The Annual Kennedy Center Honors (CBS) - General Discussion

[vb68]

I can't wait to see the Joan Baez and Dick Van Dyke segments.

[chitowngirl]

I do miss the energy in the room when there is an audience and the reactions from the recipients. 😕

Edited June 7, 2021 by chitowngirl

[ebk57]

Just now, chitowngirl said:

I do miss the energy in the room when there is an audience and the reactions from the recipients. 😕

I was just thinking that same thing.  OTOH, I think they're doing a good job with the performances so far.  And the introductions.  I like seeing parts of the Kennedy Center that I don't normally see.  I haven't been to The Reach yet at all. 

I'm kinda glad they're doing Debbie Allen first. 

Oh, and I do like interviewing the recipients for a change.

[ebk57]

I love Rhiannon Giddens soooooo much. 

And Sturgill!!!!!!!!!!!!

[chitowngirl]

It looks like recipients are there for Joan’s part....😊
eta-I adore Emmylou Harris! Now I’m wondering why more of Debbie’s wasn’t  done with an audience.

Edited June 7, 2021 by chitowngirl

[ebk57]

I would love to go to a concert to see all of those people who honored Joan! 

[Snow Apple]

I was afraid the entire show would be audience free and lackluster. Joan's segment proved me wrong.

[BuckeyeLou]

I am a big Dick Van Dyke fan, so I am really enjoying the segments highlighting his career, from his show with Mary Tyler Moore to Mary Poppins...loved the "Step in Time" & "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" segments

[Snow Apple]

Loved the performances for Dick Van Dyke. Even the ones without an audience were fun.

[vb68]

Joan Baez's whole segment made me tear up.

[Snow Apple]

I'm not a huge fan of classical music but I always had a fondness for Midori because she's around my age and I remember reading about her and seeing her on tv at a young age. I was both impressed and jealous. LOL

[ebk57]

Garth Brooks is a very emotional guy.  Not that there's anything wrong with that... 

[vb68]

Oh, I really enjoyed how they had a combined segment for the students of both Debbie Allen and Midori. That was very creative and inspirational.

[BuckeyeLou]

4 minutes ago, ebk57 said:

Garth Brooks is a very emotional guy.  Not that there's anything wrong with that... 

I thought it was lovely how emotional he was listening to Kelly Clarkson sing his song

[ebk57]

I'm honestly so impressed with the show this year.  While I miss the audience, I think they've done a great job considering all the obstacles the year presented. And I actually like all of the honorees this year.  I kinda wish I could have gone.  Alas - although I saved a bunch of money 🙂

I also wish Garth had gone with a slightly fancier mask than the drugstore blue one... 

[Snow Apple]

3 minutes ago, vb68 said:

Oh, I really enjoyed how they had a combined segment for the students of both Debbie Allen and Midori. That was very creative and inspirational.

Loved the little recreation of the final scene in Fame.

[HoosierJen]

For anybody who's a Garth Brooks fan, here's a cool story for you....three girlfriends and I took a weekend girls trip to Chicago in the late '90s. While shopping at Nike Town, we bumped into Garth Brooks who was shopping alone! He was so sweet and talked to us in the store for quite a bit, and ended up inviting us to his concert planned for the next night. He had us arrive at 4, and we got to watch rehearsal first. And then - as if the night wasn't incredible enough already - we hung out with him in his dressing room after rehearsal until he had to get ready for the show. He was literally the sweetest person ever -- he ordered pizza for us and told us stories about his kids. It was like something out of a movie. We tried so hard to play it cool, but every time he left his dressing room we were snapping pictures like crazy!  

[ebk57]

Gladys looks good!  Love the dress.

[AimingforYoko]

Obviously the show was never going to be as good as with a live audience (and the POTUS box) but it was miles ahead of the other award shows this year.

[vb68]

29 minutes ago, BuckeyeLou said:

I thought it was lovely how emotional he was listening to Kelly Clarkson sing his song

Yeah, I thought watching him through his whole segment was really wonderful and sorta made the night. You could just about read his thoughts. "James Taylor came out here for ME? Wow! Wait, they got Gladys Knight?!?! What!!  I can't believe it!"

I think watching the recipients react to the performers honoring them is what I always remember the most.

I also agree that they did a really good show, especially with all the restrictions. It would had been very easy to just skip a calendar year, but they didn't do that.  The 2021 ceremony is still happening in December. 

[sweeks]

54 minutes ago, vb68 said:

Yeah, I thought watching him through his whole segment was really wonderful and sorta made the night. You could just about read his thoughts. "James Taylor came out here for ME? Wow! Wait, they got Gladys Knight?!?! What!!  I can't believe it!"

I think watching the recipients react to the performers honoring them is what I always remember the most.

I also agree that they did a really good show, especially with all the restrictions. It would had been very easy to just skip a calendar year, but they didn't do that.  The 2021 ceremony is still happening in December. 

