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Beloved Soap Stars Left Out of 2021 Primetime Emmy Broadcast In-Memoriam Tribute

Photos: ABC/IMDB

Last night, during the presentation of the 73rd annual Primetime Emmys broadcast on CBS, the annual In-Memoriam segment brought with it so many households names in a year that saw so many legacy talents and more pass away.

The tribute was performed by Leon Bridges and Jon Batiste to Bridge’s song, “River”, and as the images of the departed played across the screens from Cloris Leachman to Cicely Tyson, to Ed Asner to Michael K. Williams, and more, it was clear that several of the major late daytime soap stars were not included in the on-air tribute as well as other omissions.

Now granted, we know they will all be a part of next year’s 49th annual Daytime Emmy Awards in-memoriam segment, but still these actors were a part of this community and not only appeared on the soaps, but other shows as well.

Those that daytime fans noticed were not included were: Michael Nader (Ex-Dex Dexter and Dimitri Marick, Dynasty and All My Children) Stuart Damon (Ex-Alan Quartermaine, General Hospital), Ray MacDonnell (Ex-Joe Martin, All My Children) and Jay Pickett (Ex-Frank Scanlon, Port Charles).

From primetime MIA action were: Michael Constantine (Ex-Room 222), Tanya Roberts (Ex-Charlie’s Angeles), Director, Richard Donner, writer Larry McMurty, and DMX, to name but a few.

However, the Television Academy did list all of its members who died on their website in the In-Memoriam section, because due to time constraints, they could not possibly showcase everyone.

What do you feel about the omissions of Nader, Damon, MacDonnell, Pickett, and more from the In-Memoriam tribute? Let us know in the comment section, but first watch the segment.

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Damon’s primetime Prince Charming notwithstanding, as these are the primetime Emmy awards, arguments could be made for Constantine and Nader. Otherwise, the main issue with the In Memoriam section was too much focus on the musicians and not enough focus on the screen caps of the deceased.

No major controversy here.

Just as the Emmys, Daytime Emmys, Oscars, and other such award shows are, in essence, popularity contests and “buzz-fests,” that mentality often extends into their In-Memoriam segments as well as (frequently) the nominees/winners. Despite the strides made by soaps as an entertainment genre over the decades, culminating in the unprecedented (and never to be seen again) heights of popularity and buzz for GH’s Luke and Laura phenomenon, daytime TV has always been, and will always be, considered a second-class citizen. The fact that there are only four such soaps on the air clearly adds to their perceived irrelevance. I have felt (and stated in these pages) that the soap categories in the Daytime Emmys are virtually impotent and meaningless as the population base for the genre is, again, just four soaps.

A case can be made for the four actors featured in this story to be included in any such In-Memoriam tribute, partly because, as mentioned, some had made forays into primetime, primarily Michael Nader (Dynasty) and Stuart Damon (Cinderella). And Ray McDonnell spent decades on AMC, as did Damon at GH, but the Emmy braintrust didn’t seem to notice or care.

Just like high school has its two-tiered system of popular kids and unpopular ones (often nerds and objects of bullying), so it is with entertainment television. Now, however, there is another distinction: primetime network TV has become irrelevant in the eyes of Emmy voters, in favor of outlets, such as HBO, NetFlix, Apple, Showtime, etc. There continues to be a dearth of nominations for network TV shows and its stars. Mariska Hargitay of Law & Order: SVU continues to turn in outstanding work year after year, but she and her show have been ignored by Emmy voters for quite a few years. I put her acting talent against anyone acting today and in recent years. (She WAS nominated 8 times and won once. So there’s that….)

Sadly, the disrespect continues…

Jamesj75, I agree with EVERYTHING you wrote brilliantly. Emmys are nice for the recipient but I don’t respect them anymore. Mariska is a prime example. What about excellent Kelli Giddish as the complex, heroic Amanda Rollins on SVU… never even nominated! Or the magnificent Kelly Bishop, passed over SEVEN SEASONS as the divine Emily on GILMORE GIRLS? Ridiculous. Meanwhile, every year it’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tony Shalhoub, Alex Boorstein, and others winning OVER AND OVER again. Years ago, Candice Bergen had the class to not put her name forward after several wins. My mother puts it best: “He/She just has to show up on the set to get nominated!” And when Chadwick Boseman passed, he got far more coverage than the legendary Olivia de Havilland, Neil Simon, or Kirk Douglas the same year. You bet it’s political. At least the Oscars has gotten it right lately (Rami Malek, Renee Zellweger, Daniel Kaluuya). Always great to see you in print, James!

