Serial Drama

Daytime Emmy Pre-Nominations Announced!

Did y'all buy into my exclamation point up there? So many surprises here! NOBODY CAN BELIEVE IT! ALL BRAND NEW PEOPLE! They are stealing the thunder of yesterday's Oscar nominations at this point!

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Kristian Alfonso, as Hope Williams Brady Days of Our Lives, NBC
Sharon Case, as Sharon McAvoy The Young and the Restless, CBS
Melissa Claire Egan, as Chelsea Newman The Young and the Restless, CBS
Mary Beth Evans, as Kayla Brady Days of Our Lives, NBC
Nancy Lee Grahn, as Alexis Davis General Hospital, ABC
Jen Lilley, as Theresa Donovan Black Days of Our Lives, NBC
Gina Tognoni, as Phyllis Newman The Young and the Restless, CBS
Heather Tom, as Katie Logan The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS
Jess Walton, as Jill Abbott The Young and the Restless, CBS
Laura Wright, as Carly Corinthos General Hospital, ABC

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Maurice Benard, as Sonny Corinthos General Hospital, ABC
Peter Bergman, as Jack Abbott The Young and the Restless, CBS
Scott Clifton, as Liam Spencer The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS
Billy Flynn, as Chad DiMera Days of Our Lives, NBC
Roger Howarth, as Franco General Hospital, ABC
Vincent Irizarry, as Deimos Kiriakis Days of Our Lives, NBC
Christian LeBlanc, as Michael Baldwin The Young and the Restless, CBS
John McCook, as Eric Forrester The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS
Kristoff St. John, as Neil Winters The Young and the Restless, CBS
Jason Thompson, as Billy Abbott The Young and the Restless, CBS

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Eileen Davidson, as Ashley Abbott The Young and the Restless, CBS
Judi Evans, as Adrienne Kiriakis Days of Our Lives, NBC
Stacy Haiduk, as Patty Williams The Young and the Restless, CBS
Amelia Heinle, as Victoria Newman The Young and the Restless, CBS
Elizabeth Hendrickson, as Chloe Fisher The Young and the Restless, CBS
Finola Hughes, as Anna Devane General Hospital, ABC
Anna Maria Horsford, as Vivian Avant The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS
Kate Mansi, as Abigail Deveraux Days of Our Lives, NBC
Michelle Stafford, as Nina Reeves General Hospital, ABC
Kelly Sullivan, as Sage Warner The Young and the Restless, CBS

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
John Aniston, as Victor Kiriakis Days of Our Lives, NBC
Obba Babatundé, as Julius Avant The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS
Steve Burton, as Dylan McAvoy The Young and the Restless, CBS
Sean Carrigan, as Ben Rayburn The Young and the Restless, CBS
Chad Duell, as Michael Corinthos General Hospital, ABC
Bryton James, as Devon Hamilton The Young and the Restless, CBS
Wally Kurth, as Justin Kiriakis Days of Our Lives, NBC
Jeffrey Vincent Parise, as Carlos Rivera/Dr. Joe Rivera General Hospital, ABC
James Reynolds, as Abe Carver Days of Our Lives, NBC
Dominic Zamprogna, as Dante Falconeri General Hospital, ABC

The Bold & the Beautiful: Outsourcing Romantic Gestures

I couldn't just let this one go without saying anything.

Y'all. 

First of all, that's Ridge's grand romantic gesture to convince Brooke to call off her engagement and come back to him. A heart drawn in the sand with their names in it. That's it. That's the whole thing.

Second of all, the best part of it? HE HIRED OTHER PEOPLE TO DO IT. He didn't even do it himself! It's just a sand drawing! And he didn't do it! But he "would," he insisted. Well. Then there you go! What else do you need to know?

Third of all, I was dying when he was trying to tell her it wasn't about the two of them but about their family, about the child they share together. As if he has no other children with any other women. And as if she doesn't have about 14 children with other men. (I don't even know, when I try to look back on it I guess there aren't really fourteen, but you know. More than one. With at least three other men?)

But then we got to the best line of all.

Ridge: How happy do you think RJ would be if he saw his family back together, his parents back together? How happy would everybody else be if they didn't have to explain to Will that his stepmother is also his aunt?

