36th Annual Daytime Emmy Winners

Here are the grand winners and my thoughts.

Younger Actress: GH's Julie Marie Berman (Lulu)
I was rooting for GH's Kirsten Storms, but I am very happy that Julie won. She completely deserves it. She is a stunning actress, and GH did the best job casting her as Lulu Spencer. Julie also looked so beautiful and classy as she nervously accepted her award. Adorable!

Younger Actor: DAYS' Darin Brooks (Max)
Not who I wanted to win, but this was a tricky category. I didn't really have a favorite. I'm not unhappy with Darin winning because how often does anyone at DAYS win anything? So, congrats to him. He's lucky.

Supporting Actress: DAYS' Tamara Braun (Ava)
This surprised me. Tamara was only on for SIX MONTHS. She was on GH (as Carly) longer and never won an Emmy. But Tamara winning makes me happy to some extent because I love her. She's brilliant. But it makes me wish I saw her as Ava so I know why she deserved to win. Too bad AMC's Alicia Minshew didn't win. She deserves an Emmy one of these years.

Supporting Actor: A tie! AMC's Vincent Irizarry (David) and GL's Jeff Branson (Shayne)
Ties are usually pretty rare, and this one was the first category presented. Vincent is an amazing actor. Even though I don't like his character, I still say he deserves every Emmy he wins. And I was rooting for Jeff. I'm glad that he won for GL because we've truly been able to see how talented he is. When he was on AMC as Jonathan, he didn't get the best material.

Lead Actress: OLTL's Susan Haskell (Marty)
YAY!!!! My pick of the night won! I was so excited that I was jumping up & down. She totally deserves this win. She won for the fallout of Todd raping Marty again (more emotionally than physically). She was brilliant when Marty learned the truth and discovered he lied about her entire life. Marty fought hard against Todd, and Susan got an Emmy for it. Wonderful! And her speech was sweet.

Lead Actor: Y&R's Christian LeBlanc (Michael)
Of course he wins again. I'm the least happiest about his win. It didn't excite me. This was another tricky category, though. I wasn't sure who should win.

Writing: General Hospital
I am appalled at this! I was angry at this because GH does not have the best writing. Mobsters are heros, the Quartermaines are hardly shown, Jason and Sam are back together, and there's almost constant violence. Some of the dialogue is stuff we hear more than once. How could GH win over OLTL? The episodes submitted must have been superb.

Directing: One Life To Live
Yay, OLTL won! It won over AMC's huge CGI tornado event. Wow! I don't know what episodes OLTL submitted, but I'm sure they were brilliant. I've been very happy with OLTL's directing. OLTL looks the way a soap should. Nothing fancy or on location most of the time.

Drama Series: The Bold And The Beautiful
Not what I was rooting for, but good for them. I believe they said it was B&B's first win. Thus, I'm extremely happy for B&B's cast, crew, and executives. But how could they not get to speak? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! That is so unheard of! Shame on CW and the people running the show. That's the worst part of the night, in my opinion.

Favorite Parts: OLTL's Susan Haskell winning made my night. As did GL's Jeff Branson's win. The opening of the show was very amusing - Vanessa Williams' in all these daytime scenes as she's singing. I loved seeing GL's Olivia & Natalia a part of that. The little parts of Elmo and Gordon trying to get in past Oscar were funny, and the Lifetime Achievement to Sesame Street was fun. AMC's, DAYS', and B&B's clips for Outstanding Drama Series were captivating. I always love the drama series clips, especially when they include great music. GL's tribute was very moving. I was loving it until they cut it off. I enjoyed the fashion segment because Ricky Paull Goldin (Jake, AMC; ex-Gus, GL) was a part of it. He looked so hot. He & Chrishell Stause (Amanda, AMC) pulled off the James Bond look perfectly. And B&B won Outstanding Drama Series for the 1st time. How fresh!

Bad Parts: The worst was no one from B&B being able to speak after B&B won Outstanding Drama Series. Two performances completely not needed were Vanessa Williams' second musical number and the special fashion segment. The Foof For Children charity segment was moving, but it went too long. That probably wasn't needed either. There wasn't a montage for the people who passed away. There weren't clips for all the acting categories; there is never enough time. Many people were not present to accept awards for Morning Show, Talk Show Host, etc. The Lifetime Achievement Award for Sesame Street was a bit too long. General Hospital won for Outstanding Writing. And finally, Guiding Light's special farewell tribute could have been longer and was cut off without so much as a warning.