Brief Notes on the Daytime Emmy Nominations
Friday, May 22, 2020 at 1:00PM We want to thank Abe Fried-Tanzer for doing so much Emmy contender coverage for us this year. The Primetime Emmy Awards are, of course, the "draw" but it occurred to us recently that "primetime" and "daytime" have surely lost their meaning in our current streaming era. That is to say but for the vestigial meaning they carry, who actually thinks of TV based on its airtime sanymore? People now watch whatever shows they watch whenever they want to watch them. Even live events aren't always screened as they air but often piecemeal through clips on the following day(s).
Eastsiders, up for 8 Emmy Awards in its final season
So herewith 5 brief notes on the Daytime Emmy Nominations just announced...
• Did you know that the gay drama Eastsiders, which airs on Netflix, is considers a "daytime" show? That's a strange designation given that Netflix literally has no air times. We liked the first season years ago but admittedly lost track of it. Its fourth and final season received 8 nominations including three acting nominations. That's a very healthy tally for the Daytime Emmys (tying with the iconic children's program Sesame Street and the often buzzy talk show The View). The show has never won any Emmys but this is its third time competing for "Outstanding Digital Daytime Drama Series"
• After the crash in viewership of daytime soaps and many cancellations throughout the past 20 years, a few long-running network shows still remain. General Hospital, Days Of Our Lives, The Young and the Restless, and The Bold and the Beautiful are competing for Best Daytime Drama for the gazillionth time. We exaggerate but basically the nominated lineup has not changed since almost all of their competitors went off the air six plus years ago. General Hospital is the program that's won this award most often (13 times) and The Young and the Restless is the all-time nomination leader (34 times).
Sara Ramirez in "The Feels"• Soap fans and web series fandoms can be obsessive (or so we hear) but the stars have weirdly low profiles outside of those specific hermetically sealed worlds. Still, there are some nominees you may have heard of even if you don't watch these particular shows: "Willam" (of RuPaul's Drag Race fame) is up for Best Supporting Actor for Eastsiders; Tony winner Sara Ramirez (Spamalot, Grey's Anatomy) is up for Limited Performance in a Daytime Program for YouTube's The Feels; Finally, Eva LaRue (Soul Food, CSI: Miami), gifted Broadway regular Veanne Cox (Caroline or Change), and Lin Shaye (horror film regular + the Insidious franchise) are all up for "Guest Performer" prizes for The Young and the Restless, Vimeo's Indoor Boys, and Netflix's Eastsiders respectively.
• Amazon Prime, which like Netflix, does not have "airtimes" and is thus an odd fit for Emmy distinctions between day and evening was a huge player last year at the Daytime Emmys for their program After Forever which is about a 50something man who has to rebuild his life after his partner dies. Last year it won six prizes including "Outstanding Digital Drama Series" and "Best Lead Actor" for Broadway producer/actor Kevin Spirtas (though he wasn't nominated for a victory lap this year). The series employs Broadway regulars for those of you who are into that sort of thing (*raises own hand*) three of whom are Emmy nominated for it this season: Lenny Wolpe (Bullets Over Broadway, The Drowsy Chaperone), Tony winner Cady Huffman ("Ulla" in The Producers) and Tony nominee Mary Beth Piel ("Dowager Empress" in Anastasia). We haven't watched this show, now in its second season, but we'll definitely give it a trial spin now that we've learned of its existence.
• Because we like animation at TFE here are the nominees for Outstanding Children's Animated Series:
Arthur (PBS)
Craig of the Creek (Cartoon Network)
The Dragon Prince (Netflix)
The Loud House (Nickelodeon)
Niko and the Sword of Light (Amazon Prime)
Trolls: The Beat Goes On! (Netflix)
Have you watched any of the shows listed in this article? If so recommend the good ones!
The DayTime Emmy Award winners will be held (virtually) on June 26th, live on CBS. The Primetime nominations we've been speculating about will be announced on July 14th after the June 15th-24th balloting period with the 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards on September 20th.
Reader Comments (12)
Forget where I read this, but Kevin Spirtas (as Kevin Blair) co-starred in one of the best of the terrible original run of Friday the 13th movies. Part 7 -- the one with the telekinetic girl who brings Jason back to life with her mind before he starts butchering everyone. Also features "Weekend at Bernie's'" Terry Kiser as a live human!
EastEnders Is tagged incorrectly as Eastsiders. I would be interested in reading additional coverage during the show’s run. Please correct the link.
I and my co-fans are conducting a lifetime boycott of ABC for their stupid cancellations of All My Children and One Life To Live, both of which were canceled on the same day. The boycott stems not solely from the cancellations, but also the networks' loathsome strategy to sabotage all efforts to transfer the soaps to other networks or platforms. ABC officials also spoke of the fans with extreme condescension and disrespect. This is the same network that has tried to run the Oscar telecast with its insipid ideas. The network is a joke.
If Willam Belli and the great Lin Shaye become Emmy winners thanks to Eastsiders I will be very very happy 😎
James -- not sure what you're talking about. We are talking about Netflix drama Eastsiders. Which has 8 nominations and the only tag link goes to Eastsiders.
brookesboy -- i wish could see the ballots for this because are there more than 5 daytime soaps left.? Seems weird to have a category where everything on the air gets nominated.
mirko -right. and you know Willam will brag about it forever.
Wait, Netflix and Amazon have 'daytime' shows? How is that even possible?!
Nathaniel--GH, Y&R, Days and B&B are the only soaps left. So they are nominated year after year, which is ridiculous, I agree. I believe the Academy changed the rules to allow Web series and other platforms to contend in the category, but so far none have made it into the nominations.
ABC messed up by canceling both AMC and One Life. They should have kept one of the shows and streamlined it if they wanted to cut costs. The alternate reality/talk show programming has been a ratings dud. Nobody wants it.
While looking through the nomination list I learned:
- The View is an informational Talk Show and The Talk is an Entertainment Talk Show. Who knew?
- The Today Show, Today Show with Hoda and Jenna and the 3rd Hour of Today (actual title) are all considered separate programs.
- In addition to Best Drama, all four currently airing soaps are also nominated for Outstanding Directing Team, Writing Team, Lighting, Casting, and Editing. Completion wasn't exactly fierce in these categories.
- You can get a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Daytime Promotional Announcement - Topical, or for Sound Editing for a Preschool Animated Series (separate category than Sound Editing for a regular animated program). Congrats to the nominees but some of these awards are a little in the weeds - did someone accidentally include an extra zero on the form when ordering new Emmy statues and they need to get rid of the surplus? Its seems like they are inventing categories on the spot.
Rooting for Kelly Clarkson to win all of her nominations!
NATHANIEL R - I think these streaming shows are put in this Digital Drama category because they are soap operas that just don’t air on a network. You are correct that there are only the four left, and Days is rumored to be cancelled every year.
KP84 - I don’t know who made the choice to move The View, but it could have to do with the fact that a few years ago, ABC moved it from its Daytime division to its News division, even though The View is certainly not a news program. My tin foil hat also speculates that it’s because The View has been on forever and only won ONCE in the host category, and that was back in 2009.
NATHANIEL R
I apologize for the remark about EastSiders. I have been watching the British soap EastEnders and got confused. Thank God I'm old and have a good excuse.
I think Kelly Clarkson is doing a fantastic job with her talk show. At times she comes across as a bit over caffeinated but that should recede over time.