By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman
What do you think of the 40th Annual Daytime Emmy nominees? The list is long and illustrative given the fact that there are only four soaps. Several categories are full of names that are most deserving. It would be very hard to cast a decisive vote should one have the opportunity.
Katherine Kelly Lang
Consider the lead actor category: You’ve got an actor who created a real splash in General Hospital this year, Jason Thompson, who was brilliant as his Patrick Drake mourned the death of his wife Robin. Then you’ve got the always dependable actors in the category — Peter Bergman (Jack, The Young and the Restless), Doug Davidson (Paul, Y&R) and Michael Muhney (Adam, Y&R). Although Muhney is a great personal favorite of mine, I don’t know who did the superior job of all these outstanding actors.
Then there’s lead actress: Who can beat Susan Flannery, who played Stephanie’s march to death so memorably on The Bold and the Beautiful? Or Heather Tom, who played Katie’s post-partum depression, also on B&B? Also excellent as was Days of Our Lives’ Peggy McCay who played Caroline’s Alzheimer’s suffering so skillfully. Formidable, too, is Y&R’s always dependable Michelle Stafford (Phyllis), who also shone in that category. Again, who to vote for?
For Best Supporting Actress, I’d definitely cast my vote for first time nominee (it’s about time) Katherine Kelly Lang of B&B, who played Stephanie’s best friend Brooke so beautifully and soulfully through Stephanie’s fabulously written final story. Here is an actress who has grown incredibly since her debut on the show 25 years ago, and definitely deserves recognition, not just for this year but for her long body of work.
And what about Best Show? Can anyone beat GH, which had one of the best years in its history? On the other hand, it’s hard to top B&B, with its brilliantly produced stories of Katie’s post-partum depression and the death of Stephanie.
Talk about killer choices. With only four surviving soaps contributing nominees, the work the voters had to choose from is all exciting and memorable. No matter who wins, the quality of all the nominees argues persuasively for the future of network soaps. Here’s hoping TPTB are paying attention.
This year’s Emmy Award ceremonies will be broadcast June 16 on HLN.
General Hospital: I really like Felix (Marc Samuel), the new character on GH. Felix is very, very, very smart. Didn’t he make student nurse Sabrina do weeks of extra bedpan duty in exchange for an introduction to his cosmetics boss Lucy Coe? Of course it turned out Felix had never met Lucy, but Felix can talk himself into anything. GH is a show that needs humor, and Felix and his funny remarks certainly brighten scenes. Anyone who calls that bitch Britt “Dr. Miss Thing” is certainly okay by Marlena! 
having to say the actual words “des,” “dems” and “does.” Joe’s is a master liar who usually got away with everything in the past (sound familiar?) I can hardly wait to see the super melodramatic prison reunion this week between Joe and Kate, the woman he raped long ago. This rape produced a son, obviously Trey, played by slick looker Erik Valdez, an actor I don’t especially like. So that makes a show with how many rapists? Todd, Joe, Luke. And how many murderers walking around? Sonny, Jason, Heather, Johnny. That’s exactly double the number of such criminals GH had under Guza. Sopranos creator David Chase could hardly dreamed up this line-up, no? Ladies and gents, please no letters on the good looks of Maurice Benard and Steve Burton. I already know.