Soapside: Daytime Emmy Special

The Daytime Emmys have come and gone, and many of Advocate.com's darlings were there with me on the red carpet and some in the winners circle, and yes, I will get to the Guiding Light Tribute and the package, in a moment.

First off... congratulations to Tamara Braun for her victory as Outstanding Supporting Actress for her role as Ava on Days of our Lives. You can see our red carpet Emmy interview here! In the press room, I told Tamara and the room full of reporters that her Advocate.com fans are very excited for her. She replied, "Tell them I say, "Hi." You know, daytime has the best fan base in the world and the advertisers really need to take a look at that. They follow the people they love, where ever they go, if they love you... not only as a character, but as an actor, and they are the most unique and wonderful people."

I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing One Life to Live's Mark Lawson (Brody) and Brett Claywell (Kyle) during the red carpet festivities. All I can say is ....CUTE! Claywell talks about KISH's Kiss and how he felt about playing gay. Check out Part 1 and Part 2 of the interview here and here. I won't spoil it. So, watch the clips!

Van Hansis, our Luke from ATWT, lost in the Supporting Actor category. However, I did take a moment with him to compliment him on his amazing reel, in which Noah decides to take a break from Luke and move out of their living arrangement, and Luke desperately tries to hold on to him. Well, you can see what I had to say to Hansis about it all here!

For all my coverage of the Red Carpet video interviews with soap hotties, Cameron Mathison, Shawn Christian, Mark Hapka, Galen Gering, Eric Martsolf, Jay Johnson, Daniel Goddard and more, go to my On-Air On-Soaps complete Emmy Mini-site coverage. Once there, make sure to check out DAYS Lauren Koslow's (Kate) fashion review and her picks for The Men on Fire on the red carpet. And if you want to see what goes on behind the scenes, and relive Emmy winning moments from Sunday, make sure to check out the Press Room winner's clips as well.

Now to the Guiding Light Tribute; as the designated producer of the tribute package, many now know the controversy over the 1:34 second package that was aired on Emmy night, when I originally produced a four minute package that the show refused to air. But there is more to the story. What happened behind the scenes? And why were certain beloved other characters not in the entire piece? Make sure to listen to next week's Daytime Confidential's CBS/DAYS Podcast when I try to answers all your questions and tell Jamey and Luke the story. To view the originally intended four minute GL tribute version and concept, go here.

During the rehearsals the night before, I got to see all my Springfield favorites and say good-bye to the wonderful cast one by one. Crystal Chappell and I got to catch-up and I met her producing partner, Kim Turrisi who along with Crystal will be spearheading Venice. Kim watched my short tribute version inside the Orpheum and was struck by Crystal's amazing Otalia moments. We also turned our conversation to the future and Venice. It turns out the series will start filming in October. Crystal and Kim have invited Advocate.com on the set for a sneak peek and exclusive look!

Emmy winner Kim Zimmer (Reva, GL) shared with me her thoughts on taping her last episode of the show which airs September 18th, and gave Otalia some love! "I had a moment of, 'Thank God its over,' because it's been hard. I was never a fan of the new format and production module, and trying to generate story, was tough. And Thank God for Olivia and Natalia. It was the only love story we had on the show, because every one of the other characters on the show seemed to hate each other and it was nasty. I think that is one of the reasons that story was so well received by bible belters because it was a love story. We were thirsty for something like that."

La Zimmer went onto say that she thinks fans will like the finale, and that 60 percent of her fans will be happy with the ending of the show and 40 percent won't be. But what of Kim's chances of returning to the soaps? "I was talking to One Life's exec, Frank Valentini on the airplane coming over to LA. I did pitch him coming back to One Life to Live, where I played Echo. I said, 'I won't sign a contract, but I'll work cheap, if you work me five days a week!'" (She laughs.)

Y&R Fan Fest with quite the trio....Clementine, Bierdz, and Muhney!

Two nights before the Emmys, I attended Y&R's Fan Event and had a moment to catch up with some of our favorite interesting suspects from the series. First, Clementine Ford (who I have not had the chance to speak to since our interview here) told me the latest scuttlebutt for Mackenzie.

