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Soap Opera Pet Peeves


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There was a thread like this a year or so ago but it was moved to the dead section, so...

- I hate when soap characters randomly start thinking of characters right before they return. Recently, Jen on DAYS randomly thought of Eve right before she returned. The did the same thing with Brenda in her 2011 return, Sonny randomly missed her. It's so annoying.

- How some sets just have one "section". I get so sick of all the Salem citizens only using one floor of the hospital. I know it's because they don't have money but i get so sick of it.

- Everyone having the same political / social beliefs, expect if they are villian-y. Will and Sami got NO hate for their gay marriage which was just stupid. Why not have one character say "i never would of thought i'd see will marry a man" and another character say "i never thought this would legal." something look that. And it was total bullshit RC made Edward Quartermaine and the Buchanans a democrat.

- As kinda stated above, when writers reflect their personal opinions into their characters.

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I never really had a problem with love triangles until the endless drama on B&B? does this count ?.....In general love triangles are my biggest pet peeve especially now when no one is worth rooting for in the relationship.

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- I HATE when soap characters alter paternity tests. That has to be my biggest pet peeve because it's humanly impossible unless majority of these soap characters have a background in genetics, which numerous of them don't. Hell, half of them barely have a college education. But I blame James E. Reilly (RIP) for this. He started this fad with Sami back in the 90s and it irks my nerves that it's become a staple in soaps. Plus, don't most DNA tests get sent to a private lab instead of at an actual hospital? Yeah, that annoys me too. DNA labs are usually heavily protected anyways, so people breaking and entering is practically impossible. I'd be all for a DNA test being altered IF they paid a day player character that deals in genetics to alter it instead. That'd make more sense.

- Characters TELLING us about their jobs but we don't SEE them going to work at all. This peeve is one of the biggest I have and it's the biggest issue in soaps. Working dynamics has always served as a great foundation to lead to bigger stories outside the workplace. If Guiding Light didn't give the disgruntled working relationships of Roger/Holly/Gilly, we wouldn't've had great stories like Roger blackmailing Gilly into bringing up HB's tainted past, which later lead to Gilly & David's backstory. Or Holly publishing the story of Blake and Ross' affair, which created so much tension for the Thorpes and Marlers for years to come. Or Phyllis/Dru's rivalry, which lead to a Lily and Daniel romance. I seriously don't think it's that hard to slap up four walls and some tables to create a working environment. If the story is there, we'll forget about the sets altogether.

- When young soap characters start off in executive positions in a job. Yes, I believe in nepotism, but when these shows establish early on in the canon that these families believe and make their 'youngins' work their way up, it frustrating when they stray from that. B&B is currently the worst offenders. IMO, Hope should not have a line and Liam should not have his own office at Spencer Publications. Hope (along with Ivy and Aly) should be interns or working in the trenches where they had poor Thorne for the longest. Irks my nerves that Thorne (along with AJ on GH) until recently had a low end position while everyone else held executive positions. And Liam should be a cub reporter or a low end journalist. Michael running ELQ falls into this category too. Only people suitable to sit behind Edward's desk are Tracy, Monica, Ned, and Jimmy Lee. Michael's ass should not even be allowed to touch Edward's seat for the longest.

- Mary Sue/Larry Stu characters. These characters should nonexistent as no human being is that saccharine and perfect. I feel that this has only become an epidemic once again in recent years. I know that Irna believed in 'saints & sinners,' but realistically, everyone is a sinner. I prefer my characters to be shades of gray. You can still have a decent hero/heroine like Vicki Lord, Brooke English, Mac Cory, Bob Hughes, Kim Hughes, etc. and they have their flaws. This is why I can't connect with young heroes and heroines on soaps today because the writing isn't complex with them. It's typically one sided when life itself and humans aren't so.

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- Some characters can do whatever the [!@#$%^&*] they want, example Brooke Logan, and they never get any long lasting effects from it. Just because she is the "star" everyone in the end forgives her and every single scandal is passed on for being "just a mistake" and poor Brooke, poor Brooke, she cries from one eye, says she is "Sorry" and everything goes back to normal. This is absolutely wrong and so anticlimactic. I don't understand why they don't make her a complete underdog, the plague everyone is trying to get rid of. someone who is despised for her past and her family refuses to except her. Make her desperate, make her conniving and manipulative, make it harder for her to stay on top of everyone every single year. Make her deal with the media, the humiliation and the scandal in public way. It will be so much interesting.

- When they transform characters to help boost the interest in other characters. I can tell so many examples. We need to have an obstacle in the supercouple's life. Well, let's make this normal and beloved character into a crazy bitch - but only for 2-3 weeks, just to prop our supercouple, then she/he is back to normal. [!@#$%^&*].

- When music is overused or underused. Sometimes soundtrack is VERY important in building the atmosphere and the overall effect of drama. For the last 2-3 years B&B is lacking in that direction.

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"Making love" - I rarely hear that outside the soaps and romance novels. I realize some of that is pandering to an audience, but it's annoying. I'm pleasantly surprised when a character uses the word "sex."

Doppelgänger - I can't stand it. I really can't. Yes, it can be entertaining at times, like Susan pretending to be Kristen on Days, or Jane swilling beer as Erica in front of a shocked David, but most of the time it requires far too large of a suspension of disbelief. If you have the same figure and underlying bone structure as another person, sure with the right cosmetic alteration, you could perhaps strongly resemble them. And yes, there are people who DO bear an uncanny resemblance to each other. But even so, you can't just drop into someone's life and know enough intimate details to be able to masquerade as that person for any reasonable length of time. It's just not realistic. The only time I'm not bothered by a doppelgänger story is when a twin, sibling or other close relative impersonates the other person because they usually only do it short term, and they know enough about the person's life to pull it off, like Stuart and Adam impersonating each other on AMC, or even to some extent, Natalie/Janet.

Sudden wealth/sudden business success - Ryan came to town a broke con man, yet within a few years, he's the head of Cambias Enterprises on AMC and never wants for anything again. Even after turning Cambias over to Bianca/Miranda, he apparently ran the show for years. I can understand why someone like JR Chandler would end up working for his dad because many wealthy kids are groomed to take over the family business, and I especially appreciate it if the writers take the time to send the kid off to college to get an education (and be SORAS'd, usually). It's unrealistic to me though if the character goes from high school to corporate executive. I'm fine with someone achieving business success, but show me that they have a background in this, and let them struggle a bit before they make it. I reached a point where I loathed Fusion on AMC, but I appreciated that Kendall and Greenlee both worked for Enchantment and Revlon before starting Fusion and that they struggled a bit to make the company successful.

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There is a local coffee shop in my office building, and I visit it far too often. We're always walking around with coffee cups, either the disposable kind from the coffee shop or the reusable kind. It's shameful how much coffee we consume.

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I always hated TPTB saying something was "a storyline-dictated decision", particularly when it came to actors leaving (esp. being fired). The story didn't write itself. Someone somewhere made a decision and that was that. The story came afterwards.

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I thought this looked familiar. ;)

I will never get over the empty styrofoam cups that everyone carries in daytime (& primetime). An empty cup makes very distinct sounds and the actors don't even bother pretending that what they're carrying even has any weight. It just bugs. the. hell. outta. me.

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I've said this a million times and I'll say it until the day I croak, my big pet peeve is how soaps portray pregnancy. I'm so tired of the fainting woman cliche. If you only got your sex ed from soaps, you would think that the minute the sperm and egg combine, women just lose consciousness.

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