As if daytime television, and soap operas in particular, needed another slap in the face, the Emmys aired on the CW this year. While the CW would not have been my first choice of networks to broadcast the Emmys anyway, I did not complain because at this point I was just glad to see that they were airing at all. However, the actual awards show gave me plenty of reasons to complain, reasons that had nothing to do with who took home an award.
Over the years I have grown accustomed to watching the Emmy red carpet pre-show on Soapnet regardless of the network airing the awards, so I was a little surprised that it was on the CW this year. I thought this might prove to be a positive change for daytime and expose soap operas to a wider audience, but I was wrong. The Emmy pre-show was disappointing this year, to say the least. Very few soap stars were interviewed on the red carpet, nominees or otherwise. It may not have seemed that way to those who have never watched the Soapnet pre-show, but by comparison the coverage on the CW was minimal at best. The majority of soap stars I saw last night were in the split-panel screen having their pictures taken.
When the actual awards show began I became hopeful that the broadcast itself would be better because it had a strong opening, but I was disappointed yet again. The highlight of the entire show turned out to be the 40th anniversary tribute to Sesame Street. Guiding Light received a tribute as well, but it was so short that if you were not anticipating it you would have likely thought they were one of the nominees for best drama series. This was not what I would have expected for a show that was on the air more than 70 years. Then there was the actual announcement for best drama series, an award that went to the Bold and the Beautiful. Apparently there was no time for an acceptance speech for this recipient because the credits started rolling immediately after their name was called. It seems to me that they could have left out Vanessa Williams's song and dance with former Dancing With the Stars contestant Gilles Marini so they would have had time for things in the show that were related to daytime televsion.
As far as the Emmy winners, there were very few surprises. The biggest surprise came in the Best Supporting Actor category, where there was a tie between Vincent Irizarry (AMC) and Jeff Branson (GL). Obviously I was hoping for a win for Bradford Anderson (GH), but given the fact that he was nominated for supporting actor and not younger actor his chances of winning were likely made more slim.
I was not expecting an Emmy win for Julie Marie Berman (GH) at all, but after seeing the clips she submitted in the younger actress category, it was a well deserved honor. I had all but forgotten about the courtroom scenes where Lulu tried to keep Johnny from taking the blame for Logan's death. Those scenes were definitely worthy of an Emmy.
I was not completely shocked that Tamara Braun (DOOL) won in the supporting actress category. In fact I kind of expected that there would be an upset in this category. I say upset not because her performances did not warrant an award, but because she was only on Days for six months. This hardly seems like an appropriate length of time for someone to be on a show and still be nominated in the supporting role category.
I thought that Bryton McClure had the best chance of winning in the younger actor category, so the fact that Darrin Brooks (DOOL) won instead was a little surprising, but not shocking. It is not unusual for actors who have recently left their respective shows to win an Emmy for performances they gave in their last year. And in this category there were two actors from DOOL that had recently left, and one actor from Guiding Light, whose show has of course been cancelled. So it would not have been terribly surprising for any of these actors to have won based on that alone.
In my opinion the Emmys for lead actress and actor went to the appropriate people. I thought that Jeanne Cooper (Y&R) might win again this year, but thought that if anyone was going to beat her it would be Susan Haskell (OLTL). Having seen performances by both of these women this year, I was pleased that Haskell came out victorious. As I said in a previous post she returned to OLTL as a replacement of her replacement and had some intense material to deliver, which she seemed to do without breaking a sweat, ultimately earning herself an Emmy.
Had Anthony Geary won in the lead actor category, it would have been his 7th win. I had predicted that he would win, simply because he always seems to be the favorite, but thought that Christian LeBlanc had a deservedly good chance of winning as well. As it turned out LeBlanc did the win the Emmy and rightly so. He turned in some stellar performances on Y&R this year and out of all the other actors nominated in this category he was perhaps the strongest competitor.
As predicted the winner for best drama series was the Bold and the Beautiful. This is quite a feat for the only half-hour soap currently on air. This was also the first time that this soap has received this award. It is just a shame that no one will ever be able to see the acceptance speech.
