Several soap hunks among "Pre-nominees" for Daytime Emmys

If you're not familiar with the Daytime Emmy process, you may not realize there is a first round of "pre-nominations" at each soap in which that show's contenders in each category is reduced to just two finalists (and in some cases, just one). This supposedly assures a more balanced final ballot.

Several soap hunks made it over this first hurdle this year. Here's the entire list for 2007. (I've even included the ladies.)

The final nominees will be announced March 14.

Outstanding Lead Actress Pre-Nominees
All My Children
Bobbie Eakes (Krystal Chandler)
Alicia Minshew (Kendall Hart)

As the World Turns
Maura West (Carly Tenney)
Martha Byrne (Lily Snyder)

The Bold and the Beautiful
Susan Flannery (Stephanie Forrester)
Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke Logan)

Days of our Lives
Kristian Alfonso (Hope Brady)
Alison Sweeney (Sami Brady)

General Hospital
Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis Davis)
Laura Wright (Carly Corinthos)

Guiding Light
Crystal Chappell (Olivia Spencer)
Kim Zimmer (Reva Shayne)

One Life to Live
Kassie DePaiva (Blair Manning)
Bree Williamson (Jessica Buchanan)

Passions
Lindsay Hartley (Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald)
Juliet Mills (Tabitha Lenox)

The Young and the Restless
Michelle Stafford (Phyllis Abbott)
Jeanne Cooper (Katherine Chancellor)

Outstanding Lead Actor Pre-Nominees
All My Children
Thorsten Kaye (Zach Slater)
Michael E. Knight (Tad Martin)

As the World Turns
Grayson McCouch (Dusty Donovan)
Michael Park (Jack Snyder)

The Bold and the Beautiful
John McCook (Eric Forrester)
Jack Wagner (Nick Marone)

Days of our Lives
Stephen Nichols (Steve Johnson)
Peter Reckell (Bo Brady)

General Hospital
Anthony Geary (Luke Spencer)
Steve Burton (Jason Morgan)

Guiding Light
Ricky Paull Goldin (Gus Aituro)
Ron Raines (Alan Spaulding)

One Life to Live
Michael Easton (John McBain)
Trevor St. John (Todd Manning)

Passions
Galen Gering (Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald)

The Young and the Restless
Peter Bergman (Jack Abbott)
Christian LeBlanc (Michael Baldwin)

Outstanding Supporting Actress Pre-Nominees
All My Children
Cady McClain (Dixie Martin)
Alexa Havins (Babe Chandler)

As the World Turns
Kelley Menighan Hensley (Emily Stewart)
Marie Wilson (Meg Snyder)

The Bold and the Beautiful
Lesli Kay (Felicia Forrester)
Hunter Tylo (Taylor Forrester)

Days of our Lives
Renee Jones (Lexie Carver)
Julie Pinson (Billie Reed)

General Hospital
Genie Francis (Laura Spencer) (WOOHOO!)
Rebecca Herbst (Liz Webber)

Guiding Light
Beth Chamberlin (Beth Raines)
Gina Tognoni (Dinah Marler)

One Life to Live
Renee Elise Goldsberry (Evangeline Williamson)
Heather Tom (Kelly Cramer)

Passions
Cathy Jeneen Doe (Simone Russell)
Emily Harper (Fancy Crane)

The Young and the Restless
Tracey E. Bregman (Lauren Fenmore)
Eileen Davidson (Ashley Abbott)

Outstanding Supporting Actor Pre-Nominees
All My Children
Jeffrey Carlson (Zarf)
Jacob Young (JR Chandler)

As the World Turns
Trent Dawson (Henry Coleman)
Paul Leyden (Simon Frasier)

The Bold and the Beautiful
Winsor Harmon (Thorne Forrester)
Lorenzo Lamas (Hector Ramirez)

Days of our Lives
Bryan Dattilo (Lucas Roberts)
James Reynolds (Abe Carver)

General Hospital
Rick Hearst (Ric Lansing)
Jason Thompson (Patrick Drake)

Guiding Light
Robert Bogue (AC Mallet)
Jordan Clarke (Billy Lewis)

One Life to Live
Dan Gauthier (Kevin Buchanan)
Tuc Watkins (David Vickers)

Passions
Eric Martsolf (Ethan Winthrop)
Ben Masters (Julian Crane)

