black woman to have reported from the NYSE and the CEO and president of Mind Money Media Inc., said that the data might not be as disheartening as it seems. "I think that number is very deceiving. That Federal Reserve study is actually from 2019, and it's very important that we all look beneath that number and look beneath the surface because there is nothing short of an investing revolution going on in the Black community," Tisdale said.
James Vlahos, Co-Founder and CEO of HereAfter AI, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how artificial intelligence can be used to preserve family history and stories, and allow you to 'talk' to loved ones that have passed.
Ava Rathenberg, Creator of the board game 'Travel Explore Discover,' joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how she came up with the idea for this informative and educational board game, and how she's using the proceeds to give back to her community.
An award-winning performance by the LSU Tiger Girls dance team is going viral on TikTok, but like many other viral tiktoks, this one had a larger story to tell. The story goes back to 2021 when for the first time in 22 years, the LSU dance team was informed it could not compete at Universal Dance Association Nationals. The team made their anticipated return to UDA Nationals this year with a performance that delivered a strong and clear message to their university. The LSU Tiger Girls walked away from the competition with their first national championship title in 12 years, redemption against the university that held them back, and of course- millions of new fans and friends on TikTok.
Solid-state battery maker Factorial Energy recently raised $200 million in a Series D round led by Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis. Factorial says the funding will be used to accelerate commercial production and deployment of its solid-state battery technology, which the company says is safer, and offers up to 50% more driving range than current lithium-ion technology. Factorial also has joint development agreements (announced in late 2021) with Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, and Hyundai, three of the top 10 global automotive manufacturers, to commercialize its batteries. Factorial CEO Siyu Huang joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Former Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL over racial discrimination, exposing a long-running problem the NFL has had with diversity in its top coaching and management positions. Eric Mitchell, the president and CEO of public relations and communications company LifeFlip Media, joined Cheddar News to delve into the scandal rocking the pro football world just before the Super Bowl. "There is a problem. If you look at who owns teams in the NFL, it's right, it's a good old boys club, it's a bunch of old white guys," he said. "So, it's exposing something that's been around for ages and now that we're sitting in 2022 has come up."
This April, Madison Square Garden will be hosting the first-ever women's boxing match to headline at the arena in its 140 years of history in boxing. Undisputed lightweight champion, Katie Taylor, and seven-division champion, Amanda Serrano, will go head-to-head for a career-high guaranteed seven-figure purse for both of them. The pair joined Cheddar News to talk about the upcoming "fight of their lives." "I mean, this is the first step I believe," said Serrano. "Unheard of, two women headlining the Garden, we get in the biggest paydays of our career, I hope it continues to break down barriers."
Kendra Bracken-Ferguson, founder of BrainTrust Founders Studio joins Cheddar News to talk about the importance of supporting Black beauty and wellness founders.
