Breaking News
Patrika Darbo Issues Statement On Having Her Daytime Emmy Rescinded/NATAS Gives Rebuttal
Former DAYS alum, Patrika Darbo (Ex-Nancy) has issued an official statement on what had transpired over the last week when it was revealed that NATAS (The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences) had revoked her Daytime Emmy win in the Outstanding Guest Performer in a Digital Drama Series category for her role on The Bay for submission violations. (This year’s Daytime Emmys were handed out back in late April).
Darbo expressed the following; “As disappointed as I am about having my Daytime Emmy taken back by NATAS, as a Co-Governor of the Performers Peer Group at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in Los Angeles, overseeing the Primetime Emmys, I am more concerned about how this incident tarnishes the Emmy brand. I did not submit myself for Daytime Emmy consideration, my producers at The Bay made the submission. However, at the end of the day, the onus for a correct submission is not on the producers of The Bay, or any other producers; the ultimate responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of NATAS. They should have vetted each and every submission and then notified those submitting of any submission errors in advance of the voting and the ceremony.
As disappointed as I am about having my Daytime Emmy taken back by NATAS, as a Co-Governor of the Performers Peer Group at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in Los Angeles, overseeing the Primetime Emmys, I am more concerned about how this incident tarnishes the Emmy brand. I did not submit myself for Daytime Emmy consideration, my producers at The Bay made the submission. However, at the end of the day, the onus for a correct submission is not on the producers of The Bay, or any other producers; the ultimate responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of NATAS. They should have vetted each and every submission and then notified those submitting of any submission errors in advance of the voting and the ceremony.
I understand that in my category there were at least four submission errors. NATAS was made aware of these potential errors two days prior to the ceremony and made a conscious decision not to deal with it until after the ceremony was over. These errors were then not brought to light until after the Daytime Emmys were presented and awarded, meaning that other actors who did properly submit have now lost their chance at winning a Daytime Emmy.
In addition to the rule violations in my category, there was a similar rule violation in the category for Supporting Actor in a Digital Drama. I was made aware of this violation when NATAS called to inform me of the situation. After taking back my Daytime Emmy, NATAS called another female performer in my category to re-issue the Emmy, as she was the next runner up according to the accountancy firm. The very next day, NATAS called her back and said she could not have it as she had submitted one episode too many (the rule is that one episode may be submitted for consideration and the new recipient submitted two). However, the winner of the Daytime Emmy in a Supporting Actor in a Digital Drama was allowed to keep his statue, (the rule is that four episodes may be submitted for consideration, the recipient submitted five episodes). NATAS determined after the fact that the rules for Supporting Actor and his show were “ambiguous.”
As a performer in film and television for over three decades, who fights diligently for fairness and equity for my fellow actors by volunteering my time and leadership at both SAG/AFTRA and the TV Academy (ATAS), the arbitrary and after-the-fact ruling feels inequitable and wrong. A rule is a rule. If the rule is going to be changed or declared “ambiguous” it should be done prior to voting, not after the votes are in and the Emmys have been handed out.
The inequity in this year’s Daytime Emmys based on ageism, gender inequality, and perceived favoritism is, in my opinion, a big blow to the Emmy brand. The TV Academy, who administers the Prime Time Emmy Awards, is very clear that Emmys are awarded to those who achieve excellence in television. I’m beginning to wonder what NATAS feels the Emmys stand for.
For the sake of the overall Emmy brand, I feel an outside audit of the submission and voting process of this past Daytime Emmys would be a show of good will by NATAS and would help to restore integrity and confidence in the Daytime Emmy Awards.”
Following Darbo’s statement going viral; NATAS Sr. VP Daytime Emmy Awards, David Michaels, and Interim President of NATAS, Adam Sharp responded via an in-depth online interview with Soap Opera Digest. Here are a few excerpts below.
Sharp’s rebuttal to reading Darbo’s statement: “First and foremost, we take any irregularities in the process very seriously, and when these claims were detailed, we launched a comprehensive internal investigation, which led us to the conclusion to disqualify Patrika and Thomas Calabro (who was also nominated in the Guest Performer category for THE BAY) and to not take action against some other violations, mainly because these were two different cases. What’s not noted in the statement, and got sort of lost in other reporting, is that the episode count rule, that rule that says that you cannot have more than one episode in the Guest category or more than four episodes in the Supporting performer character, does not apply to Patrika’s case. She did violate that rule, but had already been disqualified before we had begun considering that. There is another rule that says that a guest performer cannot have appeared in a prior season. It was brought to our attention that she had, in fact, appeared as that character several seasons ago. The same issue came up regarding Thomas Calabro, and so those two performers, one male and one female, were disqualified on the basis of that rule.”
On addressing that the Supporting Actor in a Digital Drama Series got to retain his award, which Darbo expressed gave the perception of ageism and gender inequality perpetrated by NATAS, Michael’s said: “That probably bothers me more than anything. No. 1, if anyone knows me and No. 2, that isn’t how NATAS operates, and No. 3, it never even occurred to me about who was male and who was female, just like it wouldn’t have occurred to me who was what race or what. My mind doesn’t work that way.
Sharp added: “And just to be clear on the facts here, our effort was to take each individual rule and apply it in the fairest way possible. In the episode count rule, we determined this rule should not be used to promote or demote any nominees selected by the judges. No one that was in violation of this had their nominations or wins disqualified, no one was moved up because someone ahead of them had their nominations disqualified because of that rule. For the prior appearance rule, everyone who violated that was disqualified. Ms. Darbo and Thomas Calabro. One man, one woman. To say that it was a sexist application of the rule is false. The rule she violated and the rule she was disqualified for also disqualified a male performer. The difference here is not the gender of the performer, but the fact that the performers violated different rules with different circumstances and therefore were determined differently.”
