Erika Slezak (Viki Lord, One Life to Live), Robert S. Woods (Bo Buchanan, OLTL), and Laura Wright (Carly Jacks, General Hospital) visited Soap Central Live to talk about their Daytime Emmy nominations. To listen now, click here
With the number of daytime drama series shrinking to just four series, there has been concern that the Daytime Emmys ceremony has lost some of its luster. Still, there was a definite air of excitement as this year's six eligible soap operas learned which members of their cast and crew had been nominated for the industry's highest honor.
General Hospital led the pack this year with 23 nominations -- half of those coming in the six acting categories. The Young and the Restless placed second with 16 nominations, followed by Days of our Lives with 15. The 15 nominations were the most DAYS has ever amassed in a single year.
In its final year of Emmy eligibility, All My Children received 11 nominations -- three acting, six in the Creative Arts technical categories, and nods for Outstanding Writing Team and Outstanding Drama Series.
One Life to Live also received 11 nominations. Technically, since the show aired for nine episodes in 2012, One Life to Live is eligible for next year's Emmys. It remains to be seen if anyone from the show will toss their hat into the ring when the nominating process takes place in early 2013.
The Bold and the Beautiful, which was the big winner at last year's Emmys, received 11 nominations. Three of the show's performers were honored with nominations. After having won the Daytime Emmys' top honor in each of the last three years, B&B was left out of the running for Outstanding Drama Series.
It is not unprecedented for a top show winner to be left off the ballot the following year. In 2008, General Hospital won its record-setting tenth Outstanding Drama Series crown. The following year, it was not nominated as top show.
Changes to the voting process allowed General Hospital to score a commanding 11 total acting nominations. Four of the five Outstanding Supporting Actor nominees are members of the GH cast.
Since 2003, in order to keep the balloting fair and prevent so-called bloc voting, shows were limited to just two nominees in each of the acting categories. This year, NATAS allowed any and all performers wanting to be considered for a Daytime Emmy to submit their names for consideration. With the exception of the Supporting Actor category, each of the other acting categories featured performers from at least three different soaps.
One Life to Live veteran Erika Slezak (Viki Lord) will have another chance to add to her Emmy cache. Slezak is the winningest actress in Daytime Emmy history, having win six Outstanding Lead Actress trophies. She's won in 1984, 1986, 1992, 1995, 1996, and 2005.
On the men's side, General Hospital's Anthony Geary (Luke Spencer) also has another chance to win another Emmy. Geary also has six Daytime Emmy wins.
The Daytime Emmy ceremony will return to Los Angeles this year after having taken place in Las Vegas for the last two years. This year's ceremony will be held at the Beverly Hilton on June 23.
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