By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman
The Daytime Emmy nominations for 2014 have been announced. Do you care? After all these years, Marlena still does. So let’s discuss:
Best Actor: Aside from Jason Thompson (Patrick, General Hospital) the other four nominees all come from The Young and the Restless: Peter Bergman (Jack), Doug Davidson (Paul), Christian LeBlanc (Michael) and Billy Miller (ex-Billy.) Miller, who performed with great strength in the storyline in which Billy’s daughter Delia was run over by a car, should be the winner. Oddly enough, Michael Muhney, who so masterfully played guilt-filled Adam, who ran over Delia, was not even nominated. (Muhney has since left the show.)
Best Actress: Eileen Davidson (Kristen, Days of Our Lives) by all accounts had a particularly good year, and she is the favorite in this category. Also nominated from Days was Arianne Zucker (Nicole). Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke, The Bold and the Beautiful), who had her big scenes the year before when Stephanie died, was also nominated. But never underestimate Heather Tom, whose teary Katie on B&B had a stellar year as her character survived her husband Bill’s infidelity with Brooke. Tom has won the statuette five times before.
Best Supporting Actress: Y&R’s Elizabeth Hendrickson (Chloe) and Melissa Claire Egan (Chelsea) had great years as Chloe’s daughter Delia was killed by a drunk driver. Also nominated from Y&R as the so-so Amelia Heinle (Victoria). Kelly Sullivan, whose Connie was murdered on GH also had a very emotional year. But the best of this worthy slate is Jane Elliot (Tracy, GH ), who virtually steals the show in every scene she’s in, and should be the big winner here.
Best Supporting Actor: Nominees in this category include Steve Burton (Dylan, Y&R), Scott Clifton (Liam, B&B), Dominic Zamprogna (Dante, GH) and Eric Martsolf (Brady, Days). But Bradford Anderson (Spinelli, GH), who had tear-filled scenes as baby Connie’s biological daddy before departing for Portlandia, deserves the win in this category.
Best Younger Actress: This category is a toss-up. Nominated are Kristen Alderson (Kiki, GH), Linsey Godfrey (Caroline, B&B), Hunter King (Summer,Y&R), Kim Matula (Hope, B&B) and Kelley Missal (Danielle, One Life to Live). Each is eminently watchable and has much to recommend her.
Best Young Actor: Another category where there is no clear winner among the deserving nominees. Nominated are Bryan Craig (Morgan, GH), Chad Duell (Michael, GH), Max Ehrich (Fenmore, Y&R), Chandler Massey (ex-Will, Days) and Daniel Polo (Jamie, Y&R).
Best Show: Incredibly, GH, which had a relatively good year, was not even nominated. On the list are the cancelled One Life to Live; Days (which won the Emmy last year) and Y&R. But clearly the winner, à mon avis, should be the excellent B&B, which had a year with virtually no bad storylines.
The Daytime Emmys will be awarded on June 22nd at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. So far, no network has signed up to televise them, which is quite a statement on the state of daytime. They have been televised since 1974—but apparently won’t be this year as of yet.
I wondered how did ONE LIFE TO LIVE even get nominated as best show. I saw nothing there that would warrant such a nomination. Now don’t get wrong. I really wish it had worked in its online incarnation, but alas. But it wasn’t all that.
It saddened me that those Emmy voters didn’t show ALL MY CHILDREN any love. I think the online version was fantastic and I wish it had continued. I wanted to see Billy Clyde morph into a respected member of Pine Valley society. I wanted to see Opal’s reaction to learning that she sold Cortlandt Manor to Billy Clyde and I loved the brewing rivalry between Jesse Hubbard and David Hayward. There is so much that I wanted to see. The online version of AMC packed a wallop with each episode. And it was infinitely better than the last decade on ABC. Too bad it folded.
I can’t believe that Amelia Heinle got an Emmy nomination. To me, she is blah and unexciting. It is unfathomable to me that she had kept the role all this time. I had thought that she would be quickly recast. I still think they should get rid of her.
I PREDICT that ONE LIFE will pick up the best show statuette. Not because it deserves it, but my guess is those who work in the dying soap opera industry want to promote the idea that online soaps are viable.
The Emmy panel were probably ticked that the online version of ALL MY CHILDREN became ALL MY PROMISCUOUS TEENAGERS.
It was terrible. One Life, was by far, superior.
Kelley Missal deserves the award for best younger actress. Anyone who can take a lame role that on ABC was always weakly written, and really make as strong an impression as she did with the online version deserves it. A huge talent. I am surprised One Life is up for best show when All My Children was (IMHO) the stronger of the two, but I have to admit I’m kinda glad the overrated General Hospital is getting snubbed. Maybe Frank/Ron will smarten up due to it.
“But Bradford Anderson (Spinelli, GH), who had tear-filled scenes as baby Connie’s biological daddy before departing for Portlandia, deserves the win in this category.”
I really hope Bradford wins this year. But if he wins, it will be for the scene where he found out from Ellie that he was Connie’s father. Still get chills thinking about it.
I would have liked to Maura West nominated along with Laura Wright.
The lack of a nomination for GH isn’t all that surprising. When OLTL was great Cartini never could manage to get a nomination for best show. They really need to bring someone else in to choose what to submit.
Personally the only really good thing I can say about the emmys this year is. FrankenRon will get exactly what they deserve NOTHING.. Maybe Ron will get off twitter, Frank will realize he is the boss, and stop using the old bait and switch. Stop giving contracts to actors we don’t care about OLTL actors and give them to the ones we love Scorpio, let Robin leave with dignity.She pulled no punches when she said she wanted to direct,and wouldn’t stay. Use less mob and keep the Q’s. They didn’t care what we wanted now what goes around .comes around. Think they learned their lesson. I don’t. I cannot watch the mess they are putting out now.
when was the last time you liked GH? I’m curious because since Guza the show has always been about the mob and killing off Quatermaines. at least now the show isn’t as dark and vets have been on our screen.
