Mitchell Anderson & Kevin Spirtas in ‘After Forever;’ the cast of ‘Eastsiders’ (images via Instagram)The nominees for the 47th Annual Daytime Emmy® Awards were announced on Thursday with some big love to LGBTQ-themed work and artists.
The Netflix dark comedy Eastsiders scored 8 nominations including Outstanding Digital Drama Series, RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Willam Belli and Leith M. Burke each got a nod for Outstanding Supporting Actor Digital Series; Lin Shaye for Outstanding Guest Performer Digital Series; Outstanding Writing Team Digital Series; Outstanding Casting; Outstanding Costume Design; and Outstanding Makeup.
While RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Willam isn’t the first drag queen to receive an Emmy nod, I believe this is the first time a drag performer has received a nomination in an acting category.
Y’all! @eastsiderstv has been nominated for 8 DAYTIME EMMY AWARDS, including Digital Drama, Writing, Supporting Actor for @willam and @beleith, Guest Performer for @mslinshaye, Casting, Costume Design and Makeup! Congrats to everyone on all your hard work!! pic.twitter.com/m9mTKfaXJi
— Kit Williamson (@kitwilliamson) May 21, 2020
Congratulations to @willam for being nominated for an EMMY for Best Supporting Actor in a Digital Drama Series for @EastSidersTV! Such a hilarious and heartfelt performance, in and out of drag. Is this the first time a drag queen has been nominated in an acting category?! 💙💙💙 pic.twitter.com/Rm8INTrIzR
— Kit Williamson (@kitwilliamson) May 22, 2020
The acclaimed Amazon Video digital series After Forever was honored with 6 nominations including Outstanding Digital Drama Series; Cady Huffman for Outstanding Lead Actress Digital Series; Lenny Wolpe for Outstanding Supporting Actor Digital Series; Mary Beth Peil for Outstanding Guest Performer Digital Series; Outstanding Writing Team Digital Series and Outstanding Art/Set Direction/Scenic Design.
This was the second season of the acclaimed Amazon series. Two years ago, After Forever received 8 nominations and won 5 including Best Digital Drama Series. Additionally, series creator Kevin Spirtas scored for Best Actor Digital Series and Best Writing Team.
So proud of our AFTER FOREVER cast & crew on the magnificent 6 Daytime Emmy Nominations for Season 2 including Outstanding Digital Drama Series!@DaytimeEmmys @PrimeVideo @bingenetworks #Emmys2020 pic.twitter.com/sEZqJxl1en
— AFTER FOREVER the series (@AFtheSeries) May 21, 2020
Afternoon talkfest The Ellen DeGeneres Show added to its long list of Emmy honors with 5 nominations including Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show, Outstanding Writing for a Special Class Series, Outstanding Directing for Talk/Entertainment/Morning Program, Outstanding Sound Mixing, Outstanding Art/Set/Scenic Design.
And the innovative lip-sync documentary Stonewall Outloud, which utilized rare recordings of people who experienced the Stonewall uprising in 1969, received a nod for Outstanding Direction – Special Class.
The honors will be presented in a two-hour special on Friday, June 26 (8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
Since 1974, the Daytime Emmy® Awards have recognized outstanding achievement in daytime television programming. The awards are presented to individuals and programs broadcast between 2:00 am and 6:00 pm, as well as certain categories of digital and syndicated programming of similar content.
This year’s nominations were culled from more than 2,700 submissions and judged by a pool of 1,000 peer professionals from across the television industry.
Awards will be presented in leading categories during the telecast, with recipients and other special guests appearing from home in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
You can find the full list of nominees at TheEmmys.tv.
In case you missed it, you can check out my exclusive interview with the Emmy Award-winning co-creators of After Forever, Michael Slade & Kevin Spirtas, below.