Daytime Emmys returning to TV, will air virtual ceremony in June
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The Daytime Emmy Awards will forgo a traditional theater ceremony this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the honors will still go on with a virtual ceremony to be presented on a TV broadcast this summer.
According to Deadline, the June 26 ceremony is the first time the show will air on broadcast primetime since 2011.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The daytime honors had been consigned to an online presentation in recent years as viewer interest dwindled.
ALEX TREBEK, LEEZA GIBBONS AND OTHER STARS REACT TO DAYTIME EMMYS GOING VIRTUAL
Nominations for the 47th annual Daytime Emmys are to be announced Thursday on CBS' “The Talk,” with categories including best drama series, talk show and game show.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The New York-based National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which organizes the daytime awards, had previously announced it wouldn't hold the traditional theater ceremony out of pandemic safety concerns.
Awards will be presented on the CBS broadcast -- which is also the home of daytime shows including soap operas “The Young and the Restless” and “The Bold and the Beautiful" -- in leading categories, with winners and “other special guests appearing from home in light of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the network and academy said in a joint announcement.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Winners in other categories will be announced on Twitter during the two-hour telecast, with more awards to be presented in a July ceremony, the academy said.
FILE - This May 5, 2019 file photo shows host Mario Lopez on stage at the 46th annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Pasadena, Calif. (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
Several stars have praised the idea of a virtual show during unprecedented times, with Alex Trebek previously telling Fox News: “It’s an intelligent and very wise decision."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Awards and recognition are important and meaningful, but our health and safety has to come first,” Leeza Gibbons said. “I just don’t think most people are ready to gather in large groups, no matter the reason. In my view, the Academy had no choice.”
Fox News' Stephanie Nolasco and The Associated Press contributed to this report