Back From the Dead: The Daytime Emmys to Air on Pop

The Daytime Emmy Awards are back where they belong—on television! After last year’s low-rent debacle on the Internet, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has struck a deal with the newly rebranded cable channel Pop (formerly TV Guide Network) to air the 42^nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards. The date: Sunday, April 26 (8 p.m. ET/5p.m. PT).

Expect lots of old-time showbiz magic: Instead of the usual cramped hotel ballroom, NATAS will instead stage the Daytime Emmys as a black-tie soiree, seating 1,000 people, at Warner Bros. Studios on Stage 16, a massive and historic soundstage that was once home to such epic films as My Fair Lady, Camelot, Ghostbusters, Jurassic Park, and the Batman trilogy. Helming the telecast as executive producer is the much-admired Michael Levitt, creator of the TV Land Awards.

“This is going to be a world-class event—one that will bring glamour and shine back to the Daytime Emmys,” says NATAS president Bob Mauro, who moved the awards out of summer (which had resulted in a lot of winner no-shows) and back into the May ratings sweeps period, where they had aired successfully for many years. “We are very excited about our partnership with Pop,” Mauro adds. “It’s the ideal place to air these awards.”

It sure seems so. Pop has shown great enthusiasm for daytime TV, airing same-day replays of CBS’ The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful to strong ratings. In late April, the network will debut a daytime-diva reality show called Queens of Drama.

“We love celebrating daytime at Pop and were so thrilled when Bob and his team came to us with an idea to take the Daytime Emmys to a new level,” says Brad Schwartz, president of Pop. “While a lot of award shows are seeming the same these days, this one will look and feel different in really big ways. We have tremendous respect and passion for daytime, but we’re also going to have fun with this show!”

And that fun will start on the red carpet, where the hell began last year. No, those now-infamous social-media hostesses who knew nothing about daytime TV and offended many with their racist and sexist commentary will not be making a return appearance.

“After that unfortunate thing happened we reached out to the daytime community—especially to the individuals who were hurt by it—and assured everyone that it would never happen again,” says David Michaels, NATAS Daytime senior vice president. “Everyone was understanding and terrific about it, and in mutual agreement that we should all move forward.”

Michaels says a Daytime Emmys pre-show program is in the works (details about that, as well as host and presenters for the awards, will be announced soon) and he promises that the red-carpet arrivals are going to be “spectacular.” They will take place on the lot’s romantic New York Street, to be followed by a cocktail party on Brownstone Street. “Then the guests will turn a corner and walk right through the gigantic double doors of Stage 16, which we will turn into a gorgeous ballroom,” says Michaels. The pre-show cameras will capture all this, bringing the fans at home right into the action.

“Good companies are run by understanding the faults of the past and correcting them for the future,” says Mauro. “Both NATAS and Pop are turning the page and relaunching themselves, and the Daytime Emmy Awards will benefit greatly from that. I think we’ve come together in the right place at the right time.”

First up: The Daytime Emmy nominations, to be announced Tuesday, March 31.