Monday, June 25, 2012

General Hospital Dominates the Daytime Emmy Awards within a Slightly Better, but Boring Ceremony


The show started with a song from one of my favorite Sesame Street characters Oscar the Grouch singing and bantering with Anderson Cooper was cute and straight to the point, but isn’t there more to Daytime than Luke and Laura?

The first award was presented by the four nominees for Outstanding Younger in a Drama Series announcing the winner for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.  Anthony Geary who plays Luke on General Hospital was the victor, and is now the most honored acting winner at the Daytime Emmy Awards with 7 trophies with 30 years of nominations, his first being 1982 when Luke married Laura.  This started the award show train for General Hospital on Saturday night.

I liked the concept between the way they present this award, but showing no scenes was in poor taste.  Yet Geary was a consument professional, and stated it was “a great way to start an evening” and proving that Daytime Dramas are still relevant, and that cancelling GH for “a boob job bonanza” would be a mistake.

Why Daytime?  A producer talking about Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune proves how important this genre is.  Then the women of The Talk poking fun at the confusion between of their show while presenting Outstanding Game Show was terrific.  The eventual winner was Todd Newton from Family Game Night.  I have never seen the show, but his genuine speech made me happy for former E! fame.   The ladies then presented Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show went to Jeopardy.

The show then went on to show people who weren’t just actors, but the costume designer from All My Children, and this theme throughout the night was great, and truly honored the brilliance of what Daytime means.  In a bit of a surprising twist Days of Our Lives won for Outstanding Writing in a drama series, the show has not won the prize since 1976.  Quickly followed Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama series where Jonathan Jackson won for the second year in a row. 

Days of Our Lives was nipping at General Hospital’s heals when Chandler Massey won the award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series.  Barbara Wlaters then presented Bill Geddie with the Lifetime Achievement Award, an honor he deserves with his producing.  I like that they took the time to honor him even with the show feeling rushed.  Dr. Drew took the stage soon after to announce the Outstanding Morning Show Award, which went to The Today Show.

In the same style as Outstanding Lead Actor, the four Younger Actress nominees presented the Outstanding Lead Actress Award to Heather Tom; she is the first person in Daytime to win in every single acting category..  This made two big record breaking moments in the lead categories.

Like the actual award show I am going to speed up the commentary and go right to the point.  The show should have skipped a few of the awards, and honored two of of the Daytime Dramas that left the air All My Children, and One Life to Live better.  Susan Lucci’s tribute was sweet, but was not enough.  Inviting Cameron Matheson along with Lucci is a slap to the history of All My Children, although I was glad they asked Erika Slezak to help honor leading the tribute.  These three just talking about recently cancelled shows was just not enough.  I am mad that the Emmys did these shows wrong like this.

The night ended with General Hospital helping sweep the evening with a win in the best Drama Series category.  The show was better than most recent years, but the quick pacing, and lack of attention to this past year's cancelled shows makes it worse. See the full list of winners below.

Complete List of Winners (Major Categories)

Outstanding Drama Series
General Hospital

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Anthony Geary as Luke Spencer on General Hospital

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Heather Tom as Katie Spencer in The Bold and the Beautiful

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Jonathan Jackson as Lucky Spencer on General Hospital

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Nancy Lee Grahn as Alexis Davis on General Hospital

Outstanding Young Actor in a Drama Series
Chandler Massey as Will Horton on Days of Our Lives

Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series
Cristal Khalil as Lily Winters on The Young and the Restless

Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series
General Hospital

Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series
Days of our Lives

Outstanding Talk Shoe (Entertainment)
Live with Regis and Kelly

Outstanding Talk Show (Informative)
The Dr. Oz Show


Outstanding Talk Show Host
Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa-Live with Regis and Kelly

Outstanding Game Show
Jeopardy

Outstanding Game Show Host
Todd Newton-Family Game Night

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