General Hospital, Young & Restless and Days of Our Lives lead the Daytime Emmy nominations

This morning, the nominations for the 39th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards were announced and General Hospital led the way with a big 23 nominations. Next in line were The Young and the Restless with 16 and my personal favorite, Days of Our Lives with 15. Among Days nods were first time bids for long time soap vet Matthew Ashford (Jack) and Shelly Hening (Stephanie) who left the show early last year and now stars on CW’s The Secret Circle. Picking up her 8th nod was Crystal Chappell (Carly) who has since departed the show as well while Molly Burnett (Melanie) grabbed her second nod and breakout star Chandler Massey (Will) whose coming out storyline helped grab him a second consecutive nod. I also have to give a shout out to two of my friends who earned nods for their work on Days: Glen Alen for Makeup and Christopher Whitesell for Writing. Congrats Days folks! … Ok, enough gushing about Days, take a look at all the nominees in the big categories below and for the full list and info on the show, head here.

OUTSTANDING DRAMA
All My Children
Days of Our Lives
General Hospital
The Young and the Restless

TALK SHOW
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Live With Regis & Kelly
The Talk
The View

TALK SHOW / INFORMATIVE
Anderson
The Dr. Oz Show
The Doctors

TALK SHOW HOST
Anderson Cooper, Anderson
Dr. Oz, The Dr. Oz Show
Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa, Live
Rachael Ray, The Rachael Ray Show
All of The Doctors

LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Maurice Benard, GH
Anthony Geary, GH
John McCook, B&B
Darnell Williams, AMC
Robert S. Woods, OLTL

LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Crystal Chappell, Days
Debbie Morgan, AMC
Erika Slezak, OLTL
Heather Tom, B&B
Laura Wright, GH

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Bradford Anderson, GH
Matthew Ashford, Days
Sean Blakemore, GH
Jonathan Jackson, GH
Jason Thompson, GH

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Melissa Claire Egan, AMC
Genie Francis, Y&R
Nancy Lee Grahn, GH
Elizabeth Hendrickson, Y&R
Rebecca Herbst, GH

YOUNGER ACTOR
Eddie Alderson, OLTL
Chad Duell, GH
Chandler Massey, Days
Nathan Parsons, GH

YOUNGER ACTRESS
Molly Burnett, Days
Shelley Hennig, Days
Christel Khalil, Y&R
Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, B&B

Like Sands through the Hourglass… DAYS is renewed!

“Like sands throught the hour glass, so are the days of our lives.” That refrain accompanies the opening credits of NBC’s longest running and only soap left on the air, and they’re fitting, as the show has been renewed yet again according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Here’s their statement:

From: The Hollywood Reporer

NBC renews ‘Days of our Lives’

At least one daytime soap is safe for another year.
NBC has picked up “Days of our Lives” for its 45th season, keeping the show on the air through 2011.
“‘Days of our Lives’ continues to be a favorite of the daytime audience and we are thrilled to keep it going through its 45th season,” said Marc Graboff, chairman, NBC Entertainment. “‘Days’ has shown year-to-year increases in key female demographics and remains both relevant and fresh creatively.”
“Lives” is NBC’s last remaining soap. Titles such as “Guiding Light” and “As the World Turns” recently were cancelled last year after decades on the air.
“Lives” first premiered as a half-hour show in 1965 and expanded to an hour 10 years later.

This is great news if you ask me. The show has been on fire creatively with the kidnapping drama of baby Sydney and riveting performances from Arianne Zucker (Nicole), James Scott (EJ), Alison Sweeney (Sami) and Suzanne Rogers. Plus the return of Crystal Chappell as Carly has reinvigorated the drama between the show’s signature super couple Bo and Hope, played by former Emmy nominees Peter Reckell and Kristian Alfonso. I fully expect the show to grab mulitiple Emmy nominations later this year including first time nods for Sweeney and Zucker.

In storyline news, the show will be acknowledging the loss of original star Frances Reid who played Grandma Alice Brady since the show’s inception. Reid passed away earlier this year. Her character hasn’t been seen on screen in quite sometime, and now the show will be addressing her passing.  These upcoming episodes will also be dedicated to the beloved star. Several former cast members will be returning to for these episodes  including  Jaime Lyn Bauer (Laura Horton), Christie Clark (Carrie Brady), Roark Critchlow (Mike Horton), Maree Cheatham (Marie Horton), Bryan R. Dattilo (Lucas Horton), Mary Beth Evans (Kayla Johnson), Patsy Pease (Kimberly Brady), Melissa Reeves (Jennifer Horton), Lisa Trusel (Melissa Horton), Arleen Sorkin (Calliope Bradford), Judi Evans (Adrienne, ex-Bonnie) and Charles Shaughnessy (Shane Donovon) …. One big lingering question is whether arguably the show’s biggest star, Deidre Hall (Marlena) will return as well for DAYS’s big farewell to Alice story… Stay tuned.