Emmy Schmemmy

My fifth trip to the Daytime Emmys is a thing of the past now, and all I can say is...no Adrian Bellani on the red carpet? What's the point in my even going? :)

Seriously, this Emmy trip had its usual share of highs and lows before, during, and after the show. I shall now ramble about each of these hencewith.

Wandering around a somewhat gloomy L.A. for two days before the show, my pals and I did a lot of shopping and a lot of Cheesecake Factory-ing. Even though my post-Bob "Price is Right" detox has yet to start, I'm finding myself somewhat relieved that I don't have to give up an entire day sleeping on the street to attend a taping of Barker & Co. during this trip.

We also drove up a serpentine path up in the Hollywood Hills to get to the park with the great view of the Hollywood sign, and after finally making it up there, the damn gates were locked! So, ever the improvisationist, I just hopped out and took a shot from some dude's yard. Not bad!

So onto Emmy day. Unlike last year, when I missed the first two awards after a tragic decision to take the train to avoid traffic, this year we headed over in plenty of time to get a spot at the end of the red carpet on the first floor of the Kodak Theatre. That's where I got my first glimpse of a star this year: GH's Jason Thompson, looking better in person, as he always does. He was more noticeably friendly this year, too. Our first floor perch was quickly interrupted, though, as security intervened with their tried-and-true fire marshal speech and disbanded our group. Up to the second floor I galloped, and fortunately found a nice spot at the end of the velvet ropes from which to stargaze.

Floodgates, open. Here comes everybody!

• Some moments were happily memorable: As Supporting Actor nominee and ATWT bright spot Trent Dawson made his way by me, I told him, "You better win!" His response: "Is that a threat?!" LOL




• Some moments were unhappily memorable: Former DAYS star Nadia Bjorlin happily posed for pictures for the cheering fans, until one lummox yelled out, "Who are you?!" She then looked a little miffed, let out a laugh, and the photo session was immediately over.






• GH's two-time Emmy winner Kimberly McCullough was a little chatterbox as she passed us, talking to and near ATWT's Younger Actor nominee Jesse Soffer. In this shot, he seems to be listening to her prattle on, while thinking, "Bitch, please!"




• I caught sight of PASSIONS alum Justin Hartley, serving that evening as escort for wife Lindsey, who was presenting. His uberhunk replacement, Mark Wystrach, was unfortunately nowhere to be found.






• Another hot blond on the carpet was Y&R's hunkalicious Thad Luckinbill, who proved that you can show up at the Emmys without a tie, without shaving, and with hair in serious need of some Pert Plus, and still look good!




• Having no trouble on the hair front is this year's most follicle-ly improved hunk: OLTL's David Fumero chopped off that moptop he had last year, and this year was the hottest hunk on the carpet. The fact that I got my picture made with him didn't influence my decision there at all! ;) (Minus five, though, David...ditch those damned cigarettes!)


• Omigod, then up strolls Justin Bruening, seriously hunky in his well-tailored suit. 100% soap hunk, folks. On his arm was not wife Alexa Havins, but instead galpal co-star Chrishell Stause. But it wasn't who was on his arm I cared about...it was his arms themselves, and his butt, and his chest, and his face, and his...well you get the picture.




• Why does the luscious Dax Griffin look a bit weary? Maybe because he just got killed off B&B? Still megahot, though.







• I'm not a GL fan, but running this site has introduced me to the oh-so-fine Lawrence St. Victor. Folks, let me tell you: 1,000 times hotter in person. Mercy!






• We fans weren't the only ones snapping pics. OLTL's teen sceners Kristen Alderson and Brandon Buddy snapped their own shots of themselves as they made their way past our perch. Cute.




• AMC's Walt Willey looked very dapper, but here he must have have had some questions on his mind. Maybe wondering why AMC stopped getting nominated (I could explain that to him), or perhaps wondering how in hell there could be such a thing as a Daytime Emmy ceremony without Susan Lucci?
  
• This year's Emmys may not have had La Lucci, but who needs Erica Kane when you have an even bigger grande dame on the carpet: GH's Big Alice!





• And you haven't lived until you've been caught in a crowd of daytime fans who insist on chanting, "Jer-REE! Jer-REE!" as The Honorable Mr. Springer strolled by.

At that point, it was time for the show to start. We made our way inside, up to the nosebleed mezzanine, Row ZZZZZZZ. Ticketmaster had said that these were the best seats available, so imagine our surprise when there were at least 500 empty, better seats below us. We quickly relocated, and no usher cared. We ended up in the third row up top, which was okay for sixty bucks. Still plenty of empties down in the 1st Mezzanine, though. If they'd really rather have no one in a seat rather than a daytime fan, then I say it's time to send the Emmys back to New York, where we could sit amongst the stars. Oh well.

