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THE 33rd ANNUAL DAYTIME EMMY AWARDS

soapcentral.com panelists predict the Emmy winners: Liz Lee

Posted Tuesday, April 25, 2006 10:51:55 AM

LIZ LEE

Liz is the monitor volunteer for the B&B Board and the lieutenant monitor volunteer for the Y&R Board. Widely known in her narrow circle as the Greatest, Most Vocal, (and possibly only) Fan of Y&R's "Mary Williams", Liz maintains it's a shame the Daytime Emmys don't recognize non-contract character performers. Liz has watched daytime drama since high school, cutting her teeth on the ABC lineup, then in college picking up CBS and staying there ever since. This year: lots of Y&R, gobs of B&B, the so good again GL, and of course, ATWT on laundry folding day. Liz credits her spry for her age outlook on her wholesome Gateway to the Midwest lifestyle, and her not necessarily cheerful bent wit comes from the sleep deprivation and paucity of bathroom privacy you get from hanging around two young children.

Previous Predictions
2003: 3 for 8

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
I can be a good team player AND a good opinionator at the same time in this category: The Young and the Restless.

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR
It's impossible to knock the credentials of any of the five bonafide fine craftsmen in this category. Despite widely variant styles, all are outstanding actors who bring resonance to their scenes, big and small; and who are capable of making small scenes work with nothing more to help them than their innate gift of expression. We've all seen fine actors knock big scenes out of the ballpark, working off the synergy of big reveals, excellent writing, and devoted direction, but in my opinion it's the smaller scenes that expose the craftsmanship of fine acting. Little scenes that seem so casual and true to life that they might have taken place next door, instead of on a sound stage somewhere in a big city, are the bones and blood of good drama.

My pick for Outstanding Lead Actor submitted scenes that had no gunshots fired, no imperiled loved ones, no Shakespearian homage to love and hormones - just the beats of a heart that lives in an adult relationship. And what's not to love about an actor who submitted scenes about menopause? Ladies and gentlemen, that's a man.

My pick for Outstanding Lead Actor: Robert Newman (Joshua Lewis, Guiding Light)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS
Wow. Three war horses and two dark horses. Despite work so consistently fine the quality has become a bit of a yawn, Ehlers, Flannery and Zimmer might just cancel one another out. Not necessarily a bad thing for an opinionator, since it's pretty hard to choose between those three ladies. Eeeny, meenie...when in doubt, choose the meanie?

What's left...Eakes and Monaco. While I'm sure Monaco would like to boogie her way up to the podium Friday night, I'm not convinced her character has the maturity and oomph the characters of her competition have. I think Eakes has a bit of struggle in store as well - despite the fine work she's turned in with her new character and her restored career, Krystal is in the difficult position of being amusing.

Despite my distaste for choosing based on scenes with things that go bang, Stephanie's scene with Brooke, the gun, and some vile, ugly taunts was disturbingly beautiful.

My pick for Outstanding Lead Actress: Susan Flannery (Stephanie Forrester, The Bold and the Beautiful)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR
Oh, how I'd love to see Jordan Clarke walk away with this award, and if sentiment and affection have anything to do with it at all (and human beings being what they are - human! how could it not?), he will. The guy knows addiction like nobody's business, and he knows his own business as well: acting. That's a powerful combination.

Playing Bobbie Eakes in this category is Trent Dawson - I can't help but feel his decision to embrace his campy character by including a scene with Olga is a strategic error. Christopher, McCouch, and Rikaart aren't showing us anything we haven't seen in soaps before in their submissions, and nobody in my opinion reinvented the wheel with their takes on dysfunctional relationships with dad, reacting to the rape of a loved one, and the apparently-chosen-at-random generic holiday break up scene.

Go with the guy who showed us something new about the same old wheel...

My pick for Outstanding Supporting Actor: Jordan Clarke (Billy Lewis, Guiding Light)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS
I keep hearing lovely things about Renee Goldsberry, but in my opinion the contest is for Gina Tognoni and Jennifer Ferrin to duke out and win.

I'm not sure what Tracey E. Bregman was thinking when she sent in tapes from cute scenes. Was it a strategy to stand out, or is she just happy to be nominated? Lauren Fenmore had a heck of a lot of DRAMA to pick and choose from. Crystal Chappell is so talented and previously well respected, she's fine to go home empty handed this year.

I love the character of Dinah Marler - she's got dysfunction, she's got rising from the ashes, she's got one heck of an actress to play her, one of the best recasts EVER. But she doesn't have a dead baby (this year) or one of the silliest but still incredibly affecting drug addictions presented on soaps to date. I'll just never mind that Jennifer Munson typically makes me want to slap her.

My pick for Outstanding Supporting Actress: Jennifer Ferrin (Jennifer Munson, As The World Turns)

OUTSTANDING YOUNGER ACTOR
I had a crush on my cousin once. He had a motorcycle. My crush was legal in most states. Except for the part with me being only 9 years old. Enough said?

My apologies to Scott Clifton, but I haven't seen enough of General Hospital this year to really appreciate his work one way or the other, and I haven't heard enough unbiased drum beating on his behalf to convince me that I should put my chips on him. Not that the General Hospital machine isn't impressive, and worthy of it.

Here's a smack upside the head to tptb at Y&R (again). Bryton McClure earned a nod based on NOTHING. You people are wasting a fine actor and you only have yourselves to blame. Please give this guy something to do before he runs screaming at the end of his contract!

What to do, what to do...should I go with the bookend to the dead girl, or the bookend to the dead baby girl? This is a tough call. Michael Graziadei did a great job with the Cassie storyline, and continues to get better and better all the time. Just like Jesse Sofer, another actor that started great and continues to grow, but with a head start on MG. For that reason, I'm going to table Graziadei (just for now, I know I'll get more and better chances to pick him in upcoming years), and go with Sofer. Gwen and Will are a powerful one-two punch, and he should be able to ride that wave right up on stage. And deservedly so.

My pick for Outstanding Younger Actor: Jesse Soffer (Will Munson, As The World Turns)

OUTSTANDING YOUNGER ACTRESS
I know, I know, the hot money is on the Autistic character. Read "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time". It's even better. Here's a shout out to the girl from that wonderful little college down the road - you go ahead and put Otterbein on the map, Mandy Bruno. And if you win, we can legally toast your success in restaurants in town now that Westerville has finally gotten over Prohibition. Here's to you, and here's to beer, here's looking forward to your brilliant career!

Christel Khalil - I know these scenes aren't on the tape she submitted, but I can't get over the "I ran over my dad!" and the "I only wanted a boyfriend!" tedium of the character overall. She's out gunned in this category. The nomination itself is her accolade.

Here's where I make the Y&R board hate my guts. I love Camryn Grimes. She's wonderful. She was done wrong. But Y&R gave her squat to do, then they killed her off. There's not enough tape available to really show what an amazing actress they stupidly fired for the most abysmal reason possible. If Camryn wins this year, it's because the voters considered the depth and breadth of her work over the years, not because Camryn gave us the best head-wrapped-in-gauze, gasp-whisper-die stuff EVER, and no soap will ever dare touch that particular clich� again because Y&R did it so well it's ruined for everyone else.

I have no idea how Jennifer Landon picked her scenes for her tape. She could have used a dart board and blind fold, she had so much available to her. What's the difference between a truck load of dead baby scenes and a truck load of Emmy statues? You can't unload Emmy statues with a pitchfork.

My pick for Outstanding Younger Actress: Jennifer Landon (Gwen Norbeck, As The World Turns)