Soon-to-retire
game show host Bob Barker has a chance to win his 18th
Daytime Emmy. He received a nomination Wednesday, while the
CBS soap opera Guiding Light captured a leading
17. Another CBS soap, As the World Turns, got
16.
New Today
show host Meredith Vieira was nominated for hosting
the syndicated Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
and may be recognized in another category: A new award
for morning shows such as NBC's Today is being
established. Those nominations will be announced in April.
''There's so much
talk and feature material on the morning shows that has
never been recognized,'' said Peter Price, president of the
National Television Academy.
It's not a
judgment that the network morning shows are no longer news
programs, Price said. They still will be able to submit
material for the News and Documentary Emmys.
The Daytime Emmys
ceremony will be telecast 9 p.m. June 15 on CBS.
Barker, 83, will
step down as host of CBS's The Price Is Right
in June. Besides Vieira, the sentimental favorite will
be competing for the best game show host trophy against Alex
Trebek of Jeopardy!, Pat Sajak of Wheel of
Fortune, and Ben Bailey of Discovery's Cash
Cab.
His 17 previous
honors include a lifetime achievement award. It may not
be his last chance to win either; since the awards work on a
calendar year basis, he would be eligible again in
2008 for his partial year as host in 2007.
Sesame Street, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and
The Young and the Restless each got 12
nominations.
Two Guiding
Light cast members, Crystal Chappell and Kim
Zimmer, will compete for best actress in a daytime
drama. Other nominees: Jeanne Cooper and Michelle Stafford,
both of CBS's The Young and the Restless, and
Maura West of As the World Turns.
With Peter
Bergman and Christian LeBlanc, The Young and the
Restless also had two nominees for best actor. Also in
the running: Michael Park of As the World
Turns, Anthony Geary of ABC's General
Hospital, and Ricky Paull Goldin of Guiding
Light.
Rosie O'Donnell,
who won six straight Daytime Emmys for best talk show
host on her old program, has the chance to return to the
winner's circle again.
She'd have to
break a jinx to do it, though. The women of ABC's The
View have been nominated for best talk show host
nine times without a win.
Other talk show
host nominees: Dr. Phil McGraw, DeGeneres, Rachael Ray,
Tyra Banks, and Lisa Rinna and Ty Treadway of Soap
Talk.
The Daytime Emmys
were held for 32 years in New York before shifting to
the West Coast last year.
Price said both
cities were considered this year, but Los Angeles was the
only place the academy could find a suitable venue with
available dates. It will be held in the Kodak Theatre.
(David Bauder, AP)