ALL: Worst year(s) for your soap

[Cheap21]

bc I felt 2002 was horrible. 2001 may not have been the best but it was good enough to keep me watching. Cant say the same for 2002. Ditto with the 2005/2006 scenario

Hey its your opinion but I hated GH 2003. The show was an absolute mess. There was just way too much of Sonny/Carly and Jason/Couurtney and not enough variety. The other big couple was NEM and they were nauseating. We had the stupid Dobson storyline which dragged on and wasted Alexis, Skye and Ned. There was no need to un-Q Skye to pair her up for 5 minutes with Ned.

. MMT could be boring but she wrote amazing for Skye, who happens to be one of my favorites. Thats something Guza cant do. Skye kept me entertained and I liked that they moved Carly away from Sonny and the Cassadine/Spencer stuff was good. The Fab 4 did not exist in 2001.That didnt happen till Courtney paired up with Jason. I liked 2005. It was the year of Jasam and LnL2, 2 of my favorite couples. Besides this topic isnt list the bad years on your soap. Its list what you feel was the worst and I did that. Its MY opinion. We clearly dont have the same view and I like and dislike aspects of the shows during those years which differ from you

[soapfan770]

ATWT: 1996, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007

B&B: 2004, 2006, 2007

Days: 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005

GL: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007

Passions: To be honeset I stopped watching with the Sheridan in the pit story back in 2003.

Y&R: 2007

[EricMontreal22]

I know I shouldn't try to defend MMT on here but I kinda liked her GH (I only half watched). Yeah it was over the top but it was kinda fun to see her bringing it back to its 80s sci fi silliness roots. It wasn't all that well done but I prefered it to the mess since

[LoyaltoAMC]

I've been an AMC viewer for 30 years and the years that stand out as the worst were:

Summer of 1985 thru the summer of 1986: There was a sharp decline in quality following the climax of the Zack Grayson murder mystery. Vets were backburnered, stories were generally silly and went nowhere (Tad & Dottie on the run, Donna/Benny/Nina/Cliff quad, Tad shooting Adam, Adam's neverending obsession with Erica, boring Charlie & Julie and the teens). Agnes had left to concentrate on Loving and left the show in the hands of Wisner Washam and Jackie Babbin, and the show just wasn't the same. SOD named AMC worst show in their end of 1985 roundup. Things started to improve in the fall of '86 when Jorn Winther returned as EP and Lorraine Broderick was promoted to co-headwriter with Wisner.

1998: Megan McTavish returns. Comateo, bleeding phones, Tad/Dixie redux, Palmer and the stolen art, Adrian revealed as Opal's son, Mike Roy's return from the dead, the homogenization of Janet. I could go on and on. The only positive things I remember from that go-around with McT were Stuart/Marian and the return of Mary Fickett.

2006: Absolutely nothing clicked, except for Kate Collins' return. They were in "let's throw something against the wall, and we'll go with whatever sticks" mode.

[EricMontreal22]

It's great to see someone mention the 80s--as I know many of us don't remember those years clearly (I think a lot of OLTL in the 80s would go here for me--though at least it was largely written in a fun manner it toally went against the grain of the show--everything from the villain witht he robotic arm, Dr Larry having a chip implanted to control him on to the larger epic sci fi stories)

Why did Tad shoot Adam? i know many felt that the last years of the 80s were rough on AMC again too--the Eric the Clown etc--which is when Behr was promoted to EP

I still say that the Passnante period was worse than '98 McT

[LoyaltoAMC]

Tad shot Adam accidentally, but Adam wanted to keep it hush hush because he feared that if word got out that he was the victim of a shooting, he would be seen as weak and not the business titan he projected to the world. I remember Natalie/Janet's mother Wilma blackmailing Adam about the shooting in order to keep living the good life at Casa Chandler. The silliest part of the story was that Adam called Joe Martin over to the manse to treat him, and Joe promised to keep quiet about it. The writers forgot that Joe was Tad's dad! I remember watching during this time, and although not as dark and dreary as the McTavish years, nothing seemed to make sense.