High-and-lowlights of the ceremony itself:

• Thank God! Finally an Emmy for GH's Genie Francis. Everything else could have gone wrong for me, as long as this happened. Genie's loss for her work in 1996--the best acting in the history of soaps, says me--still stings, but FINALLY the Academy rectified this oversight. No other daytime actress can touch her, folks. Not one. ABC, the move is yours. Get. This. Woman. Back. Permanently.
• I have been a Price is Right fan since diapers, literally. We have old audio tapes of me doing my Bob Barker "new ca-wah!" schtick when I was three years old. I am now 33 and I still tape it every day. How I am going to make it without Bob Barker remains to be seen, but I was delighted to be in attendance when The Man won his presumably final Emmy, No. 19.
• I think GH's Supporting Actor winner Rick Hearst is a brilliant actor, especially given his young age. But is Hearst so superior that he really merits three Emmys before ATWT's just-as-deserving Trent Dawson gets one? I tend to think only hardcore ATWT fans truly get how good Dawson is: his talent is not the kind that can be summed up in just two tapes.
• When Y&R's Bryton McClure won Younger Actor over some fierce competition (ahem, Van Hansis), everyone in my section just sort of stared at each other blankly, as if stunned in disbelief that such a thing could actually happen.
• But I'm not a total ATWT Emmy apologist. As talented as I think Jennifer Landon is, she won the Emmy last year when she truly deserved it. This year, I'm just afraid her consecutive win will prod the producers into thinking we want more of this dual-role Cleo crap.
• What was with the raucous lovefest that any GL nominee received in the auditorium? I wish GL no ill will; in fact, I support any positive energy it can get these days. But the louder-than-GH's-best-days screaming was a bit suspect from the CBS telecast. Usually you can hear the crickets chirping during GL clips in the auditorium, and you frequent Emmygoers know I'm telling the truth. That was just weird to hear that kind of reaction.
• And a tie for Best Drama Series? I guess GL and Y&R both got about equally good press this year, but overall 2006 was sort of a bland one for daytime in general. In fact, the soap event that I feel was most noteworthy in 2006 went 100% unnoticed during Emmy night, and that's the fact that this was the year that DAYS actually became a good soap again. But expect the Emmys to embrace an NBC show? Puh-leez!

Anyway, once the final Emmys were handed out, we re-scurried out to get into post-show pic-taking position.

• On the way out of the crowded Kodak, it was wall-to-wall soap stars, including maestro Tony Geary. I was so busy gawking and trying to photograph him, that I ran smack into Renee Elise Goldsberry. Oops!


• Many of the same stars we saw going in, we saw going out. We did, however, catch the jaw-droppingly gorgeous James Scott. The pictures say enough, folks.






• Also making his hunky mark on the way out was AMC's Colin Egglesfield, who apparently looks as good in a suit as out of one.





• PASSIONS star Dylan Fergus was all grins as he exited, apparently unfazed that PASSIONS wasn't exactly the nominations leader.




• While we were snapping away, suddenly behind us we hear a bunch of scurrying and screaming. So I turn around and, lo and behold, there's former Daytime Emmy winner and AMC star Josh Duhamel, in jeans and a baseball cap, heading to the movies. He graciously signed autographs.




• Another soap hottie, David Fumero, was one of the very few soap stars who offered to take photos with any fan who asked. (Yes, I got one!) Also doing so was daytime's Dick Clark: Y&R's Billy Warlock, who is pushing 50 but doesn't even look 30.

And with that, another Emmy night was over for me. All in all, a good one. Had I gotten to meet Adrian Bellani, Don Diamont, or Genie Francis, though...then we'd be talking great one.

Headed out to the Emmys!

I'll report in when I get back home. Adrian Bellani, find me! :)

It's official: Adrian Bellani leaving 'Passions'

I just want to crawl back under the covers and pretend I don't know this. :(

As had been rumored, my current favorite soap hunk, Adrian Bellani, will not be transitioning with "Passions" as it moves to DirecTV this September.

From his message board post at his official Web site:

First and foremost, I would like to thank each and every one of you for your continued support and kind letters/messages/comments I receive from all of you. I want all you to hear it from me before you read it anywhere else.
I have decided NOT to renew my contract with "Passions." After a long wait and wondering whether or not I was even going to be asked back on the show, my team (agents and managers), and myself decided to pursue other opportunities. We all believe this is the right decision to take, although it was very hard. My decision is simply a career choice, and has nothing to do with the show. I believe life is full of risks, and this is just one i have to take. I am a dreamer, and I dream of having a big successful career. One of my dreams did come true..."Passions."
I truly believe that I was blessed to work with and be among such a wonderful cast, crew, producers, and network (NBC). I know that "Passions" is only a start for me, and I promise you will all see me soon.
I want to wish all my "Passions" cast and crew the best on the move to DirecTV. I know they are all excited about the move as should all the fans.
At the moment I am still taping, and soon there will be a big turn in my storyline. I've been waiting for that as long as you have. What will happen with the character of Miguel, I don't know.
Thank you all for your support, and thank you for making my time at "Passions" a dream come true. None of this could happen without you, and I wouldn't be where I am today if i didn't have such a wonderful fans and friends.

Hopefully another soap or show will pick Adrian up very soon; we are talking major detox for yours truly. :(

But don't forget Adrian has already qualified as a finalist for Adonis 2007. Finals voting begins June 20. The Adonis 2007 will be named September 4: the day before "Passions" last airs on NBC.