The Young and the Restless
Greg Rikaart (Kevin Fisher)
Kristoff St. John (Neil Winters)

Outstanding Younger Actress Pre-Nominees
All My Children
Leven Rambin (Lily Montgomery)
Eden Riegel (Bianca Montgomery)

As the World Turns
Jennifer Landon (Gwen Norbeck)
Alexandra Chando (Maddie Coleman)

The Bold and the Beautiful
Mackenzie Mauzy (Phoebe Forrester)

Days of our Lives
Ashley Benson (Abby Deveraux)
Rachel Melvin (Chelsea Benson)

General Hospital
Julie Berman (Lulu Spencer)
Kirsten Storms (Maxie Jones)

Guiding Light
Stephanie Gatschet (Tammy Layne)
Marcy Rylan (Lizzie Spaulding)

One Life to Live
Kristen Alderson (Starr Manning)
Melissa Gallo (Adriana Cramer)

Passions
Heidi Mueller (Kay Bennett)
Danica Stewart (Jessica Bennett)

The Young and the Restless
Christel Khalil (Lily Winters)
Darcy Rose Byrnes (Abby Carlton)

Outstanding Younger Actor Pre-Nominees
All My Children
Brent Weber (Sean Montgomery)
Michael B. Jordan (Reggie Montgomery)

As the World Turns
Van Hansis (Luke Snyder)
Jesse Soffer (Will Munson)

The Bold and the Beautiful
None, due to category age restrictions

Days of our Lives
Blake B. Berris (Nick Fallon)
Darin Brooks (Max Brady)

General Hospital
Dylan Cash (Michael Corinthos)
Scott Clifton (Dillon Quartermaine)

Guiding Light
John Driscoll (Coop Bradshaw)
Tom Pelphrey (Jonathan Randall)

One Life to Live
Eddie Alderson (Matthew Rappaport)
John-Paul Lavoisier (Rex Balsom)

Passions
James Stevenson (Jared Casey)

The Young and the Restless:
Bryton McClure (Devon Hamilton)
Hunter Allan (Noah Newman)

Video farewell to ATWT's Mark Collier

As uberhunk Mark Collier prepares to depart ATWT in the coming days, I've been pointed to a nice farewell YouTube video that chronicles the winning actor's Oakdale journey, including The Haircut, which many of believe was what sent him into the soap hunk stratosphere.

He certainly has had quite the track record at Soaphunks.net. He was the winner of Adonis 2005 (and finished second in 2004 & 2006), as well as the recipient of 14 Soaphunks.net Award nominations, with 5 wins, including Best Hunk of 2004. He received 8 nominations that year alone, to this day a Soaphunks.net record.

Have the time of your life with Mark & this video.

Could 'Passions' live on?

Now that NBC has made the cancellation of "Passions" official, is there any hope the show might live on in some other format? Here is what NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said this week:

"We are going to be looking very, very seriously at keeping Passions alive. The fact is, there are loyal viewers of this show who love it and show up every day. And in a perfect world, we'd like to keep the brand alive. There may be another network. You know, I don't think it's a broadcast network, but there may be another cable network that wants to get in business with us and have some sort of on-air presence for the show. We're certainly looking at online options. That audience is very, very faithful in the online world, and it's not inconceivable that we could see a daily episode of Passions online. And I think it would really succeed and draw advertisers."

Time will tell if that's just lip service, but I will say that if "Passions" did exist online-only, the show would have to drastically reduce its already squelched budget & cast. No word from ABC-owned SOAPNet if they would be interested in handling the sci-fi sudser.

As for its current incarnation, NBC is contractually committed to "Passions" through June, but will likely extend the show to an August end date, so that the 4th hour of "Today" would coincide with the Fall 2007 TV season.

'Passions' cancelled

It's official. "Passions" has been axed by NBC, with production wrapping in the spring for a summer finale.

What is this site going to do without this show? :(

A sad, sad day. More to come.

