Bianco (pre-) Handicaps (pre-) Nominations for the Prime-time Emmys

As nominated soap actors race look to the Daytime Emmys (a week from tomorrow), the soapiest actors in prime-time are at the start of the process to determine who will share the slate with their non-serial bretheren on the prime-time Emmy ballot.

This week, "nominations for nominations" ballots for the prime-time awards fest begin arriving in Academy member's mailboxes. In honor of the occasion, USA TODAY's Robert Bianco offers his suggestions for who should fit the bill.

Bianco's picks are heavy on soap players, including both prime-time serial women (Evangeline Lilly of LOST, America Ferrera of UGLY BETTY, and Sally Field of BROTHERS & SISTERS) and, after recognizing Kyle Chandler of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS on his best actor list, Bianco stocks his supporting actor slate 100% with nighttime soapsters, including Masi Oka of HEROES, T.R. Knight of GREY'S ANATOMY, and Sam Neil of THE TUDORS.

Bianco's list is strong, if a bit safe. He rightly cites that nearly every woman on UGLY BETTY could be nominated for an Emmy, before proceeding to choose the predictable--and most famous choice--Vanessa Williams as the one most deserving. While I like Williams on the show a great deal, stars Ana Ortiz and Becki Newton have given revelatory performances with characters that could easily have been one-note. He also shortchanges BETTY's men in his calculations, with nary a mention of Eric Mabius or the delightfully surprising Michael Urie. (Personally, I would have thrown Adrian Pasdar, who's complicated take on what--literally--could have been a cartoon made viewers willing to patch over a huge plot hole in HEROES's season finale, and to hope that said hole somehow means he'll still be flying into living rooms on Monday nights next season.)

Still, Bianco shows the nighttime serial the love it deserves by recognizing some of the amazing contributions that have been made by TV stars, movie stars, and newcomers alike to the genre and prime-time slate this past season. To read his full predictions, click

ABC Nighttime Soaps Win GLAAD Media Awards

GREY'S ANATOMY the hit soap whose actor, Isaiah Washington, was criticized for calling a then-closeted co-star T.R. Knight a "faggot," (leading to Knight's coming out and creating a pre-Imus teaching moment for the nation and a Hollywood that prides itself on being tolerant.) was awarded outstanding individual episode Saturday, by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (for the episode "Where the Boys Are").

ABC continued their sweep--begun when ALL MY CHILDREN beat AS THE WORLD TURNS, among others, for outstanding daytime drama last month in New York--when freshman serials UGLY BETTY won for outstanding television comedy series and BROTHERS & SISTERS took home the outstanding drama series award.

The 18th annual GLAAD Media Awards -- consisting of 42 categories -- are split into four ceremonies, held in Los Angeles, New York, Miami and San Francisco in March, April and May. The awards recognize and honor mainstream media for "fair, accurate and inclusive representations" of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

FOX and ABC Set to Debut Action-Adventure Serials for Summer

The Hollywood Reporter ran a story this week entitled "Serialized Dramas Hope to Reheat Ailing Genre," but it was less an examination of the industry and more a profile of two new nighttime serials to set to debut as late mid-season replacements. ("Ailing" is, of course, relative, as the pick-up rate of 21% for new serial dramas has already met--and if only one more is renewed this season, it will excced--the average rate for all new shows, of any genre.):

Fox's DRIVE and ABC's TRAVELER -- both heavily serialized dramas -- were developed during the 2006-07 development cycle when the [serial] genre was red hot.

A year later, the genre is in the freezer after the majority of ambitious new fall series with continuous story lines crashed and burned.

Now Drive and Traveler slated for a May 30 launch, will test the airwaves to see if the serialized drama curse has been lifted.

<...>

Indeed, observers note that it was the dark serialized dramas such as VANISHED, KIDNAPPED, SMITH, THE NINE, and DAY BREAK that fizzled, while lighter fare such as the heavily serialized HEROES and the soap UGLY BETTY became the breakout hits of the season.

Drive and Traveler are in the action-adventure genre -- Drive chronicles an illegal cross-country race and its participants, while Traveler revolves around two graduate students searching for their friend Will Traveler, who disappeared after framing them for a terrorist act. That makes the shows a good fit for the summer movie season that kicks in next month....

Read the full article here.

Network Honchos Tackle the State of Nighttime Soaps

Scott D. Pierce writes an absolutely fantastic piece entitled "To Be Continued..." for the Deseret Morning News on the place and future of the nighttime serial on network television. I've included a highly truncated version below, but recommend reading Pierce's full article here.

