Thoughts on Daytime Emmy Nominations 2017

On Wednesday, March 22, 2017 Emmyonline.com posted the 44th annual drama performer nominations. The winners again will be decided based on who got the most votes during prenominations. Major categories were announced on "The Talk", which got eight nominations. Below is the list and my thoughts on those who were included this year.

All four soap operas: "The Bold and the Beautiful", "Days of Our Lives", "General Hospital", and "The Young and the Restless" were nominated for best show, writing, and direction, so nothing exciting to be seen here.  Casting didn't have B&B, but the technical awards listed all four shows otherwise. In original song, Y&R had one entry, B&B had three (one song had Casey Kasprzyk name spelled wrong though), and Days had one. In Outstanding Stunt Coordination, Terry James will win, but we don't know if it will be for Days or Y&R. I wonder if that ever happened before a guaranteed winner as they are the only nominee.

When it comes to the show totals:

• B&B - 23 (last year they had 23 also)
• Days - 22 (last year they had 16)
• GH - 23 (last year they had 24)
• Y&R - 25 (last year they had 27)

For web soaps, the following shows were nominated: "The Bay The Series", "Red Bird", "Tainted Dreams", "Tough Love Web Series", and Venice The Series". (On the PDF who was nominated for Venice was cut off, and I know nothing about Red Bird or Tough Love Web Series.) There are now lead and supporting nominations for web series, which is new this year. When they first starting giving awards there was one acting category, and now we're up to four that's growth. In actress the following people were nominated: Mary Beth Evans, as Sara Garrett The Bay The Series, Anne Marie Cummings, as Michelle Macabee Conversations in L.A., Alexandra Goodman, as Kitty Mae, Red Bird, Lilly Melgar, as Janice Ramos The Bay The Series, Kelley Menighan Hensley, as Veronica Ashford Tainted Dreams In actor the following people were nominated: Anthony Anderson, as Sean Williams-Grey Anacostia, Kristos Andrews, as Pete Garrett/Young Jack Madison The Bay The Series, Michael Lowry, as Jordan Bradford Tainted Dreams, Michael McShane, as Sam Red Bird, Gustavo Velasquez, as Gus Borrero Conversations in L.A. In supporting and/or guest actress: Jade Harlow, as Lianna Ramos The Bay The Series, Vanita Harbour, as Nicole Hampstead Conversations in L.A., Carolyn Hennesy, as Karen Blackwell The Bay The Series, Natalia Livingston, as Liza Park Tainted Dreams, Kym Whitley, as Big Candi The Bay The Series In supporting and/or guest actor:  Matthew Ashford, as Steve Jensen The Bay The Series, Nicolas Coster, as Mayor Jack Madison The Bay The Series, Ronn Moss, as John Blackwell The Bay The Series, Armin Shimerman, as Max Red Bird, Anthony Wilkinson, as Anthony DiGiacomo Tainted Dream. I'm not familiar with everyone nominated, so we'll see what happens here.

The game show categories  we had five shows and hosts nominated. Wayne Brady, Craig Ferguson, Steve Harvey, Pat Sajak, and Alex Trebek were nominated. Only Sajak's show of "Wheel of Fortune" wasn't nominated. The others' respective shows: "Let's Make a Deal", "Celebrity Name Game", "Family Feud", and "Jeopardy" were nominated along with "The Price is Right".

Lead Actress
Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis, GH)
Gina Tognoni (Phyllis, Y&R)
Heather Tom (Katie, B&B)
Jess Walton (Jill, Y&R)
Laura Wright (Carly, GH)

Last year's winner Mary Beth Evans was on the ballot (no one from Days was nominated this year), but didn't get a nomination, so we will have a different winner this year. That said everyone already is an Emmy winner, though some have won the award for another role.

Lead Actor
Peter Bergman (Jack, Y&R)
Scott Clifton (Liam, B&B)
Billy Flynn (Chad, Days)
Vincent Irizarry (Deimos, Days)
Kristoff St. John (Neil, Y&R)

Last year's winner Tyler Christopher (Nik, GH) wasn't on the prenomination ballot, so obviously we'll get another different winner in 2017. Scott Clifton didn't seem to have as much airtime as in previous years, though he is a lead on B&B. Billy Flynn is the only one who has never won a Daytime Emmy.

Supporting Actress
Stacy Haiduk (Patty, Y&R)
Finola Hughes (Anna, GH)
Anna Maria Horsford (Vivian, B&B)
Kate Mansi (Abby, Days)
Kelly Sullivan (Sage, Y&R)

Last year's winner Jessica Collins is no longer on Y&R, and won for her write-off story in 2016. So again we'll have a new winner. Stacy was on for a short arc this past year, Kelly's character was killed off, Kate left by her own choice, and Anna Maria's was working off contract and has the possibility of getting a prime time gig. So we only have a 20% chance of a current cast member winning in Finola, which is rather surprising.

Supporting Actor
John Aniston (Victor, Days)
Steve Burton (Dylan, Y&R)
Chad Duell (Michael, GH)
Jeffrey Vincent Parise (Carlos/Joe, GH)
James Reynolds (Abe, Days)

Last year's winner Sean Blakemore is no longer on GH, and not included. Steve is the only person who was in this category last year, though he left Y&R, so probably he won't be nominated again in 2018. The actors are actually supporting or were short-term, as while Chad airs regularly most of Michael's airtime isn't about him, which can be said for everyone except Steve's Dylan. There is diversity in both age and race, which didn't disappear with the final list.

Younger Actress
Lexi Ainsworth (Kristina, GH)
Reign Edwards (Nicole, B&B)
Hunter King (Summer, Y&R)
Chloe Lanier (Nelle, GH)
Alyvia Alyn Lind (Faith, Y&R)

Last year's winner was True O'Brien from Days, whose character of Paige was murdered by a serial killer, so we can't have a repeat winner. Reign and Hunter got nominations again. Chloe is new, Lexi's story was short but enough to make a reel, and Alyvia is the one child actress, though she's won awards for other acting work.

Younger Actor
Bryan Craig (Morgan, GH)
Pierson Fodé (Thomas, B&B)
James Lastovic (Joey, Days)
Tequan Richmond (TJ, GH)
Anthony Turpel (RJ, B&B)

Last year's winner Bryan Craig is on the list, but he departed GH in 2016 including him only three people were final nominees in this category: Pierson & Tequan. James is a new nominee as is Anthony, a teen actor playing his own age.

 The guest category nominees are:

Tobin Bell (Yo Ling, Days)
Don Harvey (Tom Baker, GH)
Monica Horan (Kieran Cannistra, B&B)
Nichelle Nichols (Lucinda, Y&R)
Jim O'Heir (Matt Cannistra, B&B)

Only Kieran and Matt didn't die or play evildoers on screen and recently appeared on B&B in another comedic appearance. We'll see what happens here, as I have no idea how this will go.

Congrats to the nominees, I hope we get to see the reels soon. The show will be April 30, and hopefully we'll be able to see it live streaming instead of having to depend on a Periscope feed.