This year’s 47th annual Daytime Emmy Awards were back on television for the first time since 2011, and back on CBS.  Due to the times we are living in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic, the usual kudofest, honoring the best in daytime programming, had to move from its originally scheduled live event to a virtual one.

That also means for us at Michael Fairman TV, the usual backstage “Winner’s Walk” interviews conducted immediately following some of your daytime drama favorites big wins also had to altered for this unique year.

So we had our own, if you will, “Virtual Winner’s Walk” albeit without the walk and without the glitz and glamour.  That being said, it all felt much more intimate as we spoke immediately following Friday night’s broadcast with these newly crowned winners:  Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series winner, The Young and the Restless’ Jason Thompson (Billy Abbott); Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series winner, The Bold and the Beautiful’s Heather Tom (Katie Logan Spencer); who tied One Life to Live’s Erika Slezak (Ex-Viki) with the most wins by an actress in Daytime Emmy history with 6,  Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series winner, The Young and the Restless’ Bryton James (Devon), and Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series winner, The Young and the Restless’, Eva Larue (Ex-Celeste).  All four of these conversations were emotional, candid, and touching.

Over the weekend, we caught up with Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series winner, Tamara Braun (Ex-Kim Nero, General Hospital) for another heartfelt chat on her second all-time win in the category, and Outstanding Writing Team in a Drama Series winner, The Bold and the Beautiful’s executive producer and head writer, Brad Bell, who won this award for the fifth time in his career as he shared how much he learned from his late legendary parents and Y&R and B&B co-creators: Lee Phillip Bell, who was part of the In-Memoriam tribute on the telecast, and the late Bill Bell.

Each of these interviewsare also posted on The Michael Fairman Channel on You Tube.  Make sure to “subscribe” to the channel for more celebrity interviews and features.

Now watch the reactions, thoughts and emotions of this year’s major Daytime Drama Emmy winners below!  Then let us know, who you were most excited about being honored with the Emmy, and more via the comment section .

As part of “Villains” theme week on The Young and the Restless, Tracey E. Bregman (Lauren) and Kimberlin Brown Pelzer (Sheila) reunited for a walk down memory lane of one of the greatest and most twisted knock-out drag-out feuds in the history of daytime drama.

The longtime iconic duo talk about many of their storylines; complete with baby switches, notorious catfights, doppelgangers, treachery and more, with Michael Fairman for a very special virtual conversation on The Michael Fairman Channel on You Tube.  Tracy and Kimberlin chatted with Michael from their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Photo: CBS

During the interview, Kimberlin revealed how: she was originally cast as Sheila, what happened when she thought she was exiting Y&R for good and her run with Sheila was over; only to find out that Bill Bell (C0-Creator, Y&R and B&B) had plans for her to move over to The Bold and the Beautiful and continue playing the role.

In addition, Tracey shares: how some of those iconic fight scenes between the two were physically demanding and tough to do, plus the actresses give us insight into filming some of their most popular scenes; including yesterday’s classic episode that aired (which can now be found on CBS All-Access and CBS.com under season 42) where Sheila wreaks havoc on Lauren and Michael’s (Christian LeBlanc) honeymoon with an assist from “Terrible” Tom played by the late Roscoe Born.

Photo: JPI

Finally, the women weigh-in on what they think a solid storyline would be in 2020 or 2021; if Sheila was to re-emerge in Genoa City and reignite the feud with Lauren and her loved ones!

Watch the virtual conversation with Tracey and Kimberlin below.  Then let us know, would you want to see Sheila come back to Y&R and cause Tracey and her family some serious trouble? Comment below.

As a precursor to, and now post-script to last night’s The Story of Soaps special on ABC, One Life to Live’s leading lady and six-time Daytime Emmy winner, Erika Slezak, chatted with Michael Fairman in a very special virtual conversation on You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel  prior to the airing of the two-hour event that look into the history and the world of daytime and primetime soaps.

Erika appeared within the primetime special along with many other notables from the world of daytime.

Photo: JPI

Chatting from her home in Connecticut, Erika talked candidly about her beginnings on the ABC soap when she was first cast as Viki, and how her early castmates helped her through that challenging time. She also discussed the importance and challenges of playing Viki’s DID storyline where she played multiple alters, and, of course, her longstanding on-screen rivalry with frenemy Dorian Cramer Lord played by Robin Strasser.

As fans of One Life know, Viki certainly had her share of husbands over the years, and you will learn Erika’s thoughts on working with several of them from: Mark Derwin (Ex-Ben), to Brian Kerwin (Ex-Charlie), to Roy Thinnes (Ex-Sloan) and more.

Photo: JPI

But what was life like for Erika, playing the moral center of One Life day in and day out for over 42 years and the responsibility that comes with that? She weighs-in on that as well.  Later, the discussion turns to her emotional final day of taping at ABC’s OLTL following its cancellation, the move to Prospect Park, and if she would ever consider working on another one of the four remaining daytime soaps.

Photo: JPI

Slezak has won the most Daytime Emmys of any actress, and she recalls the time she was nominated with 7 other actresses in the Lead Actress category and the start of the annual “Ladies Lunch” with the nominees via Susan Flannery.

For a deep-dive conversation into the genre with this soap legend, check it out below.

Then let us know if you were thrilled to see Erika, and hear what she had to say via the comment section.