38th Annual Daytime Emmy Nominations

The usual suspects and some strange head-scratchers dominated the list of nominees for the 38th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards. GH led with 21 nominations, while Y&R claimed 20.

Both of those soaps are up for Best Drama Series, along with AMC (13 noms) and last year's winner, B&B (14 nods).

OLTL, generally considered to be the best soap on the air, received scant recognition thanks to their annual bungling of tape submissions. (Really, OLTL? You submitted "Starr X'ed Lovers?") The show received 12 nominations, nothing bigger than the supporting races.

NBC's lone soap, DAYS, received five nominations. The now canceled ATWT got four nods in its last at-bat.

Among soap hunks nominated were DAYS' James Scott and Chandler Massey, GH's Jason Thompson and Chad Duell, Y&R's Billy Miller, and B&B's Scott Clifton.

The major nominations:

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
All My Children (ABC)
The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)
General Hospital (ABC)
The Young and the Restless (CBS)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR
Maurice Benard, GH
Ricky Paull Goldin, AMC
Christian LeBlanc, Y&R
Michael Park, ATWT
James Scott, DAYS

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS
Susan Flannery, B&B
Alicia Minshew, AMC
Debbi Morgan, AMC
Michelle Stafford, Y&R
Laura Wright, GH
Colleen Zenk, ATWT

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR

Doug Davidson, Y&R

Jonathan Jackson, GH

Brian Kerwin, OLTL

Billy Miller, Y&R

Jason Thompson, GH

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Tricia Cast, Y&R
Melissa Claire Egan, AMC
Nancy Lee Grahn, GH
Julie Pinson, ATWT
Heather Tom, B&B
Bree Williamson, OLTL

(No Robin Strasser, Academy? Really?!)

OUTSTANDING YOUNGER ACTOR
Scott Clifton, B&B
Chad Duell, GH
Chandler Massey, DAYS

OUTSTANDING YOUNGER ACTRESS
Lexi Ainsworth, GH
Brittany Allen, AMC
Emily O'Brien, Y&R

The 38th Annual Daytime Emmys will be televised live from Las Vegas June 19th on CBS.

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!

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.