So, what do you think of the Emmy controversy? Share your thoughts below
I have learned in life is when you make mistakes, you own it. It seems to me that there might be mistakes made on both parts. There have been times that I have made a mistake and it was better to keep my mouth closed so someone else did not get embarrassed. Since the Daytime Emmy was already presented, to take an award away from someone after the fact seems like a vendetta. There is a difference between having a “La La Land” moments versus stripping someone of an award days later. I hope this is resolved by giving Patrika her well-deserved Emmy and learn from your mistake.
Regardless of NATA’s explanation, Ms Darbo is absolutely correct that these issues should have been vetted and communicated before the awards. The fact that they weren’t is of deep concern. NATA declared Ms Darbo the winner. The onus falls on them.
This whole thing is a mess. It’s a shame this wasn’t discovered before the awards were handed out. Shouldn’t NATAS make sure of each entrant’s eligibility?
Breaking News
George Cheeks, CBS President & CEO, on Timeline to Launch New Daytime Drama, ‘The Gates’: “We’re So Focused on Getting it Right”
March 2024 will be remembered in the TV and soap world when the news broke that CBS is prepping a brand new daytime drama. Many had thought a major network would never bring a new daytime soap into the world, given that the last time it was attempted was 25 years ago when the now defunct Passions bowed on NBC.
However, The Gates is definitely in development and moving forward with some major players associated with it including: Michele Val Jean as The Gates writer, showrunner and one of its executive producers, and Sheila Ducksworth from NAACP Venture
Now, for the first time since its announcement, George Cheeks, the president and CEO of CBS and chief content officer for news and sports at Paramount+, spoke on the project that will feature a Black family as its central focus who live in a wealthy gated community.
Speaking with Vulture, and when asked if The Gates is really something that truly has a chance of getting on the air, Cheeks clarified, “It’s super real. And just to give you a little bit of the backstory, when we hired Sheila Ducksworth to run the NAACP Venture, she and I had multiple meetings talking about what different genres she was going to lean into, and we talked a lot about daytime.”
Cheeks added, “One of the things that the data made very clear to both of us is that daytime soap operas over index with Black women, and yet when you look at soap operas, it’s usually sort of a white-led family with supporting characters that reflect more of our society. So we just thought, wouldn’t it be interesting to flip that and make the core anchor family a Black family, and then make the other characters reflect more the broader scope of society?”
The CEO gave props to Michele Val Jean, and how Ducksworth came to the table with the former B&B and GH writer. “She found this great writer, Michele Val Jean, who’s been in the soap opera space for 30 years. She came up with a pitch, and we loved it,” shares Cheeks. “We brought Procter & Gamble into it as well, because if there were going to be (product) integrations, we could do it more holistically and organically. All of that is to say, we did a lot of work on the front end to put this together. So while yes, it’s development, it’s accelerated development.”
When prodded on the timeline of when The Gates could come to full fruition, Gates related, “The actual timeline and when we’re going to do it is still uncertain, because we want to get this right. I mean, there hasn’t been a new soap opera launch since I can’t even begin to tell you when. But we have great success with Bold and the Beautiful and Young and the Restless, and so we think we’re the right folks to be launching a new soap. I wish I could tell you more about exact timing, but we’re so focused on getting it right, and that will dictate when we’re ready to launch it.”
The CBS exec also shared that whether The Gates will wind up an hour soap or half-hour is not yet determined, but that it is being developed as an hour show.
So, after reading what George Cheeks, the CBS President & CEO had to say about ‘The Gates’, are you even more excited for what looks to the first new network soap in 25 years? Comment below.
Breaking News
Robyn Bernard, ‘General Hospital’s’ Terry Brock, Dead at 64
Breaking News
51st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards Announce Broadcast Date on CBS
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) revealed on Tuesday, that the 51st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards will be broadcast live on Friday night, June 7th (8 – 10 PM, ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network, and available to stream live and on-demand on Paramount+*.
This year will mark the 18th time CBS has broadcast the Daytime Emmy Awards, which is more than any other network.
The 2024 Daytime Emmys will take place at the Westin Bonaventure in downtown Los Angeles. Back in December of 2023, the delayed 50th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards were also held at that venue. The June 7th date for the upcoming ceremony will be the first time in several years that the event is scheduled a few weeks earlier than normal; excluding last year’s revised date to the actors and writers strikes.
Lifetime Achievement honoree, nominations, host, and additional information will be announced in the coming weeks.
In a statement, Adam Sharp, President and CEO of NATAS noted, “We eagerly anticipate our return in June as we once again partner with CBS to recognize the exceptional and talented individuals who make daytime television great. We’re thrilled to kick off our second half-century of the Daytime Emmys.”
The Daytime Emmy Awards have recognized outstanding achievement in television programming and crafts since 1974, honoring work in a variety of categories, including daytime dramas, talk shows, instructional programming, hosting, culinary, and legal/courtroom programs. In 2021, NATAS and the Television Academy jointly announced plans to realign the Daytime and Primetime Emmy Awards to be organized by content genre, as opposed to program airtime.
The 51st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards will once again be produced by NATAS and Associated Television International (ATI), which produced Daytime Emmy Award ceremonies on The CW in 2009 and on CBS in 2010, 2011, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Adam Sharp and Lisa Armstrong are executive producers from NATAS, while David McKenzie is executive producer from ATI.
So, glad to know that the 51st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards honoring performance and shows in the 2023 calendar year, will be held in early June this year, and once again broadcast on CBS? Comment below.
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