Hollywood and Highland was overrun by the brightest and best of Daytime television last night as the 35th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards took center stage (in the sweltering heat) at the Kodak Theater here in Hollywood, CA. A plethora of Daytime stars took to the red carpet last night but, to be honest, I am only really interested in the folks who appear on my fave Daytime soaps The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful. Here are a few folks from both shows as they made their way down the red carpet last night:

Despite nominations in many of the major categories, only 2 folks from Y&R took home Daytime Emmys last night (Kristoff St. John for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and Jeanne Cooper for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series) … but I suppose much congrats should go out to the other folks who did win awards, including Ellen DeGeneres and Tyra Banks among others …

Here are a few pics of some of the winners last night:

“Guiding Light” and Tyra Banks picked up the first two trophies Friday night at the Daytime Emmys … Banks picked up the second award of the evening: the first ever Daytime Emmy for informative talk show … “I want to thank Oprah Winfrey for her inspiration,” Banks said. “She is the queen. She will always be the queen.” What about Winfrey? After several sweeps, she’s been taking herself and her show out of Daytime Emmy contention since 1999. ABC is shaking up this year’s ceremony with new categories, new interactive elements and a new Golden Globes-style seating arrangement at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre. Honoring everything from soaps to talk shows to game shows, the live broadcast is being co-hosted by Sherri Shepherd from “The View” and Cameron Mathison from “All My Children.” Instead of sitting in the Kodak’s stuffy theater seats, nominees gathered around their own banquet tables and were allowed to sip booze from an open bar. Digital video cameras were placed at the tables and attendees documented personal experiences during the show. The footage was being uploaded to SoapNet.com throughout the live ceremony. CBS’ “The Young and the Restless” led the soap categories with 17 nominations. It was competing against ABC’s “General Hospital,” CBS’ “Guiding Light” and ABC’s “One Life to Live” for outstanding drama series. CBS netted the most nominations this year with 56 nods overall. In a surprising upset, each of the five lead actress nominees all hail from only CBS soaps.

It is my sad duty to report that Y&R did not win the award for Best Drama Series (which went to General Hospital) but, as I mentioned before, the show did take home 2 major acting trophies. Ellen took home the award for Best Talk Show Host, Rachael Ray took home the award for Best Talk Show — Entertainment and Cristina’s Court took home the award for Best Legal/Courtroom Program. Clearly, these are very hard fought and much sought after awards. How Judge Judy got the shaft, I’ll never know. Ah well … there’s always next year. Click HERE to see a full list of this year’s Daytime Emmy award winners.

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin, Splash News; Source]