35th Annual Daytime Emmy Nominations Announced

The nominees for the 35th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards were announced this morning. Of the three people I was really rooting for this year (ATWT's Austin Peck and OLTL's Kathy Brier & John-Paul Lavoisier), a grand total of NONE of them got included. So ho-hum, here's this year's list of the (mostly) usual suspects:

Outstanding Drama Series
General Hospital (ABC)
Guiding Light (CBS)
One Life to Live (ABC)
The Young and the Restless (CBS)

Outstanding Lead Actor
Peter Bergman, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
David Canary, All My Children (ABC)
Anthony Geary, General Hospital (ABC)
Christian LeBlanc, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
Thaao Penghlis, Days of our Lives (NBC)

Outstanding Lead Actress
Crystal Chappell, Guiding Light (CBS)
Jeanne Cooper, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
Nicole Forester, Guiding Light (CBS)
Michelle Stafford, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
Maura West, As the World Turns (CBS)

Outstanding Supporting Actor
Daniel Cosgrove, Guiding Light (CBS)
Trent Dawson, As the World Turns (CBS)
Brian Kerwin, One Life to Live (ABC)
Greg Rikaart, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
Kristoff St. John, The Young and the Restless (CBS)

Outstanding Supporting Actress
Tracey Bregman, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
Judi Evans, Days of our Lives (NBC)
Kelley Menighan Hensley, As the World Turns (CBS)
Gina Tognoni, Guiding Light (CBS)
Heather Tom, The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)

Outstanding Younger Actor
Darin Brooks, Days of our Lives (NBC)
Van Hansis, As the World Turns (CBS)
Bryton McClure, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
Tom Pelphrey, Guiding Light (CBS)
Jesse Soffer, As the World Turns (CBS)

Outstanding Younger Actress
Vail Bloom, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
Jennifer Landon, As the World Turns (CBS)
Rachel Melvin, Days of our Lives (NBC)
Emily O'Brien, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
Tamin Sursok, The Young and the Restless (CBS)

Outstanding Daytime Drama Writing Team
The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)
General Hospital (ABC)
Guiding Light (CBS)
One Life to Live (ABC)
The Young and the Restless (CBS)

Outstanding Daytime Drama Directing Team
All My Children (ABC)
The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)
General Hospital (ABC)
One Life to Live (ABC)

Overpraised: Y&R, which even its fans said had an off year. You'd never know it from its annual truckload of nominations. If it was so damn good, why did Lynn Marie Latham just get shown the door?

Underpraised: OLTL, which nabbed a deserved Best Show nom, but only one acting nom to go with it. How Trevor St. John, Tuc Watkins, John-Paul Lavoisier, and ESPECIALLY Kathy Brier got the shaft is beyond me.

Duly praised: ATWT, which was not worthy of a Show or Writing nomination, and got neither. However, its large cast of strong actors got plenty of mentions, although Austin Peck was the show's most compelling performer this year and was likely just sidelined because of his past work on DAYS. Wake up Academy: Peck was the man most deserving that was left wanting this morning. He certainly had more to offer than Dawson (an actor I adore), who was mostly relegated to pouring coffee at the diner in 2007.

Right amount of praise but to the wrong people: DAYS hasn't had four acting nominations in the same year in eons, so I'm thrilled to see it back in contention. But some of the choices here still boggle the mind. Judi Evans? Thaao Penghlis? What about Alison Sweeney or James Scott? Darin Brooks over Blake Berris? Rachel Melvin is the only one I can really see.

Join us tonight in chat (10pm ET/7pm PT) to get my full snarky commentary on this decidedly uninspired set of nominations.

Second time's the charm

Well, it happened again, FINALLY. Now maybe if we don't make a big deal about this one, maybe it'll be followed by more and more, since it really ought to not be that big of a deal anyway...

Things are Cook-ing at GH

This just in from SOAPNet.com:

SOAPnet.com can exclusively confirm that Jason Cook is joining the cast of GH. Jason is best known as Shawn Brady, the DAYS character he played from 1999 to 2006. Shawn was one half of Shawn and Belle, known by longtime fans as "Shelle" -- the pair who put the "super" back in supercouple in fictional Salem. And just who played Belle? That's right: Kirsten Storms, aka resident GH fashionista Maxie Jones. Jason will be playing a doctor who joins the staff at Port Charles's infamous hospital; no first airdate has been set, but he'll likely start appearing in June. We CAN tell you his character will be crossing paths with Maxie very early on. Could there be a "Shelle" redux? You'll have to stay tuned for more details!

During his DAYS tenure, Cook received nine Soaphunks.net Award nominations, winning four. He also finished 10th in the Adonis 2004 contest; a June start date on GH would render him ineligible for Adonis 2008.

Adonis 2008 calendar unveiled

The temperatures are rising outside, no doubt thanks to the launching of soaphunks.net's 5th annual Adonis contest.

The calendar for Adonis 2008 will play out like this as we search for the sexiest man in soaps:

April 30, 2008: Those fans attending live chat will go through each soap hunk with me to help determine the 32 semifinalists.
May 7, 2008: The selected 32 semifinalists will be divided into four groups of eight by random draw. These four groups will represent the first four weeks of voting in the competition.
May 14-20, 2008: Week 1 voting (Group 1 of semifinalists).
May 21, 2008: Week 1 results announced in live chat.
May 21-27, 2008: Week 2 voting (Group 2 of semifinalists).
May 28, 2008: Week 2 results announced in live chat.
May 28-June 3, 2008: Week 3 voting (Group 3 of semifinalists).
June 4, 2008: Week 3 results announced in live chat.
June 4-10, 2008: Week 4 voting (Group 4 of semifinalists).
June 11, 2008: Week 4 results announced in live chat.
June 11-17, 2008: Week 5 voting (Wild card semifinalists).
June 18, 2008: Week 5 results announced in live chat.

Voting for the finals will then begin on June 18, with one finalist eliminated each week, resulting in the identity of the Adonis 2008 being revealed on September 3, 2008.

Be sure to join us all summer long!

Cibrian taking his dimples to ABC's 'Ugly Betty'

This item from JustJared made my day:

Dimples du jour Eddie Cibrian has nabbed a multi-episode on the hit ABC drama Ugly Betty, reports TV Guide.

Cibrian, 34, will play the love interest of Betty’s older sister Hilda Suarez (Ana Ortiz). The Cuban-American actor will also play the gym teacher of Hilda’s son, Justin (Mark Indelicato). You can bet we’ll be seeing Eddie in short shorts and in various states of undress!

Cibrian will appear in three eps this season with the possibility of returning in the fall. Ugly Betty returns April 24 with five new eps."

Writers with ideas like this should never go on strike!