I completely agree with all of this, @vb68! Garth Brooks was so genuinely touched and excited to be there. I loved that they ended his segment and the show with Gladys Knight's performance of "We Shall Be Free." I was young when that song first came out, and I remember the uproar that accompanied it (I grew up rural Tennessee). I have always admired that Brooks stood by that song despite the pushback he got.

Seeing the recipients react has long been one of my favorite parts of the Kennedy Center Honors. While there have certainly been some who have acted too cool to be affected, the best ones are those who get into the performances. I watch the Kander and Ebb segment whenever I need a pick-me-up. This year's recipients seemed especially thrilled by the experience. One nice touch I noticed was how they showed the recipients reacting to the different performances (and not just the ones done specifically for them).

Edited June 7, 2021 by sweeks

[Teriacky]

Well done to everyone connected with this broadcast!! I loved it! I enjoyed all of the production numbers and I especially loved seeing the reactions of the recipients. I’m not a country music fan at all, but watching Garth Brooks made my night. He seems like a lovely man (I still hate his hat, though). 

The topper?  This is the night the Tonys would usually be broadcast and even though there are no Tony awards this year I still got to see musical numbers!

[ebk57]

1 minute ago, Teriacky said:

The topper?  This is the night the Tonys would usually be broadcast and even though there are no Tony awards this year I still got to see musical numbers!

Good point - I can't believe I didn't even realize the Tonys would have been tonight.

However, there's good news - the Tonys will be on September 26th.  At least that's the plan at the moment.

[bosawks]

The short film intro for each inductee had been one of the pieces that I thought had been getting shorter and shorter shrift.

I was glad that it seemed to get a little more added back to it.

Fingers crossed that Emmylou gets the nod next year!

Edited June 7, 2021 by bosawks

[HelenBaby]

I really don’t know too much about Derek Hough but he’s actually a very good dancer. I loved both of his numbers in tribute to DVD. 

[sugarbaker design]

1 hour ago, bosawks said:

Fingers crossed that Emmylou gets the nod next year!

Yes!  So overdue!

[Medicine Crow]

4 hours ago, HelenBaby said:

I really don’t know too much about Derek Hough but he’s actually a very good dancer. I loved both of his numbers in tribute to DVD. 

I'm a long-time fan of Derek's after his many years (winning) on Dancing with the Stars.

[Teriacky]

Looking forward to the next Kennedy Center Honors when there will actually be someone sitting in the presidential box. It’s been a while…

 

[sugarbaker design]

42 minutes ago, Teriacky said:

Looking forward to the next Kennedy Center Honors when there will actually be someone sitting in the presidential box. It’s been a while…

 

Can't wait.  

[WinnieWinkle]

I was so disappointed - my cable picked last night to act up so when I sat down to watch the show that I had so carefully PVR'd it was mostly pixillated.  Off to google to see if it's on the Internet somewhere!

Edited June 7, 2021 by WinnieWinkle

[Quof]

I would have been pissed if I were sitting behind Garth Brooks.   Sit your ass down, man. 

[bosawks]

3 hours ago, Teriacky said:

Looking forward to the next Kennedy Center Honors when there will actually be someone sitting in the presidential box. It’s been a while…

 

 Biden was made for stuff like this.

I’m almost afraid he’ll pull a groin.

[Thumper]

LOL; I wanted to say “Sit down; it’s not all about you, Garth!”  Then I realized it really WAS all about him.  😁
 

I’m a big fan of Garth’s music from Garth Part I!  (Don’t know if he’s done anything new.).  I admire him for taking time off to help raise his daughters.  And I LOVE Trisha Yearwood.

I saw him in concert as he started Part II and have to say I found  his emotion “too much,” and dare I say, insincere?   Perhaps he really is that way, but night after night, on the concert trail???  I dunno.  I don’t need all the bells and whistles of his show, though (I am old!).  Just Garth singing his great songs would be enough for me.

Happy for this honor he received.  And he has made some impressive friends in the business, so that may just be his style. 

[Vermicious Knid]

Enjoyed the program but did no one realize how much that space echoed? Hearing that made me wince instead of being focused on the performances. Curious where they got a full sized copy of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

The honorees all did get to meet Biden. The plan is to have the 2021 ceremony on it's usual December broadcast, so we should be hearing who were picked in the next few months.

[DanaK]

I really enjoyed this show as I usually do, and I appreciate how well they used the different locations forced by Covid, and I especially enjoyed many of the musical performances. I ridiculously love many of Van Dyke’s movie musical performances, so the performances of things like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang had me smiling. My other favorites were the initial vocal and dance of Fame and the instrumental of a Fame song at the end with the dancers in the pool, which was rather beautiful

[BW Manilowe]

19 hours ago, WinnieWinkle said:

I was so disappointed - my cable picked last night to act up so when I sat down to watch the show that I had so carefully PVR'd it was mostly pixillated.  Off to google to see if it's on the Internet somewhere!

