The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) announced the final nominees for the 37th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy® Awards on Wednesday. Based on the pre-nominees from each show, we already had an idea of who had a chance. Sadly, some of the best performances of 2010 didn't even make it that far for one reason or another - Grant Aleksander, Beth Maitland and Justin Deas come immediately to mind. Here are my thoughts about the final cut.LEAD ACTRESS
Thankfully Crystal Chappell was nominated. Not only was her performance the best of 2009, she represents one of three nominations for GUIDING LIGHT in its last year of eligibility. I was hoping Terri Colombino would make this list. She had a terrific year and is often underestimated because of Katie's lame storylines. Sarah Brown, who like Chappell appeared in the top 10 of our 50 Greatest Soap Actresses list, was wonderful as Claudia on GENERAL HOSPITAL, whether you liked the character or not, and has the best chance at beating Chappell in this category.
LEAD ACTOR
Hooray for Michael Park. He's doing AS THE WORLD TURNS, two indie soaps and an Off-Broadway musical all at the same time. The hardest working man in the biz! I couldn't be happier for Doug Davidson. He made the most of his screen time in 2009. I'm surprised Maurice Benard and Tony Geary did not make it this year. When is the last time at least one them wasn't nominated? 2005. It would have been nice if David Canary was nominated as he retires. Perhaps next year he'll get one more nod.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Beth Chamberlin! Not only was she wonderful in 2009 dealing with Coop's death and the return of Phillip, she had never been nominated for an Emmy before. About time. Where the heck is Betty White? Sometimes Daytime just can't get anything right. Betty is such a hot commodity, even if she didn't deserve the nomination (and she did!), it would have added so much buzz to the telecast had she been included. Perhaps she'll be part of the show again anyway. It's nice to see Carolyn Hennesy's work recognized. She is a supporting actress on GENERAL HOSPITAL, versus a lead who thinks they have a better shot in supporting. Arianne Zucker deserves it and I'm glad her hard work in 2009 paid off. But she was definitely not a supporting actress in 2009. She was pretty much the lead of the entire show.
SUPPORTING ACTOR
There was no doubt Jonathan Jackson was getting a nomination for his return to GENERAL HOSPITAL as Lucky. And he's already done enough in 2010 to earn a nomination next year too. In my mind, Billy Miller is a lead actor on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS and not supporting. But that is probably more a pecking order decision by the show. Davidson is lead and Miller is supporting? Jeff Branson was robbed! Again, Brian Kerwin is a true supporting actor, what this category used to be about.
YOUNGER ACTRESS
No offense to anyone but when I looked at the final nominee list my first thought was that Julie Berman has this in the bag. This category wasn't particularly strong even expanding to the entire pre-nomination list. I'm happy for Molly Burnett. She works hard and is a class act. Marnie Schulenberg is a wonderful actress. She had good material last year, even though most of it did not make Alison a very sympathetic character. Where's Kirsten Storms?
YOUNGER ACTOR
Drew Garrett was a fabulous addition to GENERAL HOSPITAL and he held his own with the big guns in 2009. He is probably the frontrunner. Zack Conroy was another relative newcomer that had some good material on GUIDING LIGHT. When I saw Scott Clifton's name, my first thought was, "Is he under 25?" He is. Scott Evans didn't make the final list, so sadly neither half of "Kish" will be represented at the Emmys.
DRAMA SERIES
GUIDING LIGHT had a wonderful comeback year in 2009 but submitted its final episode instead of one of the powerhouse "Otalia" moments (Frank and Natalia's wedding anyone? Coop's death?) and didn't make it. ALL MY CHILDREN was nominated for the "Who Shot Stuart?" episode which wasn't one of my favorites. I would have given that slot to DAYS OF OUR LIVES. This category is always a crapshoot because one episode out of an entire year is judged.
GENERAL THOUGHTS
Christel Khalil is the only African-American actor to be nominated. Get with the program daytime!
Last year IMAGINARY BITCHES was nominated in the New Approaches category. I was hoping some of the indie soaps would get a nomination this year. Sadly, none did.
So what did YOU think? Who was the biggest snub? Did the voters get it right? Who do you want to win? Weigh in and let us know.
DAYTIME SOAP OPERAS
