Breaking News
NATAS’ Independent Investigative Report Into Daytime Emmys Concluded To Address Daytime Dramas Concerns
NATAS (The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences) released today its independent review of the 45th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, which came on the heels of a potential threatened boycott by executives and notables from the four daytime drama series, if certain procedures were not addressed and their concerns not heard for continuing to participate in the annual event scheduled next year in May.
Michael Fairman TV spoke with NATAS president, Adam Sharp, to ask pointed questions based on the findings of the independent investigation reports findings. That interview will be posted later today.
For now, here are the official report findings released to members of the press this morning ad how the Daytime Emmys and NATAS will address the concerns at-hand.
“From NATAS: On July 30, The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) commissioned an independent review of the 45th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, and in particular, concerns raised by members of the Daytime television community regarding its policies and procedures. The law firm of Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth of Washington, DC, was engaged to conduct this investigation and report their findings and recommendations to the NATAS Board of Trustees. The nature of their engagement was as neutral finders of facts and not as advocates for or representatives of NATAS. Their work is now complete, having included a review of thousands of pages of documents and emails along with several days of interviews with NATAS staff and competition participants.
The resulting report was presented to the NATAS Board of Trustees on Friday, November 2. It is thorough and fair. It levies criticism where criticism is due. And it rightly identifies many ways in which we must do better. To that end, NATAS strongly supports and intends to substantially adopt the Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth recommendations:
We will update and clarify our rulebooks. When we release the 2019 Daytime Emmys “Call for Entries” on November 12, we will update several category criteria to eliminate opportunities for confusion. We will in particular update the requirements in the performer categories (which are at the heart of much of the concern we heard), and we will more specifically define terms such as “episode” where relevant. Additionally, we will audit the guidelines for our other Emmy® competitions to similarly reduce confusion and differences across competitions
We will provide additional resources to the Daytime Emmys:. The 2018 Daytime Emmys generated a record number of entries and tremendous growth in both in-hall and at-home audience, but we did not scale our operations commensurately.
We will add at least one full-time and several part-time positions to our Daytime Emmy® Awards team. While all our staff contribute in meaningful ways to every part of the process, we will divide the leadership of this growing team such that — consistent with the report’s recommendations — the competition and show production will be led by different members of our senior executive team.
Senior Vice President David Michaels will again serve as Executive Producer of the May ceremonies, focusing his energies to build on the success of the 2018 shows, but Executive Director Brent Stanton will take independent and separate responsibility for overseeing the competition.
For processes with potentially adverse results, such as entry disqualification, there will be new and additional review steps — a “second pair of eyes” — and there will be new requirements for documentation. This will help ensure that decisions and guidance are consistent and metered out fairly, and that the handling of such events is appropriately documented.
We will better articulate and make public our core policies and procedures. We will be tasking the Awards team with more specifically documenting and publishing:
- the procedures for reporting and investigating concerns about the awards competition, entries, nominees and winners;
- the guidelines and “checklist” for vetting and potentially disqualifying entries;
- the process and criteria by which we or our accountants select judges, break ties, and/or nullify judges’ ballots;
- internal rules and safeguards that ensure consistent application of our policies; and other matters as we identify.
We will distribute these improved resources as they are completed in the coming months, and will provide coaching around and strict enforcement of these policies and procedures.
We will apply our rules consistently and transparently. We will no longer readily grant deadline extensions or other extraordinary exceptions to our rules. Any technical assistance or waiver we grant must be provided equally to all entrants in an affected category, if not the competition as a whole. And any such assistance or waiver will be documented.
Finally, at the end of the competition we will prepare a Transparency Report, providing a high-level summary of how our rules were employed and enforced over the course of the competition.
We will seek to work more closely with the Television Academy. Recognizing that participants in the Daytime Emmy® competition may be more likely to be members of the Television Academy than of NATAS, we hope to better engage our sister Academy in our processes (as representatives of their members). These efforts could include:
- More consciously prioritizing Television Academy membership as a criterion for judging participation;
- Requesting that the Television Academy reinstate sending emails to their membership encouraging participation as Daytime Emmy® judges;
- Inviting a representative of the Television Academy and its members to begin participating again in our Daytime Emmy® nomination cut-off calls; and
- Inviting a representative of the Television Academy to review questioned submissions, observe backstage operations, and/or be present for the application of statue bands at the Daytime Emmy® ceremony.
We appreciate that the missteps of this and of past years may have impacted some entrants’ confidence in the Daytime Emmy Awards, and we are absolutely committed to earning back their trust. We believe that through these and other improvements, we will once again meet the expectations all participants rightfully have of us.”
So, what do you think of the independent report findings? Do you hope the four network soaps will now participate in the upcoming competition? Share your thoughts below.
Daytime Emmys have long outlived its time.
It’s boring and stupid, actually..
