MTV is hoping to safely stage this year's VMAs from Brooklyn's Barclays Center

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https://variety.com/2020/music/news/...us-1234618839/

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, MTV's annual Video Music Awards is seeking to have a traditional in-person awards show on Aug. 30. “We’re exploring with government officials, the medical community and key stakeholders on how to safely hold the 2020 VMAs at Barclays Center on August 30th,” an MTV spokesperson tells Variety. “The health of everyone involved is our number one priority. Additionally, we are working on several contingency plans to bring music’s biggest night to audiences everywhere.” As Variety notes, MTV already sent out save the date notices to top agents and talent reps this week in hopes of moving forward with a traditional ceremony, instead of a virtual one. MTV is also exploring contingency plans that include a virtual performances and an audience-free show.

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MTV's VMAs will happen at Brooklyn's Barclays Center with a "limited or no audience"

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced today that the Aug. 30 MTV Video Music Awards ceremony will take place at the Barclays Center, but that it's too soon to say whether there will be an audience. A rep for MTV said full details will be announced “soon.” "Holding any sort of mass public gathering is problematic as the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the country, as evidenced by the outraged reaction to a pair of country concerts over the weekend that drew between 1,000 and 2,000 fans who flagrantly disregarded social-distancing norms," reports Variety's Jem Aswad. "Adding to the controversy, in the weeks since the VMA news originally broke, Barclays Center, which is located in a densely populated part of New York City’s most populous borough, has become a gathering point for Black Lives Matter protests. This adds another layer of both complication and relevance to holding an awards show at the venue." Last month, an MTV spokesperson told Variety the network was exploring how to host a safe in-person ceremony. As Aswad points out, last night's BET Awards, held by MTV's sister network BET, was "remarkably well-produced" with a pre-taped virtual ceremony.

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MTV VMAs leaves the Barclays Center for outdoor locations in New York City boroughs

The 2020 MTV Video Music Awards has given up on staging this year's award show at the Barclays Center, citing health concerns with filming indoors during a pandemic. Instead, the VMAs will broadcast from several open-air locations in different New York City boroughs on Aug. 30. MTV hasn't decided whether to go with "limited" or "no" audiences at the performance sites. This year's VMAs were poised to be the first awards show with a live audience since the pandemic started. “The 2020 VMAs will be held on Sunday, August 30th and pay homage to the incredible resiliency of New York with several outdoor performances around the City with limited or no audience, adhering to all state and city guidelines,” MTV said in a statement. “In close consultation with state and local health officials‎, it became clear at this time that outdoor performances with limited or no audience would be more feasible and safer than an indoor event. The VMAs will highlight the boroughs in an exciting show and return to Barclays Center in 2021. MTV will continue to work closely with the Department of Health, state and local officials, the medical community, and key stakeholders to ensure the safety of all involved.”

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MTV VMAs felt like a simulation taking place in a disembodied, placeless nowhere

Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards "gave the impression that they were happening in a collective imaginary place, a computer-generated nothingsville," says Kathryn VanArendonk. "Sometimes it looked like The Matrix, sometimes like a Star Trek holodeck, and sometimes like the inside of Janet’s mind in The Good Place. Miley Cyrus swung on a giant disco ball suspended from nothing, above nothing. Her endlessly long mic cord disappeared off into the ether somewhere. Announcers and performers strode out onto what must’ve been empty green screen soundstages, but on TV it looked like they were all standing on the same surreal, VMAs–flavored CGI balcony. It was a balcony in front of nothing, overlooking nothing (except more VMAs branding). Gaga’s several performances and acceptance speeches had the most 'this is happening in a specific place' vibe of the entire show, but because that specific place was 'in front of a piano sculpted to look like a brain,' it didn’t exactly feel grounded in reality. In all, the VMAs felt like a dislocated, floating nothingness, and I’m honestly still not sure how I feel about it. It was distracting, and the New York–specific images felt off. It was like watching a show set in an airport I-heart-NYC kiosk. And yet, there was something about the cloud of nothingness that also convinced me — we’re all nowhere, but we’re all nowhere together. Or rather, we’re all pretending to be together, which is as good as it’s safe to be right now."

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• Lady Gaga saved a show that was unsure how to go on in a pandemic: "We’re a country largely in denial, and that’s a word that perhaps describes not only a partial national mindset but the VMAs themselves," says Chris Willman. "This was a show strangely hellbent on denying what just about everyone viewing either knew ahead of time or could quickly suss: that it wasn’t live. There was that moment in the early minutes when the show first busted out a round of boisterous cheering, and it seemed to be setting up a punchline for host Keke Palmer, who would surely deflate the fake applause with a nudge or a wink as she acknowledged that this was nor a normal year for the VMAs… right? There would have been a good chuckle to be had in cutting away to some MLB-style cardboard cutouts in fake stands. But the VMAs were not kidding about clinging to the old normal as much as possible. Not even if that meant soundtracking the two-hour-plus show with what almost felt like a satirically loud equivalent of a badly canned laugh track."
• The pandemic made the VMAs relevant again: "It was ambitious and reassuring, polished in ways we haven’t seen on TV in so long because of the pandemic shutdown," says Kevin Fallon. "Glancing at the harsh realities of the current moment, but confusingly opaque about how it pulled this production off given quarantine and social distancing safety and rules, the show seemed to make something worthwhile almost in spite of itself. That still may be high praise for the Video Music Awards, following years of plummeting ratings and buzz."
• MTV's fake crowd noise was jarring: "While viewers are well used to green screens, pre-recorded speeches, remote performances, and even award honorees not turning up on the night -- the pretend crowd was something new, and more than a little bit unsettling," says TooFab. "The set-up saw presenters and winners taking to a physical stage with a heavy dose of computer-generated trickery providing bells and whistles, which didn't feel that unusual. But similar to the pre-recorded canned laughter that provides the backing tracks to sitcoms, cuing audiences when to laugh along, MTV simply played the sound of a screaming, cheering crowd in the background."
• VMAs winners and losers: Host Keke Palmer was a winner thanks to her signature energy and irrepressible cheer, but the overall ceremony was a loser for being shockingly watchable.
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