Two of the three cable programs honored with Daytime Emmy Awards Friday night
received their TV moments in full, but one didn't.
A Baby Story earned an "Outstanding Special Class Series" award for The
Learning Channel, the first series Emmy for the channel.
In nontelevised ceremonies the previous weekend, A Wedding Story,
another TLC afternoon program from the same production team, won for
single-camera editing. Both shows have been renewed for the 2003-04 season.
Accepting the series honor on ABC's Daytime Emmy telecast, Baby Story
co-executive producer Terri Johnson thanked TLC management for supporting the
program and the families inviting the show to capture "the endlessly
fascinating" process of birth.
Both awards for outstanding performer in children's programming went to
cable.
Shia LaBeouf, co-star of the acclaimed Walt Disney Co. movie Holes,
picked up the children's series award for his Disney Channel role on Even
Stevens.
Backstage, LaBeouf thanked Disney Channel for providing an environment where
shows like Even, That's So Raven and Lizzie McGuire can
turn into teen/tween or family hits. "They let you and the producers do whatever
you want to do," he told Multichannel News.
For children's special, Ben Foster was cited for his performance in Bang
Bang You're Dead, Showtime's made-for movie on guns and school violence.
However, he didn't show up to collect and acknowledge his award.
Overall, Bang Bang You're Dead won four of the five 2003 Daytime Emmys
taken by Showtime, including outstanding children's special. Showtime was the
top Daytime Emmy-winning cable network, followed by Disney, Nickelodeon and TLC
sharing second place with two awards apiece.
Also backstage, the creative team behind PBS' long-running Reading
Rainbow series disclosed that the show faces cancellation this fall due to a
funding shortfall.
Cable may be a primary avenue to keeping Rainbow around with new
episodes, host and co-executive producer LeVar Burton said. "We're open to
finding a situation that works for the show," he added. "The problem is that we
have a number of production partners involved, and we have to keep their
interests in mind."
One of those partners is RCN Entertainment, the programming arm of cable
operator/overbuilder RCN Corp., which is producing Showtime's series of
What's Going On? children's specials in association with the United
Nations.