From the Deseret Morning News:

Last fall, network executives were…declaring this the Season of the Serial — in addition to the [many] shows with storylines that continue from week to week returning—[execs] added 19 more.

By midseason, some critics were declaring the effort a big flop and predicting the end of serialized shows on network TV.

<…>

As with all things in TV, this is cyclical....if the executives were wrong last fall, so were those critics at midseason. The truth lies in the middle. Of those 19 new serials, four — BROTHERS & SISTERS, HEROES, MEN IN TREES, and UGLY BETTY — have already been renewed for next season [a success rate of 21 percent].

A 21 percent success rate is just about [the same] for all new network shows. If one or two more get picked up…this year's crop of serialized newcomers will exceed that average.

Part of the thinking [is] that serials are a risk, but offer a big reward. If they prove popular with [viewers], those viewers will come back week after week.

"Serialization is still one of the biggest hooks that we have into an audience," NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said. "[It's] rocket fuel when you hit it."

The risk comes because you're asking viewers to tune in to every single episode [and] the risk increases when there are so many serials on the air, because viewers can't commit to all of them.

Fox's Entertainment president Peter Liguori thinks that serials have to be not just good, but better than other shows. "It seems to me that in order to put on a serialized show, you have a higher standard," he said. "If we're going to ask viewers to make that kind of commitment, you better be great."

<…>

It would be nice if quality always wins out [but] some good shows get canceled; some very bad shows succeed.

The thinking is that there were just too many serialized shows on the air at one time...if a viewer is already watching 24 and LOST and GREY’S ANATOMY, how many of the 19 new shows did he or she have time to start watching [also]?

Reilly acknowledged that critics "were right to acknowledge the overabundance of serialized shows." Particularly too many shows that were so much alike in tone….but [that] you can't argue serials don't work, "because there's Heroes, completely defying the logic," Reilly said. "Highly serialized, highly complex and it's the breakout hit of the year."

And ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson believes that "escapism" equaled success, pointing to Betty and Brothers & Sisters.

Liguori postulates that "shows that have a more singular focus and a singular goal may have a leg up. PRISON BREAK — get out of prison; 24 — save the country."

Network programmers…expect to program fewer new serials this fall. "We're...looking and saying. 'How much [of a] commitment can an audience make to an overall schedule?"' McPherson said. As a result, he's looking at more "stuff that is procedural or closed-ended" for next season.

"We're not running away from it," said NBC's Reilly. "But we are balancing it out a little bit more."

Nighttime Serials Lauded With High Media Honor

UGLY BETTY and FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS were honored with one of the media's most exclusive and prestigious awards, the Peabody Award.

The Peabody is awarded by the University of Georgia for over 65 years in recognition of broadcasting and cable excellence. Peabody Award winners are selected by 15 members of an exclusive advisory board of journalists and academics.

"This year the Peabody Board reviewed an amazing array of outstanding material," said Horace Newcomb, director of the Peabody Awards, "The result is that our work becomes more difficult—and more rewarding—as creators and producers of electronic media develop more and more powerful, important, and engaging work."

This year's awards will be formally given out on June 4 at the Peabody Awards ceremony hosted by broadcaster Bob Costas.

A complete list of winners is here.

College Viewers Continue to Deliver for Soaps Under New Ratings System

Soappipe has already explored how better measurement techniques by Nielsen Media Research of college students has revealed significantly greater viewership for daytime soaps (including NBC's PASSIONS and CBS's GUIDING LIGHT), boosting ratings in what was seen as a long-overdue move (and sadly, one made after the decision was made to cancel PASSIONS) to fully capture the viewing habits of young adults--often considered the key demo by advertisers.

In his MediaWeek piece "ABC Benefits From Out-of-Home College Viewers," writer John Consoli notes how the change is affecting the prime-time landscape (and clearly benefiting nighttime soaps like GREY'S ANATOMY and UGLY BETTY, and satisfactorily solving the mystery of why the seemingly lagging Anne Heche vehicle MEN IN TREES snagged a much coveted early renewal from the network.)

"MARCH 29, 2007 - ABC ratings have benefited more than any other broadcast network in prime time from Nielsen Media Research's new measurement of out-of-home viewing by college students,according to an analysis by media agency Magna Global USA. And, ironically, The CW, with the youngest median age, had the second to the fewest number of shows among the Top 20 which benefited most.

According to the Magna analysis, ABC Thursday night drama Grey's Anatomy has gained three rating points among the
18-24-year-old demo group, from a 6.0 to a 9.1, and that has boosted its rating by one rating point in the overall adult 18-49 demo group, since Nielsen began measuring out of home college viewing in January. ABC's other Thursday night dramas Ugly Betty and Men in Trees have also gained among the 18-24 audience, off lower bases.