The Bold & The Beautiful: ONE GOOD THING

Lest anyone think I let B&B fall off my radar entirely in my recent uptick in posts, I'm here to check in about it. I've been watching but it's virtually impossible to say anything about it because it's completely dominated by this idiotic hand-wringing about how everyone has to protect Steffy from Quinn, and naturally the best way to do that is for her to be married to Liam instead of Wyatt WHICH DOESN'T MAKE THE LEAST BIT OF SENSE. (The problem, apparently, is Quinn's relationship with Eric, and Steffy's marital status or selection has literally zero bearing on that, but someone on the show pointing that out would be too much like sense.)

Thankfully, today Eric had a bit of a brain and pointed out the obvious: that everyone's full of shit and Steffy's just looking for a reason to get back together with Liam. Liam is obviously doing the same, as he sits there talking about how Steffy's "safety" is the first priority with his most essential douchenozzle facial expression. Jackass.

We've also been doing the Brooke/Bill dance again recently, complete with the requisite flashbacks to their cheesy hot air balloon outing where they just stared awkwardly at each other a lot. This is not quite as tedious as the Steffy nonsense, but it's not exactly a breath of fresh air. I did perk up a bit when Brooke basically decided she might accept Bill's marriage proposal just so she can give his Forrester Creations shares to Ridge. That's about as Brooke as it gets -- I mean what's one more marriage to end? We do seem to be re-boarding the Brooke/Ridge train as well, and signs that point to that include the fact that apparently R.J. still exists, has been SORAS-ed, and will be joining the show soon! 

But let's talk about one actual truly lovely thing that is going on!

Y'all, I am all in for Sasha and Thomas. They are adorable, they actually smile around each other, and the actors have oodles of chemistry. For once, two characters on B&B in the early stages of romance appear to like each other, and come off as actual young single people with PERSONALITIES! 

Quick Survey!

Literally one question: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8KSJWMX

It's anonymous and you can pick more than one thing! Feel free to expand on it in the comments here -- if you picked Web Soaps, do you have favorites? If you picked 90210, what are your favorite seasons? Etc!

Edited to add: I want to clarify one thing. I'm probably not going to cover the best new shows on television. Or the best old shows. If I can't have a little fun at the show's expense, for the most part, you can find lots of much more high-profile commentary on just about everything. I'm not here to recap Friday Night Lights or The Wire. I even dropped The Fosters because I like it and other places covered it well (Previously TV, Autostraddle, etc) but I noticed some sites dropped them so, hey, low-coverage shows are more likely to happen here if they're worth it. Maybe I'll pick it back up.

This is kind of stream-of-consciousness, but I just wanted to offer up a sense of what's behind the thinking here! 

 

The Bold and the Beautiful: If Only

I'm not going to write a big post because, even though I'm watching the two shows on my roster (B&B/GH) more than I was for years, I try not to actually use this space when I feel like I don't have much of a sense of humor about it.

But I just need to post a few photos.

Why would they put Sasha in this shirt/headband combo for the most important scenes of her run so far? (Aside: Felisha Cooper is a smart addition to this show, so it's no reflection on her.)

Also...

What did B&B do to deserve Obba Babatunde? I have no idea, but I thank them for it.

I only wish they'd thought of it early enough to put Susan Flannery in a scene with him, but if this is all we've got, I can take it. The Avants were spectacular this past week.

Are you kidding me? The first thing Vivienne chooses is love for her husband's illegitimate daughter? I LOVE IT.

Honestly, I can't think of a better thing to happen to this show than Babatunde and Anna Maria Horsford. That said, why is Maya so utterly absent from this storyline about her own nuclear family??

Daytime Emmy Winners, For What It's Worth

....which is, perhaps, not much this time around.

