Vegas a sure bet for Daytime Emmys

You don't mess with success.

Which explains why this weekend's Daytime Emmy Awards are back in Las Vegas -- for the second consecutive year.

The 38th annual Daytime Emmys, to be broadcast on CBS, go live from the Las Vegas Hilton Theater at 5 p.m. Sunday (local viewers can catch the tape-delayed telecast at 8 p.m. on KLAS-TV, Channel 8).

Last year, organizers rolled the dice when they moved the Daytime Emmys from Hollywood to Las Vegas.

This year, however, the Vegas return ranks as a sure bet.

"You guys have become our home away from home," notes executive producer David McKenzie, president of Associated Television International, which is producing the awards show for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

In part, that's because the Daytime Emmys' 2010 Las Vegas debut proved "really successful -- for the first time in many years," explains Associated Television's Al Schwartz, another of the show's executive producers.

Not only did the 2010 awards broadcast have "outstanding ratings," Schwartz notes, it won the night, becoming the evening's top-rated program "for the first time in a long time."

Las Vegas "played a really important role" in that ratings surge, Schwartz maintains.

Taking a cue from its new showbizzy home, the 2010 telecast combined the usual awards -- honoring the best in daytime talk shows, game shows, kids' shows and soap operas -- with entertainment segments that "carried the flavor of Las Vegas," according to Schwartz.

Last year's show featured Blue Man Group and "The Lion King" and included a tribute to "American Bandstand" pioneer Dick Clark, combining Las Vegas' "capital of entertainment" image with "the glitziness of the daytime stars," Schwartz noted.

"We didn't know we could marry the two," he says of the show's Vegas debut, "but it came out terrific. People told me it was the best Daytime Emmy Awards they'd ever seen, because it was more entertaining than it ever was."

This year's awards show will follow the same Vegas-centric formula.

Former Venetian headliner Wayne Brady -- an Emmy winner in his own right for his daytime talk show and prime time's "Whose Line Is It Anyway" -- returns as host for the first time since 2003.

This year's host gig includes an opening dance number that teams Brady with the Monte Carlo's Jabbawockeez.

"I don't think you could see Regis doing that," Brady says, citing last year's host, Regis Philbin. "I think the producers, when they approached me, they recognized the need for showbiz."

Besides, you can't do an awards show from Las Vegas "and not work in Vegas" throughout the show, Brady adds.

For example, the "Viva Las Vegas" number from Cirque du Soleil's "Viva Elvis" show at Aria will remind audiences that the King himself once rocked the Hilton showroom during his Vegas reign.

The Rio's resident bad boys of magic, Penn & Teller, will appear, Schwartz reports, along with Flamingo headliner Marie Osmond, who'll salute daytime TV's military viewers.

Speaking of salutes, Oprah Winfrey -- whose syndicated talk show recently departed the airwaves after a landmark 25-year run -- will receive the TV academy's Crystal Pillar Award for "changing the face of daytime television."

Tropicana headliner Gladys Knight will host the Winfrey tribute and Caesars Palace regular Celine Dion will participate.

In addition, a package of reelin'-in-the-years film clips will feature more than 50 stars.

When they started planning the Winfrey tribute, "we thought what we had was a brilliant idea," Schwartz recalls, "but we didn't realize there would be 20 tributes to Oprah" before this weekend's Daytime Emmys.

Echoing Winfrey's famous audience giveaways, viewers at home will be able to "Watch and Win" extravagant Oprah-inspired prizes, McKenzie says, from a yacht cruise to a suite stay at the Bahamas' Atlantis Resort.

Playing to the show's home audience -- while playing to the audience in the Hilton showroom -- represents a dual challenge, Brady acknowledges.

"I'm a live performer -- and also a TV professional," he explains. "I'm always aware of the people watching. They want the best show possible. And I want it to be funny for the millions of people we hope to attract."

Last year, organizers "had to convince the network we could bring in a creditable show," Schwartz says. "This year was a no-brainer."

As for future years, McKenzie says, "as long as Vegas wants us to come back, we'll be there."

Contact reporter Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.