Stories that you feel personally flopped and could've been better....

[Khan]

Unless I'm mistaken, Logan was killed off b/c Josh Duhon was becoming a handful BTS. If that's true -- well, I could understand firing him, but killing off the character as well? That makes no sense to me at all.

Give her an opportunity, though, and not only will Veronica Carlivati bring Cooper back AND make him Brenda's (and Julia's) half-brother, she'll make them all long-lost Jerome siblings as well.

[cuzIsaySo]

I always wanted revealed that Cooper Barrett was in fact a fraud, a army buddy of Brenda's long-lost half-brother who assumed his identity when he "died" on the war field. Years later the real Brandon "Cooper" Barrett would return played by Chad Brannon and using at first the alias Aaron Smith.

I would have been thrilled if CB ended up playing Brenda's baby brother.

I liked Jason Gerhardt even though he wasnt all that great as an actor (still lightyears better than RoboCop of course) but he never screamed Barrett scion to me.

I was also under the impression that this snooty gf Cooper was said to be working for Jerry over would turn out to be Serena leading to a Serena/cooper/maxie/Logan quad. Guza missed so much opportunity that if he is ever allowed to write another word even in a birthday card it would be a crime.

[NothinButAttitude]

*shudders at the thought*

[All My Shadows]

Nearly every storyline on As the World Turns in its last 5 years, but especially the initial Luke/Noah/Maddie story. Instead of rushing through the beats at breakneck speed, they should have (IMO) slowed it down considerably and played around with the evolution of Luke's feelings for Noah. As it stood, Luke went from being annoyed by Noah to instantly "falling for a straight guy" because Noah helped him pick up a box of tapes. I wanted them to keep the animosity between them up -- Luke's annoyed because Noah is seemingly unqualified for his job and constantly makes messes that Luke and Maddie have to clean up. Meanwhile, Noah and Maddie become a couple. After a few months, the two guys become friends, and Luke feels himself getting jealous of the way Noah treats Maddie, and Noah picks up on it. They fool around with each other and as things start to get serious, Luke gets pissed because Noah won't come clean with Maddie, and then finally, Luke just tells her the truth, expecting Noah to choose him, but Noah leaves town, leaving both Luke and Maddie to pick up the pieces of their friendship. I never thought Noah was a character with any lasting power because he was just so goddamn bland. I also thought he was more bi than gay and more straight than bi.

Also, on One Life to Live. There was a moment when it seemed like they were gonna go all out with Natalie and Jared trying to get custody of Jessica's daughters because she (and Brody) weren't fit to raise them. THAT would have been some classic soap drama, but it quickly flopped by way of over-exaggerated DID and other nonsense.

[Wizzerkat]

The Zoe/Zarf thing on AMC would have been fine if they had not added the romantic crap in there. Just having Bianca support a trans friend could have been really good, but they went and ruined that.

[ellabelle]

To me that whole story felt like the writers sat around in a room and said, "You know, that whole lesbian thing got a lot of free publicity for us. What can we do to top that?" and then someone said, "Let's have a transgender character!" And voila.

I think I've said this before, but one of the weaknesses of that story to me was that it centered around a new character no one really knew. Similar to AMC's gay storyline of the mid 90s with Laurel's brother, Zarf wasn't someone the audience knew, and while he was likeable enough, there wasn't a strong connection he had to anyone else to make the audience sit up and take notice beyond the shock value of the story. I thought - and still think - it would have been more compelling if a legacy character had struggled with gender identity and sexuality before deciding to begin the process of transitioning to another gender. At that point in the show, I'm not sure there was a legacy character who could have fit the bill, but it would have been more interesting to watch.

Alternately, I could have enjoyed Bianca beginning to explore a relationship with a woman who used to be a man or who had recently transitioned genders. But the 'romance' between Zarf/Zoe and Bianca felt forced, and it wasn't believable at all.

[Khan]

I think that would have been awesome.

I think THIS would have been awesome as well. Of course, I agree with you, ellabelle, that there might not have been an established character who would have fit the bill. Just imagine, though, if there had been, and we followed them throughout the complete transformation from male to female (or vice-versa). Would the show have recast? And how would they have handled the recast?

