After two years of massive changes forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Daytime Emmy Awards are returning with all the glitz and glamor that soap opera lovers have enjoyed in previous decades. First came the news that the 49th Annual Daytime Awards ceremony will be taking place in person in Los Angeles on Friday, June 24; next came news that the two-hour event will air on CBS at 8PM PST and stream live on Paramount+ at the same time; and now comes the official announcement of the 2022 Daytime Emmy nominations!
To skip ahead to the complete list of nominations, click here.
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) revealed the list of official nominees on CBS' Emmy award-winning talk show The Talk. And this year's nominations have some decidedly soapy twists. For the first time since 2014, there are five nominees in the Outstanding Daytime Drama Series. That's right, five. How is that possible with only four daytime drama series in production? The Days of our Lives spinoff Beyond Salem snagged a nomination for the top category... where it will face off with its mother soap, Days of our Lives. The Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital, and The Young and the Restless were also nominated in the best show field.
In the acting categories, there was a mix of familiar names as well as some notable first-time nominees. B&B's Aaron D. Spears (Justin Barber) earned his very first nod in the Outstanding Supporting Actor category. In the Outstanding Supporting Actress field, GH's Kelly Thiebaud (Dr. Britt Westbourne) and Y&R's Melissa Ordway (Abby Newman) grabbed their first nominations. Multi-soap vet Ted King earned his very first nomination for his work as B&B's Jack Finnegan. Among the names fans will instantly recognize are Lead Actor nominees Peter Bergman (Jack Abbott, Y&R) and John McCook (Eric Forrester, B&B), Lead Actress contender Laura Wright (Carly Corinthos, GH), and Supporting Actress nominee Kimberlin Brown (Sheila Carter, B&B). While Brown received a previous nomination for her work as Sheila on Y&R, this is his first nomination for playing the wicked Sheila Carter on B&B.
This year's Daytime Emmys improved in their celebration of the diversity in daytime. For the first time since 2012, there are African American nominees in both the Lead Actor and Lead Actress categories.
As part of an overhaul and realignment of the Daytime Emmys, all the Creative Arts categories -- which had usually been open only to the soaps -- were expanded to allow non-drama series to compete. The Outstanding Costume Design category, for example, has been retitled Outstanding Costume Design/Styling with nominations going to GH, Y&R, The Drew Barrymore Show, and Nick Cannon's self-titled talk show. Changes announced last year also included a descending age scale for Outstanding Younger Performer in a Drama Series entrants and the continued elimination of the pre-nomination process, which did not happen this year, either.
Overall, The Young and the Restless led the pack with 18 nominations, eight of those for acting. General Hospital had the most acting nominations, with ten, and 17 total nominations. Days of our Lives picked up eleven nominations and The Bold and the Beautiful had eight.
The Daytime Emmy Awards recognize outstanding achievement in television programming and crafts, honoring work in a variety of categories, including daytime dramas, talk shows, instructional programming, hosting, and legal/courtroom programs. (Soap Central previously reported, NATAS and the Television Academy recently announced that they were realigning the Daytime and Primetime Emmy Awards to be organized by content genre instead of program airtime. Another change this year recognizes the increase in content and entries for children's programming, with 2022 marking the first year that there will also be an annual Children's & Family Emmy Awards.
So, without further ado, here are the nominees for the 49th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in the major categories. To review all the nominations, including the creative arts and technical categories, click here.
What do you think about this year's official Daytime Emmy nominations? Which nominees are you most excited to see on the list? Do you feel like anyone was snubbed? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