My comment has nothing directly to do with this year’s nominations, but I just wanted to note that this morning as I looked at a few vids on youtube I came across a recording of Victoria Wyndham, Rachel of the late great Another World, paying tribute to her acting partner of 16 years, Douglass Watson, at the 1989 Emmy Awards. Friday marked the 25th anniversary of Watson’s death — and, thus, the death of his character — Mac Cory. I actually ended up spending a good chunk of the morning watching the aftermath of both Mac’s and, later, Ada’s passing and was struck by two things: One was the pacing of these earlier soaps that allowed for true character development and the evolution of compelling relationships involving people we were given a chance to know and root for and give a damn about. The second thing was just the abundance of acting talent that the cast brought to the show. Even after all these years, the cast gave performances that still had the ability to move me to tears as I was reminded of that time when the show suffered first one major loss to the cast and then another. I’m grateful that some soaps persevere today despite the ruthlessness with which networks disposed of so many of the daytime serials we fans loved. But having gone from something like a dozen soaps on the air a couple of decades ago to the four we have on network tv today, one can only wonder about the young Douglass Watsons and the dynamic Constance Fords (Ada), that we will never get to see working their craft, never mind getting an Emmy nomination.
Marlena-Michael Muhney decided to pull himself from consideration given the publicity surrounding the alleged harassment incidents.
Being one who admires and enjoys watching JT, DZ, BA, JE, and KSul (even if the writing/stories is/are unwatchable), should any of them receive recognition for their work I will be quite thrilled. It will truly be a testament that they have been able to spin their straw material into gold as a result of their sheer talent. The current GH regime that is RC and FV has done them very few favors in terms of developing anything that would be considered deep and character driven. The only reason any of their work is compelling is because they themselves have done most, if not all the “character development” on their own. Amazing when you consider just how much of what they’re given is nothing more than plot point drivel. They all deserve worthy material and this headwriter has no clue as to what that really is….
Amelia Heinle doesn’t do much for me either. However, she was outstanding in the immediate aftermath of Delia’s death, outshining even Billy Miller and Elizabeth Hendrickson, who were at the center of the story.
What did Peter Bergman, Doug Davidson, or Christian LeBlanc do in 2013 that was award-worthy? It must have all happened the day my DVR was out.
As for GH’s snub, I think it is significant the the show was not nominated for Best Show, Best Writing, or Best Direction. How can that be, especially when there is so little competition nowadays? Has this ever happened to GH in the last twenty years? Can we chalk that up to the producers’ and the writers’ AND the directors’ poor choice of material for their reels? Or does it perhaps reflect on the general shoddy quality of GH these days? I have watched the show since I was a kid and have never found it as “missable” as I do now.
The last time “DAYS OF OUR LIVES” won an Emmy in the Lead actor and/or actress categories, Jimmy Carter was handing over the white house to Ronald Reagan.
The Emmy folks aren’t fans of “DAYS” at all. For years!
“General Hospital” not nominated for series, direction, or writing is reminiscent of the 1994-95 Emmy nominations when CBS’s “Guiding Light” garnered acting nominations for ten [10] of its cast but also was denied series, direction, or writing nominations. (“GH” has eight of its cast nominated despite no series, no direction, no writing noms.)
Back then, “GL” was clearly in the decline. (“TV Guide’s” Michael Logan wrote something along the lines that the leadership was the scariest since Karen Black’s stewardess had to take the reigns in “Airport 75” and that the cast “looked lost at sea without a paddle.”) “GH,” from the 2013-14 season, was in very good shape; so what I think explains this was a deliberate effort from nominating voters to shut it out of not one but all three of those categories—or “GH” was rejected from all three of series, directing, and writing because it submitted the same episode for each, and that it didn’t register with the Academy members who had determined the nominations.
Maura West should have been nominated for best actress for playing Ava Jerome on “GH.” The fact that she garnered seven nominations and two best-actress Emmys as Carly Tenney Snyder on CBS’s “As the World Turns” should have had some cache—but what’s puzzling about the leading ladies race is that it’s the only one, from six performance categories, that does not have five available slots. (Lead actress has four.)
From those who were not on the pre-nomination ballot, it was unfortunate that Rena Sofer—the 1994-95 Emmy winner as Lois Cerullo on “GH”—was not in the running for her first season as the unhinged Quinn Fuller on “The Bold and the Beautiful.” (Supporting actress was dominated by two soaps: “GH” and “The Young and the Restless.” Nothing else.) Sofer suggests, in this role, a woman so damaged that she has no qualms, if ever tested, of annihilating others’ lives. (Well, except for Quinn’s son Wyatt.) Sofer should have been in contention for supporting actress.
From the official Emmy nominations’ list, the one which personally pleases me most is the lead-actress slot for “B&B’s” Katherine Kelly Lang. She has matured so exquisitely in the role, which has been core to “B&B” since it premiered 27 years ago. Lang’s grandfather, Charles, is an Oscar-winning cinematographer (for 1932’s “A Farewell to Arms”). But with Katherine Kelly, on her own, she’s been convincing as the often promiscuous and now rather perceptive Brooke Logan. This nomination, specifically for “lead” actress, was years in the making. Ten years ago or so, Lang should have been nominated for the performance she gave with Brooke’s affair with daughter Bridget’s man Deacon. So this is a case of “better late than never.” I am happy and thrilled for Katherine Kelly Lang and her 2013-14 Emmy nomination for outstanding lead actress in a drama series. It was well-earned. She deserves it.