The 50th Annual Daytime Emmys: Surprises, Snubs, and More

The 50th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards nominations are out, and many of your favorite stars from The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of our Lives, Beyond Salem: Chapter Two, General Hospital, The Young and the Restless have been nominated. Soap Hub looks at this year’s ballot and offers some analysis and opinions on who was snubbed and whose nods raised an eyebrow or two.

The 50th Annual Daytime Emmys: New and Old Blood

Only two of last year’s winning actors have been nominated again. Kelly Thiebaud, who won the award for Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Daytime Drama Series: Actress, has been nominated again. This may be the last year Thiebaud gets a shot at winning a bookend as her character, Dr. Britt Westbourne, died at the hands of the Hook.

Nicholas Alexander Chavez won Outstanding Younger Performer in a Daytime Drama Series for his role as Spencer Cassadine. The actor aged out of the category, so this year, he entered Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Daytime Drama Series: Actor and earned a nod. What’s curious is that both Thiebaud and Chavez are facing competition primarily from actors from their own shows. Three out of the five Supporting Actress nominees are from GH; four of the five Supporting Actor nominees are also from GH.

The late Sonya Eddy received a posthumous nomination in Supporting Actress for her role as nurse Epiphany Johnson on GH; sadly, she’s not the first performer that this has happened to. The late Rosalind Cash (ex-Mary Mae Ward, GH) was honored in 1996 with a nomination in the same category after passing away the previous year.

Thiebaud and Chavez aren’t the only nominees to be thrilled to have been nominated. Sharon Case (Sharon, Y&R), who won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1999, has been overlooked for years. Fortunately, she was honored with a nod in the Lead Performance Actress category this year. Also, Billy M. Flynn scored a nod for his work on DAYS last year as grieving husband Chad DiMera in the Lead Performance Actor category.

Overlooked and/or Not Submitted

GH led acting nominees this year with 11. But where was Maura West? She gave multiple powerhouse performances as her character Ava Jerome Cassadine dealt with her husband Nikolas Cassadine’s marital betrayal. West also shined in episodes in which Ava confronted Esme Prince (Avery Kristen Pohl). Soap Hub hears that West didn’t earn a nod for one simple reason — her name was not submitted for consideration.

Another GH player last year not on the ballot was Linda Purl, who seemed a shoo-in for the Outstanding Guest Performance in a Daytime Drama Series for her role as Peyton Honeycutt. Soap Hub also hears that Purl’s work (curiously) was not submitted for Daytime Emmy consideration.

The 50th Annual Daytime Emmys: Who’s Who

Soap Hub hears that many daytime stars, including past winners and nominees, did submit themselves, but they did not get nods. Actresses who threw their hat in the ring for Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Daytime Drama Series: Actress include: Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie, DAYS), Courtney Hope (Sally, Y&R), Carolyn Hennesy (Diane, GH), and Naomi Matsuda (Li, B&B).

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Daytime Drama Series: Actor hopefuls included Stephen Nichols (Steve, DAYS), Matthew Atkinson (Thomas, B&B), Dominic Zamprogna (Dante, GH), and Bryton James (Devon, Y&R). Actors who were sent in for consideration in Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Daytime Drama Series: Actor include Michael Mealor (Kyle, Y&R), Tanner Novlan (Finn, B&B), Greg Rikaart (Leo, DAYS), and Evan Hofer (Dex, GH).

William Lipton, who’s on a hiatus as Cameron Webber on GH, was submitted for Outstanding Younger Performer in a Daytime Drama Series, but he did not make the cut. However, Lipton was honored with a nomination for Original Song for his tune Darling Darling, which he performed on GH.

There’s a reason this year’s Outstanding Younger Performer in a Daytime Drama Series nominees all seem a little, well, young. This year, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences implemented an updated rule that says candidates must be age 18 or younger. Entrants could turn 18 at any time in the calendar year and remain eligible. (Nominee Eden McCoy, Joss, GH, was 18 until her 19th birthday last year on June 10.)

The First-Timers Club

The 50th Annual Daytime Emmys brought nods to first-time nominees Krista Allen (Taylor, B&B), Dan Feuerriegel (EJ, DAYS), and Alley Mills (Heather, GH) in the respective categories of Outstanding Performance in a Daytime Series: Actress; Outstanding Performance in a Daytime Series: Actor, and Outstanding Guest Performance in a Daytime Drama Series. All three of these performers were tasked with taking over their respective roles from fan-favorite predecessors and have won over audiences in short order.

Guest Performer Evolution

The Outstanding Guest Performance in a Daytime Drama Series category has existed in one form or another over the decades. Past candidates and winners include Oscar winner Celeste Holm (Clara and Lydia Woodhouse, Loving), singer Sammy Davis Jr. (Chip Warren, One Life to Live), film actress Dee Wallace (Patricia Spencer, GH), and Knots Landing legend Donna Mills (Madeline Reeves, GH; ex-Abby, Knots). (Mills won the award in 2015 for playing GH’s Madeline.)

However, in recent years, we’ve seen fewer names from outside of the soap world in this category and, instead, we’ve seen on the ballot more actors who could easily be in supporting categories as they play ongoing roles in daytime dramas. (But they fulfill the criteria for Guest Performance candidates.) Actors who appeared in the streaming series Beyond Salem: Chapter Two and The Bay were eligible for Daytime Emmys. However, Steve Burton was the only actor to appear in a streaming series to earn a nod. He was nominated for Guest Performance for playing Harris Michaels on Beyond Salem: Chapter Two.

While The Bay was not honored with acting nods, the award-winning digital drama series is up for three Daytime Emmys this year in the categories of Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Writing Team for a Daytime Drama Series, and Outstanding Directing Team for a Daytime Drama Series.

Don’t miss The 50th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards broadcast on Friday, June 16, at 9 p.m. on CBS. The awards show will also stream on Paramount Plus.