Daytime Emmys: ‘The Young and the Restless’ Wins Best Drama Series

The 2020 Daytime Emmy Awards in major categories were presented in a two-hour special that aired on CBS on Friday night.

The 47th annual Daytime Emmys were emceed by the hosts of CBS' The Talk: Sharon Osbourne, Sheryl Underwood, Eve, Carrie Ann Inaba and Marie Osmond.

Though the program marked the awards' return to broadcast television for the first time since 2011, the virtual ceremony was unlike traditional awards shows, with hosts, presenters and winners all filming their segments from their respective homes as individuals continue to socially distance to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, the disease that causes COVID-19.

The at-home segments were intercut with looks back at memorable moments from past Daytime Emmy Awards and daytime programs. There was also an In Memoriam segment honoring those who died over the past year.

Numerous presenters and recipients commented on the unusual experience of announcing winners and accepting awards at home, with best entertainment talk show winner Ellen DeGeneres joking that she never thought she'd win a Daytime Emmy from her home but thought she might win a Publishers Clearing House prize. Entertainment Tonight's Kevin Frazier said that if he'd said a year ago that he wanted to present a major award at the Daytime Emmys from his home while serving as his own camera operator and doing his own lighting, audio, set design, makeup and wardrobe, people would have laughed and thought he needed help.

"But here we are today," he continued. "And as a former cameraman, I'm pretty proud of the job I did, but let's be honest, it's kind of average, because there are paid professionals who do all of these things really, really well and we miss you and we are standing in solidarity with you and we cannot wait until we are all back to work, so hang in there."

The movement for racial justice that has manifested itself in protests and discussions around the world was also a common theme of the winners' speeches. DeGeneres said during her acceptance speech that while she's hosted her show for 17 years, "if anything has become clear over the last month or so it's that we can do a lot more with the platform that we're given. I intend to use the next two years of my show as a platform for change, to amplify voices of Black people and people of color and to educate my audience … This is a responsibility to effect change."

The show also featured a segment with Eve, Underwood, The View's Sunny Hostin, Extra's Nate Burleson and others speaking about the push for equality.

"Our voices have inspired action," Eve said. "We're looking at ourselves, our institutions and leaders and we're working toward change."

Underwood added, "This is just the beginning of a breakthrough for us as a country. Let us take this opportunity to be committed to change, to have the courage to do what's right so we can be proud of ourselves and the work that we do. It is our responsibility to create the world we want to see and live in."

CBS' The Young and the Restless took home the top prize of best drama series, winning a total of eight awards handed out across the broadcast and on social media Friday night. CBS' The Bold and the Beautiful and ABC's General Hospital each won four awards; followed by Jeopardy!, The Kelly Clarkson Show and Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration with three awards each; Days of Our Lives, The Price Is Right and The Real won two awards each.

During the broadcast Jeopardy! and host Alex Trebek won best game show and best game show host, respectively; Clarkson won best entertainment talk show host for her first year with her eponymous talker; NBC's Today won best morning show; and ABC's The View won best informative talk show.

Trebek, battling pancreatic cancer, didn't offer an update on his condition in his remote appearance but looked to be in good health and said that the latest win, his seventh, was "a shock" and that, despite the old adage that it's an honor just to be nominated, winning is "nicer."

Presenters for the CBS broadcast included Gayle King, Kelsey Grammer, The Young and the Restless' Melody Thomas Scott, Kathie Lee Gifford, Cookie Monster, Access Hollywood's Scott Evans, Days of Our Lives alum Patrika Darbo, Wayne Brady, Michael Strahan, Days of Our Lives' James Reynolds, The Bold and the Beautiful's Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, General Hospital's Maurice Benard, Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest, Extra's Nate Burleson, The View's Sunny Hostin and The Young and the Restless' Eric Braeden.

CBS — which aired the Daytime Emmys for the 14th time, more than any other network — won the most awards Friday night, with 15 trophies combined from the broadcast and additional wins in categories announced on social media. Syndicated programs won 11 awards, with ABC taking home five trophies, NBC claiming four, HBO nabbing three and Amazon Prime Video winning two.

The awards show streamed online from 2014 to 2019, with the exception of 2015, when it aired on Pop. In 2012 and 2013, it aired on HLN.

The Daytime Emmys honor individuals involved with programs broadcast between 2 a.m. and 6 p.m. as well as digital and syndicated programming of similar content.

Read on for a complete list of winners announced during June 26's CBS broadcast. Additional award recipients were announced on social media immediately following the show.

Digital drama winners were announced on July 19 in an hourlong livestreamed ceremony hosted by Jai Rodriguez, known for his role in Bravo's original iteration of Queer Eye. Amazon Prime's The Bay The Series won three awards: best directing team, best actress and best actor in a digital drama series. Amazon Prime won two more awards handed out Sunday night: best supporting actor (Tristan Rogers from Studio City) and writing team (After Forever).

Rounding out the digital drama award winners, Tina Benko from The Rehearsal, on rehearsalseries.com, won best supporting actress. And Lin Shaye won the award for guest performer for her work on Netflix's Eastsiders.

Winners in the categories of children's animation, family viewing and lifestyle programming were announced in a separate virtual ceremony, hosted by The Real's Loni Love, at 5 p.m. PT on July 26. Among the winners were Sesame Street (outstanding preschool children's series), Tamron Hall of Tamron Hall (best informative talk show host), Giada De Laurentiis of Giada Entertains (best culinary host) and Tom Kenny of SpongeBob SquarePants (best performer in an animated program).

In addition, composer Alan Menken achieved EGOT status with his win for best original song in a children's, young adult or animated program for Disney Channel's Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure. He won for composing the song "Waiting in the Wings," sharing the Daytime Emmy with lyricist Glenn Slater.

A full list of all the winners can be found at the Daytime Emmys website.

Related Stories

Related Story

Daytime Emmys Winners, Hosts Acknowledge Their "Responsibility to Effect Change"

July 14, 12:07 p.m. This story has been updated with hosts and start times for the digital drama and children's, family and lifestyle online ceremonies.

July 20, 6:49 a.m. This story has been updated with winners from the digital drama categories ceremony.

July 26, 6:54 p.m. This story has been updated with winners from the children's, lifestyle and animated programming categories ceremony.