Exclusive: Why the Daytime Emmys Will Not Be Televised This Year
What the heck happened? Today’s announcement of the Daytime Emmy nominations was accompanied by the surprising news that the 43rd annual awards—to be presented May 1—will not be televised this year. Cable channel Pop aired the 2015 ceremony live in a lavish production from the Warner Bros. Studios, and it was announced at the time that the channel would also air the 2016 awards. There was even talk of a “multi-year” deal between Pop and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. What went haywire? NATAS senior vice president David Michaels gave us the scoop.
RELATED: See the Full List of 2016 Daytime Emmys Nominations
Such disappointing news! What happened to Pop? They seemed so enthusiastic about the awards.
Pop has been our champion and was absolutely willing to air the awards again but there was a money issue. Last year, NATAS paid for the entire production and we just can’t do that again. We’re a non-profit. Nobody could have made a greater effort to try to work a deal than [NATAS president] Bob Mauro, but we fell short on the money and our board decided not to go ahead with [a telecast] this year.
Last year’s production was obviously pricey. Couldn’t you have done a scaled-back version?
Doing it on the Warner Bros. lot was very expensive but what it comes down to—no matter how you scale it—is that the cost of a live broadcast, with the trucks and the satellite and the humongous crew, is huge. You can’t do it with just two cameras. To do it right—to do it at all—is very expensive. But this year our two ceremonies [the Creative Arts portion of the awards takes place April 29] will be spectacular and world class and, believe me, everyone who attends will be thrilled. Michael Levitt, who did a terrific job for us last year, is once again producing the show, and it will be just as good or even better than the 2015 show. We will honor the daytime community, which is really what our job is. We are not TV producers. We are the TV Academy.
What about streaming the awards on the Internet, like you did in 2014?
We will see what we can do for the fans. There will definitely be a lot of pre-show activity that will be available to them. We’ll have an outdoor red carpet area at the Western Bonaventure hotel in Los Angeles that is just as big and beautiful as the one at Warner Bros. So that part of the awards will be as exciting as ever. As for streaming the ceremony, I’m not allowed to comment on that right now, but it is not impossible. I’ve always believed in miracles.
Was this a last-minute decision?
It was down to the wire. It was down to yesterday! I have nothing but praise for everybody at Pop, especially [president] Brad Schwartz. I will also tell you that we already have two bites for airing the 2017 awards, so this isn’t like the Daytime Emmys will never be on TV anymore. We had a record number of entries and a record number of judges this year. This thing is alive and thriving. We love the people of the daytime community and they love us. We intend to keep on honoring them forever.
The Daytime Emmy Award winners will be announced on Sunday, May 1.
Conversation22 Comments
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P
Who cares if the ceremonies will be "spectacular and world class" if no one can see them? What a putz...
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LOL! ITA!
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YEP THEY NEED TO BE ON TV,US FANS DESERVES TO SEE IT AND I HAVE WATCHED ALL OF THEM THAT'S BEEN ON TV,AND BOY G.H.IS UP FOR 24 SO YES I WANT TO SEE IT,SO SOME ONE MAKE IT HAPPEN AND DURING THE DAY LIKE THEY USE TO,BECAUSE I HAVE WATCHED GENERAL HOSPITAL FOR 52 YEARS,AND HOPE THE GOODNESS I WILL GET TO SEE THE EMMY'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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It not right need to be on tv
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cathy. I Can not believe this, i have been a soap opera fan since i was 5 years old. Now i am much much older. I watch all the award shows. Please put it on line so we can watch it. Has a hgh fan of soaps, you are wrong
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CBS expects us Fans to be loyal to their station and watch our soaps,ONLY when they care to show it to us.They are always taking our shows off for breaking news,when they should assign ONE news channel like cnn or cspan or even just flash the news at the bottom of the screen,between news and Obama breaking in all the time, or Colledge basket ball. hockey games , ice skating etc... put those alsp on a sports channel. Stop taking away from soap fans. Now the emmy awards will not be shown to us loyal viewers ..How would CBS feel if we just gave up on CBS and started watching our shows on POPTV or canada's online showings.CBS is not loyal to us fans,why should we keep loyal to them.
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I couldn't agree more. CBS brags that there number 1 in daytime BUT they could not step up for the fans. It's a disgrace the way they treat the daytime viewers. First they take away most of our stories and then they won't televise the award shows.
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C
It's not just can this award show is for all the stations ABC and NBC all the soaps and talk shows... 4..5'''8'''& 11 they need t rotate and show the awards on all stations every year even if it's 12 midnight total bs
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You might not care, but that doesn't mean nobody cares. Oh wait....who are you anyway? Nobody that's who. So I guess nobody cares. Except everybody else does except you. Because you are a nobody!
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Who cares if they're live? And why aren't they streaming?? Just stupid.
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C
We expect better for the actors and actresses. It's bad enough that the elderly and poor fans who can't afford cable or internet always miss the Emmy's... the fans who are most loyal and watch daily...This is RIDICULOUS. It need to be aired on tv each year and every station should rotate and pick it up on a free station... 4...5...8...& 11 should air them at night even if it's late at midnight...it should be free!!! And on REGULAR TV NOT CABLE!! Very dissatisfied about this decision Ughhhh!!!
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Truth is, no one has EVER cared about any categories except the soaps, so really should just add those to the televised Emmy show since cable, streaming and reality categories have already been added, and get more viewers to watch the Emmy awards.
Daytime actors are such a talented group, seems outdated to separate them from Netflix, cable, primetime anyway. Only 4 shows, time for change. -
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Everything I just read is a lot of B S, we deserve to see a show, the fans are the ones that keep all these programs on the air, this is really a slap in the face to all the fans!!!
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EXactly!! I just said how would they feel if we stopped watching their channel and started relying on the canada's online showing of our shows.If CbS can't put us fans first,and realize we are the everyday viewers that they rely on, not these occassional interruptions like colledge basket ball or whatever the day happens to call for.
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What is the point without a ceremony?
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Stop watching TV and be more useful to society!
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R they going 2 do this with the primetime 1's 2?
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No, totally different situation. Daytime doesn't get the advertising revenue prime time does so it gets treated as a second class entity.
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C
That's not true. I care!
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No one who counts cares.
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Oh, I see. You're one of those types. Got it.
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Hardly!! more like they care about other crap that pays for their viewing,but they should start thinking about the fans who are daily and not just another special interferring with our shows or emmys.
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