Edward J. Scott & Melody Thomas Scott, Lidia Bastianich Set For Daytime Emmys Career Honors

Erik Pedersen
·3 min read

Daytime drama veterans and spouses Melody Thomas Scott and Edward J. Scott and PBS cooking show host Lidia Bastianich are set for career honors at the 2024 Daytime Emmy Awards next month. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will present Lifetime Achievement Awards to the trio during the 51st annual ceremony. on June 7.

“We’ve long wanted to honor the legendary daytime duo of Melody Thomas Scott and her husband Edward J. Scott,” NATAS CEO Adam Sharp said. “With a combined 93 years of contributions to our community, they are true institutions in the world of daytime television. In addition, Lidia Bastianich’s astounding success combines her love of cooking while simultaneously entertaining millions each day. It is an honor for us to say grazie for the many fine meals borne from her TV kitchen and cookbook pages.”

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Thomas Scott has played Nikki Newman on The Young and The Restless since 1979,  with her character maturing from the girl from the wrong side of the tracks to the show’s luminous and resourceful leading lady. She is a two-time Daytime Emmy nominee and won four Soap Opera Update Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress from 1992-96. By the mid-’60s, Thomas Scott was guest spots on such popular series as Wagon Train, My Three Sons and Ironside and later The Waltons, Charlie’s Angels and The Nanny. More recent primetime credits include guest shots on The Crazy Ones, Castle and My Name Is Earl.

Scott is a six-time Daytime Emmy-winning producer who has played a pivotal role in the development of the soap opera genre for nearly five decades and today is supervising producer for The Bold and the Beautiful. He began his association with the Bell family and Bell-Phillip Television Productions when he joined The Young and The Restless as an associate producer in 1976 and quickly moved up the ranks and served as the show’s executive producer for decades. Before joining B&B, Scott was executive producer for Days of Our Lives.

Bastianich is a Daytime Emmy-winning public TV  host, cookbook author, restaurateur, chef and owner of a food and entertainment business. During the past 25 years, she has created cooking programs including Lidia’s Kitchen, Lidia’s Family Table, Lidia’s Italy, Lidia’s Italy In America and Lidia Celebrates America. Her most recent book is last year’s Lidia’s From Our Family Table to Yours, a companion to PBS’ Lidia’s Kitchen. Bastianich has won seven James Beard Awards and two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Culinary Host. In 2022, she received the Silver Award from APT for 25 years on public television.

“We are honored and humbled to receive this recognition from NATAS. Throughout our decades-long careers in front of and behind the cameras, we have had the opportunity to work not only with each other but also with an incredibly talented pool of people who excel in their crafts and are passionate about the art we create in daytime television,” the Scotts, who have been married since 1985, said in a joint statement. “We are grateful to have worked side by side with them and to be included with such esteemed recipients who have made their mark in our industry.”

Said Bastianich: “It is a tremendous honor to be recognized and receive the Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award for having shared my passion for food with TV audiences for over 25 years. Cooking together and sharing food remain a common denominator of all cultures. Food nurtures, it connects diverse people, and it brings families, friends and strangers together. There is no better place to be on this earth, especially in these trying times, than sharing food at a table with others. That simple idea has been the basis of my life’s work.”

The 2024 Daytime Emmys will air live on CBS from 8-10 p.m. and delayed in the West from the Westin Bonaventure Los Angeles. Paramount+ will stream the ceremony.

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