Announced via press release this afternoon…

Four pairs of TV actresses have been unveiled as additional presenters for the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards event taking place on Sunday, September 22 on CBS, from 8-11p EST.

The 4 pairs include Emmy nominees Kerry Washington and Diahann Carroll, Emmy nominees Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, Zooey Deschanel and Emily Deschanel, and four-time Emmy Award winner Allison Janney with Anna Faris. T

Of course Kerry is nominated this year for her role in the ABC series Scandal, making her the first African American woman since 1995 to be nominated in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

She will present with a 4-time Emmy Award nominee in Diahann Carroll, who broke ground with her own TV show, in 1968 – the comedy series Julia.

Although historical comparisons/connections were previously made between the two (Washington and Carroll), Ms. Carroll was actually not the first African American female lead in a network drama series. That distinction goes to Teresa Graves, who starred in Get Christie Love!, which had its premiere in 1974.

Maybe the phrase “You’re under arrest, sugah! rings the bell?

Emphasis on “comedy” versus “drama” series.

Teresa Graves was killed in a fire at her home in Los Angeles in 2002. She was just 54 years old. 

I’d assume that if she was still alive, she’d be paired up with Washington to present at the Primetime Emmys, instead of Carroll, given that the producers of the show appear to be going for the historical significance of it all – specifically that, with Scandal, Washington became the first black woman (since Graves did in 1974) to lead her very own hour-long dramatic series on Network TV. An almost 40-year gap!

Pathetic, isn’t it?

By the way, Carroll co-starred with Washington in Tina Gordon Chism’s We The Peeples earlier this year.

Executive produced by Ken Ehrlich, the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards will be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, who also serves as a producer on the telecast.