Outstanding Drama Series
General Hospital (WINNER)
The Bold and the Beautiful
Days of Our Lives
The Young and the Restless

 

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Mary Beth Evans (WINNER)
Tracey Bregman
Kassie de Pavia
Finola Hughes
Maura West

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Tyler Christopher (WINNER)
Anthony Geary
Justin Hartley
Christian LeBlanc
Kristoff St. John

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Jessica Collins (WINNER)
Lauralee Bell
Linsey Godfrey
Peggy McCay
Melissa Reeves

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Shawn Blakemore (WINNER)
Bryton James
Steve Burton
Jacob Young
Dominic Zamprogna

Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series
True O’Brien (WINNER)
Reign Edwards
Hunter King
Ashlyn Pearce
Brooklyn Rae Silzer

Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series
Bryan Craig (WINNER)
Nicholas Bechtel
Max Erich
Pierson Fode
Tequan Richmond

 

Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team
The Bold and the Beautiful (WINNER)
General Hospital
The Young and the Restless

Outstanding Drama Series Directing Team
General Hospital (WINNER)
The Bold and the Beautiful
Days Of Our Lives

It's Daytime Emmy Nomination Day!

Come back later after the nominations have been announced to complain/cheer/wonder when this gets called a participation award!

And..... here we go! (with more details filled in later, of course!)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR:

Tyler Christopher, GH

Tony Geary, GH

Justin Hartley, Y&R

Christian Leblanc, Y&R

Kristoff St. John, Y&R

 

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS:

Finola Hughes, GH (!)

Maura West, GH

Kassie DePaiva, DAYS (!!!)

Tracey Bregman, Y&R

Mary Beth Evans, DAYS

 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Sean Blakemore, GH

Steve Burton, Y&R

Bryton James, Y&R

Jacob Young, B&B

Dom Zamprogna, GH

 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Linsey Godfrey, B&B

Peggy McCay, DAYS

Melissa Reeves, DAYS

Jessica Collins, Y&R

Lauralee Bell, Y&R 

 

OUTSTANDING YOUNGER ACTOR:

Nicholas Bechtel, GH 

Bryan Craig, GH

Tequan Richmond, GH

Max Ehrich, Y&R

Pierson Fode, B&B

 

(more after the jump)

The Daytime Emmy Pre-Nominations Are Here!

It's the most exciting day of the year! Out of the trillions of possible nominees in a whopping 4 remaining series, the Emmy folks painstakingly pore over hundreds and hundreds of hours worth of lengthy 4-minute reels from the acting nominees and narrow it down to a mere ten in each category so that they only have to watch ten 20-minute reels in the next round. What more accurate way to evaluate who was the very "best" in shows that create roughly 250 hour-long (or half-hour-long in just one case) episodes a year? I'll tell you: there is no more accurate way. Simply un-possible!

Okay but seriously: eh. Here we are. Here are the pre-noms.

 

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES 

TRACEY E. BREGMAN, as Lauren Fenmore Baldwin
The Young and the Restless, CBS

EILEEN DAVIDSON, as Ashley Abbott
The Young and the Restless, CBS

KASSIE DEPAIVA, as Eve Larson
Days of Our Lives, NBC

MELISSA CLAIRE EGAN, as Chelsea Newman
The Young and the Restless, CBS

MARY BETH EVANS, as Kayla Brady
Days of Our Lives, NBC

FINOLA HUGHES, as Anna Devane
General Hospital, ABC

KATE MANSI, as Abigail Devereaux
Days of Our Lives, NBC

GINA TOGNONI, as Phyllis Newman Abbott
The Young and the Restless, CBS

MAURA WEST, as Ava Jerome
General Hospital, ABC

LAURA WRIGHT, as Carly Corinthos
General Hospital, ABC

________________________________________________________________________

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES 

MAURICE BENARD, as Sonny Corinthos
General Hospital, ABC

ERIC BRAEDEN, as Victor Newman
The Young and the Restless, CBS

TYLER CHRISTOPHER, as Nikolas Cassadine
General Hospital, ABC

DOUG DAVIDSON, as Paul Williams
The Young and the Restless, CBS

BILLY FLYNN, as Chad DiMera
Days of Our Lives, NBC

ANTHONY GEARY, as Luke Spencer
General Hospital, ABC

JUSTIN HARTLEY, as Adam Newman
The Young and the Restless, CBS

THORSTEN KAYE, as Ridge Forrester
The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS

CHRISTIAN LEBLANC, as Michael Baldwin
The Young and the Restless, CBS

KRISTOFF ST. JOHN, as Neil Winters
The Young and the Restless, CBS

________________________________________________________________________

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

LAURALEE BELL, as Christine Williams
The Young and the Restless, CBS

MOLLY BURNETT, as Melanie Jonas
Days of Our Lives, NBC

JESSICA COLLINS, as Avery Bailey Clark
The Young and the Restless, CBS

JUDI EVANS, as Adrienne Kiriakis
Days of Our Lives, NBC

LINSEY GODFREY, as Caroline Spencer
The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS

CHRISTEL KHALIL, as Lily Winters Ashby
The Young and the Restless, CBS

PEGGY MCCAY, as Caroline Brady
Days of Our Lives, NBC

SOFIA PERNAS, as Marisa Sierras
The Young and the Restless, CBS

MELISSA REEVES, as Jennifer Horton
Days of Our Lives, NBC

KELLY SULLIVAN, as Sage Warner
The Young and the Restless, CBS

________________________________________________________________________

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES 

SEAN BLAKEMORE, as Shawn Butler
General Hospital, ABC

DARIN BROOKS, as Wyatt Spencer
The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS

STEVE BURTON, as Dylan McAvoy
The Young and the Restless, CBS

SEAN CARRIGAN, as Ben “Stitch” Rayburn
The Young and the Restless, CBS

BRYTON JAMES, as Devon Hamilton
The Young and the Restless, CBS

WALLY KURTH, as Justin Kiriakis
Days of Our Lives, NBC

GREG RIKAART, as Kevin Fisher
The Young and the Restless, CBS

CHRISTOPHER SEAN, as Paul Narita
Days of Our Lives, NBC

JACOB YOUNG, as Rick Forrester
The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS

DOMINIC ZAMPROGNA, as Dante Falconeri
General Hospital, ABC

The Fosters: First Impressions

The Fosters is back! The Fosters is back! 

Okay, I don't actually know if I'm excited about this, because at the mid-season break I was so grossed out that I was pretty damn ready to give this show up for good. I guess I should be grateful that Brandon didn't have sex with his little sister after the adoption went through moving them from foster siblings to actual complete and total forever siblings? But I didn't feel very grateful, since these events were only separated by one episode and I'm still working on scrubbing my brain of the image. And I don't hold out hope that the adoption means they'll permanently drop "Brallie" (vom) and just go on telling the other lovely stories that they tell. But I do hold out hope that there will be other stories that are good enough to watch that I can... overlook the grossness? We'll see. But I'm not ready to say goodbye to Stef and Lena. Or Mariana. Or, for the love of all that is holy, Jude. I am not willing to let go of Jude. Yet.

So here I am.

For now.

The "previouslies" are already hurting my brain. So much stuff I don't remember the details of (particularly the hit-and-run). Anyway, we're starting with the performance of Brandon's composition at Disney Hall. They pan across the family (including New Jesus!) and... oh for fuck's sake, they get to Callie and she has brother/sister sex flashbacks. THEY DIDN'T WASTE A SECOND TO TORTURE US.

Opening credits. I'm weak, you guys! The opening always suckers me right back in, even when I'm disgusted. No fair!

Naturally, based on that Disney Hall performance, Brandon has been invited to final callbacks for Juilliard. Of course he has. But because Brandon has just the worst life ever, Juilliard still charges tuition! Poor Brandon! All the worst things happen to him!

AJ and his brother are huggy and sad because their grandmother died.

Mike's helping to load up the car with her stuff and a picture of the boys breaks. He looks at it significantly, and calls work to tell them not to bother running the prints on that pen he got from AJ's brother (I'll remember his name at some point, I'm sure).

Brandon overhears his moms worrying about money, so he walks away with his standard Brandon hangdog look. But Annie Potts is there! (aka Sharon, Stef's mom) Sharon is very displeased about what the insurance will or will not cover in terms of Stef's health situation. Monte shows up to apologize to both Stef and Lena. Lord, this is awkward. She offers to resign from Anchor Beach. That's a bit extreme, Monte!