Over the years I have grown accustomed to watching the Emmy red carpet pre-show on Soapnet regardless of the network airing the awards, so I was a little surprised that it was on the CW this year. I thought this might prove to be a positive change for daytime and expose soap operas to a wider audience, but I was wrong. The Emmy pre-show was disappointing this year, to say the least. Very few soap stars were interviewed on the red carpet, nominees or otherwise. It may not have seemed that way to those who have never watched the Soapnet pre-show, but by comparison the coverage on the CW was minimal at best. The majority of soap stars I saw last night were in the split-panel screen having their pictures taken.
When the actual awards show began I became hopeful that the broadcast itself would be better because it had a strong opening, but I was disappointed yet again. The highlight of the entire show turned out to be the 40th anniversary tribute to Sesame Street. Guiding Light received a tribute as well, but it was so short that if you were not anticipating it you would have likely thought they were one of the nominees for best drama series. This was not what I would have expected for a show that was on the air more than 70 years. Then there was the actual announcement for best drama series, an award that went to the Bold and the Beautiful. Apparently there was no time for an acceptance speech for this recipient because the credits started rolling immediately after their name was called. It seems to me that they could have left out Vanessa Williams's song and dance with former Dancing With the Stars contestant Gilles Marini so they would have had time for things in the show that were related to daytime televsion.
As far as the Emmy winners, there were very few surprises. The biggest surprise came in the Best Supporting Actor category, where there was a tie between Vincent Irizarry (AMC) and Jeff Branson (GL). Obviously I was hoping for a win for Bradford Anderson (GH), but given the fact that he was nominated for supporting actor and not younger actor his chances of winning were likely made more slim.
I was not expecting an Emmy win for Julie Marie Berman (GH) at all, but after seeing the clips she submitted in the younger actress category, it was a well deserved honor. I had all but forgotten about the courtroom scenes where Lulu tried to keep Johnny from taking the blame for Logan's death. Those scenes were definitely worthy of an Emmy.
I was not completely shocked that Tamara Braun (DOOL) won in the supporting actress category. In fact I kind of expected that there would be an upset in this category. I say upset not because her performances did not warrant an award, but because she was only on Days for six months. This hardly seems like an appropriate length of time for someone to be on a show and still be nominated in the supporting role category.
I thought that Bryton McClure had the best chance of winning in the younger actor category, so the fact that Darrin Brooks (DOOL) won instead was a little surprising, but not shocking. It is not unusual for actors who have recently left their respective shows to win an Emmy for performances they gave in their last year. And in this category there were two actors from DOOL that had recently left, and one actor from Guiding Light, whose show has of course been cancelled. So it would not have been terribly surprising for any of these actors to have won based on that alone.
In my opinion the Emmys for lead actress and actor went to the appropriate people. I thought that Jeanne Cooper (Y&R) might win again this year, but thought that if anyone was going to beat her it would be Susan Haskell (OLTL). Having seen performances by both of these women this year, I was pleased that Haskell came out victorious. As I said in a previous post she returned to OLTL as a replacement of her replacement and had some intense material to deliver, which she seemed to do without breaking a sweat, ultimately earning herself an Emmy.
Had Anthony Geary won in the lead actor category, it would have been his 7th win. I had predicted that he would win, simply because he always seems to be the favorite, but thought that Christian LeBlanc had a deservedly good chance of winning as well. As it turned out LeBlanc did the win the Emmy and rightly so. He turned in some stellar performances on Y&R this year and out of all the other actors nominated in this category he was perhaps the strongest competitor.
As predicted the winner for best drama series was the Bold and the Beautiful. This is quite a feat for the only half-hour soap currently on air. This was also the first time that this soap has received this award. It is just a shame that no one will ever be able to see the acceptance speech.
Can I just say that it makes no sense to me that GH writers could win for best writing for the soap opera yet GH wasn't nominated for best soap opera. This seems like an oxymoron to me.
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous! Very good observation. I couldn't understand why they weren't nominated for best soap either. I felt like every element came together for them this year, writing, acting, you name it! If this type of show can't be nominated for an Emmy in the outstanding drama series category, then what's the point?
ReplyDelete