By Sandy Cohen, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Like the characters in her TV series "Transparent," which is nominated at this Sunday's Emmys, Jill Soloway understands the challenges of having a transgender parent: She based the show on personal experiences.
"I think back about three years ago when my parents came out to me, and the rush of feelings that come with that," Soloway said in a recent interview. "And for me, this kind of odd feeling that I knew I was going to be making a television show about it, but a very scary feeling of how will the world accept all of this?"
This was before Bruce Jenner's public transformation into Caitlyn; before "Orange Is the New Black" made Laverne Cox a household name.
"What a crazy, amazing, zeitgeist moment of a world-shift change; a sea change that we never could have imagined we would be part of," Soloway said. "It's flabbergasting. I'm flabbergasted."
Her hope when she created the show, she said, was to "make it safer for my parent to walk out of her apartment building; make it safer for her to hail a taxi cab or safer for her to stand in the elevator with people who she's never met."
"I was really thinking about a personal love letter to my parents to try and shift the world ever so slightly," Soloway said. "And it's really shifted the world in a big way, and I'm astonished."
Jean Smart, Ariana Grande, Michael Keaton among hosts for “SNL” season 50
Fresh off her Emmys win, Jean Smart will kick off the landmark 50th season of "Saturday Night Live."
NBC on Thursday announced the lineup of hosts for the season, which premieres Sept. 28. Joining Smart on the first show will be Jelly Roll as the musical act. He was also at the Emmys, singing during the ceremony's in memoriam segment.
It will be Smart's first time hosting "SNL."
Comedian Nate Bargatze will host on Oct. 5, with Coldplay as the musical guest.
Ariana Grande will host Oct. 12, with musical guest Stevie Nicks.
"Beetlejuice" star Michael Keaton will host on Oct. 19, the last show before Halloween, and Billie Eilish will be that night's musical guest.
The host on Nov. 2 will be "SNL" alum John Mulaney, with breakout sensation Chappell Roan as the music guest.
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