I’m saving up my Emmy nomination thoughts for our June 9 issue, but I will share some of the fun of going to the post-announcement reception last night. (I briefly debating Twittering from it, but knew it was an exercise in futility. I just cannot text message fast enough!) I began the evening by wandering around trying to find the massive Hearst building’s entrance … and running into Younger Actress nominee Meredith Hagner (Liberty, ATWT) trying to do the exact same thing! Luckily, we figured out where we were going … and as we walked in, two fans clustered by the door looked at Meredith and went, “Chrishell?!” Yes, they thought she was Chrishell Stause (Amanda) from AMC. Context: Apparently Chrishell tweeted on Twitter (that I’m even typing that is LOL-tastic) that she was heading to an Emmy nominee reception, so people expected to see her there! Suffice it to say, now that Meredith has an Emmy nomination under her belt, cases of mistaken identity will be far and few between! 

Meredith headed to the event’s red carpet to do what nominees do while my colleague Gabby and I headed up to the 44th floor for the reception. I immediately spotted GL’s Grant Aleksander (Phillip), as well as AMC’s Jacob Young (JR), nominated this year for Supporting Actor, and then a table full of my “usual suspects” from ATWT. After catching up with Davida Williams (Jade), Billy Magnussen (Casey), Alex Cole (Hunter), and Benton Greene (Derek) and his stunning girlfriend, I couldn’t help but think, “You know, I see Derek and Jade together more at events than I do onscreen.” I also talked to the fabulous Colleen Zenk Pinter (Barbara), who dished her new grandson (he looks like papa Carson Daly!) and hubby Mark’s ongoing gig at GH. After some mingling and mixing, it was time for speeches and the formal nomination announcement. Robert Newman and Kim Zimmer (Josh and Reva, GL) read off the first batch of nominations, with their trademark banter. And can I just tell you that Bindi Irwin is the cutest thing ever? She and Ben Bailey, the host of Cash Cab read the soap nominations and I’d venture to say the pint-sized Aussie star did a better job with the names than her adult counterpart! While that was going on, I traded a quick “hi!” with nominee Bree Williamson (Jessica, OLTL), whom I haven’t seen since Super Soap. 

After the formal part of the reception, complete with an unveiling of the Emmy ticket design, it was time to move around again. I congratulated Van Hansis (Luke) in person, after speaking to him on the phone earlier in the day. I saw that more of the GL set had arrived, so I snagged nominee E.J. Bonilla (Rafe) and we chatted about the amazing Olivia/Natalia phenomenon and how positive the response has been. As for Rafe’s response to the couple? You’ll have to check our magazine for that! I met Zack Conroy (nuJames), who blamed Lawrence Saint-Victor (Remy) not texting him back with fashion advice for his casual attire. LOL! And I got to ask Lawrence a burning question that I’ve had for weeks: “Are you thinking about Teen Wolf?” Context: He filled out our Just Asking questions and his response to “something you’d be surprised to know about me” was that he thinks about Teen Wolf all the time. Yes, that is the awesomest answer EVER. He cracked up, saying he’d successfully gone almost the entire day without thinking about the movie until I brought it up! Whoops. ;-). 

My colleagues and I decided to wrap it up and head home, so I said a quick goodbye to the nearest group of Oakdale-ites I could find — and hanging out with Billy was none other than AMC’s Daniel Kennedy (Petey). He’s. Hilarious. So I got to leave after seeing a brief demonstration of his mad flamenco dance skillz! 

Not that this was technically the end of my soap-filled day. Guess what I cracked open on the subway? Dial Emmy for Murder, Eileen Davidson’s second Alexis Peterson novel! But more on that later…

originally posted on soapoperaweekly.com