Thoughts on the 2011 Daytime Emmy Show

Here are my thoughts on the 2011 Daytime Emmy Show that aired for two hours on CBS on Sunday, June 19, 2011. Like last year, a lot of people were disappointed by the show hosted by Wayne Brady.

Wayne came out and performed with JabbaWockeeZ who won the first season of America’s Best Dance Crew on MTV. Yes I watched that show and I like them. What they have to do with the Daytime Emmys I have no clue. After they left, Wayne had to speak a “lame” line about the forced retirements of One Life to Live, All My Children and Erica Kane. Booing came from the audience and Susan Lucci didn’t look all that happy. At least Wayne was nice enough to admit he didn’t write that crap. Of course, some fans of Guiding Light can’t even stand the sight of him, because of Let’s Make a Deal, but at least CBS waited until no one from GL was eligible to win an award. I liked what Debbi Morgan said about All My Children ending even if it is a Boyz II Men song.

Since there were so many ties at the end it seemed like they were rushing. I can understand that, I don’t think we saw the accountants on the show. Like last year there was no in memory of segment and there were no clips for nominated programs. They also didn’t mention any of the awards that were given out over the weekend for the technical categories. Even if they couldn’t announce the names, it would have been nice if they had suggested to go to the official Emmy website for details.

There were three tributes on the show. We had the Oprah Winfrey one that was the longest and included two performances, the Lifetime Achievement Awards that went to Pat Sajak and Alex Trebek, and a Susan Lucci more so Erica Kane tribute. Oprah won an honorary award at the end of the 25-year run of her show. She was not there to receive the Crystal Pillar honor, but her staff was behind her (many of whom I recognized from her Season 25 series.) Celine Dion performed “Because you Love Me”, from another hotel, and I wondered if there was ever a soap opera montage to that song. It wouldn’t be surprising, as other Celine songs have been used in soaps. Gladys Knight sang “That What Friends Are For”, which was written for AIDS research many years ago. So that’s what I thought about how talk shows including Oprah used to have stories about people living with AIDS. I doubt this was the message they were going for with this performance. Pat Sajak and Alex Trebek shared their speech time, as for years their shows have been teamed up together. The Erica Kane tribute had faces put over famous Erica Cane weddings like Ellen and Dr. Phil. Susan’s daughter Liza Huber (once Gwen on Passions) who had a baby less than six months ago came out with her mom.

This year the big awards went to the following for a more complete list click here:

Outstanding drama: The Bold and the Beautiful

Outstanding actor: Michael Park (Jack As the World Turns)

Outstanding actress: Laura Wright (Carly General Hospital)

Supporting actor: Jonathan Jackson (Lucky GH)

Supporting actress: Heather Tom (Katie B&B)

Outstanding younger actress: Brittany Allen (Former Marissa AMC)
Outstanding younger actor: Scott Clifton (Liam B&B)
Game and audience participation show: Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune

Talk Show Informative: The Dr. Oz Show

Soap writing team: The Young and the Restless

Outstanding Game Show Host: Cash Cab’s Ben Bailey
Talk Show Host Informative: Dr. Mehmet Oz
 and Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa
Talk Show Entertainment: The Ellen Degeneres Show

Drama series directing: B&B, Y&R

Bold and the Beautiful won again…making it a three peat. Michael Park won last year, but this year he didn’t attend the broadcast, I figure it was due to his role on Broadway in How to Succeed in Business without really trying. Laura Wright mentioned her former soap opera homes Loving (though not the City), and Guiding Light upon winning. Her husband John and kids were there, but they didn’t come up on stage and their winery wasn’t mentioned. Jonathan Jackson and Heather Tom were both past younger performer winners. So I thought of that when they were announced and was surprised the voiceover guy didn’t mention it. Jonathan brought his two older kids on stage with him, thanked his co-stars and those who have prayed for him. Heather changed dresses during the show, but seemed shocked and glad. Brittany Allen’s win was surprising to everyone especially Brittany. Scott Clifton got the award in that category the last year that he could. He was nominated in the past for GH and One Life to Live, and finally got it.

If one reads the credits, they would see who helped sponsor the show, which explained some of the focus on Las Vegas and other items like the charities that were discussed. Watching sick kids on what is supposed to be a celebratory evening hurt the flow of the program, and I wish there was a better way to include that material. Again I think about how talk shows cover that material, and wish they had gone that angle. There were in show ads for Jabot cosmetics, which will now be available in stores.

Days of our Lives and One Life to Live went home empty-handed as it looks like they didn’t even get any technical awards. The most surprising win to me was Regis and Kelly, who tied with Dr. Oz. They don’t come to the broadcast and finally they win. Ben Bailey nearly missed his award as he was in the bathroom that was awkward and reminded me of when it happened to a winner on the Golden Globes years ago. The producer of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune made a joke about winning for both game shows.

This year is the last that As the World Turns was eligible, so it was nice that they didn't go home empty handed. Next year, if there is a show, it may sad and difficult to sit through tributes for All My Children and One Life to Live as both will have been off the air for months by that point. Hopefully if someone sat through the program they got a bit of entertainment from it even if it may have been from discussing it online.