Update: THR has amended their article. Jimmy Kimmel will appear after the CMAs, not during. The Nashville audience will stay in place while he delivers his monologue via hologram and he will still interview an award winner from Nashville and host a hologram-aided performance by Florida Georgia Line.
While modern technology has allowed us to metaphorically transport our minds to another place as we fall into our tablets and our phones while our loved ones try to talk to us, holograms haven’t really invaded the mainstream to the point where we can pull off the same trick with our entire bodies. Thus far, it seems like we mostly just use that awe inspiring trick of mirrors and lights to pretend that dead pop-stars and rappers are able to dance and sing before our eyes, but Jimmy Kimmel is here to nudge innovation along.
Jimmy Kimmel plans to tap the latest technology to host two television shows simultaneously in two cities. The ABC late-night host will use a hologram of himself to host the 48th annual CMA Awards in Nashville remotely from Hollywood on Nov. 5 — while broadcasting parts of his Jimmy Kimmel Live! to Nashville at the same time.
The CMAs will be held at CMA Theater at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Hologram USA will provide the high-tech services.
Kimmel’s first guest will be seated in his Hollywood studio; his second guest will be a CMA Award winner in Nashville, whom Kimmel will interview via hologram.
All right, this does sound cool, but it also sounds like a really fancy version of Skype. Couldn’t Kimmel just take a night off from making children cry on his show to hop on a flight to Nashville to host the CMAs? I’m sure ABC would reimburse him. They might even spring for a night at the Marriott. Also, of all the award shows to tie to a showy use of hologram technology, why the CMA Awards? Nothing against country music, but when I think about futurism and holograms, country music doesn’t seem like a natural partner. Regardless of my confusion, though, this is happening and we will all witness hologram Jimmy Kimmel… you know, unless we’re all too busy watching anything other than the CMA Awards. Which is what a lot of us will be busy doing. Sorry.
Source: THR