Betty rose from a pre-college out of home measurement 18-24 rating
of 2.4 to a post measurement rating of 3.7, a gain of 56 percent, while Trees went from a 1.4 to a 3.3, a gain of 140 percent."

Read the full article here.

Read earlier article Nielsen's Change, Soaps Benefit.

Multiple Serials Get Early Renewal from ABC

ABC announced more early series pick-ups for the 2007-08 season, including most of their serials. Already renewed for next year are UGLY BETTY, BROTHERS & SISTERS, MEN IN TREES (starring ANOTHER WORLD supernova Anne Heche, pictured), DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, GREY'S ANATOMY, and LOST.

“We have had a strong year, with two of the season’s breakout hits, UGLY BETTY and BROTHERS & SISTERS and the solid performance of MEN IN TREES,” said ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson. “We are pleased that viewers have invested in these new favorites along with our other returning series. These shows provide us with a substantial foundation to make 2007-08 our best schedule yet.”

Also renewed are Boston Legal, The Bachelor, Dancing With the Stars, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Jimmy Kimmel Live, America’s Funniest Home Videos, Supernanny and Wife Swap.

No comedy renewals have been announced yet.

Beautiful 'Images': Soaps, Daytime and Nightime, Polished at 38th NAACP Image Awards

People of color have always been soap opera's loudest, proudest, and most articlulate champions, and that tradition of support for and loyalty to "the stories" and telenovelas continued Friday night at the 38th Annual IMAGE Awards, presented by the storied National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (or NAACP).

The glamorous ceremony, hosted by musician and actor (Deep Blue Sea, Last Holiday) LL Cool J, again set itself apart from a number of other awards-season ceremonies by including daytime soaps in the nomination categories and winners circle, and honoring the serial-television medium in its nighttime selections as well.

Kristoff St. John, who plays business executive "Neil Winters" on CBS's top-rated THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, was honored as Best Actor in a Daytime Series in a year that has seen his character deal with the disintegration and then rebuilding of his family following a series of personal, medical, and legal challenges. St. John and Y&R, which has had an African-American family at the core of its action for over a decade, have been a frequent NAACP honorees over the years.

Tracey Ross, portrayer of physician "Eve Russell," on NBC's PASSIONS, was named Best Actress in a Daytime Series for a year that has seen her alter-ego deal with the end of a marriage and engagement, several key changes in relationships with her children (and presumed-children), and the continued coming out storyline of her character's lesbian teen daughter. In typical soap opera fashion, Ross's "Dr. Eve" is often the only available physician in the sudser's New England town, placing Ross at the center of several medically-based storyline twists over the past months.

(Sadly, though PASSIONS is one of the daytime's few soaps to feature a front burner and multi-generational black "core family," network officials recently announced plans to cancel the show to make room for a fourth hour of it's TODAY SHOW franchise.)

Nighttime soaps were honored as well, with ABC's serial comic sudser UGLY BETTY (adapted from it's similarly named predecessor telenovelas and daytime soaps in Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East), named Best Comedy and honored for Best Comedy Writing over traditionally nominated sitcoms, and sar Vanessa L. Williams ("Wilhelmina Slater") was given Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series honors.

Another ABC serial offering, popular drama GREY'S ANATOMY, was the big winner in the Dramatic Series categories, with awards going to writer Shonda Rimes, and actors Chandra Wilson (named Best Supporting Actress in a Dramatic Series for her portrayal of "Dr. Miranda Bailey") and Isiah Washington (named Best Actor in a Dramatic Series for his portrayal as "Dr. Preston Burke"). Grey's also took home top dramatic directing and writing honors.

Established in 1967, at the height of the civil rights movement, the NAACP Image Awards outstanding actors, actresses, writers, producers and directors in 36 competitive categories in the fields of motion picture, television, music and literature. Other winners this weekend included actors Forrest Whittaker, Jennifer Hudson, Keke Palmer, and Djimon Hounsou for film performances this past year, and musician Prince.

CNN's Soledad O'Brien was given the honorary President's Award for her work as a journalist and actor-comedian Bill Cosby was inducted into the Hall of Fame. The NAACP Image Awards Chairman's Award was presented to Irish rock-star and U2 frontman Bono. (A complete list of winners can be found here.)

OF NOTE: Again this year, Victoria Rowell ("Drucilla Barber Winters" on Y&R), a prior multiple award winner in consecutive years, asked that her name be withheld from consderation so that others in the medium might have a greater chance for recognition.