‘The Young and the Restless’ Star Peter Bergman on His Milestone Daytime Emmy Nomination

Whether he succeeds or not at the 49^th Annual Daytime Emmys tonight in the category of Lead Actor in a Drama Series, The Young and the Restless’ Peter Bergman (Jack Abbott) is already a winner.

He not only took home the gold in 1991, 1992, and 2002, but the fan-favorite has received 23 nominations for his performances in daytime drama. That’s more than any other performer has amassed. The amicable Bergman sat down with TV Insider to chat about his nod, the improbable but delightful return of Diane Jenkins (Susan Walters), the addition of Jack’s granddaughter Allie (Kelsey Wang), and why this is the ‘Year of the Abbotts.’

Congratulations on not only your nomination but on being the most nominated actor in the history of the Daytime Emmys with 23 nods. How does it feel?  

Peter Bergman: Thank you. It’s very nice. The joke is, “Yes, I’m thrilled to be the most nominated actor in the history in daytime, but it’s also true that I lost 20 times!”

You had two in a row in 1991 and 1992; then, Susan Lucci (ex-Erica, All My Children) presented to you in 2003, which was fitting as your first role was for AMC’s Cliff Warner from 1979 to 1989.

That was a full circle moment for me. It meant so much to me. My first nomination [in 1983] was for playing Cliff. But I didn’t go that year. I was performing in a production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It.

How does it feel to have the Daytime Emmys back in primetime and live on network TV, on CBS?

I like that the audience doesn’t need to figure out how to watch it. I’m hoping for a fun and entertaining show and that it will move at a pace that we like to see it move. I’m very happy that people can find it.

Monty Brinton/CBS

Can you talk about what’s on your reel?

I’m happy to share what I submitted because I’ve never done this before. What I think is special about daytime TV is not the haranguing, the sturm und drang, the screaming for medics after [a crisis]…what I think is great about soap operas is watching a character change their mind about something. You watch and say, “Oh, they’re going in a different direction. I saw them just change their mind.”

I submitted one episode. I know some people submitted material from different episodes. It’s one episode where Jack has perhaps a glass of wine too many. Phyllis [Michelle Stafford] comes over. Jack, in his loneliness, shares that he’s never stopped loving her. It was one of my favorite things that I’ve ever done on the show. It was well written, honest, simple and a bit heartbreaking. One episode.

Sounds like a throwback to the days when actors submitted one or two episodes for their reel.

Yes, it is. Frankly, those days served me really well.

Sonja Flemming/CBS

The Daytime Emmy voting process has been through many incarnations over the years. What do you like about the current model?

What’s nice about the improvements [they’ve made] is that it’s very democratic. Anyone who wants to submit a reel can. They’re going to get seen by the same group of people. You can’t vote in the category unless you’ve seen all of the submissions. The bad thing is, that becomes so much work that we have too few people voting. It’s so much to ask of people. I had a category a few years ago where I watched 24 submissions.

That’s a lot.

This year, I think there were 16 in that category. That’s a lot of time. I think the reels are kept to 20 minutes and some actors use their whole 20 minutes. Judging happened one year at a time when I was very busy story-wise. I sat in my room in between scenes so I could vote intelligently. How many people are really going to do all this work? The Daytime Emmys have been so kind to me, I take my voting very seriously.

Sonja Flemming/CBS

Michael Bolton is singing the In Memoriam. Sadly, the genre lost so many beloved actors last year including Jerry verDorn (ex-Ross, Guiding Light), Kathryn Hays (ex-Kim, As the World Turns) and Lisa Brown (ex-Nola, GL; ex-Iva, ATWT).

All three of those people are giants in our industry. All three of them.

You’re one of the few actors who has an overview of the entire genre — even back to when there were 12 soap operas on the air. You keep an eye on the other shows throughout the year. You can have a conversation about the other shows. It’s doesn’t seem like it’d be that hard to do — especially today with only four shows.

