Van Hansis Nominated For Daytime Emmy

For the third year in a row, Van Hansis has received a Daytime Emmy Nomination for his work as Luke on As the World Turns. This is a much deserved nomination and I can only hope that the third time will prove to be the charm.

Unlike the first two years, however, Van is not nominated as Outstanding Younger Actor, but rather in the much more competitive category of Outstanding Supporting Actor. The fact that the industry recognizes Van's talent even amid a much wider field says a lot.

It's no secret that I thought Van was completely robbed the first year he was nominated, after some truly amazing work during Luke's coming out storyline. He should have won last year, as well, but that first loss still stings for me. Van deserves to win this year not only in recognition of his continued excellence in the face of some of the worst writing on television, but also in recognition of all the work he's done on the show for the past three and a half years.

It says a lot that As the World Turns received four nominations for the only truly Outstanding thing about it: the actors. Aside from Van, Maura West and Julie Pinson were nominated for Outstanding Lead and Supporting Actress, respectively, and Meredith Hagner was nominated as Outstanding Younger Actress. Not surprisingly, the show was not nominated for writing or for outstanding show, either of which would have made the credibility of the awards plummet.

The full list of nominations does have a few surprises for me, including seeing Days of Our Lives nominated for Outstanding Show in addition to several acting nominations. Days has been largely shut out of the Emmys for so long now that I never really expect to see it on the list.

The other surprise was that One Life to Live was not nominated for Outstanding Show, in spite of nominations for Outstanding Writing Team and Outstanding Directing Team. The show certainly has had its rough patches lately, as all soaps do, especially when faced with network interference, but I still think it was the best soap on the air for much of the past year.

Of course, the most telling thing about the awards is that they will be airing on The CW this year, a network that doesn't even have a daytime line up, because none of the other networks wanted to air a show that has seen such a decrease in ratings in recent years.

I can remember a time not that long ago when Soaps were so popular that not only were they celebrated onscreen with the Daytime Emmys, they also had their very own televised award show every year with the Soap Opera Digest Awards. Times sure have changed.