Serial Drama

What's REALLY Important About The Daytime Emmys

So, we've looked at all of the reels of the nominated actors and actresses this year, and while, ostensibly, the Daytime Emmys are about rewarding excellence (Please imagine us doing sarcastic, Sam McCall airquotes on those last two words), we know that there's so much more that make Emmy night...something else.

poll by twiigs.com

poll by twiigs.com

poll by twiigs.com

poll by twiigs.com

poll by twiigs.com

Countdown to the Emmys: Day 6

We finish our look at the acting awards with the insanely talented women nominated in the Lead Actress category. This year, the category is filled with powerhouse actresses and can be renamed "Awesome Women Doing Awesome Stuff, Awesomely" and we don't envy voters the task of choosing between them.

(Coverage of the other categories can be found here, here, here, here and here in case you missed the clips earlier!)

Jeanne Cooper (Katherine, The Young and the Restless)

Our Take: The Emmy voters love themselves some dual roles (and we love ourselves some soapy flashbacks) and Jeanne Cooper, in her infinite wisdom and fierceness, knows this all too well, choosing to submit Katherine and Marge. In a word we've already overused in this post: awesome. Cooper won her first ever Emmy last year and has a really good chance of following that win up with another Emmy. If she does win, we hope she gives us another kickass acceptance speech in a less garishly colored caftan than she did last year...

Port Charles Notable Quotables

I will give the General Hospital writers this: they are committed.

(The above sentence could also handily be revised to read "they should be committed" and it would be equally true.)

The problem is that they are committed to all the wrong things. Rather than being staunchly committed to, I don't know, providing quality entertainment five days a week, or drawing from a rich show history, their commitment seems to be proving me wrong (and also tarnishing a four decades old legacy, which may be slightly more important, but for today, we'll go with the proving me wrong part).

It's a mistake I make often, assuming that I've already reached the nadir of any given GH episode. Today, no more than a few minutes into the show, I snorted and said, "That's the dumbest thing I'll hear today".

But we've been down this road before, dear readers. It wasn't the dumbest thing. One of them, sure, but there were many.

Mac: You know, I object to you breathing the same air as my daughter, much less marrying her. And don't tell me Jason protects his own, ok? After what happened to Michael--getting shot, spending a year of his life in a coma, and now he's on the run. Maxie, you'll be in danger every minute of every day of your life.
Maxie: Yeah? Well, I'm not scared. And you're forgetting the most important part. I love Spinelli. He's always believed in me, and he's always been there for me, been faithful.
Mac: You want faithful? Get a golden retriever, all right? You're not marrying this guy.
Maxie: Yeah, I am marrying this guy, and there's nothing that you or anyone else can do to stop me.

I couldn't even properly appreciate Mac's truthy truth-telling! He got in some quality zingers, but they went in one ear and out the other, because my brain collapsed upon itself when Maxie once again went down the "You're not the boss of me! I can marry whoever I want, even if the thought of it repulses me so much that I can't keep the nausea off of my face in between my squealing about how much I truly love him! Take that!" road. 

Maxie, I am busting out the caps lock because I care(d?) about you!

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? YOU DO NOT WANT TO MARRY HIM. YOU LOOK LIKE YOU ARE VOMITING IN YOUR MOUTH WHENEVER HE MENTIONS YOUR IMPENDING MARRIAGE.

YOU ARE ACTING PETULANT AND DERANGED, AND, BY THE WAY, LOVING SPINELLI WILL DO YOU NO GOOD IF YOUR DUMB ASS GETS SHOT AT, WHICH IT PROBABLY WILL, BECAUSE PORT CHARLES IS A DEN OF SIN. AND ALSO, WHY DO YOU SQUEAK LIKE THAT? STOP IT.

Countdown to the Emmys: Day 5

It's time to look at the Outstanding Lead Actor category, which has the highest potential to be the most controversial of the night*. We are (okay, it would probably be more honest to say "Mallory is") still smarting over this category's complete lack of Peter Bergman and Darnell Williams, so we'll probably be unhappy with the results no matter who wins.

