It’s Emmy time this Sunday, soap fans! Though the TV Academy also uses the annual ceremony (airing live on CBS at 8 p.m. ET) to honor game and talk shows, the real competition lies in the drama categories. Will James Franco’s much-ballyhooed appearance on General Hospital help the ABC soap take the top prize? Will the soon-to-canceled All My Children earn a sympathy trophy?

We asked some on the industry’s top soap experts — Editorial Director Stephanie Sloane and Managing Editor Editor Gabrielle Winkel of Soap Opera Digest/Soap Opera Weekly, and Soap Opera Network  Co-founder Xavier Toups — to pick who should win and who will win in the major categories.

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
Nominees: All My Children, The Bold and the Beautiful, The Young and the Restless and General Hospital.
Who should win: Sloane says GH, Toups and Winkel says B&B.

Image Credit: CBS

Who will win: Everyone is in agreement — the CBS half-hour (pictured, left) will win its third consecutive Emmy. Toups explains it best: “The show submitted two episodes where Stephanie, who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, finds her way to L.A.’s Skid Row and sees how people are living in a poverty stricken area. Stephanie devotes herself to helping those who are living there.” Social change! See: Winners circle.

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