Last year, The Bold and the Beautiful picked up its very first Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series. Though he expressed his immeasurable gratitude for receiving the award, B&B's head writer and executive producer, Bradley Bell, also stated that he really wanted to win a Daytime Emmy for his writing.
In fact, in a 2009 interview, Emmy-winning B&B star Susan Flannery (Stephanie Forrester) revealed that Bell had made it known that he'd more than likely retire once he'd won an Emmy for his writing. Flannery, however, made it clear that she tried to talk Bell out of any such notion.
Though he had six previous chances to take home Emmy gold for his writing, the Vegas setting made it fitting that lucky number seven was the nomination that helped Bell win his first Emmy.
"We had great scenes in Malibu that starred Susan Flannery, Betty White, and Alley Mills that were just off the charts," Bell said in accepting his award. "There is one other writer who is with me with every word I ever write... and that's my father, Bill Bell. How 'bout it, Dad?"
The Outstanding Writing Team category remains one of the most competitive categories. In the past six years, six different soaps have claimed the Emmy. In total, five different soaps have won four Emmys apiece in the category.
IN-DEPTHFind out which soaps have won for Outstanding Writing Team.
In Vegas, it's all about the odds. In the Outstanding Directing category, General Hospital was the odds-on favorite to capture the Emmy. It wasn't that the other three competitors in the category were undeserving, but the sheer magnitude of General Hospital's undertaking in its submitted Emmy episodes is unmatched in all of daytime history.
What exactly did General Hospital submit? A carnival. But it wasn't all cotton candy and snow cones. In order to film the three-day event, General Hospital's production team transformed the parking lot outside its studio into a massive, sprawling carnival, complete with games, rides, food, and a runaway car.
Though critics often deride General Hospital for its use of "stunt" events during Sweeps period, the ABC soap routinely raises the bar with its blockbuster stories. Still, those special events come with challenges.
"[The biggest challenge is] not getting lost in all the chaos of all of the details and making sure the story comes first, making sure we hit the right notes that need to be hit, and bringing a little something extra," Owen Renfoe, one of GH's producers the media backstage, explained to the media backstage."
This year's win is General Hospital's seventh overall win for directing. Its last win came in 2006. Its first was in 1981.
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