It’s not that hard to do. It’s not that hard to know who’s working on which shows. The acting world is a funny one. People say, “It’s just a job. Do your job!” Is there a point where a job becomes a career? Yes, probably. I don’t know exactly when. My career has been in daytime television. I feel obliged to know what’s going on in daytime television. I feel obliged to know who the nominated actors are.

Sonja Flemming/CBS

Do you watch your own work regularly?

No. Semi-regularly. I watch to see if a particular scene worked. Every once in a while, I’ll  have a question and that’s when I watch [myself]. We used to do personal appearances. You’d be on stage with another actor and [they’d] have no idea what other people on their own show are doing. I said I will never be that guy.

It’s been a stretch to believe that Diane Jenkins conveniently found a corpse that just looked like her so she could fake her death, abandon her son Kyle (Michael Mealor), and stay hidden for over a decade. But if there’s anyone to do this with…it’s Susan Walters. Brilliant move.

[Expletive] brilliant! I could not agree with you more. It was inspired. Absolutely inspired. Everywhere Diane goes, things go wrong. Everywhere she goes, there is tension and drama and something fun to watch. I can’t say enough good things about Susan Walters and her work. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching her blow up Genoa City.

If I’m really invested in what she’s doing in Genoa City now, I don’t really care where she’s been. It’s been so well-crafted. Here are a few interesting turns. Through Diane, Jack met his granddaughter Allie [Kelsey Wang]. She asked Jack, is he so filled with hate that he won’t even hear [Diane] out? The thing that Jack has no tolerance for [giving Diane a chance] is what he asked of Allie. “Just hear me out.” Every instinct in Jack is telling him he’s going to get hurt. Jack’s seen Phyllis’ reaction and he realizes he can’t put all this on Diane. It’s all wonderful stuff to play.

Sonja Flemming/CBS

How is it having Michael Mealor back on the show?

It’s wonderful. We’re seeing a stronger Kyle, more determined, more clear, more emboldened. I like it.

Your reputation for welcoming newcomers to the show is well-known.

It’s scary stuff walking into these shows. First off, everyone you meet has two names. Every person you meet has two names? This the only job that has that that I can think of where that happens. We used to go out on set and do 3 or 4 takes of scenes. Now, you come out and do it once. Hopefully, you’re guessing right.

I feel that I can be impactful by helping new people “guess better.” Let me help with that. Here are the things that are important and that have to be in the scene and this other stuff may not be as important. We all want new people to be great. But the way we’re doing the show now, we don’t have as much time…There are several characters on our show who were handed a bible as to who the character was that they’d been hired to play. That doesn’t exist anymore. “We liked you in the audition. We don’t need you to play that. But let’s see what you can do.”

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What does the character of Allie bring to the show?

I think one of the early signs of a cool thing is that Allie’s a “Capulet” and Noah [Newman, played by Rory Gibson]’s a “Montague.” And that’s a good thing. We need to have that. She’s a chemist. Ashley’s [Eileen Davidson] a chemist. Jack runs a place where chemists work. I like that. Allie is a joy for Jack to get to know and is also a cautionary tale for Jack to remember what he did to Keemo [Philip Moon]. He tried too hard and ended up pushing him away. It’ll be interesting to see how Jack’s attention to her takes away his attention to other people.

The Abbotts have never been stronger.

This is really the year of the Abbotts. Between Susan’s return and Kelsey joining the show, we also have Jason [Thompson, Billy] and Melissa [Ordway, Abby] and yours truly [all nominated for Daytime Emmys]. This is a cool year for the Abbotts. I’m both excited and grateful.

Speaking of the Abbotts, Beth Maitland (Traci) and Eileen Davidson (Ashley) both celebrated their 40^th anniversary earlier this month.

Right after we had our nominations, we had an on-set celebration of two women on whose shoulders we all stand. We all forget who put this show on the top of the heap to begin with. We got to pay appropriate homage for all they’ve done for Y&R over 40 years. That’s pretty neat.

The Young and the Restless, Weekdays, CBS

The 49th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, Friday, June 24 9/8c, CBS