Planet Soap

GH: 1981-87 Gloria Monty Years; 1993-1999 Wendy Riche Levinson/Labine/Guza years. Y&R: 1989-2001 solid storylines, directing, very character driven as well, great attempts at cast diversity. OLTL 1992-1995: Michael Malone Years: Marty Rape, Viki DID, Hank Vietnam/FBI; Victor Lord murder Trial ATWT: 1985-93 Doug Marland Years: large multi generational cast DAYS: 1993-1999: Marlena possession, Sami/Lucas/Austin/Carrie, John & Marlena's affair; Bo & Hope; Stefano B&B: 1989-93; 1997-2002

💯good lord 20s Y&R is BORING! B&B was pretty strong from 2000-2002 with Deacon/Brooke/Bridget, Thorne/Macy/Brooke and Rick & Amber. The wheels started coming off by 2003, but the show was still watchable. Things really fell apart in the next decade when the show shifted focus to Liam Steffy and Hope.

I always felt OLTL was underrated by non soap fanatics. In non nice circles like talk shows, game shows or when you ask someone to name a soap opera typically GH, DAYS, Y&R and AMC are the names that get mentioned.

where are they going with Willow's birth certificate, Nina connection perhaps? I smelled this from the moment she said she needed the certificate to travel.

I'm now beginning to appreciate how revolutionary, so to speak, Y&R was in the 70s. I didn't consider the real luxury look of the show coming in until about the mid 80s. Studying deeper you realize how good the show looked at least by the mid 70s compared to the other dramas that were on the air, and how much faster paced it was.

Agreed. BEST Soap of the 2000s: GH runner up OLTL, ATWT in third. GH's sweeps events like the metro court, contagion, PC hotel fire, train crash and more solidifies it's place as king of the 00s for me, despite Sonny/Carly/Jason eating the show. OLTL went down in quality drastically during this time. But there was never a full moment. Gary Tomlin had a decent run as EP in 2001-2002, during which time the show got an emmy. I enjoyed the Todd/Blair dead they baby lie, Natalie and Jessica being twins, Mitch, and Lindsay/Colin vs Norah. The Frank V/Ron C era kept things alive too with Tea's false brain tumor, Powell Lord returning, Jared & Nash, Tess, and 2 Todds. As FOR ATWT, I grew up with the show in the 2000s particularly on Jack & Carly. I have now come to realize how revitalized the show was from 99-05 ish compared to the mid 90s. Best Soap of the 2010s: GH this is currently the worst GH has even been but it's still the best on soap currently on tv as it maintains a fast pace and some action despite shotty writing and iffy production values.

Agreed. Y&R was strong in the early and late 90s with a bit of a lul mid decade. The 90s was hard choice for me because several shows had strong periods. AMC with Erica & Dimitri, Tad & Dixie, Janet, Ryan & Gillian etc, OLTL with Marty's rape & Viki's DID, and DAYS with all of JER's greatness and foolishness (LOL).

OLTL Irene Manning favored Victor Jr. over Todd.

What was the best soap of each decade? For example: I'd say GH was the best soap in the 1990s because of Sonny & Brenda, Luke & Laura's return, Carly's revenge on Bobbie & Michael's paternity, Jason's transformation, Liz's rape, and Stone & Robin. The storylines could be heavy, but there were huge romantic pairings and all the mob stuff had gravity. Wendy Rich, Claire Labine, and even Bob Guza did some good work during that era. Y&R was a close second due to storylines revolving around George Rawlins murder, Sheila, David Kimble, Kay & Marge, Malcolm & Drucilla, and Diane Jenkins. *if you can't choose the best, at least pick your top three

Of all the daytime dramas that were still on the air by 2000, where would you rank them in terms of overall quality for the entirety of their runs? (That includes writing, acting, and production value). And list some reasons why you would rank a particular soap in the order you did. My list: 1 GH: able to balance romance, business, and action adventure storylines, great sweeps plots such as the metro court, Luke & Laura were extremely impactful to the genre as a whole 2 YR: best production value, background music, set design, and solid storylines especially in the 80s and 90s 3 ATWT: very effective at a multi generational cast like Bob, Kim, Lisa, Carly, Emily, Lilly, Parker 4 OLTL: effective at creating an urban and youth appeal, great attempts at socially conscious plots 5 AMC 6 DAYS: loved the 90s period which bread life into characters like Sammy Lucas Stefano, Bo & Hope, John & Marlena; silly super natural storylines muddy the reputation of the show and soaps in general 7 GL 8 B&B: Great production value in the 80s and 90s especially, heavily repetitive storylines revolving around romance leads to trashy plots and pairings.

jennifer bransford is looking very sarah brownish here

Unpopular opinion but, as terrible as Victor has gotten in the past decade, if he goes the show goes even further down. I would rather them try to soften The Mushtashe than kill him off.

