Los Angeles, Jun 25 (IANS): 'General Hospital' was the big winner on Friday night at the 49th annual Daytime Emmys, which took back five awards including daytime drama, as the telecast returned to a live, in-person event.
According to 'Variety', the day's news the overturn of Roe v. Wade and the assault on women's rights by a rogue Supreme Court threatened to overshadow the event. But the two-hour telecast, hosted by 'Entertainment Tonight' anchors Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner for the first time, kicked off without a hitch from the Pasadena Convention Center.
'General Hospital' Daytime Emmys also include supporting actor, supporting actress, young performer and directing. The 'General Hospital' haul made ABC the overall network leader of the night, with five wins. Syndicated series won overall, with six total, reports Variety.
'The Kelly Clarkson Show', meanwhile, was a repeat winner as best entertainment talk show, and Clarkson won as entertainment talk show host, bringing its total over two weekends to seven -- the most of any program this year.
And 'Entertainment Tonight' was once again the entertainment news program winner.
Among the big wins, 'Young & Restless' star Mishael Morgan made history as first Black winner in the lead actress category, reports 'Variety'.
"We are breaking glass ceiligns left, right and center," Morgan said. "We can and we will do this thing called equality and unity together."
'Jeopardy' continued its streak as the best game show winner, despite the show's tumultuous last year, which saw executive producer Mike Richards, who had been named host of the show as Alex Trebek's successor, fired after a week due to past comments and controversial actions.
"The scandal was, as we call it at 'Jeopardy!,' 'the awkward months,'" executive producer Michael Davies said backstage.
"But it showed the power of our audience and how passionately our fans care about the program, which is just so important. What's happened over the course of the season -- Matt Amodio, and Amy Schneider and Mattea (Roach) and Ryan (Long) -- really made us just remember how incredible the game is. The stars of our show and Mayim (Bialik) and Ken (Jennings) have done incredible job hosting."
Davies added, "We hope to have a hosting announcement very, very soon. But with all of our plans for 'Jeopardy!' -- which is more Jeopardy!,' not less, more versions -- "We're going to need multiple hosts to represent the entire audience, to represent the entire country, in order to take this franchise forward."
Previously, the 49th Annual Daytime Creative Arts & Lifestyle Emmy Awards took place June 18 at the Pasadena Convention Center 'Kelly Clarkson' picked up five awards, while 'Penguin Town' was next, with three.
Beyond syndication (with 10), Netflix was the big single network winner, picking up nine total, spread out among 'Penguin Town', 'Cat People', 'Headspace: Guide to Meditation' and 'You vs. Wild: Out Cold'.
During the Creative Arts Emmys, 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' final season landed a Daytime Emmy for outstanding writing team for a daytime non-fiction program.