Planet Soap

Best Show: GH (Drew/Michel/Willow, Ric vs Ava/Kristina/Alexis were my favorites). Runner up: Beyond the Gates Worst show: Y&R, just boring MVP: Drew on GH. The character's affair with Willow sparked a rivalry with Michael, a custody battle, a shooting mystery, a battle for control of the Quartermaune estate which involved Erika Slezak coming back to soaps, and drama with other characters like Curtis, Alexis, Martin Gray etc.

B&B's lighting still looks the best to me compared to the washed out GH. BTG is bright but not too bad. I don't know why CBS wanted an updated soap, when Y&R was the best looking soap with the best music on air the air in 2013. is there a particular reason they have not fully brought back to classic cues, ownership issues perhaps?

I noticed that about the dialogue as well. All the characters spoke in proper English with sophisticated sentence structure which didn't sound like a natural conversation. Unlike AMC and OLTL there were little cultural references, topical conversations or humor in the dialogue. I can't find it now but I recall a TV critic's article in which he watched all the soaps and criticized Y&R for being "too serious".

THIS! In doing the math since Tony died, he was about 31 and Genie was 16/17 at the start of Luke and Laura in 1978 😬. It was a different time but yikes.

Yes! thank God it wasn't the attic episode...AGAIN. They can hold off on re-airing that, the masquerade ball and Victor & Nikki's wedding for a while. I was thankful that this classic wasn't randomly interrupted by some special report, unfortunately I'm hearing that happen to some viewers around NYC. Agreed with the previous sentiment that the show had warmer colors back then. Cheaply produced daytime shows like the news, soaps, and talk shows, looks so washed out now with the advent of HD. Agreed that it's sad we've gotten away from extreme close-ups.

Not me also taking a picture of the TV around the exact time Tricia came on! lol. I grew up watching Y&R around the MAB era and thought the show was so cool! Then I saw old school Y&R from the 90s and realized just how bad the product got by MAB's run. The same thing happened to me with soaps across the board, the glory days spoiled the modern product for me.

From that POV it's understandable. Always thought Bill had better haircuts and dressed slightly better as Luke. Luke look really great around 1998 when he rocked the shaved head.

Boy, when E! covered entertainment news seriously. A whole program dedicated to analyzing soaps, that was cool. Tony was the most popular male lead in soaps, part of the most popular super couple on television. Did he really think fans would accept him back on GH as a different character? Again, I've never quite understood his aversion to playing the character that made him a household name.

Thanks for the breakdown. I did notice that shift in look around 2016 as well. I always remember how the show shifted in storylines between 2012 and 2013 with the switch from JFP to Frank, but looking back at the show changed aesthetically it really downgraded in that one year.

At all? Gonna have to disagree. That odd yellowish tint (glad im not the only one who noticed how ugly that was) aside it's not that visually evident that today's episode was from 10 years ago. Comparing what GH looked like in 2005 versus 1995 there's a more drastic difference. Some of that is not just the show, it's life in general. The way we dress, and the technology we had 10 years ago is very similar to now, compared to how drastic things shifted from the 90s to the 2000s. Agreed that was a terrible time for GH. Nearly all of the momentum they had built around the 50th in 2013 had expired. Too many characters, several veteran actors brought back with no real story, the show looked cheaper etc. I gave up regularly watching until Jason returned in 2017.

In watching the rerun of Luke's last episode from 2015, GH looks nearly aesthetically identical in 2025 as it did a decade ago. The sets have improved but the lighting remains washed out. The lighting was really good in the late JFP era when the show switched to HD. After the 50th anniversary it got very bright and the colors look a little bit odd. 2013 2012 All ABC soaps looked cheap with dull lighting and colors between 2003 in 2008 when they were doing some sort of post production to the show.

Watching Luke's last full episode. GH almost looks the same in 2025 as it did in 2015. Sets, lighting, etc. Luke's last scenes should've been with Laura not Sonny.

As played out as they are, I'd still take Victor and Nikki as the center of the show because there's such a weak canvas of characters. It's nice that CBS is showing classics on holidays again. 1998 was one of their best years. It was great to see the camera movements and how extravagant the set looks. After 1995 the wardrobes became less glamorous, but the camera angles became more ornate.

Heartbreaking. I really don't want to see Anita endure cancer. They have Shaniese flirting around with everybody lol.

