‘The Bay’ Pre-EMMY Event with Reporter Sage Stevens.

It is awards season in Los Angeles and here I am excited to attend the latest soiree. The evening’s red carpet, held at Associated Television International in Burbank, CA, where the show is filmed, was to celebrate the finished production & the soon to be released 8th season of THE BAY, and the already 23X EMMY winning drama series latest EMMY nominations in 2023. The show picked up 3 nominations in 2023 — Outstanding Daytime Drama Series, Outstanding Writing in a Daytime Series, and Outstanding Directing in a Daytime Series. This is the first year the show is in direct competition with Soap Opera staples, ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’, ‘Days of Our Lives’, ‘General Hospital’ and ‘The Young and the Restless’.

The inaugural Emmy ceremony took place at the Hollywood Athletic Club. Tickets cost $5 and only six awards were presented. The first award winner being Mel Brooks. The awards ceremony has grown over the past 74 years and like the Emmys, THE BAY has been growing as well. The series has been gathering steam from its initial nomination for a Digital Streaming EMMY in 2012 for Daytime EMMY Award for Outstanding Special Class Short Format Daytime. For audience members who grew up watching Soaps there will be many familiar faces juxtaposed amongst newcomers to daytime. The cast includes RONN MOSS (‘Bold and the Beautiful’), TRISTAN ROGERS (‘General Hospital’), JOHN CALLAHAN (‘All My Children’), MAXWELL CAULFIELD (‘Dynasty’, ‘The Colbys’, ‘Beverly Hills 90210’), A MARTINEZ (‘Santa Barbara’, ‘General Hospital’, ‘One Life to Live’, ‘Days of our Lives’), BRENDON BEEMER (‘Days of Our Lives’, ‘Bold and the Beautiful’), MAREE CHEATHAM (‘Days of Our Lives’,’General Hospital’,‘Search for Tomorrow’, ‘Knots Landing’), CARI SHAYNE (‘General Hospital’), ALICIA LEIGH WILLIS (‘General Hospital’).

Photos above, left: Mike Manning (actor). Right: Bo Roberts (actor) and Maree Cheatham (actress).

The series is set in Bay City where there is no shortage of scandal, lustful affairs, murder and nefarious agendas. Senator Red Garrett was killed & the person responsible lurks amongst the residents of the ocean side town casting a never ending gloom over his surviving family and the city at large. Lead characters Sara Garrett (MARY BETH EVANS, ‘Days of Our Lives’, ‘General Hospital’, ‘Port Charles’) and Pete Garrett (KRISTOS ANDREWS) are the remaining family members of the Senator who navigate the aftermath of his death, trying to control its effect on their lives and their social standing in BAY CITY. In the latest season of The Bay instead of the waves of the Pacific rolling in they swapped them for the tropical beaches of Puerto Rico. I lived & worked in Puerto Rico and it is a stunning location with visual landscapes & breathtaking terrain that I am sure will add impact to the latest episodes. Another part of the show that will add upbeat Latina vibes is EMMY nominated actress TANIA MAMERY who hails from the island paradise.

Above Upper Left Photo: Actress Tamara Clatterback who plays Alice on 'The Young and the Restless'’// Above Right Photo: Producer, Artisha Mann-Cooper // Below Lower Left Photo: Actress, Tania Mamery.

Above Photo: MMA fighter, Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson and reporter, Sage Stevens.

“It’s a family” – As I interviewed cast & crew members of the show the recurring theme and phrase was, “It’s a family” and from the graciousness exhibited towards me from everyone on the red carpet I would have to agree. For a few moments lead heartthrob of the show Kristos Andrews who plays Pete Garrett introduced me to his fellow cast mates & crew as they sauntered down the red carpet, which relieved some of my stress at the time as my usual cameraperson for these types of events was ill and I had a last minute stand-in to help record all my interviews. As the ceremonial procession of guest arrival increases in speed and energy, and the time you need to get everyone through dwindles down to the final minutes, having a reassured presence to assist is never unappreciated.

Above photo: Sage Stevens interviews actress Cari Shayne (top left), actor Matthew Ashford (right) and country singer Presley Aronson

Above photo: actress Victoria Baldesarra and reporter Sage Stevens.

This sense of family came up again as I was chatting with people both on and off of the red carpet as there were many mentions of JACLYN ZEMAN and NICOLAS COSTER who both recently passed on but were obviously still very much present in the hearts & minds of those attending. Jaclyn played SOFIA MADISON in THE BAY and was an actress in GENERAL HOSPITAL for over 45 years. ZEMAN was nominated for a Daytime Emmy four times for her role in ‘General Hospital’ and once for playing Sofia in ‘THE BAY’. Nicolas played MAYOR JACK MADISON in THE BAY & appeared in almost 600 episodes of SANTA BARBARA playing the character of Lionel Lockridge. He also appeared in ‘All My Children’ and ‘One Life to Live’. COSTER was nominated for five daytime EMMY awards, one for his character on THE BAY, which he won, and the rest for his time on SANTA BARBARA.

Above Photo: Actress Celeste Fianna wearing a dress from designer, Kiki Wang & reporter, Sage Stevens.

Above photo: actor, A Martinez and his daughter, singer-songwriter Ren Farren Martinez.

Glamorous outfits, good looks & industry mainstays were in abundance on the red carpet as there were many special guests in attendance: Henry Penzi (producer), Ren Farren Martinez (singer / songwriter), Davi Santos (actor), MMA Fighter Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Jonny Carlo (actor), Presley Aronson (country singer), Tigran Mutafyan (producer), Kim Estes (actor), Tamara Clatterback (Alice on ‘Young and the Restless’), Victoria Baldesarra (actress) and Fashion Designer Kiki Wang. CELESTE FIANNA who plays Tamara Garrett on ‘THE BAY’ wore a frock from WANG’s ‘Shining Star’ collection to the fete. Wang has dressed Hollywood sirens of the big and small screen, European Royalty & Chinese movie stars. FARREN is releasing a new album in the coming months, while actor JONNY CARLO is setting off to film a new Christmas movie produced by HENRY PENZI called 'Santa's Chair', directed by Maguy Cohen, starring Jeremy Piven & Vernon Davis.

Above photo: Kiki Wang (fashion designer), Kristos Andrews (actor & producer) with reporter, Sage Stevens.

The Bay finished production on its 8th season and stars of the show and special guests watched a private screening with a cocktail reception. Sponsors for the evening were: 1.0.1 Vodka, Tequila Comisario, Lode Star Whiskey and many more.

You can watch or listen to me, Sage Stevens, LIVE ON AIR - Wednesday’s at 4pm Pacific as I interview guests on my live talk show ‘SHOUT OUT WITH SAGE’ on XM STATION 'StreamInn Hub Radio', a FCC licensed broadcast studio. Yes, it is a 'LIVE' on air talk show, not a prerecorded podcast. You can listen in your car or watch it on different platforms, primarily 'YouTube'. You can find me (Sage) on the red carpet at many film festivals, premieres and gala events. INTERVIEWS can be found on tiktok @sagestevensinterviews - you can also find me IG @shoutoutwithsage.

To watch THE BAY go to Popstar! TV which has ALL the NEW episodes with encore presentations. If you want to make it a binge session, previous seasons of THE BAY are available on TUBI, Amazon Prime Video, The Roku Channel, Peacock.

Below Photo: EMMY winner & Creator, Writer, Producer of THE BAY, Gregori J. Martin and reporter, Sage Stevens.

Above Photo: Sage Stevens interviews actress Patrika Darby.