It’s streaming on CBS.com & Paramount Plus (formerly CBS All Access). Here’s the CBS.com link (I’m positive it should be completely free on this site):

 https://www.cbs.com/shows/kennedy_center_honors/

[Eureka]

On 6/6/2021 at 8:21 PM, ebk57 said:

I was just thinking that same thing.  OTOH, I think they're doing a good job with the performances so far.  And the introductions.  I like seeing parts of the Kennedy Center that I don't normally see.  I haven't been to The Reach yet at all. 

I'm kinda glad they're doing Debbie Allen first. 

Oh, and I do like interviewing the recipients for a change.

We watched it last night and I agreed with the liking the interviews. I think given what they had to work with the show went well, but as someone who lives in the D.C. area, seeing the different locations wasn’t too exciting for us, because we’ve been to the KC many times. We kept saying, “we’ve seen that, oh yeah, that’s where we took pics with Grammy when we saw Showboat with her,” etc. First world problems, I know. Lol.

[ebk57]

11 minutes ago, Eureka said:

We watched it last night and I agreed with the liking the interviews. I think given what they had to work with the show went well, but as someone who lives in the D.C. area, seeing the different locations wasn’t too exciting for us, because we’ve been to the KC many times. We kept saying, “we’ve seen that, oh yeah, that’s where we took pics with Grammy when we saw Showboat with her,” etc. First world problems, I know. Lol.

I also live here and have been to the KC about eleventy billion times (although haven't been to The Reach yet).  I just couldn't figure out where they were filming the intros.  I didn't recognize the low ceilings.  I think it's probably somewhere upstairs, but I'm not sure.  Mr. ebk promises to ask his brothers who are stagehands there and worked the show.  I just have to make sure he doesn't forget. 

[Eureka]

3 hours ago, ebk57 said:

I also live here and have been to the KC about eleventy billion times (although haven't been to The Reach yet).  I just couldn't figure out where they were filming the intros.  I didn't recognize the low ceilings.  I think it's probably somewhere upstairs, but I'm not sure.  Mr. ebk promises to ask his brothers who are stagehands there and worked the show.  I just have to make sure he doesn't forget. 

Same here, we couldn’t figure the intros out either.

[ebk57]

1 hour ago, Eureka said:

Same here, we couldn’t figure the intros out either.

I will report back when Mr. ebk finds out.  Or, I may have to take matters into my own hands and ask them myself.  It's not like I don't know the in-laws 😄

[SunnyBeBe]

I’m late to the party as I waited and watched the show a few days later on CBS. It was awesome! I watch it every year and thought this one would suffer, but oh no. It was quite special , imo.  I loved Baez and Brooks segments the most.  I’ve seen Garth in concert once and Hoosier Jen, I would be over the moon if I met him in person! Omg, what a wonderful memory to have.  Thanks for sharing!

I’ll probably watch it again this weekend.  I like shows like it much better than award shows.  

[Good Queen Jane]

2021 Kennedy Center Honorees

[Hudson0325]

As I watched the awards this year, I remember thinking: one of these years they need to award Joni Mitchell. I am thrilled she is among the next set of honorees. Well deserved.

[chitowngirl]

I would love if Barry Manilow was onstage to honor Bette as he was her piano player back in the beginning.

[vb68]

6 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

I would love if Barry Manilow was onstage to honor Bette as he was her piano player back in the beginning.

That would be awesome.  I also think Melissa Manchester, Katey Sagal, and Jenifer Lewis all have to be there along with other members of the Harlettes.  Hopefully they all do "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" together among other songs.

But speaking of songs, boy this show already feels like it will be epic with all of Joni's, Bette's, and of course all of the possible Motown songs. Do Diana Ross and Smokey preform? Do they recreate any classic SNL sketches? Which ones? This show could very easily be three plus hours. 

[BW Manilowe]

On 7/21/2021 at 3:06 PM, chitowngirl said:

I would love if Barry Manilow was onstage to honor Bette as he was her piano player back in the beginning.

You’re not the only fan around these parts who’s hoping for that—& that we’ll see him get his own KCH, hopefully next year. That’s where my last screen name partly comes from (the E is for Rob Lowe…LOL). They better at least invite him to participate; then it’s his choice if he declines (after all these years, they may feel like conjoined twins sometimes (you can’t think of 1 without the other).

[vb68]

Is this still happening this calendar year? it usually tapes in the beginning of December for broadcast later in the month. But so far, I've heard nothing.  I wouldn't be surprised if this got pushed to next year sometime.

Anybody know what's up? Ebk57, you have any info?

Just asking because I was excited about this ceremony.

Edited December 3, 2021 by vb68

[Clawdette]

I read that it is taping Sunday night (December 5th) and the Bidens and Harris/Emoffs are restoring the tradition of the President and/or VP attending.

[Vermicious Knid]

Will be broadcast December 22.

[SusanM]

Joni Mitchell and Bette Midler!!  Am setting the PVR for sure!