(with each night's location only revealed shortly before to avoid prolonged gatherings), which were then compiled for broadcast. despite the easing of health orders, a capital fourth still canceled its concert in 2021, as the show was already planned to use the previous year's format. nbc's a little late with lilly singh pre-recorded the entirety of its first season in late 2019, with original episodes running through may 2020. nbc renewed the series for a second season that month; the season premiered in january 2021. at this time, the show moved to a los angeles house with crew on-site, which host lilly singh expressed a creative preference for over her previous, studio-based production. during the season premiere, singh commented in response to viewers' concerns, expressed on social media, as to why the show was still airing first-run episodes with a studio audience, as they were unaware that the episodes had been filmed "back in 2019 when the only people wearing masks were robbers and jim carrey." return to studio-based production on july 6, 2020, after having used an at-home format, tbs's conan became the first u.s. late-night show to begin airing episodes from outside of the host's home. host conan o'brien presented the program from the coronet theatre in los angeles with limited on-site staff. the program continued to use remote interviews and was filmed without a studio audience (besides assistant sona movsesian). on july 13, the tonight show became the first u.s. late-night talk show to return to taping at their normal facility (although at nbc studios' studio 6a with a new set rather than studio 6b, where the show usually originates), with a limited on-site crew (including its house band the roots) and no in-studio audience or interviews. the program hosted its first in-studio music performance from 6a on august 11, with trey anastasio performing a song from his album lonely trip with the roots. on august 6, 2020, cbs announced that its late-night shows would return to studio tapings with no audience on august 10; the late show returned to the ed sullivan theater building but not the auditorium proper; instead they used a smaller, secondary set modeled on colbert's office in the building. meanwhile, the late late show returned to a reconfigured version of its normal studio (with its sofa replaced by a single armchair for corden, and audience seats removed). usher was the show's first in-person guest since the start of the pandemic; the segment was initially presented as being a glitchy remote interview, featuring a parody of "my boo", which corden titled "my zoom", before usher suddenly emerged from backstage. on september 14, corden temporarily hosted from home, after being required to self-isolate due to a possible covid-19 exposure outside of the studio. the rest of the program's staff remained in studio, with corden appearing on stage via a monitor atop his desk. jimmy kimmel live! resumed production at the hollywood masonic temple when kimmel returned from his summer break (which had been covered by hiatuses and guest hosts) on september 21. live with kelly and ryan also returned to studio production for its new season, using a wider desk for physical distancing between hosts kelly ripa and ryan seacrest, but with a split screen effect for the main camera angle designed to make them appear closer together. saturday night live returned to in-studio production for season 46 (which premiered october 3), with executive producer lorne michaels stating that they also planned to have a "limited" studio audience. each audience member was legally considered to be part of the cast and crew of the production, to facilitate compliance with new york state health orders, and each received a $150 payment from universal television for their participation. in january 2021, jimmy kimmel live and the late late show announced that they would temporarily return to at-home formats, following recommendations issued by the los angeles county department of public health. on march 22, 2021, the tonight show returned to studio 6b for the first time since march 12, 2020, with a downsized studio audience of 58 healthcare workers and first responders, making it the first of the major networks' late-night talk shows to return to having an in-person audience. fallon stated that having an in-person audience for the first time in over a year felt like "performing at a sold-out madison square garden." on may 24, 2021, the late show announced plans to return to its main studio on june 14, 2021, with a full-capacity audience; all audience members would have to be fully vaccinated in compliance with new york state health orders and current cdc guidance. shortly afterward, the tonight show announced it would return to a full-capacity audience on june 7, which made it the first u.s. late-night talk show to do so in terms of airdate. for its final two weeks before its series finale on june 24, conan added a studio audience at the coronet, becoming the first l.a.-based late-night talk show to have a live audience. on june 21, jimmy kimmel live! introduced a fully-vaccinated, half-capacity audience (in compliance with california public health orders). on september 13, after a summer hiatus, the daily show relocated to a new studio at viacomcbs's one astor plaza in times square. however, it is maintaining aspects of the at-home format. saturday night live would face a major disruption on december 18, 2021. as a cautionary measure, due to an ongoing surge of cases in new york city tied to the omicron variant, that episode would be filmed with no audience, and a limited cast and crew. michael che and kenan thompson were the only regulars present, joined by host paul rudd, as well as tom hanks and tina fey (who made a surprise appearance to congratulate rudd on his fifth time hosting snl). charli xcx's scheduled performance was cut, although she still appeared in a pre-recorded music video sketch. fey also filled in for colin jost during weekend update with che; the segment was performed from chairs on the main stage rather than its usual newsroom set. due to the reduced cast, the majority of the episode featured reruns of christmas-themed sketches from past episodes, introduced by the cast and