Hallelujah! Don Diamont back, joining B&B

This just in from the Dreams Do Come True department: legendary soap hunk and your Webmaster's Numero Uno, Don Diamont, has just announced plans to join B&B in April as Bill Spencer, Jr. This comes less than a month after the 22-year vet's character of Brad Carlton was killed off of Y&R.

I think now everyone can agree that all is right once again in the world.

(Special note to B&B head writer Bradley Bell: The shirt off. And often!)

Daytime Emmy Pre-Nominations Announced

There may or may not be an actual televised ceremony, but nonetheless we do have our annual whittling down of possible nominees for daytime's highest "honor," released this morning by the Academy.

If you're not familiar with how the Daytime Emmys work these days, the ultimate nominees will be taken from this "pre-nomination" list. Hidden, undiscussed rule: if you see a "Y&R" next to a candidate's name, they are practically a lock for a nomination, regardless of level of merit.

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS
AMC - Debbi Morgan, Bobbie Eakes - ABC
ATWT - Maura West, Elizabeth Hubbard - CBS
B&B - Susan Flannery, Katherine Kelly Lang - CBS
DAYS - Renee Jones, Lauren Koslow - NBC
GH - Laura Wright, Sarah Brown - ABC
GL - Kim Zimmer, Gina Tognoni - CBS
OLTL - Kassie DePaiva, Susan Haskell - ABC
Y&R - Jeanne Cooper, Judith Chapman - CBS

Sorry, La Lucci.

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR
AMC - Darnell Williams, Thorsten Kaye - ABC
ATWT - Michael Park, Grayson McCouch - CBS
B&B - John McCook, Ronn Moss - CBS
DAYS - Peter Reckell, Thaao Penghlis - NBC
GH - Maurice Benard, Anthony Geary - ABC
GL - Robert Newman, Daniel Cosgrove - CBS
OLTL - Michael Easton, Robert Woods - ABC
Y&R - Peter Bergman, Christian LeBlanc - CBS

How is Robert S. Woods a) a lead performer in 2008 and b) more deserving of lead actor consideration than Trevor St. John?

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS
AMC - Melissa Claire Egan, Alicia Minshew - ABC
ATWT - Kelley Menighan Hensley, Julie Pinson - CBS
B&B - Alley Mills, Heather Tom - CBS
DAYS - Arianne Zucker, Tamara Braun - NBC
GH - Rebecca Herbst, Carolyn Hennesy - ABC
GL - Crystal Chappel, Marcy Rylan - CBS
OLTL - Bree Williamson, Kathy Brier - ABC
Y&R - Adrienne Frantz, Amelia Heinle - CBS

No bones for Genie Francis this go round, huh, GH? And once again, if AMC's Alicia Minshew isn't a lead actress, I don't know who is. Actually this entire ceremony is rendered invalid to me, given the exclusion of OLTL's Melissa Fumero, who gave the best performance by any actor in a any category in 2008.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR
AMC - Vincent Irizarry, Jacob Young - ABC
ATWT - Van Hansis, Trent Dawson - CBS
B&B - Kyle Lowder, William DeVry - CBS
DAYS - Jay Johnson, Stephen Nichols - NBC
GH - Bruce Weitz, Bradford Anderson - ABC
GL - Lawrence Saint-Victor, Jeff Branson - CBS
OLTL - John-Paul Lavoisier, Tuc Watkins - ABC
Y&R - Michael Graziadei, Ted Shackelford - CBS

Tuc Watkins and JPL soooooo both deserve to win. Hence, neither will be nominated. No longer Younger Actor material, Hansis has to play with the big boys now.

OUTSTANDING YOUNGER ACTRESS
AMC - Brianne Moncrief, Shannon Kane - ABC
ATWT - Marnie Schulenburg, Meredith Hagner - CBS
B&B - Jacqueline MacInnes Wood - CBS
DAYS - Molly Burnett, Rachel Melvin - NBC
GH - Kirsten Storms, Julie Berman - ABC
GL - Caitlin Van Zandt, Bonnie Dennison - CBS
OLTL - Kristen Alderson, Farah Fath - ABC
Y&R - Christel Khalil, Emily O'Brien - CBS

Storms and Alderson deserve to duke it out. I doubt either of those will score nominations either, if the past is any indication!

OUTSTANDING YOUNGER ACTOR
AMC - Daniel Kennedy, Cornelius Smith, Jr. - ABC
ATWT - Billy Magnussen, Mick Hazen - CBS
DAYS - Blake Berris, Darin Brooks - NBC
GL - EJ Bonilla - CBS
OLTL - Brandon Buddy, Edward Alderson - ABC
Y&R - Bryton McClure, Kevin Schmidt - CBS

B&B is MIA, which is LOL. If Brandon Buddy gets a nom while his more gifted OLTL co-stars get shafted, I shall not be pleased. Why isn't the kid who plays OLTL's Shane up here? He's better than both of them!

JPL's hair MIA

Wow! The 2008 Soaphunks.net Award winner for Best Hair now barely has any left! Check out what OLTL's John-Paul Lavoisier has done to his coiffure. I'll have to see it in motion before I know what I really think of it...