Primetime Emmys producers are working hard to make sure the live show isn't the 'Zoomies'

Host Jimmy Kimmel will be live from a stage in the Staples Center, but there will be no audience and no red carpet, The 72nd Emmy Awards executive producers tell Variety. And the show is not going to be one giant virtual meeting session, they said, noting they don't want the ceremony to turn into the "Zoomies."

"Jimmy loves to work live, and we love to work live," executive producer Reginald Hudlin told the publication. "This is a show that will still very much be, whenever and however possible, a live show. There's a lot of challenges that come with doing a live show in a Covid environment. But we're not running from those problems, we're embracing them."

The Staples Center was chosen because it's large enough to house a crew under coronavirus-safe protocols. Producers also need to hook up an "unbelievable" number of wiring connections and live feeds to professional cameras wherever each nominee is located. Producers anticipate that's about 140 live feeds coming into the control room.

"In some cases, they may agree to have a family member in a nominee's Covid bubble to operate the broadcast camera. The goal is to avoid using platforms like Skype, FaceTime or Zoom on their laptop or phones," Variety reports.

What about the actual Emmy statue?

Cars racing to winners' home was thrown out, and some people who are nominated aren't even in the country.

"We're coming up with a lot of interesting possible solutions," Hudlin tells Variety. "And one of the things that we're working through in terms of the show is that everything doesn't have to be the same. We want to have a lot of variation and experimentation within the show. Once you say the world is your studio, then you can do some inventive things."