Me. I have totally given up on Y&R. The only time I watch is when I see an occasional flash of Victor and Nikki on screen.

Looking back at it Luke & Laura were the biggest super couple in soaps but both actors seemed to have such mixed emotions about the pairing compared to say Eric Braden and Melody Thomas Scott. It's as if they received a level of fame and prominence that both actors had some discomfort with. It's also amazing how culturally impactful Luke & Laura and Monty era GH still are compared to Y&R and B&B which have been the top soaps for nearly 30 years. Inwosh someone had that Oprah episode from the late 2000s/early 2010s when she had soap stars on

Meant to attach to previous post. The local ABC affiliate in Rochester New York, doing a behind-the-scenes report on Luke and Laura's 1993 return to GH which was shot there. It's tremendous the scope and budget that soaps had back then!

Tony is receiving the most mainstream press of any soap opera in death I've ever seen. It really speaks to how much of a cultural impact Luke and Laura had that they're still talked about 44 years later. if you know nothing else about soaps, you know Erika Kane and Luke & Laura. ABC NBC CBS

My favorite shot from all of the Faces of the Heart openings. Luke & Laura at the end of the September 2002 intro.

Before I started reading these threads a few years ago, I had no idea Luke and Laura were THE source of action/adventure in soaps. I thought they were just a symptom. I don't resent that soaps evolved from a discussion based stage play to being more active, I would've appreciate more balance. EVERY soap didn't need to do action adventure. I wonder if that also began the trend of soaps going toward the melodramatic storylines rather than being grounded in reality? if so, I don't mind soaps going for a larger than life stories. There's countless dramas on television. soap is doing serialization and covering social topics is no longer groundbreaking as most TV show shows do it. In this content saturated era, I don't mind larger than life stories being soap's niche to stand out. Just don't get too extreme like a a gorilla and devil possession...And remember the budget constraints so those plots don't end up looking cheap and ridiculous. Meanwhile, Y&R remains #1 having steered away from action adventure plots, stayes grounded in reality, and continues to maintain character driven plots with heavy dialogue.

exactly. How do you kill off the biggest male lead in the shows history in such a anticlimactic fashion as a random cable car accident. They could've said Helena or saving Lucky or something.

Given the news with Rob Reiner today I certainly did not expect to hear Tony Gerry passing away. This shortly after the anniversary of Luke and Laura's wedding too! Anthony was perhaps the biggest actor in all of soaps, and he was a part of the most famous pairing in soaps. I grew up on JFP era GH, and only knew Luke as the comically cynical gambler and drunk. Laura was the woman in the rocking chair. I had no idea until I watched the 50th anniversary marathon that Luke was a leading man back in the day, then a well balanced family man/shaky business in the 90s. A certain light disappeared from the character after Laura went into catatonia. The character was further degraded when they claimed he ran over Jake. In my mind, the last scene of GH would've been Luke and Laura getting remarried after they did all the healing work from their traumatic years together. Sadly, that will not happen. But at least the character of Bobbie was still alive to mourn Luke when he was killed off. What I will always wonder is why the actor resented the pairing and the version of the role that made him a household name. RIP.

she would fit with the Luna types on the Bold and the Beautiful. It's weird seeing Jason chase a woman, and act jealous. he's just been the stoic "gentleman" for the last few years. it's interesting when they give Jason more emotions than just bodyguard problems solver. I don't know why they are writing Britt so terribly. it's almost pathetic seeing Jason constantly come after her even consider cosigning a car for her, etc.

I jumped to click on the youtube video when I saw Esme. Good scenes even though she was just a hallucination. Lol at Sonny holding the small dog. Dante was being a total penis per usual to Gio. Ric however was right. Gio and Emma made everyone in Sonny's house an accomplice. Gio, Emma, Rocco and Charlotte need to stop being the do gooder Good Samaritan gang and lay low during their legal troubles.

Lol I'd love to see Grace again being that Donna is just occupying space on B&B. They should've said this was a Cousin or brother of Matt Clark since we saw Matt kill himself on screen in 2001. Are they going to say that Matt underwent facial reconstruction surgery a second time?? Speaking of David Kimball, bring him back as a twin or look-alike cousin lol. It would be nice to see Mary Jo released from the sanitarium. Griffith couldn't write that effectively though.