TVSquad

History was made at the Daytime Emmys last night... twice. The Bold and the Beautiful won as the top Daytime Drama and the hosts of The View finally were winners. Good for B&B, the last of the half-hour soaps, coming off a terrific year. And it was great for the ladies of The View, who were probably starting to feel like getting the gold was an impossible dream. Unfortunately, they weren't there -- not one of them -- to accept.

However, amid the joyful wins and a jolly 40th anniversary salute to Sesame Street, there was a sad quality to the Daytime Emmys. Perhaps it was the over-arching reality that daytime TV is struggling, a point made clear when Betty White hosted a farewell to Guiding Light. No offense to the delightful Ms. White, but the salute was lackluster and hardly worthy of a show that has been broadcasting for 72 years! The cast appeared to receive a final ovation, but nobody spoke for the show.

They have feuds. They have babies (at least one of them). They have daily debates. But the ladies of The View have no sway with the Daytime Emmys. Well, that's not entirely correct. The ladies themselves, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Barbara Walters, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck, received an Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Talk Show host(s), but their show was snubbed.

Whether it's deemed a Talk Show/Entertainment or Talk Show/Information, it's not deemed worthy. But The View's missing nomination is merely one of the many oddities of the 36th Annual Daytime Emmy nominations. Something is really bizarre in the batch of noms.

(S02E17) Wili's moment of triumph arrived, and it was just as glorious as I expected it to be. La Slater is officially back at Mode as Creative Director, and all is right with the Ugly Betty world. This episode was all about couples. Hilda pursued Coach Diaz, Gio pursued Betty, and Marc and Amanda did what they do best--torture Betty. The "Betty Whorez" e-mail was one of those small Mode moments that I haven't seen in a while.

(S02E16) Things are finally coming into place on Ugly Betty. Wili officially declared war on the Meades, Betty dealt with serious baby drama, and Hilda got back into the dating game (almost). If this keeps up, the show will be back to its old self--Wili scheming, Betty working with Daniel against her, and an end to the Suarez family mourning period. Sounds good to me!

(S02E15) You can add "glamourtunity" and "preg-nasty" to the Ugly Betty lexicon. While this episode gave us some cute moments and clever dialogue, I felt like it was light on plot. Yes, we got Renee's storyline out of the way, but the rest of it was build-up to the season's bigger issues. I'm ready for things to start happening.

(S02E14) That look says it all, doesn't it? Betty spent part of her birthday with fellow dreamer Gio, and came home to Henry with a lot on her mind. The reappearance of Charlie reminded us that Henry's baby is coming soon. There's a difficult decision in Betty's future. Who will she choose, Henry or Gio?

As the Academy Award presentation approaches, that can only mean one thing -- time for a new Barbara Walters special. Yes, yes, what matters most before the big show isn't the red carpet and the fashions, it's who will Barbara be interviewing for her annual Oscar edition? Ms. Walters has four biggies lined up for the Sunday, February 24th (7:00-8:00 p.m. ET) broadcast. Oscar nominee Ellen Page, star of Juno; Indiana Jones, himself, Harrison Ford; Ugly Betty diva, Vanessa Williams; and Hannah Montana/teen queen Miley Cyrus. It's an eclectic group, to say the least, but then, that's Baba Wawa's formula for success, is it not? After all, this is her 27th straight year doing a pre-Oscar special.

The first season finale of ABC's Ugly Betty left us wondering if Bradford would really marry Wilhelmina, if Henry is the father of Charlie's baby, if almost half the cast was dead or not, and so much more. This very good finale had a lot of TV fans speculating all summer. Speculate no more as we have gathered for you a series of spoilers that will reveal the fate of most characters and what is in store for them.

Spoilers ahead!

(S01E24) I can't stop crying.

(S01E22) Before we get started, I need to get something out of the way.

"A boy like that. He'll kill your brother."

Who wants to live in America? Rita Moreno does! I'm just one big fag haggis experiencing her inner theater queen. We all know that there's a Betty musical episode in the works, but I think we might be in for a preview next week. The episode is called "East Side Story," guest stars Kristin Chenoweth and is timed perfectly for Justin to save the day for middle school-aged thespians everywhere. Until then, let us reflect on tonight's mystical Mexico tour.

(S01E21) I wish Ugly Betty's Christina could sit down with The Office's Pam and tell her the same thing she told Betty - "You can take care of yourself, princess." How original. How wonderful. How like real life.

(S01E06) One of the reasons I like Ugly Betty is that the characters aren't "TV stupid." You know what I mean: instances where the main character or one of the side characters blithely accepts someone's help without even considering why that person is offering help or what their motives might be. Or characters that continue to be played for suckers even though everyone around them, including the audience, start screaming for the person to wake the eff up.

But Betty is different. Betty knows that Wilhelmina's offer to pay for her dad's legal services was done to help drive a wedge between her and Daniel. Whilhelmina knows that her daughter Nikko is acting out when she gets thrown out of boarding schools and shoplifts. And Amanda is smart enough to know that Daniel is never going to settle down with her... he's looking for bigger fish to boink.

If you're from New England (or the past few years a football fan in general), you know that New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick isn't exactly a fashion plate. He always seems to wear the same thing, and looks kinda frumpy (no offense). But he really doesn't seem to mind it. He's not really the kind of guy who cares about looks.

That might change this Monday, October 30, on ESPN. That's when the cast of ABC's Ugly Betty will make an appearance on Monday Night Football and give Belichick a makeover. The people from the fictional Mode magazine on the show will do some Photoshop work on Belichick and turn him into Tom Brady.

I have no idea what this mean. Are they just going to take a picture of Belichick, click here and there and change him into Brady, or is it more involved than that, with Belichick and Brady actually involved? I guess we'll have to tune in to find out. The segment will air at 7pm.

Now that 2005 is behind us, we can look forward to new and returning favorite shows all this month on television. What will you be watching?

South Beach (Wednesdays, UPN) Two hot, New York City working-class bachelors leave the big city behind to follow one of their girlfriends to South Beach, FL, only to discover that she has a new boyfriend. They get mixed up with the rich and famous in the club scene. After viewing a sneak preview on UPN's website, it looks like a guilty pleasure like The O.C., except with more sex and no high school. Jennifer Lopez is the executive producer and it co-stars Vanessa Williams as a club owner and mother to one of the main characters. South Beach premieres on Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 8 pm.