EULOGIES FOR DYING SOAPS AT DAYTIME EMMYS

Sunday night’s presentation of the Daytime Emmy awards was more like a funeral for soap operas than a celebration of top talent. The ABC soaps All My Children and One Life to Live were up for awards for the last time. At one point, Debbi Morgan of All My Children remarked as she presented an award, “To all the fans, we move on, but you will forever be missed, and as the song goes, sometimes it’s so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.” A surviving soap, The Bold and the Beautiful, won the top award for daytime drama for the third consecutive year. As Maria Arena Bell, head writer for The Young and the Restless, picked up the award for best writing, she pleaded to the audience, “Please continue to watch this show.” Like the soaps themselves, the CBS telecast of the Daytime Emmys failed to draw much of an audience. The show averaged 5.41 million viewers, down from 5.63 million a year ago. Ratings for the 18-49 demo fell to 0.8 with a 3 share from last year’s 1.1/3. NBC led the night with live coverage of the U.S. Open at 7:00 p.m. which drew 9 million viewers. Its two-hour telecast of the Miss USA Pageant beginning at 9:00 p.m. averaged 7.25 million viewers, peaking in the final half hour with 8.29 million.