New cliches added to Soaphunks.net's list

Two new soap cliches have just been added to Soaphunks.net's exhaustive (and exhaustively amusing) list. Interestingly, both are patterned around the way two soap bad girls speak:

• Doriaccent. Vocal pitch suddenly employed by OLTL's Dorian (Robin Strasser) whenever she comes to a word or name of Hispanic origin. For example, in the sentence, "I'm sure that Carlotta would love to go to Puerto Rico," every word is spoken with a normal Llanview accent, except for "Carlotta" and "Puerto Rico," which will be uttered as though Dorian were a lifelong resident of Pamplona.
• Carly's KKK. One-word-only speech pattern employed by ATWT's otherwise normal-toned Carly (Maura West) when pronouncing the name of her husband, Jack. When she says his name, the end of his name gets such emphasis, it would have to be spelled in a transcript as "Jackkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk."

Check out these and all the rest of our A to Z list of soap cliches at soaphunks.net.

Will 'Today' make 'Passions' a thing of yesterday?

Uh-oh.

NBC is considering adding a fourth hour to its top-rated "Today" show. Why should soap hunk fans care? If this idea comes to fruition, it will almost certainly mean the death of the network's low-rated drama "Passions," which airs in most NBC markets during the afternoon. A decision is expected in early 2007.

You can read all the details here.

"Passions" won its second Soaphunks.net Award for Hunkiest Soap in 2006, and its multitude of shirtless studs have helped the tongue-in-cheek sudser claim 78 nominations and 21 wins over the years.

ATWT stepping away from the Mike

It's official: ATWT has confirmed that they are NOT recasting the role of Mike Kasnoff, which is set to be vacated this month by the departing Mark Collier.

Previous speculation hinted that the original Mike (Shawn Christian) might return to the CBS sudser. However, neither Christian--nor anyone else, for now--will be brought in. That leaves Terri Colombino's Katie Peretti free to pursue Austin Peck's Brad Snyder, whose Oakdale debut will also take place this month.

Prognosis negative for OLTL's dastardly doc

OLTL's Paul Satterfield, who has been wreaking havoc in Llanview since 2005 as Dr. Spencer Truman, has been let go by the sudser for storyline-dictated reasons.

Satterfield previously played Paul Hornsby on GH and was a 2006 Soaphunks.net Award nominee for Best Hunk Over 40.

"Brad in a Cage" clips from Y&R 1988-89!

Anybody who has been paying attention over the years at soaphunks.net should know that I am a huge fan of Y&R's Don Diamont. But for those hunkwatchers who are relatively new to soaps, you may wonder why this man in particular is the one I choose over all others. Here's why.

I've just finished ripping and uploading several days worth of scenes from one of my all-time favorite soap storylines. In 1988-89, Y&R's Brad (Diamont) was kidnapped and held prisoner in a cage by his nutzoid, long-haired ex-wife Lisa (Lynne Harbaugh). I still love this storyline because it was 1) a long-term effort, unlike today's gimmicky short-term stories; 2) very suspenseful; 3) very well-acted by both parties, especially when they start playing mind games with one another; 4) just campy enough to be fun; and 5) showed off a then 26-year-old Don Diamont's body all the time!!

THIS was when I absolutely fell hard for Don Diamont, and why I hold him in such a high regard still today. I think it's safe to say, without these clips, I never fall hard for a soap hunk, and if I never fell hard for a soap hunk, there would never have been a soaphunks.net. I hope that adequately expresses how much I love these episodes! If you're not an old school Y&R fan and you don't know about Don Diamont from back in the day, prepare to be converted over to my side after you watch these clips! I hope you enjoy them, because they were a hell of a lot of work to get off of my old VHS tapes. For your enjoyment, I have edited out all non-Brad scenes, which means you are spared all Cricket "The Bug" Blair/Danny Barfalotti scenes!

Please post comments and let me know what you think.

Clips 1 & 2
Friday, December 30, 1988 (10:31 total)
A towel-clad Brad preps for his evening escape attempt by taking a steamy shower, dripping wet and complete with Thigh-Cam!





Clips 3 & 4
Tuesday, January 3, 1989 (13:40 total)
Brad starts in a baby-blue terrycloth robe, moves into a tux, and then is stripped down for his eventual first steps outside of the cage in months. HOT and a great cliffhanger!






Clips 5 & 6
Wednesday, January 4, 1989 (12:32 total)
The big escape attempt. Look for the part where, holding Lisa in his arms, shirtless Brad spots her purse. I LOVE the over-the-top music there! Plenty of body shots here, too.





Clips 7 & 8
Monday, January 9, 1989 (12:47 total)
The aftermath. No skin here, but without a doubt the best acting either party ever did.