Emmy Honors Regis, But Not For Day Job
The show that transformed prime-time television, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, won a Daytime Emmy award on Friday.
The game show was shunted off to the Daytime Emmy awards when the prime-time show declared it had no category it could compete in, a decision that miffed ABC, the show's producer, and host Regis Philbin.
Producer Michael Davies, wearing red plaid pants, ignored the controversy in accepting the award.
“Regis Philbin, you are a god,” Davies said.
Philbin had seven previous nominations without a win. But he was a strong favorite for his first Emmy award in the category of game show host for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
Rosie O'Donnell won her fourth straight Emmy as best talk show host. She's won the award every year she was nominated. Longtime winner Oprah Winfrey no longer competes in the category.
“Wow,” O'Donnell deadpanned, minus the tears she displayed while winning in the past. “I feel sort of like the spoiled kid who gets this too many times.”
The late Shari Lewis won the award for best performer in a children's series. Her daughter accepted the award with her mother's puppet, Lamb Chop.
Sesame Street won the award for best pre-school children's series for the sixth straight time, the only show to win since the category was established.
Shemar Moore of The Young and the Restless, who won his first Emmy as best supporting actor, brought a cell phone to the stage to make a call.
“Mom, I won this damn thing,” he said when she finally answered.
Sarah Brown of General Hospital won the best supporting actress award, letting out a scream in delight.
The 27th annual Daytime Emmy Awards were given out during a ceremony at New York's Radio City Music Hall, televised on ABC.
The Emmys gave a lifetime achievement award to ABC's Barbara Walters, the pioneering interviewer who created and starred in daytime television's, The View.
The soap opera The Young and the Restless earned 28 nominations, more than twice its closest competitor.
Other Emmy winners included:
The awards show was deprived of its own long-running serial when hard-luck soap star Susan Lucci won her first Emmy last year after 1 losses. Lucci wasn't nominated as best actress in a daytime drama this year. She was the show's co-host, with O'Donnell.