Soap Opera Digest Best & Worst 94

[Paul Raven]

Hope you enjoy this.if you want more details,just ask...

Most Entertaining Couple Buzz/Nadine GL

Most Boring Couple John/Sharlene AW

Best Tearjerker BJ's Death GH

Best Plot Device Eric's Vasectomy B&B

Most Preposterous Plot Janet's Surgery AMC

Most Convuluted Plot The Search for Scott ATWT

Best Wacko Laura DOOL

Best Reformation Todd OLTL

Best Triangle Bo/Billie/Gina DOOl

Worst Triangle Cal/Connor/Kirk ATWT

Best Break Up John/Jill Y&R

Worst Break Up David/Kat GL

Best Trend May/December Romances Donna/Matt AW Dorian/Joey OLTL Vanessa/Matt Gl

Worst Trend Convenient Disabilities Luna OLTL Angie LOV Amanda AW

Best Blind Person Hope Y&R

Worst Blind Person Tony DOOL

Most Realistic Illness Monica's Cancer GH

Best Special Effects Tornado AMC

Best Reconciliation Jake/Paulina AW

Best Prime Time Break Up Kelly/Dylan 90210

Most Shocking Plot Twist Powell's The Rapist OLTL

Most Shocking Twist Prime Time Kimberly's Alive MP

Best New Character Noah AMC

Best Recast Krista Tesrau Tina OLTL

Worst New Male Character Justus GH

Worst New Female Character Gabriella GL

Best Golden Oldies Nancy/Mac ATWT

Most Realistic Teen Pete ATWT

Best Contemporary Story Jamal and Alec's Divorce Case AMC

Worst Contemporary Story Brandon Plays Politics 90210

Best Male Comeback Wesley Addy - Cabot LOV

Best Female Comeback Hunter Tylo - Taylor B&B

Most Dramatic Story Jack/Keemo Y&R

Least Dramatic Story Lily/Miguel GH

Best Quadrangle Eddie/Lois/Ned/Katherine

Worst Quadrangle Alex/Ava/Jeremy/Gilbert LOv

Best Bickering Dinner at Wildwind AMC

Most Contrived Conflict Max's Gambling OLTL

Smartest Character Kevin GH

Dumbest Character Buck LOV

Best Wedding Alex/Asa OLTL

Most Disappointing Wedding Edmund/maria AMC

Best Wife Eleni GL

Worst Husband Michael MP

Best Father Ed GL

Worst Mother Nikki Y&R

Best Housekeeper Mamie Y&R

Worst Housekeepers Donna/Ginger GL

Best Confession Samantha Comes Clean ATWT

Worst Crush Marty Loves Andrew OLTL

Most Realistic Couple Ally/Casey LOV

Least realistic Couple Blade/Ashley Y&R

Best Daughter Erica AMC

Worst Daughter Sami DOOL

Best Scam Vicky's Baby Switch AW

Best Scam Gone Wrong David's Lies OLTL

Most Rejuvenated Characters The Spauldings GL

Biggest Waste of Talent Michael Sabatino B&B

Most Entertaining Character Lucy GH

Most Ruined Character Danny Y&R

Best Movie Rip-Off Felicia's Misery AW

Best Gimmick Salute To Hollywood Fashion Show B&B

Best Mystery Who Shot Roger? GL

Most Improved Show Loving

Best Show General Hospital

[y&r_fan]

They forgot one...

Most Boring New Actress: Sharon Case (Y&R)

[JackPeyton]

She wasnt really new. She had been on GH before that.

[YRBB]

And she wasn't really boring.

[y&r_fan]

She wasn't? My, how times have changed.

[Cashton]

Wow - Danny Y&R most ruined character? What did they do that ruined him so? Anyone remember?

[Paul Raven]

Here's what SOD said about Danny

When Michael Damian announced that he was quitting Y&R to star in the Broadway musical Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,the writers devised an innovative exit for Danny. Send him to Broadway ,too

,

But soon,sweet Danny was doing one uncharacteristic thing after another. First, he sent Christine that cowardly "Dear Jane" letter. Then he returned to Genoa City with his horrible new wife Phyllis,close on his heels. (Would Danny ever really ever sleep with her?)

Paradoxically, Christine is more interesting than she was when she was Danny's devoted wife. What a shame though,that her rise mirrors Danny's fall.

The Y&R writers are going to have to work overtime to bring back the real Danny,the one we used to love.

[EricMontreal22]

WOOT for Loving getting most improved. WHat was Angie's disability though?

WOOT for Loving getting most improved. WHat was Angie's disability though?