*By "most controversial" we mean "most likely to have us screaming obscenities at another hammy, over-the-top clip earning an award"

Daniel Cosgrove (Billy, Guiding Light)

After the jump, the rest of these accomplished actors and their submitted scenes, and the big vote.

Soap Blog Coalition

Daytime Confidential's Jillian is dishing the latest The Bold and the Beautiful spoilers and offers a sneak peek at what's coming down the pipe this fall. (Daytime Confidential)

Michael Fairman handicaps the 36th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards and gives the odds on who will and will not take home the big award. (Michael Fairman Soaps)

We have everything you need to know about Kimberly McCullough and Jason Thompson's AIDS Walk fundraising campaign - including how to win an autographed script, clothes off their back, and set tour for four. (Scrubs Hub)

All My Children this week has taught the Serial Drama girls that Baby Trevor is far wiser than any of his parental figures, and that Tad Martin may, in fact, be the biggest Zach/Kendall 'shipper of them all. (Serial Drama)

The Young and the Restless has been a favorite soap of Mary Montanari for a very long time, but as of late, more often than not, she finds herself fast forwarding through several convoluted plots. Please Y&R, give us a break and end some of these brutally boring storylines. (Soap Opera Examiner)

Will Twitter Save Daytime TV? Read The Wubqueen's non-scientific observations. (Wubs)

Our Latest Soap Opera Digest Column

My Take
By Mallory Harlen

In crafting their latest front-burner romances, both AMC and GH have decided to think outside the box. Since their "inside the box" thinking misses far more often than it hits, it's unsurprising that their attempts at telling unconventional love stories leave a lot to be desired. Namely, entertainment and couples worth rooting for.

David Canary (Adam) and Melissa Claire Egan (Annie) are two of my very favorite performers on AMC and in all of soapdom, so I understand the show's impulse to put them in a story together. After all, if you add their levels of talent together, you get a sum of awesomeness so great that it quite nearly distracts you from how bizarre their pairing really is. When Annie saved Adam, and Adam decided that he could honor Stuart's memory by taking care of Annie, I got excited for a potential platonic relationship, equal parts sweet and hilarious. The AMC in my head is far better than the one on-screen because we were immediately treated to passionate kissing. And while their age difference is, um, noticeable, to say the least, it doesn't rank in the top five reasons why this story makes me uncomfortable (it's definitely the sixth reason, though). Is Annie playing him or not? That's a completely rhetorical question, by the way, and one I'm not sure even the writers have the answer for. If she IS playing him, that's disappointing, as Adam Chandler should not get played by anyone, except for possibly Erica Kane (Let's all take a moment to mourn what looked to be a fantastic, promising Erica/Adam romance. Oh, what could have been!), and he should certainly not get played by a woman who became psychotic because Ryan Lavery dumped her. Adam is many things, but he's not that sort of chump.

Countdown to the Emmys: Day 4

It's time to look at the Supporting Actresses, a category filled with four actresses we know and love (no disrespect to Bree Williamson; we just don't know her, but we're sure the OLTL viewers will have lots to say).

Tamara Braun (ex-Ava, Days Of Our Lives)

Our Take: Back before she headed to Pine Valley and assaulted AMC viewers with the character of Reese, Tamara Braun was pretty much note perfect as the crazy Ava on Days of Our Lives. Her psychotic breakdown, and moments of genuine pain and heartbreak, make this a pretty fabulous, entertaining reel. Plus, the gallery of "What fresh hell?" facial expressions on Bo, Hope, Steve and Kayla is enlessly enjoyable.

You know the drill: after the jump, watch the other actresses, vote, and then immediately change your mind because you can't choose which deserving actress deserves it most.

A Brief Detour into the Land of Not So Bad

It's exceedingly rare that I even find myself with one semi-positive thing to say about All My Children, but today I have two! There is magic in the air, people!

