Daytime Emmys: Alex Trebek, ‘The Young and the Restless,’ ‘General Hospital’ Among Top Winners

Code blue: “General Hospital” was the evening’s big winner at the Daytime Emmy Awards, with five awards, followed by “The Young and the Restless,” with three, and culinary series “Valerie’s Home Cooking” with two. Syndicated series led the night with seven wins overall, followed by ABC and CBS with five each.

“CBS Sunday Morning” won for best morning program, beating “Good Morning America” (which had previously won two in a row), while “Ellen DeGeneres” once again grabbed the talk show entertainment category over last year’s winner, “The Talk.”

Related stories

CBS, 'The Young and the Restless' Lead Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Award Winners

Variety Wins Daytime Creative Arts Emmy For 'Actors on Actors' Series

Perhaps the most emotional win of the night, however: “Jeopardy” host Alex Trebek, who recently revealed his battle with pancreatic cancer, won for outstanding game show host.

“The Young and the Restless” won for outstanding drama, but “General Hospital” cleaned up in the acting categories, including lead actor, both supporting categories, and lead young actress. “Young and the Restless” also won for both its writing and directing teams. Rival “Days of Our Lives,” which dominated last year’s Daytime Emmys, won only one this year on Sunday.

Besides Trebek, winning hosts included Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest for entertainment talk show host, while Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host went to Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb for “Today Show with Kathie Lee & Hoda.” That was a farewell award for Gifford, who has departed that show.

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS), which is separate from the west coast Television Academy that administers the Primetime Emmys, is behind the Daytime awards. The show is no longer televised (only streamed online), but was held on Sunday at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena. Mario Lopez (“Extra”) and Sheryl Underwood (“The Talk”) were back as hosts.

The Daytime Emmy Awards recognize outstanding achievement in all fields of daytime television and are presented to individuals and programs broadcast from 2:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. during the 2018 calendar year.

This year’s awards came a year after a controversy surrounding NATAS’ administration of the Daytime Emmys — and a threatened boycott by network TV’s four major soap operas. NATAS ultimately revoked Patrika Darbo’s 2018 win in the digital daytime drama guest star category over a submission snafu, but allowed another win with a similar error to stand. “We found ample evidence demonstrating NATAS inconsistently applied the rules for its 2018 Daytime Emmy Awards competition,” Virgina-based law firm Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth wrote in a report commissioned by NATAS after the show.

NATAS president and CEO Adam Sharp told Variety last month that he believed the organization had instituted new regulations that addressed the sloppiness. “We started looking at all our practices, to determine where the situations were appearing, out of no real intent, we were creating unfairness,” he said. But others said they believed some of the new procedures, including a decision to no longer post clip reel submissions for the public to view, were more meant by the org to save face rather than institute fairness.

“I just believe if there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Darbo told Variety. “There are still things going on that shouldn’t be going on there. There are still a lot of inequities going on there.”

NATAS plans to release another study, taking a look at how this year’s Daytime Emmys adjusted to those concerns, and where it still needs to make more improvements, in the coming months.

Earlier on Friday, at the Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, CBS took home 12 awards, with “The Young and the Restless” grabbing five wins, while Variety also nabbed an outstanding special class series Emmy for its “Actors on Actors” series. Additionally, chef Jacques Pepin and “Judge Judy” Sheindlin were recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award. (In one of the biggest surprises of Sunday night, Amy Poehler showed up to give Sheindlin her award.)

See below a list of Sunday night’s winners in the major categories. For more details, head to the NATAS website.

Outstanding Drama Series
“The Young and the Restless” (CBS)
(last year: “Days of Our Lives”)

Outstanding Talk Show/Entertainment
“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” (Syndicated)
(last year: “The Talk”)

Outstanding Talk Show/Informative
“Rachael Ray” (Syndicated)
(last year: “The Dr. Oz Show”)

Outstanding Morning Program
“CBS Sunday Morning” (CBS)
(last year: “Good Morning America”)

Outstanding Entertainment News Program
“Daily Mail TV” (Syndicated)
(last year: “Entertainment Tonight”)

Outstanding Culinary Program
“Valerie’s Home Cooking” (Food Network)
(last year: “A Chef’s Life”)

Outstanding Game Show
“Family Feud” (Syndicated)
(last year: “The Price Is Right”)

Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program
“Lauren Lake’s Paternity Court” (Syndicated)
(last year: “Judge Mathis”)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama
Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, as Steffy Forrester, “The Bold and the Beautiful” (CBS)
(last year: Eileen Davidson, “The Young and the Restless”)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama
Maurice Benard, as Sonny Corinthos, “General Hospital” (ABC)
(last year: James Reynolds, “Days of Our Lives”)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Vernee Watson, as Stella Henry, “General Hospital” (ABC)
(last year: Camryn Grimes, “The Young and the Restless”)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Max Gail, as Mike Corbin, “General Hospital” (ABC)
(last year: Greg Vaughan, “Days of our Lives”)

Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series
Hayley Erin, as Kiki Jerome, “General Hospital” (ABC)
(last year: Chloe Lanier, “General Hospital”)

Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series
Kyler Pettis, as Theo Carver, “Days of Our Lives” (NBC)
(last year: Rome Flynn, “The Bold and the Beautiful”)

Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series
Patricia Bethune, as Nurse Mary Pat, “General Hospital” (ABC)

Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Hosts
Kelly Ripa, Ryan Seacrest, “LIVE with Kelly and Ryan” (Syndicated)
(last year: Adrienne Houghton, Loni Love, Jeannie Mai, Tamera Mowry-Housley, “The Real”)

Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host
Kathie Lee Gifford, Hoda Kotb, “Today Show with Kathie Lee & Hoda” (NBC)
(last year: Steve Harvey, “Steve”)

Outstanding Game Show Host
Alex Trebek, “Jeopardy!” (Syndicated)
(last year: Wayne Brady, “Let’s Make a Deal”)

Outstanding Culinary Host
Valerie Bertinelli, “Valerie’s Home Cooking” (Food Network)
(last year: Lidia Bastianich, “Lidia’s Kitchen”)

Outstanding Morning Program in Spanish
“Despierta America” (Univision)
(last year: “Despierta America”)

Outstanding Entertainment Program in Spanish
“Six Dreams” (Amazon Prime Video)
(last year: “Destinos”)

Outstanding Daytime Talent in a Spanish Language Program
Alejandra Oraa, Host, “Destinos” (CNN En Espanol)

Outstanding Digital Daytime Drama Series
“After Forever” (Amazon Prime Video)

Outstanding Writing Team for a Drama Series
“The Young and the Restless” (CBS)

Outstanding Directing Team for a Drama Series
“The Young and the Restless” (CBS)

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.