WHO WILL WIN A DAYTIME EMMY?

Although soap-opera episodes air five days a week, 52 weeks a year, the Daytime Emmy Awards, which serve to honor the best of the best actors, writers, directors and shows, distribute their golden trophies based solely on two, self-submitted episodes (in the case of The Bold & the Beautiful, which is a half-hour long compared to one hour for Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, and The Young & the Restless, they may submit four).

Unlike movies, which have a definite beginning, middle and end, soap-operas are almost all middle. It's difficult to get a sense of a complete performance from only a snippet, but that's what the Daytime Emmy judges have to work with. As a result, winning comes down less to a great acting moment, and more to the power of the story itself. As I explained once, completely unironically, about an actresses' chances, "She had a great year. She was raped!"

So even before the stars and shows announced as 2015 Daytime Emmy nominees reveal their reels, we present your Daytime Emmy Cheat Sheet, based not on what the actor actually did, but on which Emmy bait card they played, at Entertainment Weekly.