(This article originally appeared in the May 27, 1997 issue of Soap Opera Weekly.)

YOUNG AND RESTLESS leads the pack this year with a whopping 20 Daytime Emmy nominations, four more than last year's impressive number and tying AS THE WORLD TURNS's nominations record, set in 1987. Y&R's creator/senior executive producer/head writer, William J. Bell, and executive producer, Edward Scott, spoke with Soap Opera Weekly Assistant Editor Mark McGarry about the Daytime Emmys, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

Mark McGarry: What do the Daytime Emmys really mean?
William J. Bell: Obviously, the Emmys mean recognition, prestige, something in which everyone in the business takes great pride. When we don't win, it's a disappointment. I've been nominated, I think, for 34 Emmys, and I think I've won seven or eight. Yet we're in our 10th year of being No. 1 in daytime. The Emmy's is one evening, and you have the rest of the year where you have the Nielsens once every week, and you go back to your stories and your characters.
Edward Scott: What do the Emmys mean? I don't know. You want to ask me what the rating mean (laughs)? The Emmys are nice. It's fun to see all the other people. And the audience loves it; they get good numbers when they do those Emmy shows. So we get to entertain them some more. And we all get going; it's like a competition, so it's kind of fun. It doesn't kill you to lose, but you like to win.

MM: Does Y&R bloc vote — meaning does it pick two actors for each category and the rest of the cast votes for just them? Many have said that's how the show does so well in the nominations.
WJB: Absolutely not. We've never done that, at any level. Let the chips fall. We have never once felt as a show the obligation to vote for a fellow cast mate. You vote for the person you think is best.
ES: With bloc voting, you start getting in to political stuff with the show, and that's the last thing I need. This is an ensemble. Nobody is more important than anyone else. Whatever happens, happens. If actors want to politic [individually], that's fine.

MM: Bill, Y&R won for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series a few years ago, but you didn't get Outstanding Writing that year. Is one more important than the other to you?
WJB: My major focus is writing. Although I'm a producer and have been for many, many years, I consider myself more than anything a writer, a storyteller. I take great pride in the stories we tell and how we tell them.

MM: Are there any more prime-time episodes in the works? Last year CBS led in to the Emmy telecast with a prime-time installment of Y&R.
WJB: No. I would just as soon not do that. It's a way of giving you added exposure, but it's a challenge to come up with that isolated show and yet be able to connect the show leading into and out of that nighttime show. There was no request from them to do that this year, and I was very pleased there wasn't.

MM: Only four actresses made the final cut in the Outstanding Lead Actress category, apparently because of a tie in the fifth slot. Why do you think Susan Flannery (Stephanie, B&B) and Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki, Y&R) are continually overlooked?
ES: I was kind of surprised B&B didn't get more nominations, because the same people are voting for shows, and my guys work both on that show and this show. You know, it's weird. I always call the nomination process "The Mystery and The Miracle of Being Nominated," and I'll take it anytime I can get it.
WJB: I was with Susan the first time she won the Daytime Emmy. (Editor's note: She won for playing Laura Horton on DAYS OF OUR LVIES.) It was in '75. ABC was doing the Daytime Emmy Awards forma ship, and we went around the whole island of Manhattan doing the show. Then shortly after that she left DAYS. You can't know what a strikingly beautiful girl she was then. Just a terrific lady, as she is still today. She's not quite as thin or young, but then who of us are?
MM: I would think she would have a lot of support within the industry.
WJB: It's tough for a half-hour show. There's just no getting around it.

MM: You both must have been pleased that Heather Tom and Michelle Stafford (ex-Victoria and ex-Phyllis) got nominations.
ES: God, yes. I'm always happy when my actors get nominations. I think these actors are really good. You know, every executive producer says, "I have the best cast"' they should all say it. But in my case, it's true!
WJB: These are two ladies who came to our show with little or no experience, and they have emerged in such a wonderful way. It was very painful to see them leave at the end of their contracts. Who knows what will happen in the future? They all left on the very best of terms, and they love the show. They're not only fine actresses, but really fine human beings. Heather just needed a change for a while because I used her heavily for so long. Where Michelle is concerned, she made a last-minute decision at a time when we were very deep in negotiations. We felt we had made a deal with her; it was just a matter of a couple of details that had to be worked out, and lo and behold, she joined Spelling (she plays Joanna on Aaron Spelling's PACIFIC PALISADES). I don't know how long that show will last. Perhaps it will last a long time, but possibly it won't, and then who knows?

MM: How much do the Soap Opera Awards really mean? Y&R is No. 1 in the Nielsens, yet DAYS OF OUR LIVES always wins that prize, except that GENERAL HOSPITAL sneaked in this year.
WJB: Of course, they're prestigious. Any award is a significant and important honor, especially to the person who wins. We all know who are the most important actors, and very often they win but not infrequently they are overlooked. But you can apply that to just about any democratic process.
ES: You know, the weird thing about the Soap Opera Awards, the magazine (Soap Opera Digest) decides who the fans are going to vote for, so what does that mean? I really don't have an idea how to do it better. With the Academy Awards, for example, people get to see the movie. But there's so much product here, there's no way anybody could watch all this stuff and know what they are voting for — until the [Emmy] blue-ribbon panels. Then it gets real fair. You're head to head, and neutral peoples are watching. But the nomination process, like I said, it's kind of a miracle.

MM: Many people have said there was a DAYS backlash at the Soap Opera Awards this year, because the show shut out all others for so many years. Do you think the same thing might happen with Y&R if it continues to dominate the Emmy nominations?
WJB: I don't think anyone worries about nominations as much as they worry about the prize. We've always had a lot of nominations, but we don’t usually wine that many awards. But we're in the business of presenting a program every day that has an impact on our audience. That's where our focus is, day by day. Certainly, I'm not going ot say that the Emmys aren't important; of course, they are. And certainly the Soap Opera Awards is important to win. But the most important thing for any and all of us is the impact we have on our audience, and the numbers we produce. That's where it's at.

MM: Speaking of the Nielsens, the numbers have been down of late.
WJB: They are. It bothers me. We just replaced three very important characters (Phyllis, Victoria and Grace), and I think that's taken a toll on us a little bit. Part of the reaction here is that the audience is going through that period of adjustment of seeing different faces in the old, familiar roles. All you can do is hope that we can minimize the time it is before the audience will accept them. But I promise you, we will have one of the hottest summers we've ever had.

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