Soaphound, what a day brightener your reply is! I am thrilled that you saw fit to reply to my somewhat lengthy, somewhat tangential rant. Always good to see your remarks here as well! Glad you like Mariska, too; and you’re right about Kelli Giddish and Kelly Bishop — all amazing actresses.

You’re right about the same actors/actresses winning year after year, in lieu of some spectacular, yet overlooked performers. It’s happened over decades. I got tired of seeing John Larroquette (Night Court) win every year. Same with some daytime actors. I also agree with you about the coverage in these segments of certain actors over others. Your term, “political,” is right. On a plus note, I also liked the recent Oscar winners you mentioned.

I realize that all of this is subjective, and tastes vary, but we can see the trends…

Take care, Friend!

That’s OK, we the daytime fans will always remember them with love and appreciation of their fine talents.

Actually, I did see Stuart Damon on the written list at the Creative Arts Emmys, but apparently the main show would rather waste time with unfunny comic bits and silly banter. It was always thus.

The argument could be made that the Daytime Emmy also excludes performers that haven’t worked in Daytime, it is what it is. Is there still stigma? I don’t hear it as bad as it use to be, especially now where there’s all this platforms for actors, and at the end of the day, they are actors, producers, writers and directors and creative people in the Entertainment Business. Actors are Actors first, they are not Soap, Sitcom, Prime time or streaming Actors. They are just Actors, ok said enough. and I agree with what I read below that now this in memoriam are more about whose singing then whose Pass away, I wish they would just play some beautiful song and just show us whose gone then we having to “see” the performer of the tribute.

Perhaps one way to deal with the length of the segment and the risk of oversight is to simply list only those individuals who had received Emmy nominations or honorary Emmys during their lifetime in the on-air “In Memoriam” segment. A longer list could be on the Academy website.

more people know the actors than the PR people or writers, even Jean Smarts husband was there and he was really just a bit player/guest star on shows he was on. skipping Tanya Roberts, Michael Constantine, and our soap guys (maybe minus Jay Picket, no offense) was really bad.

All My Children

Malachy McCourt, ‘Ryan’s Hope’ and ‘All My Children’ Actor, Dead at 92

If you watched Ryan’s Hope through its 14-year-run, you know that Kevin the bartender became a beloved “member’ of the Ryan clan on the defunct ABC daytime drama series. The character of Kevin MacGuiness became so loved by the fans because of the actor who portrayed him, Malachy McCourt.

Sadly, according to his wife Diana McCourt to The New York Times, Malachy passed away on Monday from a heart condition and battling cancer. The actor was 92-years-old.

Playing Kevin on Ryan’s Hope was not much of a stretch for McCourt, because in his lifetime, he was the owner of 1950s Irish pub Malachy’s on Third Avenue in Manhattan. Known as one of the city’s great story-tellers, patrons from longshoremen to the actor Richard Harris would stop in and talk all things Irish with . On Ryan’s Hope, Kevin was best friends to “Ryan’s Bar” owner, Johnny Ryan (Bernie Barrow) and he tried to keep Delia (Ilene Kristen) on the straight and narrow.

Photo: ABC

In his soap opera career, McCourt also was widely-known for his role of Father Clarence McCourt on All My Children especially come Christmastime. Was Clarence, actually St. Nick? That was always the proverbial question. McCourt also appeared on the New York soaps: One Life To Live, Search For Tomorrow and Another World. Other roles included: Devil’s Own, Brewster’s Millions, The Molly Maguires, and Starman, to name 

Later in 2006, Malachy ran for governor of the state of New York as a Green Party candidate. He tackled social issues of the time including being an advocate for gay and lesbian groups to march in the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Photo: ABC

McCourt’s childhood was recounted within his brother Frank McCourt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Angela’s Ashes, which detailed their mother’s attempt to raise the four of their surviving seven children in poverty in Limerick, Ireland. Later, Malachy wrote his own memoirs: 1998’s Monk Swimming, and 2000’s Singing My Him Song.