Rough Ideas: Either B&B or Y&R ends and select characters get absorbed into the remaining show. Alternate rough idea: Lauren's now drug addicted son Fen gets mixed up with the wrong crowd and causes Victor another another brain injury during a group robbery of the Newman ranch. A disguised Sheila becomes Victor's nurse and manipulates him into cheating on Nikki. Her end-goal being to marry & kill Victor to take his fortune or eventually get plastic surgery to look like her disguise and remain Mrs. Newman. Ashley is suspicious. Nikki files for divorce and turns to Jack. $Bill Spencer & Jack Abbott team up to split control of Newman enterprises between Jabot & Spencer Publications while Victor's on the mend. Bill goes on a rampage, betrays Jack and acquires controlling interest. Michael's consuming career and Fen's troubles leads Lauren to spend time with $Bill. Sheila returns and vengefully drugs Lauren & Bill into thinking they slept together. The "affair" comes out. Michael separates from Lauren who then attempts a relationship with Bill. Michael gets his late 90s era edge back and vengefully becomes the Newman attorney in their fight to regain the company. Lauren leaves Bill during his rampage. The truth about the "affair" is exposed. Lauren uncovers Sheila's double life as Victor's nurse girlfriend but Sheila reverse blackmails her with evidence of Fen's involvement in the robbery. Lauren & Sheila go into all out war one last time. A recovered Victor, Jack, & Victoria (re-casted with Heather Tom) team up to get NE back into Newman family control. Victoria permanently becomes CEO, Victor retires, and finally makes peace with Jack. Sheila's double life is exposed. Fenn helps the cops take down the other robbers and gets rehab and probation. Michael & Lauren reunite. Sheila gets life in prison where she finally turns over a new leaf. MAYBE: Victor ends up with Ashley & Nikki stays with Jack. But so much time has been invested on Victor and Nikki it would feel odd for them to not be endgame. Dina Mergeron's lookalike sister (played by Marla Adams) comes to town and does battle with Jill over business. This feud is compounded by Lookalike Dina's daughter dating Billy. End the feud at the engagement party...something like that.

MAB was the most capable head of the show after the Bill Bell era, despite all of it's flaws. Every other executive producer has been terrible. The Lynn Marie Latham era would have to be second place in the post Bill Bell era, but that isn't saying much.

GH - Sonny has to pull off one big heist to go legit, almost ends up in jail, gets off last minute, marries Brenda Carly & Jason end up together, Show ends with Luke & Laura remarrying after some final adventure plot.

2000 onwards Nikki is what I'm referring to. By that time Nikki realized too much of her life was wrapped around being a housewife particularly being with Victor. There was a scene I'm trying to find in which she expility told Victor she was tired of "waiting on him to walk through that door and fulfill her". Similar sentiments in this scene: I liked the attempt at making Nikki a career woman. 2009 in particular was a very independent time for the charachter, until they screwed it up by having her leave Paul to pine after Victor again. Yes! Well said. This is exactly what I'm trying to get at.

I'm debating which word with better describe Victor's type. Needy women or women he can somewhat dominate and control? Nikki always said she needed her own career and life so she wasn't dependent on Victor to "fulfill" her. Ashley was very vulnerable with Vic in the 80s, and during her mental episode in 04 she would only respond to Victor. Diane came off as desperate after the divorce with the sperm fiasco (but to be fair he wasn't interested in Diane at that point). Cassandra had a damsel in distress period when she was dependant on Adrain during the galsighting plot, then needed rescuing following his murder plot I think he kind of saw Hope as a damsel in distress as he saved her from the rapist and helped her around the farm given her blindness. But she proved independent and sting minded, having the authority to walk away from Victor and never come back. Jill was more independent under Dickson but got more miserable as Walton took over. Needy is a so/so word for her. The Lorie, Leanna, and Julia periods I'm not to familiar with. Christine of course is the exception to the trend.

Patrick and Robin gave the hospital some good focus, and they seem to try to bring the hospital back into focus in 2012-13 with Sabrina, Britt, and the nurses ball.

At what point did the hospital stop being g the central focus on the show? My guess is the mid to late 70s. A creative way to keep the hospital relevant might to have most charachters' careers tied in some way to GH (add of course the usual lawyers, law enforcement and criminals).

I don't get why B&B can't just run six or so storylines that run at least 6-9 months, instead of rushing through about two simultaneous show consuming plots for three months straight, having a dull period, then moving on to another. For example $ Bill warring with Justin for control of Spencer Publications would still be going on if written properly. I didn't make Paris out to be a player, I wonder what direction they're going to take the character in next?

i had no idea peter and ana were on charmed together!

It would have worked and it would have ended in flames given Jill's misery and Victor's ego. I wonder what would have happened if Victor and Lauren had gotten involved? My guess is Lauren is too independent for Victor who likes needy women. Both of them would most likely have been cheating on each other. As for Brad, I'm having trouble thinking off a female lead he hasn't touched (or at least attempted to) lol.

yes, 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman', lol yes, 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman', Lol Tyler has to do better! yes, 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman', Lol Tyler has to do better!

Please Wendy come back! Sally Sussman & Kay Alden returned to Y&R which amounted to zero so hopefully if Riche were to return something would come out of it. Sonny and Victor have more security than Laura the mayor! What happened to Max & Milo? Luke is getting more of a remembrance than some of the actors that have actually died.

Yes! I've had trouble sitting straight through late 70s early 80s ATWT episode. The pace was really slow and it really felt like you were watching a play on tv. GH had a swifter pacing. Y& R looked really good even though it was before the glamour era really set in.