'89 was not wonderful, but it was a transitional year. Felicia Behr had just taken over as EP, and I remember he main goal was to the trim the number of storylines. Broderick wrote the show solo from the fall of '87 through the spring of '89, with Steve Schenkel EP at the time, and there were so many stories playing at once with little crossover from story to story. Some of her stories were great, but their impact was limited because so many other stories were playing at once, it was dizzying. So Behr hired Margaret DePriest as HW to get the show in order, and Broderick was demoted to co-head writer, a position she shared with, I believe, McT and Victor Miller. DePriest cut the number of concurrent stories, but her stuff wasn't great...Barney the Clown and Travis' brain tumor spring to mind. But that year did see the beginning of Tad/Dixie and Jack/Erica, the return of Opal, and the popular Tom/Barbara pairing.

[EricMontreal22]

DePriest--who I actually like--is much more noted as a gothic OTT writer IMHO not the best match with AMC (I knwo she then went on to be an interim writer at OLTL

[Jude]

AMC in the mid-late ‘80s was largely uneven. 1985-1986 was rocky (who’s remembers that dreadful story of Nina losing her mind, planting a gun in Donna's bridal bouquet, and regressing to a pre-teen? UGH!). But the show got better by 1987—Cindy’s AIDS, Mark’s coke addiction and intervention, Natalie’s rape. AMC actually hit #1 for a week in December 1987. I’m not 100% positive, but I believe that was the climax of Natalie’s rape trial. Then the writer’s strike of 1988 happened and AMC was hit rather hard; we went from the socially relevant stuff of 1987 to some silly/gimmicky/over-the-top stories that didn’t fit the show at all—that brainwashing island plot involving Silver and Goldie Kane comes to mind. Felicia Behr came on in 1989 to fix things. The show was in great shape by the early ‘90s thanks to her (with high ratings as a reflection—AMC was pretty much consistently #2, week after week, from 1991-1995).

[soapfan770]

It's quite odd really...the original stuff with bad girl Silver Kane/Connie Wilkes was fun to watch and some great AMC moments were produced. Then we get the real bad girl Silver and it was dark and sinister, and was disturbing to watch.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Y&R - 2007

It's funny how fast Latham is killed this show. Y&R had periods of being boring at times, but never to the point where I could stop watching. Needless to say, Latham has prevented me from watching the soap that I used to consider my favorite.

[Jude]

Agreed.

FauxSilver (Connie Wilkes) was much better than the real Silver. I loved when she worked as Erica’s "assistant"—gaslighting Erica and sabotaging her modeling jobs. The best was when she messed with Erica’s shoes at the NYC shoot so she would fall down the staircase!

The real Silver was much less entertaining. I was pretty happy when Natalie shot her dead.

[JamesF]

Interesting topic.

The Bold and the Beautiful

1999 - This was the year when Brad Bell shifted everything away from the tone that the show had had in the mid 90s and although there were some stand out moments such as Stephanie trying to kill Brooke at Big Bear, they were few and far between. It was mind boggling for me how much everything revolved around Amber, particularly at the beginning of the year and characters just became engrossed with her actions and the insipid triangle between Rick/Amber/Kimberly. Brooke dug for dirt on Amber, Stephanie supported Amber, Kimberly hated Amber, Macy supported Kimberly who hated Amber. The story of Amber's baby switch wasn't bad in and of itself but it took over everything. It was also the year when James and Lauren went to live in the underdeveloped character closet (though Lauren was fortunate enough to be tossed a few crumbs when *surprise* Amber beckoned her to give Becky a makeover), Giovanni wandered aimlessly round Forrester Creations attempting to seduce anyone who happened to be in his studio and Taylor had the most prolonged coughing fit in soap history.

2003 - Again there were some interesting things within the year but it was all bitty, bitty, bitty. Macy's death was shoddily handled and out of nowhere while characters like Oscar came and went with little purpose or motivation. Not to mention the April Knight story which has to rank up there as one of the worst, most out there ideas in B&B history. Honorable mention goes to Sheila's less than triumphant return and Ridge and Brooke's Wild Thornberrys inspired wedding. I can't even write much on it because everything was so insubstantial and it really marked the ramping up of Brad Bell's gimmick laden storytelling.

