ABC’s legendary sudser “General Hospital” is looking to defend its crown at the Daytime Emmys, landing 19 nominations this year — the most of any program — as the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced contenders for the landmark 50th annual Daytime Emmy Awards.
Last year, “General Hospital” was the big winner with five awards — including best daytime drama — as the telecast returned to a live, in-person event. This time out, NATAS first revealed multiple categories Tuesday night via various entertainment shows, and it looked like CBS’ “The Young and the Restless” — also in the middle of its 50th anniversary celebration — had taken an early lead.
But after all was tallied, CBS’ “The Bold and the Beautiful” was actually next in line, with 14 nods, followed by “The Young and the Restless” (13), NBC’s “Days of Our Lives” (11) and the most-honored non-serial, the syndicated “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” also with 11.
Also having a good morning: Variety, which landed two nominations in the arts and popular culture program category, for the Lifetime special “Variety Power of Women: Changemakers” and the PBS series “Variety Studio: Actors on Actors.” “Actors on Actors” is executive produced by Donna Pennestri, John Ross, Ramin Setoodeh, and PBS SoCal’s Michelle Merker and Andrew Russell, while Elizabeth Wagmeister and Clayton Davis are hosts. “Power of Women” is produced by the Category 6 Media group. Executive producers are Sharon Scott, Kristy Sabat and Annie Allen for Category 6 Media group. Amy Winter, Brie Bryant and Shura Davison executive produce for Lifetime. Michelle Sobrino-Stearns, Dea Lawrence, John Ross and Dayna Wolpa produce for Variety. Produced in association with Motion Content Group, a GroupM company. Executive producers are Richard Foster and Chet Fenster.
The Daytime Emmys continue to evolve, following the most recent agreement between the two major TV academies in which several categories have been realigned to focus on genre, rather than dayparts, as a way to divide eligibility between the Primetime (administered by the L.A.-based TV Academy) and Daytime Emmys (handled by the NY-based NATAS).
This means that game shows have now migrated to the Primetime Emmys; meanwhile, children’s and family programming categories have already been removed from both shows and relocated to a new Children’s & Family Emmy Award competition and ceremony, the first of which took place this past December. Also, instructional/how-to programming is now considered strictly the purview of the Daytime Emmys, regardless of daypart. Among other changes this year, informative and entertainment talk show categories have merged into “daytime talk series,” while informative and entertainment talk show host fields are now “daytime talk series host.”
“Today we not only honor this year’s outstanding programs and individuals, we mark a milestone in television history,” said NATAS president/CEO Adam Sharp in a statement. “Our golden anniversary celebrates the talented creators who have made the last 50 years of Daytime Television so unforgettable.”
(Excerpt) Read more and See List of Nominees in: Variety