The nomination means that Paul,Jane,Susan,Toadie,Terese and Leo can finally stand shoulder pad to shoulder pad with the likes of Brooke,Ridge,Taylor,Roman and Marlena,and Victor,Nikki and Jill,characters whose fictitious lives are the staples of one of America’s weirdest (and oldest) drama genres.
The rebooted Neighbours.Ray Messner
One of the stars ofNeighbours,actor Guy Pearce,has also been nominated in the guest performance in a daytime drama category. Pearce is a Primetime Emmy and Screen Actors Guild award winner. He has also been previously nominated for a Golden Globe award.
But just howNeighbours,a staple of Australian television for decades,ended up nominated with the who-used-to-be-who and the what’s-left of American daytime TV’s best and fairest is a story in itself.
Typically,international dramas are not eligible for Daytime Emmys,or any Emmys,for that matter,except for International Emmys. (The clue is in the name,right?)
But when Amazon rebootedNeighbours for its US and UK Freevee platform last year,the platform’s backer,Amazon MGM Studios,became the primary investor in the series,which rendered it unexpectedly eligible to be swathed in Daytime Emmy glory.
Mike Young (Guy Pearce) returns to Ramsay Street.Network 10
On that basis, Neighbours is the first Australian drama to be nominated in the top category at America’s five-decade-old Daytime Emmys,an occasion worthy of cracking open the Tia Maria and footy franks,even if it is off a technicality.
Though the Daytime Emmys are historically steeped in soap opera lore,they have evolved recently to reflect changes to American television culture. Categories for soap operas – sorry,daytime dramas – have receded,while others,for culinary series,talk shows,courtroom reality shows,arts and educational programs have entered the frame.
The other peculiar thing about the Daytime Emmys is that,like Oprah Winfrey’s audience,almost everything and everyone on daytime television gets a nomination. “You get a nomination! And you get a nomination! And you get a nomination!”
For example,the entertainment news series category has three nominees:Access Hollywood,Entertainment Tonight andExtra,for the sensible reason that,on the US daytime television schedule,there are three main entertainment news programs,Access Hollywood,Entertainment Tonight andExtra. Go figure?
The major award – the Gold Logie,as it were – is still outstanding daytime drama series. Six programs are nominated this year:The Bay,The Bold and the Beautiful,Days of our Lives,General Hospital,The Young and the Restless and,of course,Neighbours.
Of those,onlyThe Bold and the Beautiful,on Ten,andThe Young and the Restless,on Nine,are schedule staples for Australian free-to-air television.Days of our Lives,which was on Nine for many years,migrated to Foxtel. AndThe Bay andGeneral Hospital do not air here.
Among the nominated actors are Eric Braeden,who plays Victor Newman onThe Young and the Restless,and Thorsten Kaye and John McCook,who play Ridge and Eric onThe Bold and the Beautiful,and Katherine Kelly Lang and Annika Noelle,who play Brooke and Hope onThe Bold and the Beautiful.
Pearce is nominated in the guest performance in a daytime drama category,alongside Hollywood legend Dick Van Dyke,who filmed a guest role onDays of our Lives playing Timothy Robicheaux,the father of John Black (Drake Hogestyn),who came to Salem suffering from amnesia. (Amnesia? Again? Always with the amnesia.)
Awards will be handed out in 40 categories,including arts and popular culture program,educational and informational program,writing and directing for a daytime drama series,outstanding music direction and composition,original song,cinematography,main title and graphic design,costume design and casting.
Partial list of nominees:
Daytime drama series:The Bay,The Bold and the Beautiful,Days of our Lives,General Hospital,Neighbours,The Young and the Restless.
Lead performance by an actor in a daytime drama:Eric Braeden (The Young and the Restless),Scott Clifton (The Bold and the Beautiful),Thorsten Kaye (The Bold and the Beautiful),Eric Martsolf (Days of Our Lives),John McCook (The Bold and the Beautiful).
Lead performance by an actress in a daytime drama:Tamara Braun (Days of our Lives),Finola Hughes (General Hospital),Katherine Kelly Lang (The Bold and the Beautiful),Annika Noelle (The Bold and the Beautiful),Michelle Stafford (The Young and the Restless),Cynthia Watros (General Hospital).
Guest performance in a daytime drama series:Linden Ashby (The Young and the Restless),Ashley Jones (The Bold and the Beautiful),Alley Mills (General Hospital),Guy Pearce (Neighbours),Dick Van Dyke (Days of our Lives).
Daytime talk series:The Jennifer Hudson Show,The Kelly Clarkson Show,Tamron Hall,Turning The Tables with Robin Roberts,The View.
Entertainment news series:Access Hollywood,Entertainment Tonight,Extra.
Culinary series:Be My Guest with Ina Garten,Family Dinner,Selena + Chef:Home for the Holidays,Valerie’s Home Cooking,What Am I Eating? with Zooey Deschanel.
Legal/courtroom program:Hot Bench,Judy Justice,Justice For The People with Judge Milian,The People’s Court,We The People with Judge Lauren Lake.
A full list of nominations in all categories can be found.
The 51st annual Daytime Emmys will be held in Los Angeles on June 7. They will be streamed on Paramount+.