Emma is over at the house trying to help Mariana put together her campaign for junior class president. I'd vote for Mariana! Jesus is a dick about it, so I guess the actor replacement hasn't really changed the nature of the character. So far. But holy crap this guy is tall! Lexi shows up from being deported. Somehow her family magically all got visas. Seems likely. Brandon walks in and see Emma and Lexi and actually says something funny for once!

Brandon: It's like an ex-girlfriend convention in here. Want me to call Hayley, maybe she can come over? 

Sound the trumpets, Brandon made a funny!

Some extremely tightly-wound bespectacled boy is yelling at Callie about privatized foster homes after she gives a speech about her website. A foster care advocate (played by a very familiar actress... I'll figure it out) wants to invest $50,000 in Callie (or more likely her website).

Lena tells Monte she should stay on at the school but needs to get her act together and look up the word "boundaries." Not in those exact words, but let's face it, that was the gist.

Connor is packing up to move away forever and ever and Jude's perfect little heart is breaking. "My dad will never change," Connor tells him. I don't know, his dad spent last Father's Day with a yard full of queermos and he lived through it, I feel like there's some wiggle room. 

Well, darn it all, the lab ran that fingerprint test after all and they do match Ty's (AJ's brother). Mike explains the whole thing to Stef, who is livid.

I think Mike should probably point out that if Brandon had basically murdered a town full of children Stef would try to cover it up.

Lexi and Jesus flirt with each other. In the bathroom.

I know nothing gets me hotter than a bathroom shared by 23 adolescents. It probably smells amazing. Then Lexi pushes Mariana to go as sexy as possible with her presidential campaign (ugh, take note, Bernie Sanders, time to sex it up a bit!) but naturally Emma overreacts about how girls can be fun-and-smart-sexy and not just in-your-face-sexy and decides she shouldn't be running this campaign and needs to go home. That was fast! Regardless, Mariana levels with Lexi that she doesn't want her help with the campaign. "No hard feelings," they allege. Seems likely.

The foster care advocate talks to Callie and Stef and Lena, and Callie tries to talk to her about Jack (the aforementioned bespectacled kid). The lady promises to "make some calls." I'm sure nothing bad will happen. The second she's out of earshot, she makes a bitchy phone call trying to find out where that kid has been placed. From here on out I will be referring to this character as Miss Hannigan. You know who she lives to exploit? ORPHANS, that's who! (This is just a wild guess.)

The Bold & the Beautiful: Keepin' It In The Family

Preach, Vivienne Avant! Man, y'all, her big speech about not being raised in a time when women were encouraged to be their authentic selves? And how that led her to lose Maya, and so now she has to fight for her other daughter? So good.

Julius is a vulgar bully played by a brilliant actor, but it's nice to have his wife around to take the same "anti" position regarding the surrogacy but for all the right reasons.

That said, while I want to love any storyline that brings the Avants into town and even gets them into a family discussion with the likes of Brooke and Eric (!), this whole thing feels a little pointless, doesn't it? We have Nicole's parents aggressively opposed to this surrogacy and we have Maya telling Nicole twelve times an episode that she's free to change her mind at any time. So what is the issue, really? Why are Maya and Rick so in need of this when they claim it's okay for it not to happen? They have more money than Midas! Of course Maya would like to use Nicole's egg. HIRE A DAMN SURROGATE! GIVE THE SURROGATE NICOLE'S EGG! They could pay someone else enough money to micromanage the pregnancy all they damn well please.

But when I sit down and think about it, I remember: why on earth would anyone on B&B go outside the family for anything at all? This is a show where they're currently revving up a triangle between Wyatt, Ivy, and Ivy's cousin Thomas. Thomas, who once asked his stepsister to marry him. Thomas, whose stepmother (and ex-girlfriend, and ex-aunt) is knocked up by him. Thomas, whose child is going to be raised as his sibling.

And why would Rick want to go outside the family? He himself is the product of his mother and her former husband's father! Rick's brother has been his stepfather (and nearly his brother-in-law), Rick's father is his little brother's grandfather. I was going to go on but my head is starting to hurt.

The point is that the Avant family is incredibly refreshing to have on canvas and it's a giant bummer that they're just another family that's way too into each other's business. Before we know it, some adoptive cousins are going to come into town and seduce the lot of them and everyone'll just shrug it off.