Nobody really gives a hoot about anything daytime to cause it to have ’emmy’s’ LOL
Also– whenever there is a competition to be judged the names of the judges are known/given.
I have never heard the names of the judges; who in the heck is judging the soap awards, why so secret.
The judges should be publicly named.
I rarely agree on the picked winners, many that do not submit their entries had much better performances than the winners.
Daytime Emmys come down to buying a new expensive dress to show off and be seen, ehhh
Daytime Emmys <– bwahaa yah whoopee! 🙂
The 53rd Annual Daytime Emmys are just a day away, and one of the more hotly-contested contests is which of your favorite leading men will walk away with the gold statuette for Outstanding Lead Actor?
The 5 actors who are going for gold each have had quite the history with the Daytime Emmys with several already having racked up several wins. Let’s take a look and the take our Michael Fairman TV poll at the bottom of the post and vote for who you think most deserves this year’s Lead Actor Emmy.
The nominees are: Eric Braeden (Victor Newman, The Young and the Restless), Steve Burton (Jason Morgan, General Hospital), Scott Clifton (Liam Spencer, The Bold and the Beautiful), Thorsten Kaye (Ridge Forrester, The Bold and the Beautiful) and Christian Jules Le Blanc (Michael Baldwin, The Young and the Restless).
Photo: JPI
FIVE ACTORS HAVE ALL PREVIOUSLY WON GOLD
As far as the actors Emmy resumes: Eric Braeden has been nominated nine times for Lead Actor and won once in 1998. Steve Burton is a two-time Daytime Emmy winner, both in the Outstanding Supporting Actor category for GH as Jason Morgan and Y&R as Dylan McAvoy. This nomination makes it Steve’s 10th overall, and his third time in the the Lead Actor category.
Scott Clifton has won three times previously in 2011, 2013 and 2017 and has the distinction of being the only actor to win in Younger Actor, Supporting and Lead. This is his 8th nomination Thorsten Kaye is a two-time Lead Actor winner in 2023 and 2024, while Christian LeBlanc has also won three times as Lead Actor in 2005, 2007 and 2009 and this is his first nod in over a decade.
The 53rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards are set to be handed out in a ceremony on Friday night, October 30 beginning at 8pm ET/5pm PT at the Hollywood Palladium in Hollywood, California. And while there is no network television broadcast partner this year, fans can watch the ceremonies livestreamed on the NATAS/Daytime Emmys You Tube Channel.
Now below, cast your vote for who you think should win Outstanding Lead Actor tomorrow night, and then in the comment section let us know who you are rooting for on Emmy night.
Breaking News
‘General Hospital’s’ Nancy Lee Grahn Hosts Daytime Emmy Lead Actress Dinner Keeping the Tradition With a Twist!
Leave it to General Hospital’s Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis Davis) to throw an intimate get together in her own style! That’s exactly what the two-time Daytime Emmy winner did to keep the tradition of last year’s Lead Actress winner throwing a party for this year’s nominees.
But as has been tradition, where the ladies gathered for their annual nominee lunch, this year on October 28, Grahn decided to make it a dinner party and she cooked all the food instead of venturing to a Los Angeles hotspot.
The Lead Actress lunch has been a tradition started by four-time Daytime Emmy winner, Susan Flannery (ex-Stephanie Forrester, The Bold and the Beautiful and ex-Laura Horton, Days of our Lives) back in 2005. Now, here we are 21 years later and its still going strong.
GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER?
Joining Grahn for for the Lead Actress dinner were 2026 nominees: Heather Tom (Katie Logan Spencer, The Bold and the Beautiful) and Michelle Stafford (Phyllis Summers, The Young and the Restless), Karla Mosley (Dani Dupree, Beyond the Gates), Tamara Tunie (Anita Dupree, Beyond the Gates), and Stacy Haiduk (Kristen DiMera, Days of our Lives).
This year, Karla Mosley and Tamara Tunie became first-time Lead Actress nominees, while Stacy Haiduk, also earned her first Lead Actress nomination, although she had been previously nominated in the Supporting Actress category. Currently, going in to Emmy night, Heather Tom is tied with Erika Slezak (ex-Viki, One Life to Live) for the most Daytime Emmys won by an actress with 6, while Michelle Stafford had racked up three, two for Lead and 1 for Supporting.
HEARTFELT THANK YOU’S FROM LEAD ACTRESS NOMINEES
Taking to her Instagram, Michelle Stafford posted some snaps and shared, “This is SO special. A beautiful night with truly beautiful, extraordinary women. What an incredible tradition that Susan Flannery started. Instead of women competing against each other. Here we have five women who have become friends, lifting each other up and supporting each other. We walk into Friday night with a true gift of friendship. Thank you Nancy Lee Grahn for opening up your beautiful home and catering this incredible dinner. Thank you Dylan for being a good girl for the picture! 🐶”
Meanwhile, Nancy Lee Grahn shared a video on her Instagram of the actresses chatting it up around the dinner table, while explaining she cooked the dinner for all the gals! (You can see it below).
