Outstanding Guest Performer: What in the Fozzie Bear fedora wearing jazz man?
The Nominees
- Robert Gossett as Marshall Ashford, General Hospital (ABC)
- Ted King as Jack Finnegan, The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)
- Michael Lowry as Dr. Clay Snyder, Days of Our Lives (NBC)
- Naomi Matsuda as Dr. Li Finnegan, The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)
- Ptosha Storey as Naya Benedict, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
I’m going to use a little Daytime Emmy voodoo/math/Wikipedia-ing here since I don’t really watch the other soaps. Let’s start by making judgments on actors by previous roles I actually am familiar with.
I vaguely remember liking Michael Lowry as Jake Martin on All My Children, but not enough to give him my vote in the category. Ted King was dope as evil Luis Alcazar on GH and (while admittedly less fun) still solid as his slightly nicer twin Lorenzo. King was serviceable as Danny Roberts on Loving/The City and as Tea Delgado’s brother Tomas on One Life To Live, if not particularly necessary on either show. But as Jack Finnegan? My big question is this: each episode of Bold And The Beautiful is like 12 minutes long- how the hell do they even have time for guest performers? My fondness for Ted King on the ABC soaps notwithstanding, he doesn’t get my vote for this category.
Ignore what I said about B&B not having enough time for guest performers. Seriously, what do I know? GH has 97 people on the show and they still managed to feature a horse more than Rebecca Herbst this month. Where was I?
Right. Naomi Matsuda’s turn on B&B as Dr. Li Finnegan- that’s a nominee I can get behind. First, Matsuda is the only AAPI cast member of any soap opera nominated in any category (more on why that’s an oversight later). Second, she’s done what few guest performers accomplish: Matsuda’s Dr. Li has made an impact. The actress has been instrumental in B&B’s recent transformation from repetitive snoozefest to the most unpredictable of the four soaps. Plus, she’s been able to hold her own against Kimberlin Brown- and that’s no easy feat.
Ptosha Storey’s performance as Naya Benedict on Young And The Restless sounds kind of interesting. I mean, at least according to Wikipedia. Generally, I avoid Y&R because habit-forming sleep aids have no place in my life- at least not at 12:30 PM every weekday. Any compliment I can offer the CBS soap is a huge one coming from me. Oddly enough, Storey’s role as an absentee parent making an unexpected return to her child’s life sounds a lot like the final nominee in the category.
Finally, there’s Robert Gossett as fedora enthusiast, clarinet playing, absentee father of the year, Marshall Ashford. When Robert Gossett joined the cast last year, the writers built suspense by having Marshall stand 30 feet away from Curtis Ashford, the son he abandoned decades earlier with a look of sentimental longing in his eyes followed by him loudly asking about Curtis. Eventually viewers got a tearful reunion between the estranged father and son, which were hands down Gossett’s best work in the role. And that was pretty much all they wrote for Marshall for the first few months- that is if you don’t count the “mystery” of why he left in the first place.
For months, Marshall’s absence was hinted to be something really big- it damn near gave Stella a stroke (it was just a panic attack). Was it crime-related? Witness protection? WSB spy stuff? Turns out he was just in a mental hospital- which explains why Marshall appears to be modeling his look after Fozzie Bear. If you look like you are trying to look like a muppet on purpose, you probably deserve a few decades in a mental hospital.
To be fair, Robert Gossett is a talented actor and despite the subpar material, any expansion of either of the only Black families on GH was welcome. Unfortunately, it was difficult to care why Marshall came back let alone why he left. One thing is for certain: Gossett was not given the material he needed to win an Emmy this year.
One more question: am I the only one that thinks this man looks like Fozzie Bear?
Who Will Win:
- F🤬ck, if I know.
Who Should Win:
- Naomi Matsuda as Dr. Li Finnegan, The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)
Who Should Have Been Nominated :
- Lydia Look as Selina Wu, General Hospital (ABC)
Now, this is an outstanding guest performer. Lydia Look does more with a single “look” (sorry, couldn’t help myself) in her handful of scenes a month, than most actors do with pages upon pages of dialogue five-days-a-week. From the moment Selina Wu appeared on-screen, viewers have been both intrigued and kind of scared shitless by the head of the Wu Crime Syndicate. Lydia Look has done a fine job fleshing out the character as both a formidable foe and a valuable ally. A characterization that has come solely from the actress elevating what is on the page- the writers have had to do very little work when it comes to making Selina work on-screen. This award should have been a lock for GH to win and it would be have been had they nominated Lydia Look.