Saturday, June 23, 2012

FIRST THOUGHTS: 39th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards

The 39th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards just ended so I thought I would share my random thoughts from the evening below. Please share your own feeling in our Comments section below.

* The HLN telecast was the best in years, but at times wasn't very entertaining. The show added nine new awards but no extra time (although it did run over a bit).  It seemed a bit rushed at times and a bit boring at others.

* Having produced the Indie Soap Awards earlier this year, I can not say enough about the importance of showing clips of the nominated shows and actors. The team from PRETTY The Series put together our clip packages and it made the show. It would have made this a three-hour show but HLN is repeating it all night anyway.

* I was thrilled to hear ALL MY CHILDREN and ONE LIFE TO LIVE would be given tributes but I expected nice montages versus having three actors speak eloquently about them for several minutes, even if two of those actors were Susan Lucci and Erika Slezak. Those "tributes" didn't make me miss the shows like a beautiful montage would have.

* If Jill Farren Phelps produced the Outstanding Daytime Drama, and the DAYS OF OUR LIVES writers were the Oustanding Writing Team, why were they all fired from their positions?

* Why did they show a clip of Tim Gibbs with Erika Slezak during the Outstanding Directing Team award? It certainly wasn't from last year or any recent year.

* When Oscar the Grouch opened the show telling us why he doesn't like Daytime, I was worried that Wayne "I didn't write this crap" Brady had taken over the show again.

* I picked six Daytime Drama winners correctly. I usually do much worse.

* Bill Geddie seems like a fine and successful man, but I would have rather seen a number of daytime legends awarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award first (perhaps starting with the never awarded Beverlee McKinsey).

* I applaud the producers for making this all about Daytime. There were hits and misses but they did an adequate job with less than the usual time.

Now it's your turn. Tell us what you thought about the show, the winners, the outfits, or anything else Daytime Emmys related.

Follow all the Daytime Emmy Awards news and interviews at our hub here.

10 comments:

  1. Nice article. IMO, the music was horrible. The titles looked like they were from an old CG from my college TV production class. The memorium was decent- at least we got photos. The "Thank You" at the end of it was odd though. Susan Lucci seemed stiff. Happy for Chandler Massey. And I thought it was great Twitter was jumping with related tweets and #DaytimeEmmys was the top trend for an hour or two.

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  2. Thanks for mentioning the In Memoriam. I was so happy that was added back this year. I need to rewatch because it seemed to be missing several though.

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  3. Prospect Park probably wouldn't allow use of the clips.

    Lucci seemed to make it about Susan/Erica.

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  4. Was the show perfect? No--but it was MILES better than last year. I thought, for the most part, it celebrated all of daytime--soaps, talk and informational shows. I know HLN was given very little time to prepare for this show, I would really like to see what they do with more time. All in all, a HUGE imporvement.

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  5. I am glad I even got to see the Awards since I don't have cable. I watched on an online feed, which was probably a dodgy live-stream from goodness knows where, but I did get to see the show.

    I guess with the short time that HLN had, they tried but I wonder why they couldn't get any clips for the tributes when they had clips scattered all over their website? I know these were mostly You Tube clips but considering their partnership with AOL, couldn't they have had some type of contest for tech savvy fans to upload clips talking about what these shows mean to them. Perhaps they wouldn't have the time to get together the clips (or even the permission to get the clips) for a sweeping montage but it's hard to believe that P&G nor ABC would refuse something for a tribute for these shows. Oh well...

    I got this strange feeling while watching that HLN was at once trying to diminish the importance of Daytime Drama to the TV landscape (which considering the fact that there are only 4 soaps left on TV, is not hard to comprehend) while simultaneously courting the soap fans to watch the show. At least they made the effort and while I was on Twitter and noticed that the Daytime Emmys were trending in the Top 3 the entire length of the show, I thought HLN had helped to prove in some way that a significant number of still care about the genre (no offense to the court shows and the game shows but I still believe the majority of people who tuned in did so for the Soaps).

    The music was Abysmal, if I were there, I'd have begged Debbie Gibson to compose some music for next year (assuming there will be a broadcast next year) as she knows how to pen a catchy tune or two.

    I can now see why awards shows need hosts! A host ideally can keep a show moving along, vamp for time when there would otherwise be a lull and pull disparate threads of the show together by creating segues.

    Boy do I miss the likes of Kim Zimmer, Martha Byrne and some of the soap personalities of soaps past! I found myself watching a few clips on YT earlier today of past Award winners and their speeches and I saw Kim Zimmer's zany acceptance speech from 1985 and boy, those were lively times! And when watching this broadcast, it really hit me that several of the stars that I found so utterly entertaining were not there.

    By the way, was Anthony Herrera (James Stenbeck) included in the In Memoriam montage??

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  6. Cheers: HLN for televising the ceremony and doing its part to promote and celebrate daytime. The focus was on DAYTIME and not Las Vegas for example.

    In need of improvement: That music played over and over got real old real fast - they needed a variety of music cues - like how about playing the theme from the appropriate show when it won an award? Needed more clips/montages and alas the winners of the Creative Arts Awards weren't named onscreen again this year.

    Jeers: National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. As great as it was to still have the ceremony televised, by the time it was over viewers were well reminded of the "Dirty Little Secret" about the Daytime Emmys - the nomination/judging process has been so severely messed up for years that the actual nominations and especially the winners are often a major joke - that's as much a reason the major networks have shied away from them as daytime's fade from glory; the Daytime Emmys have lost their relevancy because the actual awards themselves have lost their value. Too many upsets and all out snubs. I'm glad the awards were still televised but i came away from the show feeling like i just got home from a DISASTEROUS blind date! NATAS severely needs to get their act together. And don't even get me started on that bare-bones, table-scrap "you call THAT a tribute?" tribute to Amc/Oltl which should have been the highlight of the entire ceremony.