Malachy is survived by his aforementioned wife, Diana, daughter Siobhan McCourt; sons Malachy Jr., Conor and Cormac; stepdaughter Nina Galin; nine grandchildren; and one great-grandson.

Share you remembrances and condolences for Malachy McCourt via the comment section, but first check out this scene from a 1983 episode of “Ryan’s Hope” featuring the late actor with Ilene Kristen.

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All My Children

‘Live with Kelly and Mark’s’ Annual ‘After the Oscars’ Show Brings Backstage Interviews, Fashion Review and Red Carpet Arrivals from Movie’s Biggest Night

Monday morning, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos took to the stage at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood for the talk show’s annual Oscar post show.

However, this time it would be Consuelos’ first time as the co-host of ‘Live’ for an Oscars episode. Mark took over the gig from Ryan Seacrest to team with his wife back in April of 2023 and since then the show has seen a ratings spike hitting several all-time highs.

The After the Oscars show opened with a tribute to the movies were the former All My Children stars took on iconic roles from: Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct to Barbie and Ken in Barbie, to the Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller role’s in the romantic comedy Something About Mary and more.

Courtesy/DisneyABC

During After the Oscars, Kelly and Mark were shown in clips backstage as the first stop for the newly-anointed Academy Award winners including: Finneas and Billie Eilish and Da’Vine Joy Randolph. The Bachelor host, Jesse Palmer was the talk show’s guest correspondent who spoke to the nominees, and celebrities as they were entering the Dolby Theatre on Sunday night.

Singer Andy Grammar took to the stage and performed on Live’s  After the Oscars show as well, and Project Runaway’s Elaine Welteroth shared her thoughts on the night’s Oscar fashion.

You can watch the full ‘Live with Kelly and Mark After the Oscars’ show below, plus the full movie parody below that. Now let us know, what do you think of Kelly and Mark’s first post-Oscar show together on ‘Live’? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

 

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All My Children

EXCLUSIVE: Jacob Young, Joan Collins and Nadia Bjorlin to Prague to Film ‘Murder Between Friends’

On Thursday night during the Michael Fairman Channel’s livestream interview centering around Jason Cook’s (ex-Shawn, DAYS and ex-Matt, GH) latest movie Four For Fun which stars Brytni Sarpy (Elena, Y&R) and Jacob Young (ex-JR, AMC, ex-Rick, B&B and ex-Lucky, GH), revealed another upcoming film project with some very familiar faces.

Jacob Young shared an exclusive that he is set to direct, produce and star in a Agatha Christie-like murder mystery feature film aptly tiled Murder Between Friends.

Speaking on the upcoming project, Jacob said, “I’m flying at the end of the March to Prague to direct, produce and star in a film with Joan Collins (ex-Dynasty). Nadia Bjorlin (ex-Chloe, Days of our Lives) is in it, and Toby Alexander Smith from Eastenders (ex-Gray Atkins). Plus, a couple of my Broadway friends and a very well known Czech actress (Hana Vagnerova).”

Photo: BBC

According to Jacob, the production start date is April 1st. He added on the premise of the film, “It’s very Agatha Christie sort of ‘Knives Out’ without having a hundred million dollars to shoot it, but still will be a lovely film nonetheless.” Young said the plan is to finish all principal photography by April 17th.

Photo: JPI

IMDb has more on the film. It shared that former All My Children star Trent Garrett (ex-Asher Pike) is listed as co-directing the feature. Mark Rozzano is listed as writer of Murder Between Friends.

So, what do you think about this upcoming feature from Jacob that will feature Joan Collins, Nadia Bjorlin et al? Share your thoughts in the comment section. 

Then below, check out the full livestream conversation with Jason Cook, Brytni Sarpy and Jacob Young on ‘Four For Fun’ and their notable soap roles.

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