For the first time since 1973, neither General Hospital nor The Young and the Restless was nominated in the Outstanding Drama Series category. Amazingly in the 36 years that followed, the two soaps combined for 17 wins -- meaning that 50 percent of the time, one of the two soaps was named the best daytime drama series.
This year's three nominated soaps had just four wins between them: All My Children's three and Days of our Lives' one. Despite its iconic "like sands through the hourglass" opening, Days of our Lives' only win as Outstanding Drama series came way back in 1978. All My Children's most recent win was in 1998.
Despite having amassed 137 nominations and 42 wins over the years, The Bold and the Beautiful had never before been named Outstanding Drama Series. Since it debuted in 1982, the CBS soap has been nominated for the top prize five times.
The landmark victory for the world's most-watched television program did come with some controversy. Due to time issues, the live Emmy telecast did not broadcast the acceptance speech by B&B's executive producer and head writer, Bradley Bell.
Backstage, however, Bell said he didn't mind not having his moment in the sun.
"I'm not a big acceptance speech guy. The less of me at a microphone, the better," Bell said with a laugh. "I was going to thank CBS... the writing team, the crew, the incredible cast, my wife, and my mother, my kids. It would have been your run-of-the-mill acceptance speech. Nothing shocking."
Bell, the son of Lee Phillip Bell and the late William Bell, Jr., the creators of both The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless, recalled having attended Emmy ceremonies for most of his life. Humble in victory, Bell said that he didn't mind not having won an Emmy prior to this year.
"It's sweeter after 22 years. It didn't come in 5, 10, 15, 20... but 22 years. To have my mother here was very special, and I think my father was here in spirit, as well."
For its Emmy reel, The Bold and the Beautiful submitted two episodes that focused on the suicide of Storm Logan. A guilt-ridden Storm was reeling over the accidental shooting of his sister, Katie. As his family blamed him for Katie's near-death and her need for a heart transplant, Storm took his own life in order to give his sister a new lease on hers.
"These were two shows that I was particularly proud of in the whole run of the series," Bell said backstage. "The writing was sensational. You do 255 [episodes] and you stop. We stopped writing for a week and just focused on these two [episodes] and wanted them to be something very special. We rarely do that. So these were close to my heart. The direction was unbelievable. It just all came together. Not all the shows are stellar, but these two... the magic happened and people saw that."
