Big Bird reads to Connor Scott and Tiffany Jiao during a taping of Sesame Street in April 2008 in New York. (Mark Lennihan/Associated Press)

The soap opera All My Children has earned a leading 19 nominations for Daytime Emmy Awards, including best daytime drama.

In the drama category of the nominations announced Thursday, All My Children is competing with two other long-running soaps, Days of Our Lives, with 13 nominations and The Bold and the Beautiful with six.

One Life to Live had 11 nominations and The Young and the Restless 10, but both were left out of the best drama category.

The cast of All My Children earned nominations for best actress (Debbi Morgan), best actor (Thorsten Kaye) and two for best supporting actress (Alicia Minshew, Melissa Claire Egan). Vincent Irizarry and Jacob Young, both of All My Children, earned nominations as best supporting actor.

The soap, which created its 10,000th episode in November 2008, also was among the nominees for new approaches to daytime program. The 2008 season featured the return of major characters in the midst of multiple tornadoes and a special episode in which veterans share their stories unscripted. A gay wedding was celebrated in the 2009 season.

There was also a Canadian entry in the new approaches category — I Met the Walrus, produced by Jerry Levitan.

The six-minute animated film, directed by Toronto's Josh Raskin, tells the story of how Levitan, then aged 14, sought out an interview with John Lennon in 1969 when the Beatle was in Toronto.

It also earned an Academy Award nomination for best animated short.

The second most nominated program was Sesame Street, which is receiving a lifetime achievement award for its 40 years of educational television.

Sesame Street earned 15 nominations, dominating the list for best performer in a children's series with nominations for Chris Knowings, Kevin Clash, Martin Robinson and Leslie Carrara-Rudolph.

It is also contending for best pre-school children's series with Between the Lions, Johnny and the Sprites, Mamma Mirabelle's Home Movies and The Wonder Pets.

Older children's series nominated include From the Top at Carnegie Hall, Fetch with Ruff Ruffman, Adventure Camp and Postcards from Buster.

Curious George, Little Einsteins, Sid the Science Kid, Wordworld and The Backyardigans are up for best animated show.

Canadian game show hosts Howie Mandel of Deal or No Deal and Alex Trebek of Jeopardy have nominations for best game show host. They're competing with Ben Bailey of Cash Cab and Meredith Vieira, last year's winner for Who Wants to be A Millionaire?

Live with Regis and Kelly, Rachael Ray and The Ellen DeGeneres Show have nominations for best daytime entertainment talk show, but The View has been overlooked.

However, the women of The View — Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Sherri Shepherd and Barbara Walters — have nominations as best host. They're competing with Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa, Ray and DeGeneres.

The best informative talk show nominees are Dr. Phil, The Doctors and The Tyra Banks Show.