[Soaplovers]

I think that Maria's return from the dead in 2002 was a dud and it had potential to be a pretty good story. At the time she was set to return, Edmund had found his way back to Brooke and they were inching closer to the altar. Instead of having Brooke learn that Maria was alive, I think it would have been better if she had no idea that she was alive. Plus, I thought it was interesting that Maria had a completely new life as Maureen. It would have been interesting to have Edmund torn between Brooke and Maria, while Maria is torn about going back to a life she can't remember vs staying in her current life while Brooke is torn between fighting for Edmund and letting him go to explore if there is still something there between him and Maria.

What we ended up getting was Brooke hiding that Maria was alive, Maria hooking up with Aidan then Zach, and Edmund becoming psycho.

[Taoboi]

I TOTALLY REMEMBER THAT.

Like that one scene, where Jess was trying to bond with her daughter who wouldn't leave Nat's side and Nat was staring at Jess like some megabitca.

The pieces were all there and it annoyed me to no end.

And let me...Dorian BE Takeover. RC planned in storyline for that for months. For months!!! You know...back when he could write and foreshadow and fake out with great twists. Only for Dorian (and that rocking hat) to blow Clint out of the water...all because he dumped her for Nora. All the beats were played, and It climaxed with a week that ending in a death (okay, the next week). Built so beautifully...only for Dorian to lose it and the Buchs get it back in one episode. REALLY?!? I was looking forward to see the Buchs plot to get it back. Heck, to this day, I STILL have not seen the actual scene when it happened. I just heard about it after the fact and went WHAT?!?

[EnglishTea]

I've said many times that this story could have played out so many more ways that would have been interesting. I've mentioned other scenarios, but another one...

As Tad deals with Dixie’s death, and it affects Brooke and Edmund with reminders of Maria’s death

Then, Edmund, not Brooke, discovers the clues that Maria may be alive. Edmund goes off on the search. Brooke is suspicious of his behavior, but doesn’t know what is behind it. She confides in Tad, who takes it upon himself to follow Edmund. The two men go at it, and it dredges up the past. Edmund loves Brooke, but it doesn’t stop Edmund from going to the hospital. Edmund meets the faux Maureen/Maria. Edmund leaves disappointed. Tad has followed Edmund to the hospital. He meets Maureen (the real Maria), but given their conversation and his guilt over destroying Brooke’s happiness with Edmund the first time, Tad decides to stay quiet.

Edmund comes clean with Brooke. Brooke feels betrayed, but she also understands why Edmund had to go. Brooke and Edmund work to repair the damage done to their marriage (in my scenario they are already married). Brooke can’t stop this unsettled feeling, and thinks she can overcome it by meeting Maureen. Tad talks Brooke out of the trip.

As the 5^th anniversary of the plane crash looms, Tad is more troubled by his deception. Tad, having suffered the same fate as Maria during his Ted years, realizes he must bring Maria home, no matter what the cost. Brooke and Edmund go to the crash site on the anniversary, and things will never be the same when Tad and Maureen arrive on the beach…

[amybrickwallace]

With the passing of Dane Witherspoon (Santa Barbara, later Capitol) over the weekend, I'm reminded that a story can also be seriously hampered by a recast. In this case, a recast was totally unnecessary and the chemistry Robin Wright had with DW was just not there with Mark Arnold. In all fairness, MA came in with a solid daytime pedigree (having spent three and a half years as Gavin Wylie on Edge of Night), and probably would have been all right coming in as a different character. I would have loved to see DW's Joe play out in the earthquake story, Joe and Kelly's wedding and the Carnation Killer plot. Though, no way would he have succumbed to Peter Flint. DW's Joe would have stomped Peter out like a bug!!!

[John]

I still dont get why DW was fired and MA hired only to leave 4 months later and Joe be killed. MA said he quit because He figured Teen Wolf film would be big but I call bull [!@#$%^&*] on that one

[amybrickwallace]

I think plans WERE in the works to make a second Teen Wolf film with Michael J. Fox (MA had played the antagonist in the original and wanted to be free to reprise the role), but MJF had a conflict with Back to the Future and of course, Family Ties. So as a result, the sequel was never made and eventually a Teen Wolf movie with a new cast, headed by Jason Bateman, came out a few years later.

In any case, at least the Dobsons learned from their mistake and didn't recast Joe again. We can at least be grateful for that.

[John]

thanks. MA also admits that RW wasnt easy to deal with cause he replaced her BF

[amybrickwallace]

No problem. I also think RW could have been more professional and not taken her grievances out on MA, but then one tends to forget that she was still a kid!! Only 18 when this was all going on, she had that poise and air of maturity even then, but still a lot of growing up to do at that age.