A new round of changes to the Daytime Emmys will open the door to more programming being eligible for television's top award -- even if those series don't necessarily air on traditional television.
"Daytime Drama programs which have produced at least 35 original episodes in the calendar year of 2013 will be eligible to enter the same category as the Network Daytime Dramas," the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced. "This will result in Prospect Park's One Life to Live and All My Children competing against The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital, and Days of our Lives. All of the actors and crafts people on these shows will also be eligible to compete in their appropriate related categories."
There is also good news for online programming that has not produced the required 35 episodes: a new category called Outstanding New Approaches Drama Series. The category will primarily target web series, like Venice, which won a Daytime Emmy in 2011 in a "special class" category.
"I am very pleased to include these new categories in the Daytime Emmy contest. I strongly believe that every broadcast entity should have a chance to compete for an Emmy Award in a true peer to peer competition," David Michaels, Senior Executive Director, Daytime Emmy Awards, said in a statement.
After more than four decades on ABC, All My Children and One Life to Live returned in an online format in April 2013. Both series produced more than the mandated 35 episodes before going on an open-ended hiatus earlier this year. Prospect Park has announced that OLTL will remain on hiatus until a lawsuit against ABC is resolved. The production company will focus its efforts on All My Children, though no date has been set for the show to return to production, and at least one of the series' leading stars has since signed on to a rival soap.
