The Daytime Emmys yesterday honored “The View,” Rachael Ray and Elmo — at least the man who has played him for 25 years.
But this year’s edition of the awards show was a scaled-back affair. Years of poor ratings have taken a toll, and, for the first time this year, the two-hour show was aired on the small CW network — not one of the Big Four.
Once dominated by soap-opera actors, the awards this year seemed more focused on talk shows and kids’ shows — especially “Sesame Street,” which was given a special lifetime Emmy to honor its 40 years on TV.
Kevin Clash, the 48-year-old puppeteer who virtually invented the character of Elmo, won for outstanding children’s TV performer — beating 11-year-old Bindi Irwin, the daughter of the late animal-adventurer Steve Irwin.
TV chef Ray last night edged out Ellen DeGeneres for best talk show, a category Ellen had won for the past three years.
And the cast of “The View” — Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, et al. — won best talk-show hosts, which seemed to make up for the oversight of not being nominated for best talk show for the first time in five years.
“Who Wants to be a Millionaire” host Meredith Vieira won for best game-show host but — like most of the New York-based performers this year — did not travel to LA and wasn’t in the theater when her name was announced.
“The Bold and the Beautiful,” which is TV’s No. 2-rated soap but often neglected by the awards voters, won for best soap for the first time this year.