So, what do you think about Nancy serving up the annual Lead Actress gathering with dinner at her house? Excited to see all the nominees together before tomorrow night? Weigh-in via the comment section.
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Breaking News
Eileen Davidson and Lisa Rinna Head to Off-Broadway in ‘Real Housewives’ Rotating Casts in Neil Simon’s ‘Rumors’
Two-time Daytime Emmy winner, Eileen Davidson (Ashley, The Young and the Restless) and Days of our Lives alum, Lisa Rinna (ex-Billie Reed) are set to star Off-Broadway in a ‘Real Housewives’ reimagined version of the classic Neil Simon play Rumors.
The play is also stars other women from the Bravo ‘Real Housewives’ franchise including, Phaedra Parks and Carole Radziwill. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the revival will start this winter with two rotating casts at the Newman Mills Theater at The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space.
Tony Award winner Zhailon Levingston (CATS: The Jellicle Ball) will direct the production, which will play a limited 14-week engagement starting January. 9, 2027, ahead its January 25 opening.
Photo: JPI
WHO JOINS DAVIDSON AND RINNA IN THE CASTS?
Rinna leads cast one along in the role of Chris, Phaedra Parks plays Claire, Stacey Rusch will take on Cookie, and Dolores Catania will play Cassie from January 9 through February 28.
They will be followed by the cast led by Davidson as Claire, Cynthia Bailey as Chris, Carole Radziwill as Cookie, and Candiace Dillard-Bassett as Cassie from March 2 through April 21. The production will mark the New York stage debut for all except Lisa Rinna, who made her debut as Roxie Hart in Chicago in 2007.
In story, the Neil Simon play which originally bowed on Broadway in 1988, focused on four couples gathering for a party in a wealthy New York Suburb, where instead of fun “they find their host in an alarming state, his wife missing, and the police on their way.
The original production featured the likes of: Christine Baranski, Jessica Walter and Joyce Van Patten, with Baranski winning a Tony Award for her performance as Chris.
In a statement, Zhalion Levingston expressed, “What excites me about reimagining Rumors through the lens of ‘The Real Housewives’ is how naturally these two worlds collide. Without changing a single word of Simon’s brilliant text, we can reveal something new in the piece: The delicious chaos that unfolds when private lives become public spectacle. At a time when we are so deeply divided, I can think of few things more necessary than gathering in a theater to laugh together.”
So, what do you think about Eileen Davidson and Lisa Rinna each taking on the role of Chris, originally played by Christine Baranski, in Neil Simon’s Rumors coming to Off-Broadway early next year? Do you like the concept of the two ‘Real Housewives’ casts playing the roles? Let us know your thoughts via the comment section.
Who Should Win Outstanding Lead Actor at the 53rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards? (Poll)
‘General Hospital’s’ Nancy Lee Grahn Hosts Daytime Emmy Lead Actress Dinner Keeping the Tradition With a Twist!
Could Justin Bruening Join ‘General Hospital’? Set Visit with Wife Alexa Havins Stirs Fan Hopes
Erika Slezak Fan Club Celebrates 55 Years with Special Note from Six-Time Daytime Emmy-Winning Icon and Expanded Website Content
Y&R Adds Tetona Jackson as a Recast Roxanne and Fareed Ward as New Doctor in First Casting Hires Under Jamey Giddens and Dan O’Connor Writing Regime
53rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards Presenters Announced
Tabitha Brown and Kandi Burruss Guest Star on ‘Beyond the Gates’ for Dani’s ‘Welcome to Your Life’ TV Special; What Could Go Wrong?
‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ Cast Dish on Steffy, Finn & Carter, Daphne Baby Drama! (Exclusive)
Kin Shriner Gives High Praise to ‘General Hospital’ TV Daughter Kelly Kruger
2026 Daytime Emmy Awards: ‘Extra’ Partners with NATAS for Pre-Ceremony Red Carpet Stream; Week of Segments Leading to Ceremony and Post-Coverage
‘General Hospital’s’ Nancy Lee Grahn Hosts Daytime Emmy Lead Actress Dinner Keeping the Tradition With a Twist!
Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award Preview: Genie Francis Talks Historic Run as ‘General Hospital’s’ Laura and Longtime Co-Star Tony Geary
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Chase and Brook Lynn Sign Divorce Papers; Are You Glad They Ended Their Marriage or Hoped for a Reconciliation?
GENERAL HOSPITAL Preview: Brook Lynn Gets a Shock from Jude, Nina Gets a Reprieve, and Ava’s in the Hot Seat
DAYS OF OUR LIVES Preview: Xander Fights for His Life, Halloween in Salem, Lani Returns to the Salem PD
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