What an evening it was! The 44th annual Daytime Emmy Awards streamed live on Facebook and Twitter Sunday night, live from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California.
A Stellar Opening with a Daytime Chorus!
Mario Lopez and The Talk’s Sheryl Underwood hosted the festivities with spirit and spunk, lending a bit of a frisky air to the festivities as well! Things kicked off with a veritable daytime chorus–stars from all four daytime soaps lent their lovely voices to “Seasons of Love” from the Broadway musical Rent, which they cleverly turned into an ode to daytime. The singers included Robert Palmer Watkins (Dillon, General Hospital), Carla Mosley (Maya, The Bold and the Beautiful), Reign Edwards (Nicole, The Bold and the Beautiful), Jacob Young (Rick, The Bold and the Beautiful), Nadia Bjorlin (Chloe, Days of Our Lives), Eric Martsolf (Brady, Days of Our Lives), and Tristan Lake Leabu (Reed, The Young and the Restless). They were beautifully backed by the Crenshaw High School Choir from Los Angeles, California.
Fortunately, the Facebook feed for the most part went off without a hitch and the awards were off and running.
Awards Recap
The first soap award, for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series went to Steve Burton (ex-Dylan, Y&R). Outstanding Supporting Actress went to Kate Mansi (ex-Abigail, Days).
GH garnered two awards in the Younger Actress/Actor category with Lexi Ainsworth (Kristina) and Bryan Craig (ex-Morgan) both scoring wins. Ainsworth delivered a short but moving speech expressing her honor about being allowed to represent the LGBTQIA community in her character’s onscreen coming out story.
Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama went to Jim O’Heir (Matt, B&B).
The awards for Lead Actress and Actor were saved for later in the show, and they went to Gina Tognoni (Phyllis, Y&R) and Scott Clifton (Liam, B&B). Clifton has the distinction of scoring an Emmy trifecta–he’s the first actor to win in the categories of Outstanding Younger, Supporting, and Lead Actor! Quite the accomplishment. The award for Outstanding Writing Team went to Y&R, and Outstanding Directing Team went to GH, which also capped off the night by winning the award for Outstanding Drama. Kudos to all!
Touching Tribute
The night wasn’t without its tributes. First, Susan Lucci (ex-Erica, All My Children) resplendent in a yellow fishtail gown, led a tribute to the late, iconic Agnes Nixon, creator of AMC and One Life to Live. “She was a visionary, a storyteller, a pioneer,” Lucci began. She said that Nixon always felt that her first responsibility was to entertain, and then to inform, hence her soaps’ groundbreaking storylines. Lucci fondly recounted how, during her fifth callback audition in November, 1969 for the show, she first saw Nixon and was in awe. She shared recollections of Nixon even after she was felled by Parkinson’s disease and a stroke. “She never lost her zest for life,” Lucci said, adding that Nixon finished her autobiography, My Life to Live, just before she passed away in September of 2016. Actors from soaps she created and/or wrote for shared their reminiscences of Nixon, including Michael E. Knight (ex-Tad, AMC) and Erica Slezak (ex-Vicki, OLTL). Many were overcome with emotion at simply the mention of her name, underscoring how much she meant to so many.
30 Years of The Bold and the Beautiful!
The other tribute belonged to The Bold and the Beautiful. Who can forget that 1987 was B&B’s maiden year? Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke) and John McCook (Eric) took to the stage to present a tribute to their soap’s milestone. They introduced a montage of scenes form the years on the show, ranging from the ridiculous to the dramatic. The soap’s entire cast then appeared onstage with Head Writer and Executive Producer Brad Bell.
Looking Forward
It seems as soon as one year’s exciting Daytime Emmy show ends, we at Soap Cities can’t help thinking about what next year’s event will hold. We know that many of you readers may have had issues with your Facebook feeds. Some of us here at Soap Cities did too, here and there, but overall we are grateful we got to watch them. What were your experiences like, dear Soap Cities readers?
Give us your input in the comment section below. Check back with Soap Cities for more soap opera spoilers, recaps, news, and fun! Follow us on Twitter at @soapcities, on Instagram at @soapcities, and come chat with us in our Facebook group. Check your local listings to find out when your favorite shows air.