All right, perhaps the first doesn't count, as it took place entirely in my subconscious and was no doubt the result of my spending a lot of time coming to grips with the fact that David Canary probably won't make the move with AMC to Los Angeles, but it IS good and it IS AMC-related, however vaguely: the Silver Fox himself made a prominent appearance in a dream of mine last night. It involved a trip to the bookstore, and I had a long debate about which book to buy, and then I saw a person I once worked with, and made a face to express my distaste, and David Canary agreed, saying, "I don't care much for him".  It was nice to have David Canary validate my opinion, even if it was just in a dream. Also, it is his 71st birthday today, and it's Cameron Mathison's birthday, too. The AMC set must have been fun today, if one discounts the fact that some of them (and all of their crew) will not have jobs soon, and that they have to act out storylines written by Pratt & Co...

The second happy-making AMC moment actually did take place on the show and, shockingly, included Liza. Specifically, it included Liza getting hit over the head with a laptop by the ever territorial Kendall Hart.

(Skip ahead to 3:57)

If you think about the elements of this scene for even ten seconds, it becomes less enjoyable because those involved are acting dangerously ridiculous (Liza for ignoring Tad's Zendall shipping/rational argument that Zach and Liza will never happen, and immediately running back to the Slaters to plant one on him; Kendall for having exceedingly poor impulse control and no understanding of what a secret room is actually for. Girl, you are supposed to be hiding! Not walking around the house where any of the million and one visitors could see you and realize that you're not serving your prison sentence. Also, laptop as weapon is a move straight out of the Denise Richards: It's Violent playbook. Kendall, you can do better!), but it was so, so funny.

The rest of the show is equally hilarious, in the most horrifying of ways.

Countdown to the Emmys: Day 3

"Let's pretend to be Emmy voters for the week" continues, this time with a look at the gentlemen up for Outstanding Supporting Actor

Bradford Anderson (Spinelli, General Hospital)

Our Take: Well...this at least is a light and humorous clip that the Emmy voters might enjoy after sifting through the more dramatic reels. It's just...okay, we can't even pretend that we'd give this a second thought, because it highlights exactly what we can't stand about Spinelli--the babbling, the nicknames and the inability to read social cues. For all of our bitching about Spinelli, we readily admit that Bradford Anderson is a very talented actor. It's just a shame that he didn't choose to showcase that fact for the Emmy voters.

The other four actors, and your chance to vote, after the jump!

The One With Resolution!

Finally, General Hospital remembered that it was a soap opera and gave us that classic daytime staple: the Friday cliffhanger. I don't know about you, but I spent the better part of the weekend hoping that today's GH would hurry up and get here so that I could have closure on one of the most intriguing, suspenseful GH moments of late.

Elizabeth: I forgot the cake.

Nikolas: Uh-oh. Did you hear that, boys? No cake. What--

Cameron: Ohh! We're out of here!

I could not wait to see if Cam would get his cake, or if he'd make good on his threat and strike out on his own, as an emancipated minor! Would he, like so many waifs before him, get a job at Kelly's and have awkward conversations with his parents when they dropped in for coffee?

Luckily, it never came to that, as Lucky's field trip with the boys proved successful and they came home with the cake.

Let's all sigh in relief together!

Speaking of sighing in relief, Carly, Sonny, Alexis, and Jax all did the same when Jason and Sam fulfilled their promise and brought Michael and Kristina home safely. No, wait, that hasn't happened yet, because Jason and Sam are too busy recovering from dangerous injuries and also getting it on.

(Related: whenever Jason clutches his wound, he looks like he is about to perform a heartfelt musical number

Is he taking requests? Because if Jason Morgan sang, "My Heart Will Go On" with full on Celine Dion mannerisms, I would not say a bad word about him for a month!)

I have no opinion on who's zoomin' who or what couples are destined to be together, and I don't even mind Jason and Sam reconnecting, but...aren't they supposed to be looking for Michael and Kristina?! Isn't that why Carly shrieked in Alexis's face that Alexis shouldn't dare hire a private investigator because Jason is handling it? He's handling something all right, but that's not going to get Michael and Kristina back to Port Charles!