The nominations for the 29th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards were announced live on Wednesday, March 13th from New York City's famed Rainbow Room.
In the acting nominations announced on CBS's The Early Show, ABC's All My Children and CBS's As The World Turns again captured the lion's share of nominations. Unlike last year, in which virtually all of the other soaps had to settle for nominations in the technical and creative arts categories, there was some variety.
For a second consecutive year, ABC's All My Children and CBS's As The World Turns dominated the acting categories of the Daytime Emmy Awards nominations. Of the 20 nominations available in the four main - Outstanding Lead and Supporting Actor and Outstanding Lead and Supporting Actress - the two soaps combined for 15 nominations. That total was down two from last year's total of 17.
Of the four nominations not going to the two powerhouse soaps, Guiding Light grabbed three nominations. Long-time veteran Robert Newman (Josh Newman) earned his very first nomination this year. The nomination came in the Outstanding Lead Actor field. Newman joined the cast of Guiding Light in 1981. GL's other nominee, Beth Ehlers (Harley Cooper) was on-hand as a presenter in New York City's Rainbow Room when her name was announced as a nominee. This marked Ehler's fourth nomination. Her previous nods came in 1999 (Outstanding Supporting Actress), 1992 and 1993 (Outstanding Younger Actress, in both of the latter two years). Crystal Chappell (Olivia Spencer) snared the show's final nomination. It marked the daytime veteran's first nomination in a career that started in 1984 on Santa Barbara.
Peter Bergman (Jack Abbott) was again The Young and the Restless' sole nominee. The actor picked up his 13th consecutive nomination in the Outstanding Lead Actor category. Bergman won the category in 1992 and 1993.
Though All My Children and As The World Turns dominated the nominations last year as well, there were some new faces among their nominees this time around.
In the Lead Actor category, newcomer Jack Scalia (Chris Stamp) earned his first Daytime Emmy nomination. He'll compete against castmate Vincent Irizarry (David Hayward). Irizarry's nominations is his first for his work on AMC. He was nominated in 1985 in the Outstanding Younger Man (now renamed the Outstanding Younger Actor category) for his work as Brandon "Lujack" Luvanoczeck on Guiding Light. ATWT's Hunt Block (Craig Montgomery) received his second straight nomination in the category. They are joined by the previously mentioned Newman and Bergman. Multiple winner David Canary (Adam Chandler and Stuart Chandler) of AMC won the Emmy in this category last year. In the Lead Actress field, all of the nominees are veteran Emmy contenders. All My Children's Finola Hughes (Anna Devane) marks a bit of history. This is her second nomination for her work on All My Children, but the nominations were for two different characters. Moreover, the character she received a nomination for this year earned her a previous nomination while working on another soap - General Hospital. Confused yet? AMC's Susan Lucci (Erica Kane) also earned a nomination. Last year's winner, ATWT's Martha Byrne (Rose D'Angelo and Lily Snyder) has a chance to earn back-to-back victories. Byrne's castmate Colleen Zenk Pinter (Barbara Ryan) earned a nomination in the Lead Actress category one year after receiving her very first Emmy nomination. The Bold and the Beautiful's Susan Flannery (Stephanie Forrester), an Emmy winner in this field in 2000, received her third consecutive nomination in the category.
All My Children and As The World Turns again ruled the Outstanding Supporting Actor category. AMC's Josh Duhamel (Leo du Pres) is the only carryover from last year's ballot. He will be joined by first-time nominees from AMC, Mark Consuelos (Mateo Santos) and Cameron Mathison (Ryan Lavery). ATWT's Paul Leyden (Simon Frasier) also earned his very first Emmy nomination. They'll be joined by Benjamin Hendrickson (Hal Munson), who, like his former on-screen wife Zenk-Pinter, earns just his second Daytime Emmy nomination. Hendrickson was nominated in the Lead Actor category last year. AMC's Michael E Knight (Tad Martin) was the winner in this field last year.
In addition to Guiding Light's Chappell and Ehlers, the Supporting Actress category featured first time nominee Kelly Menighan Hensley (Emily Stewart) from As The World Turns. Hensley's co-worker, Maura West (Carly Tenney) earned her second consecutive nomination in the category. All My Children's Kelly Ripa - a previous nominee in the category in 1998 - rounded out the field. Last year's winner Lesli Kay (Molly Conlan) did not receive a nomination this year.
This year's Daytime Emmys ceremony will be broadcast live from the Theatre and Madison Square Garden on May 17th. CBS will televise the awards.
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