While we wait to find out who is nominated for the “41st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards” when nominations are announced on Thursday, May 1, David Michaels, Senior Executive Director and Co-Executive Producer of the awards show, which falls under the purview of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS), which is not to be confused with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (now known as simply the Television Academy), recently took time to speak with Soap Opera Network about the upcoming broadcast that still finds itself without a TV home after cable network HLN announced earlier this year that they had passed on airing daytime television’s most highly anticipated event. The network previously aired the ceremony in 2012 and 2013 to record ratings.
“If for any reason we end up not being broadcast this year, we are going to live stream it,” Michaels emphasized for those wondering about the possibility of not being able to see their favorite stars collect their awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, June 22. Despite the possibility of not airing on television this year, Michaels does confirm that there is ongoing discussion to broadcast the show next year. “There is already a potential deal in place for the show to air in 2015, but I can’t guarantee that it is going to air in 2014.”
Editor’s Note: After our interview with Michaels was conducted, a representative for NATAS informed Daytime Confidential that the organization was in discussion with TVGN for a 2015 telecast.
With HLN pulling out and a deal yet to be announced with another network, one has to wonder how airing on a broadcast network compares with a cable network. “It’s kind of hard to compare because it’s almost like apples and oranges, but in the years when it was on CBS there was a much bigger potential audience there. When we did the two years on HLN, we probably gave them the highest ratings they ever had. But those ratings compared to the audience you get on CBS is not going to be as big – not everyone is going to have cable. For everyone who had cable and could find HLN, we had fans saying they couldn’t find it. A lot of people watched the HLN shows, but it’s not as many people who would have watched it on CBS.”
Whether it airs on TV or online, interest in the broadcast is generated first and foremost by the nominees, but it can also be about the presenters and any additional entertainment that helps fill in the time between the announcement of winners in each category. Michaels says, “I think it’s very important who the presenters are. If there’s a host, it’s very important to know who that is and there has to be some entertainment value in the show beyond just giving out the awards. An example of that is last year when we did the In Memoriam segment we had Il Volo singing. I think that was beautiful. I love the idea of a live musical performance, if that’s possible. People really want to know who is going to be on the show, who is going to present and who is going to do what… that has a lot to do with getting the audience to tune in. They want to know if they’re going to see their favorite people, even if they are not nominated.”
Speaking of hosts, if you were hoping to find out who that will be you’ll have to wait a little longer to find out. “There’s nobody in place yet, and I really think once we determine what’s happening this year that’s when we’re going to go ahead and decide who we are going to ask. If it’s going to be on a network, they might want certain people – it’s always driven by that.”
One area in which fans have often voiced their opinion in regards to the awards show is the lack of clips recapping the body of work of the nominees, particularly the actor clips. According to Michaels, that will return whether the show is broadcast on television or streamed online. “We’re hoping to do actor clips this year whether or not we’re broadcast,” he says while adding, “I definitely want the actor clips back because I know that is one of the things people have missed the most over the last few years. My favorite part of an awards show is that shot of the nominees as they are reading the nominations. Just seeing how everybody looks and what they are doing, who’s nervous, and who’s trying to act like they are not nervous. I love that on any awards show!”
Selected categories for “The 41st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards” will be announced live during the 8:30 to 9:00 AM ET portion of ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Thursday, May 1. The complete list of nominees will be released after 9:00 AM ET online and here on Soap Opera Network.