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  7. Tonight's show was painful to watch at times tonight, but at least it wasn't like it has been the last couple of years.

    Eric Braeden's (Victor; Y&R) German accent really showed tonight. YIKES! No wonder people call him, Mr. Mumbles.

    I worry about Anthony Geary's (Luke; GH) job status now after he took a nasty jab at ABC with his tongue-in-cheek joke when he won the Lead Actor Emmy. I thought it was a great way to start the night.

    Roger, I think we can be happy that Wayne "I didn't write this crap" Brady was no where to be seen tonight. I think he knows he's persona non grata with the Daytime Community after his tasteless and tacky jokes and jabs at Susan Lucci and the casts of All My Children and One Life To Live after they were all told by ABC that they would be out of jobs by the end of September of 2011 and January 2012 respectively.

    I don't know about the rest of you, but the biggest upset of the night for me was when Days won for Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team. I did not expect that one at all. I literally gasped when Days was announced. I was just happy that Y&R didn't win it again this year. The other upset, a more mild one if you will was when Heather Tom (Katie; B&B) took home the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. I think everyone had their eggs in Erica Slezak's basket and I'm sure the bookies lost a lot of money tonight.

    As someone so perfectly pointed out on another message board, this was by far Y&R's worst showing at any Daytime Emmy Awards in recent memory. Out of the 12 or 13 or 14 Emmy noms they had, they only got 4. Three Creative Craft and Christel Khalil (Lily; Y&R) finally winning for Younger Actress. I really believe that this year was a major indictment on Maria Arena Bell and her horrible leadership at Y&R and her less than dismal writing. I'm hoping the big wigs at CBS and Sony will finally realize that it's time for MAB, SH, and HS to go and bring in some fresh writing blood in the form of Kay Alden and Jack Smith and rehire Ed Scott as EP. It is those three people that fans want back at Y&R and fast before this show sinks even further into the abyss.

    Susan Lucci looked rather uncomfortable up on that stage tonight, practically hanging on to the microphone as if to prop herself up so that she doesn't fall. Like most everyone else, I was extremely disappointed that there was no video montage tributes to both shows. But given the short amount of time that HLN had to work with, I'm not surprised.

    Like LLB said, the show was not perfect. But I do agree again, MUCH, MUCH better than last year! I'm very happy that even though HLN had very little time to put this show together, they really did celebrate daytime, which is what this awards ceremony was and should be about, not some Vegas commercial crap.

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  8. I don't get it. John Wesley Shipp should have been nominated for Supporting Actor(and won). Erika Slezak should have won (nothing against Heather). ONE LIFE should have been nominated (and won). It was way more superior than GENITAL HOSPITAL. Now, would someone explain to me why that whiny, screechy twit Christel Khalile won for Younger Actress? I don't get it. Jacqueliene Wood (Steffy, B&B) was way better than Khalile.

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  9. This was the first time in several years I was excited about the Daytime Awards and actually watched it. The show did have its highs and lows but what awards show doesn’t? We must thank and applaud HLN for airing the show. With the short amount of time they had to plan and prepare they did a fabulous job. For those who have experienced having to put together an event on short notice we can appreciate the efforts. I’m sure if HLN had more time there would have been improvements. Kudos to you, HLN, and we fans appreciate it!

    The greatest parts of the night was when zings went to the higher ups (Tony Geary was the best). We can all pray it hit them where it counts.

    Still don’t understand what Viral Video has to do with daytime. Couldn’t there be a more appropriate category in its place or just have one less category?

    The part that aggravated me most was the music. It sounded so much like a kid’s toy where the parents are happy when the kid doesn’t play with it any longer just because of the noise. If I had a music mute on my tv, I would have pressed it.

    I’ve always thought it an honor to have the “In Memoriam.” How great and sad at the same time. They will be missed.

    Most of us can agree the biggest disappointment was the tribute to All My Children and One Life to Live. Nothing against Cameron Mathison but why was he on stage with Susan Lucci and Erika Slezak? These ladies were the “matriarchs” of their respective shows and rightly so to be representatives. If he HAD to be on, they could have had him introduce the ladies instead or be a presenter for a category. Couldn’t Erika Slezak have more speaking time than giving all to Cameron Mathison and Susan Lucci?

    No, I didn’t agree with all who won. There were some more deserving than others. Can any of us agree with all who win? Impossible unless you’re the one choosing the winners.

    Again, thank you HLN and kudos to you! Let us all give a standing ovation to HLN and their efforts to help support the genre. **Applause Applause**

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  10. The show was better then the vegas disaster *shudders at memories* However it definitely had its faults. I didn't like the tribute, it was just as bad as the puny one atwt was given prior. at least atwt had a montage, AMC and OLTL have such a rich history there should have been some kind of montage and a better dedication to them. They were cornerstones at ABC for a long time after all.

    I agree, Roger, that the lifetime achievement award should have gone to some soap vets who , I have nothing against Bill GEddie though. I think the only categories i agreed with the winners were for Tony, Chandler and JJ. all three of them deserved their accolades. I have nothing against Heather Tom but I agree that ERika should have won for best actress. Actually i am glad Nancy won best supporting actress as well it was about time on that one. I'm glad the memorandum was back, though i think they did miss some people.

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