ABC/Michael YarishAlmost seems bittersweet, right? Some of your favorite soaps get canceled and then honored. If they were so deserving of accolades, why not leave them on air, right? But alas, that's showbiz, kids.
This morning, the nominations for the 38th annual Daytime Emmy Awards were unveiled, with General Hospital (call it the James Franco effect) scoring a leading 21 nominations. Hot on its tail (it's jealous evil twin of sorts) was The Young and the Restless, which earned 20, followed by Sesame Street, with 16.
But enough with the numbers. We want the snubs! The sweeps! The huhs?! So here are some cold, hard facts—five of them, actually—you need to know about the Daytime Emmy nominations.
1. Gone but Not Forgotten: Less than a month after receiving their official cancellation notices, venerable soaps All My Children and One Life to Live both scored at the Daytime Emmys, taking in 13 and 12 nominations, respectively. All My Children even earned a nod for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series (alongside The Bold and the Beautiful, The Young and the Restless and General Hospital), though the iconic Susan Lucci failed to earn a nod for her role as Erica Kane. What a way to go. As for Franco, well, sadly there's no category for guest performances.
All told, PBS led all networks with 57 nominations, ABC was next with 56, followed by CBS with 42. As for NBC, somewhat embarrassingly (what, no Days of Our Lives fans on the Emmy board?) they earned just 15 nominations, fewer even than Nickelodeon, which brought home 25. Though, in fairness, Dora the Explorer has been turning in some pretty strong performances lately.
2. Oprah Winfrey's Not Going Out on Top: Ellen DeGeneres is. All told, The Ellen DeGeneres Show scored 12 nominations, including Outstanding Talk Show—Entertainment (as opposed to Informative), while Winfrey, wrapping up her 25th and final year, tallied up at just five. Of course, there's a very good reason for that: years ago, Winfrey famously removed herself from contention for most of the top honors after her annual, borderline ridiculous (yet deserved) steamrolling of the categories was, frankly, getting a little embarrassing. Likewise, DeGeneres took herself out of the running for top host beginning last year, but continues to let her show compete in the other races. This year, Ellen will be battling it out against Rachael Ray, Live With Regis and Kelly and The View for top show honors.
However, Oprah's protégés appear to be picking up right where she left off, as Dr. Phil and The Dr. Oz Show scored two of the three spots for Outstanding Talk Show—Informative (The Doctors took home slot No. 3), with Oz scoring a nod for Outstanding Talk Show Host. He goes up against Ray, The Doctors, Regis Philbin (in his own final year, lest we forget) and Kelly Ripa and the ladies of The View.
Even The Nate Berkus Show managed to get on the scoreboard, and is up for Outstanding Lifestyle Program and Outstanding Lifestyle Host. Though you'll forgive us for not getting too rah-rah-rah for him, as his show is up against the Style network's own How Do I Look? for the former honor.
3. The Eye Is Watching. But Nobody's Watching the Eye: Snub alert! CBS' Early Show has the dubious distinction of being the only major network morning show to have not scored an Emmy nomination. The Today show and The View both earned six nods, while Good Morning America earned one. Julie Chen's forming stomping grounds, meanwhile, turned up a big goose egg. Come to think of it, Julie Chen's current stomping grounds, The Talk, also walked away empty-handed.
4. Late Night Is the New Daytime: No, it's not a typo: late-night staples Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert somehow found themselves not only eligible but nominated for the Daytime Emmys. And no, Comedy Central hasn't suddenly taken bold new steps to rejigger their programming lineup. So what gives? Simply this: the political heavies' much-hyped Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear has been nominated (and them with it) as Outstanding Special Class Program. Which is probably the first and last time you'll ever see them in competition with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. And which also helpfully provides the answer to the inevitable question, who's honoring Stephen now?
5. They'd Like to Buy a Laurel: Who are pop culture legends of the American television landscape for $1,000? That'd be Pat Sajak and Alex Trebek, both of whom are in line to receive Lifetime Achievement Awards come next month's celebrations.
Meanwhile, in other neverending game show news, The Price Is Right (fun fact to whip out at your next family gathering: it's the longest-running game show in television history) also scored a nomination for Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show. It's up against Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune and the strangely addictive Cash Cab.
Wayne Brady hosts the show, airing live from Las Vegas June 19 on CBS.