Days of Our Lives

2004 - While I only saw bits and pieces of the year, I can safely say I wouldn't want to see any more. I don't care whether Melaswen was originally planned or not because it was completely and utterly boring and damaging to the integrity of the show -- I'd even go so far as to say the soap genre. I really feel sorry for the fans who sat through the entire SSK story and aftermath and realised that they'd actually wasted a year's worth of viewership on one of the stupidest ideas ever, worse even than the Dallas dream conceit. John Ingle's complete miscasting as Mickey Horton was a mistake, particularly as he looked more age appropriate to be a back from the dead Tom.

Coronation Street

2001 - I may be out with the years here but it was the last year of Jane McNaught's reign as EP and the show was continuing to take on EastEnders with gritty but tasteless plots such as "Who raped Toyah Battersby?". The show was completely devoid of the humour that characterised it for decades and the characters that were introduced at the time were either intensely annoying or dull as dishwater. Furthermore there were some outrageous plot twists that were meant to be tragic such as Alison Webster losing her baby and running out of the hospital only to be hit by a juggernaut. Thankfully the show was given an overhaul, drafted back former writers who'd left the fray and reinvigorated itself with the ludicrous but completely gripping Richard Hillman storyline.

EastEnders

2004 - Anything produced from the moment Louise Berridge's name appeared on the credits could be included but this year was a nadir even for her. The most boring family in soap, the Ferreiras were plagued by rewrites when a planned story for the kids to kill their overbearing father was shelved due to the idiots in production not checking the actor's work permit. He was shuffled off with no exit and instead the screentime was filled by much hand wringing over a kidney transplant with one of Ferreira kids (I couldn't even remember which one). Gangsters were rife in Walford, though no one really cared and the much heralded Fairground Disaster comprised of a cardboard helter skelter falling on top of Lynne Slater. Cue contrived re-enactments of Blitz spirit. I defy anyone to want to sit through the episodes of that year.

Neighbours

1995 - So producers changed, a new family was drafted in and the storyline team comprised mostly of twentysomethings. Very little actually happened during the year and whole storylines revolved around trivialities such as Karl playing a trick on Marlene with her garden gnomes or Mark Gottlieb falling on his head and becoming a religious zealot. He was only matched in the character 180 department by original character Lucy Robinson returning as a drug addicted go-go dancer. Perhaps the most bizarre "story" comprised of an episode ending with Hannah's horse Painter waltzing into the Kennedy house and taking a [!@#$%^&*] on the kitchen floor. It's regarded by fans of the show as the worst year in its history and even the writers admitted it was like a bad acid trip. It began to pull itself together by the season's end with Susan Kennedy confessing to killing her mother but it wasn't until the revamp of late 96 that structure returned to the show along with long time favourites Harold and Madge.

2002 - I hated everything about this year. The production values were appalling, rarely venturing out of the studio and Felicity Scully became the be all and end all of everybody's lives. Susan Kennedy slipped on some milk and spent the next 6 months with retrograde amnesia, thinking she was 16 but acting more like a retarded 12 year old. Other stories that could have been interesting such as the 60+ love triangle between Lou/Rosie/Harold became tired with scenes repeating themselves ad nauseum.

2006 - Some of it was entertaining but the rot set in with the plane crash at the end of 2005. The entire Bishop family was wiped out and ludicrous stories such as evil twins took over with gun crime becoming rife. The stories themselves could be entertaining but they would only last for a few weeks before being wrapped up with absolutely no emotional fall out.

[Quent]

I don't remember the year, but the Stern/Black period on ATWT was beyond bad. The worst characters ever (Sarah Kasnoff, Zoe, that Agent T-something, and worst of all , nuPaul, played by the worst actor in daytime history, John Howard) were introduced. Everytime I get upset with ATWT, I always remember Stern/Black and assure myself it could be worse.

[EricMontreal22]

'96 I believe...

[MichaelGL]

Guiding Light

2000-B&E had finally hit rock bottom. Claire Labine took over and things got worse! Mobsters, Blake as a minister, introduction of Tony Santos. Simply useless and ridiculous storylines. Totally discredited Labine as a talented writer in my eyes. Nothing was good then, NOTHING.

2001-The Spring, summer, and beginning of the fall were great. Winter and Fall were awful. Lloyd Gold improved and yet destroyed the show in a matter of months.

2003-Again only a few months were great thanks to the very talented Millee Taggart and Carolyn Culliton. GL's last great Head Writers. When Weston took over things went downhill fast.

Late 2005-present-Guiding Light became even more unrecognizable than it had already been.