This year's Emmys were all about setting new records. Susan Lucci snapped a losing streak at eighteen as she finally took home an Emmy award. The Young and the Restless notched an amazing twenty-one nominations, a record that will be logged in the Guinness Book of Records. With all the cheering, many failed to notice that General Hospital set a record of its own: most Emmy wins.
GH took home a whopping eight awards, five of which were presented live during the Emmy telecast. The remaining three awards were part of the pre-ceremony technical awards.
GH swept the male acting categories. Jonathan Jackson (Lucky Spencer) picked up his second-consecutive Outstanding Younger Leading Actor award. The win didn't come as a surprise to many as Jackson was the favorite going into the night. The win was somewhat bittersweet as Jackson's finale airdate on GH draws ever closer.
Another heavy favorite to win an Emmy was Stuart Damon (Alan Quartermaine). Damon has been nominated a total of seven times, but this was his very first victory. Damon submitted clips of Alan's battle with drug addiction to the Emmy panel for consideration.
Anthony Geary (Luke Spencer) was pitted against four previous Emmy winners in the Lead Actor category. Geary, a previous winner himself, edged out All My Children's David Canary (Adam and Stuart Chandler), Peter Bergman and Eric Braeden of The Young and the Restless (Jack Abbott and Victor Newman, respectively), and One Life to Live's Robert S Woods (Bo Buchanan).
GH was also awarded for its writing. The show picked up the Outstanding Writing nod for clips it submitted revolving around the examining of Luke and Laura's early relationship. Initially written as a romance, over a decade later Luke was forced to face the fact that he had actually sexually assaulted his present day wife, Laura.
The night ended with GH being crowed Outstanding Drama Series. Creator Wendy Riche said very few words upon accepting the award. It was unclear if she was asked to keep the speech short so that the telecast did not run long of if she did not want to detract from the celebration that was still surrounding Susan Lucci's overdue win.