"I will say I heard a rumor that something really interesting is coming up."

But, I had to know... Is Ms Ford finally being recognized for her work on the number one show?

"No. People still come up to me and go, 'I love you from The L Word, what are you doing now? I go, 'Really? Try CBS, TiVo, and The Young and the Restless.' And they are like, 'Oh My God. I had no idea.' I think people are just used to seeing me in one way and perhaps it's a different audience. I am not sure what is going on there." And it seems like her Hollywood mom, Cybill Shepherd is still not watching, either! "She can't learn how to work the TiVo. She said to me, 'I caught the last five minutes of one episode, and some older woman was crying, but I don't know what was going on.'"

Then when I asked Clementine's opinion about the outrage over the fact that Otalia has still not kissed, she said, "I think it's all so ridiculous at this point. People can do some vile, horrible things to people on television today, but you can't have two people of the same sex kissing on daytime? I mean, what planet do they think the daytime audience lives in? They need to have more respect for the daytime audience. They are smarter than they think. I had heard a bit about the Otalia storyline, but I did not know they had not actually kissed! Unbelievable!

Thom Bierdz and I caught up, and I asked him if he was happy with the shows writing on Phillip's rationale for faking his death for 20 years, and how the storyline seemed to be playing out. Bierdz: "I will be honest here. What we didn't see, and for Phillip to fake his death... because I have never known anyone to fake their death... he must have faked his death because he thought people would not have accepted him. However, we did not see one hint of homophobia, ever on Y&R in the 36 year history of the show. It just reflected the times. I think it would be fair if we saw a flashback of some homophobia that was somewhere. It may have been misunderstood, but at least, it would have given Phillip a reason why he thought he would not be accepted.

On-screen, Michael Muhney's Adam seems to have cooled off his machinations of gay lawyer Rafe. So is there any chance there will be more flirty encounters or even...sex between the two men? Munhey: "As far as I know, no. But as with any good storyline, you have the potential for anybody to come into your world at any given moment.

How To Tell Your Parents You're Gay

Speaking of "How To Tell Your Parents You're Gay", make sure to come back Tuesday with our exclusive interview with Scott Evans and his mom, who is going to be airing as Fish's fictional mom, Barbara Fish, the week of September 14th. That is not to be missed week of episodes when Fish gets up the courage to tell his parents he's gay!

Adonis 2009 crowned!

DAYS James Scott (EJ) has a Three-Peat! For the third year in a row, James has been voted Adonis 2009 by SoapHunks.net and in a tight race by only a slight percentage over ATWT's Noah, Jake Silbermann.

Check out the results and some frequently asked questions from Soaphunks.net! One in particular struck me. According to Soaphunks.net Danny, what does the winner get? "The shiny, priceless Adonis statuette is available for collection in my boudoir whenever the winner chooses to come to my house and receive it." Hey, we all have to do whatever it takes to get a hot guy to our places, right?

Beemer in all new spread!

B&B's Owen, Brandon Beemer has an amazing photo spread that should make gay soap fans hearts, and you know what else... go a flutter. It appeared in the newest issue of Italian Vanity Fair. I mean when you got it, why not flaunt it.

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Otalia Watch

What Happened This Week:
Phillip told Olivia that she has someone who loves her, and warned Olivia not to lose Natalia by pushing her away. Natalia told Frank she wants their baby to have a real family. Suddenly Olivia walked in and says she had to be there because she couldn't waste any more time.

Next Week's Preview:
Olivia can't believe Natalia wants her to help pick out baby names. She says she needs to move slowly. Natalia says she understands Olivia needs time, but she wants the baby born with Olivia as her mom, too. Olivia joins in as Frank and Natalia go through baby names

That's a Wrap!

What can I say to this Otalia baby madness? Other than, new mom Jessica Leccia and her hubby and I partied together at the Y&R Emmy After-Party, as did hunk, Austin Peck. Earlier in the evening I met up with Chappell at the Official Emmy After Party. Check out the Party-Train report.

It's been a long week, I am 'Emmied' out, but it was great fun to see everyone together to celebrate the genre. Something it badly needs at this time!