guests. the following tuesday, fox announced that it would cancel its new year's eve toast & roast 2022 special for the same reason. both late night with seth meyers and the late late show with james corden suspended production in january 2022 due to their hosts' testing positive for covid-19. late night went to a remote format beginning january 10, while the late late show was suspended until january 18. new variety programming various specials featuring musicians performing from their homes emerged, including fox's iheart living room concert for america (which aired in place of the 2020 iheartradio music awards, and was simulcast by iheartmedia radio stations and fox corporation cable channels), a cbs special featuring garth brooks and trisha yearwood, acm presents: our country (a similar multi-artist program aired in place of the postponed acm awards, also on cbs), the disney family singalong (an abc special on april 16, which featured karaoke performances of songs from disney franchises with celebrity guests, and psas in support of feeding america), one world: together at home (which aired on april 18 as a multi-network simulcast across abc, cbs, nbc, and various other cable networks and streaming services), saturday night seder (streamed live of april 11), and saving our selves (aired by bet on april 22, with a particular focus on the pandemic's impact on african-american communities). on may 16, the major networks and various other outlets simulcast graduate together: america honors the high school class of 2020, a national special honoring graduating students. new talk programming amc premiered a new weekly talk show on april 17, friday night in with the morgans, hosted by jeffrey dean morgan (of amc series the walking dead) and his wife hilarie burton from their farm in new york, featuring remote interviews and other segments dealing with the pandemic. on may 4, amc ordered additional episodes of the series. impact on scheduling upon the start of covid-19-related restrictions, broadcasters were forced to rely on their remaining inventory of completed programs that had not yet aired, and the remaining completed episodes of series whose productions were interrupted. due to factors such as the need to ration episodes that had already completed production, some programs faced scheduling changes (such as replacing double-runs of new episodes with single episodes), delays of their scheduled premieres, or dividing seasons of programs with natural hiatuses (with the remaining episodes airing at a later date once production resumed). in may, both abc and cbs filled portions of their schedules with films from their parent companies, with cbs airing cbs sunday night movies on sunday nights (featuring paramount pictures films), and abc reviving the wonderful world of disney to air a series of pixar, walt disney animation studios, and marvel studios films on wednesday nights. in april 2020, it was reported that the major broadcast networks had begun to develop contingency plans in case of extended disruptions (especially if they were to impact fall series for the 2020–21 television season), including the possibility of filling schedules with series from co-owned cable networks and streaming services, or importing programs new to american audiences from other countries such as canada. impact on the 2020–21 network television season most fall television premieres occur from mid-to-late september through october. due to production delays, the big three networks initially targeted premieres for their scripted series by the end of fall, but with no specific dates set. with the steady resumption of production, the networks began to set premiere dates from late october through mid-november. some of nbc's fall programming, as well as all of fox and the cw's fall, scripted programming, was deferred to midseason premieres in 2021. due to their quick turnaround time in comparison to scripted series, the production of non-scripted programs (including game shows and reality shows) was also expedited by networks to fill gaps in their lineups. with the delayed premieres and increased production costs due to safety protocols, it was reported that scripted dramas would likely not air full 22-episode seasons, with cbs having already reduced orders for cbs studios' dramas and sitcoms to either 16 or 18 episodes in october 2020, and negotiating similar reductions for series from other studios. abc on september 17, premiere dates were announced for abc's lineup, with october premieres announced for reality series such as the bachelorette, dancing with the stars, and shark tank, and game shows (including held over episodes from its sunday night summer block of celebrity family feud, press your luck, and match game on thursday nights, and supermarket sweep, card sharks and who wants to be a millionaire on sundays). abc's sitcoms would largely return in late october, and the return of selected dramas (including the new series big sky) was set for mid-november, although stumptown would be canceled by the network and replaced by for life. the bachelor, mixed-ish, and the rookie, along with the new series call your mother, were scheduled for premieres in january 2021. abc also scheduled several new and returning game shows to its winter lineup, including a new season of to tell the truth, and a "winter fun & games" block on thursday nights (spun off from its summer "sunday fun & games" block) featuring the new series celebrity wheel of fortune, the chase, and the hustler. after not airing new seasons in the summer of 2020, season 17 of the bachelorette, bachelor in paradise, and the $100,000 pyramid were scheduled to return for abc's summer lineup. coming off the success of the delayed season 16 as a fall series, abc announced that season 18 of the bachelorette would air as part of its 2021–22 fall lineup. cbs cbs pushed back season 32 of the amazing race to a fall premiere, with the new sports panel show game on! moved up to fill its spot on the summer schedule. cbs entertainment president kelly kahl explained that they hoped their scripted programs could return to production "at some point this summer", and that they could have "most if not all of these shows on at some point in the fall." kahl did not