The best in daytime television were feted at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium May 5 at the 46th annual Daytime Emmy Awards. In the daytime wing of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ awards, Mario Lopez of “Extra” and Sheryl Underwood of “The Talk” hosted the evening recognizing achievement in a variety of TV programming that airs between 2 A.M. and 6 P.M. The awards ceremony streamed live across the Daytime Emmys’ social media accounts, YouTube, and EmmyOnline.tv.
The biggest winners of the night were “The Young and the Restless” and “General Hospital.” “The Young and the Restless,” which airs on CBS, took home the Best Drama award, Outstanding Writing Team for a Drama Series, and the Outstanding Directing Team for a Drama Series.
ABC’s “General Hospital” nearly swept the acting categories, taking five in total. The cast of the classic daytime drama shone brightly, with Maurice Benard winning the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Sonny Corinthos, which he has played since 1993. Vernee Watson won Outstanding Supporting Actress as Stella Henry, Max Gail won the Outstanding Supporting Actor as Mike Corbin, and Hayley Erin won the Outstanding Younger Actress award for her role as Kiki Jerome. The Best Actress award went to Jacqueline MacInnes Wood of “The Bold and the Beautiful,” which airs on CBS.
CBS and ABC ended up tied in the awards tally at the end of the night, with five awards each, leaving NBC, the Food Network, and Amazon with two awards each.
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Beloved “Jeopardy” host Alex Trebek won the award for Best Game Show Host, less than two months after the legendary TV personality revealed that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
Amy Poehler surprised guests of this year’s Daytime Emmy ceremony when she made an unannounced appearance to give the Lifetime Achievement Award to “Judge Judy” herself, Judy Sheindlin. Also receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award this year was French-American chef Jacques Pepin, and Kathie Lee Gifford and “Sesame Street” received special tributes.
Of this year’s honorees, National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences chairman Terry O’Reilly said, “In addition to those honored tonight with the prestigious Emmy Award, we are especially pleased to be highlighting the careers of two of our television icons, ‘Judge Judy’ Sheindlin and Chef Jacques Pepin, with our Lifetime Achievement Award. With our tributes to the wonderful career of Kathie Lee Gifford and the remarkable 50-year achievement of ‘Sesame Street,’ it’s a wonderful evening to celebrate daytime television.”
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