Wednesday, March 25, 2009

CW to Telecast Daytime Emmys in Late August

Gold Derby's Tom O'Neil has the scoop on the upcoming Daytime Emmy telecast.

Gold Derby has learned exclusively that the Daytime Emmys will be held in Los Angeles in late summer, probably on Aug. 31 at the Orpheum Theatre, telecast by the CW network. Some details are still sketchy, but the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences hopes to have everything ironed out and unveiled by late next week.

Nominees will be announced May 14. About a half-dozen top categories, like drama series, talk shows and lead acting, will be unveiled during the fourth hour of the TODAY show on NBC. Another half-dozen categories, like supporting acting, will be announced during a reception at the Hearst Building in New York that evening, followed by the release of the full list of nominees a few minutes later.

Broadcasting & Cable has more on the judging and entry submission.

The National Association of Television Arts and Sciences this week is sending out DVDs for judging. The judges are divided into categories and judge based on their own expertise: for example, set designers evaluate set design, and make-up artists evaluate make-up. All judges - and there are nearly 1,000 - can vote in some broad categories, such as Outstanding Drama Series. The top-five vote-getters in any category are the nominees, and the leading vote-getter is the winner.

Entries have been steady this year, says NATAS' Paul Pillitteri, even though people are facing a tough economy. "I would have expected that there would be a drastic cut in entries, but people still want their Emmy."

It costs anywhere between $75 and $300 to submit an entry, Pillitteri says. In the past, the networks have paid for those entries but now they aren't willing to pay for entries in all categories. In addition, NATAS is charging higher submission fees this year to try and raise cash.

Ballots are due back to the Academy on April 20. Nominees in major categories will be announced on May 14.

Variety added their own take on the story saying The CW was in negotiations but the deal was not confirmed.

No deal is in place yet, and insiders said the kudofest could still end up on a cable home (with SOAPnet believed to be in the running).

Reps for National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences were unavailable for comment. But insiders said that this week's announcement that NATAS and ATAS had resolved their recent legal skirmish -- and would start looking for new ways to work together -- could wind up improving he fate of the Daytime Emmys. It's too late for this year, but ATAS likely once again will start assisting NATAS in coordinating the Daytime Emmy kudofest, particularly if it remains on ATAS' home Los Angeles turf.

ATAS actually had started collaborating with NATAS on the Daytime kudos, but the two sides -- which have sparred almost continuously since the 1977 divorce that separated them into two -- renewed their hostilities earlier this decade. After that, the cooperation on the Daytime show disappeared.

Now, should talks prove successful, the Daytime Emmys would rep the first major awards franchise to land on CW.

"It looked like the show was flatlining, and now it has a second wind, and the best place to get a second wind is on a youth-oriented network," said reality TV producer Jonathan Reiner, who won a Daytime Emmy for producing STARTING OVER.

It's unclear how much of a license fee, if any, the Dub Net will be paying to broadcast the show. But it's likely the network will get the telecast for a relatively inexpensive fee, and as a result, it could serve as a cheap original event to air on the eve of the launch of the fall season.

For NATAS, having the Daytime Emmys on the CW would allow the org to save face, as it means the kudocast would remain on a broadcast net. Meanwhile, because CW doesn't air any soap operas, the show may have an easier time attracting presenters from all three nets.

GoldDerby.com / BroadcastingCable.com / Variety

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