[dc11786]

"Loving" earned the nod. Nixon turned the show around from the boring mess Guza/Taggert and then Taggert alone wrote. Taggert should have none better to introduce three new characters and put them front in center in a mysterious love triangle. Nixon turned the show into gold by refocusing the show around the Aldens. Unfortunately, Walsh & McCarthy couldn't keep things up.

The Jeremy/Gilbert plotline was probably Nixon's last stand. It played out a lot like the Jonathan Maitland story as a way of restarting an old love story that had since soured. Nixon has stated she loved the supernatural Jonathan Maitland tale, which is shocking since most people consider her so against the supernatural. Most of the 'greats' had a flair for the gothic and slightly supernatural. I think Gwyn Alden has the record for sleeping with three different men who she thought was someone else ("Keith"/Jonathan, "Clay"/Alex, and "Jeremy"/Gilbert)

Angie had an AIDS scare which was followed by a bout of aplastic anemia. As a result, Angie ended up passing out in Boston where she was held by the thug boyfriend of Janie Sinclaire, Buck's illegitimate daughter. This resulted in her needing bone marrow which was donated by Janie, who perished in a plane accident that Curtis engineered.

[EricMontreal22]

I didn't know Agnes created Gilbert--I was never a big fan I admit. What were the three new characters Taggert created?

[dc11786]

The storylines seemed to get lost once Gilbert arrived. So yeah, I'd agree it wasn't one of the better storylines in 1994.

I'm not positive Gilbert was Nixon's. A lot of things seemed to get zapped around August, which was when Gilbert arrived. Ava had been told by Uncle Harry someone was going to die when she was in a coma in April. Janie Sinclaire ended up dying, but I suspect the intended victim was Dinahlee. Jessica Collins left the show in August and went to New York to stay with Hannah. Janie had been intended to be Frankie's love interest and had been given substantial ties to Angie, the Aldens, and Buck. I got the impression Janie was intended to be another Erica Kane type. This is only speculation, but I think Dinahlee was intended to die in the plane crash, which would have had a bigger impact on Ava.

Also in early September, the big Cradle Foundation mystery ended with Kate turning AE back over to the Aldens, which was such a lame ending to a rather big life changing storyline. Ava in charge of AE was a lifetime goal for this character and would have put strain on her marriage to Alex. Alex was very close to the Alden clan because of his time as Clay. McCarthy and Walsh should have continued that storyline.

The reason given for the 'Gilbert' storyline was to try and reactivate the coupling between Lisa Peluso and Jean LeClerc. I've read the two had strong chemistry but the characters didn't click. Jonathan Maitland returned from the dead and kidnapped his younger brother Keith Lane right around the time Nixon took over from Marland in 1985. Jonathan was a spoiler to the Lorna/Linc Beecham pairing as well as Jim/Shana. Jonathan had this huge grudge against Jim and Shana, even though he was more involved with Doug Donovan due to their shared wife Edy Lester. Anyway, the evil brother taking over the good brother's life and sleeping with the show's vixen who was in a happy union seemed like quite a retread. I believe the Jeremy plot ended up being penned by three headwriting teams.

As much as I've liked what I've read about Nixon's return to "Loving", I think she made a mistake in writing out Shana and Leo. They seemed like a very interesting couple and there was certainly story to tell there when they brought Jack back.

In 1993, there was a big to do about Curtis Alden's return to Corinth. Taggert created this past with Buck Houston (Trucker's long lost half brother), Tess Wilder (Christopher's nanny), and later Joe Young/Dante Partou. Most of 1993 was spent about the trio (Buck/Tess/Curtis) past in the Persian Gulf. Curtis and Dinahlee seemed interesting, but Curtis was written out without the intention of recasting under Taggert after being recast twice. To be fair though, "Loving" seemed to have several major transitions between after Taggert left in 1991. Different executive producers kept coming and going and writing the Aldens in and out of the storyline depending on how they wanted to focus the show. Jacquelin Babbin seemed keen on writing them off while Fran Sears seemed more behind bringing them back and then Haidee Granger seemed involved in bringing on the AMC castoffs as she was behind both the arrivals of Jeremy and Angie. To be fair, it probably took a writer with some clout to get the show in order.

[EricMontreal22]

I always thougth Agnes penned the Dante stuff... I do agree with nearly everything u say tho

[dc11786]

Taggert created the character in the sense of his backstory. Tess' husband was referred to a lot before he actually appeared as that was the big mystery backstory, Buck and Curtis had been involved in Dante's death in Kuwait. I would suspect casting was going on when Taggert was still head writing as the character appeared around the time the show was transitioning from Taggert to Nixon. Dante didn't appear until early November, which was around the time that Nixon started writing. However, the story for Dante's arrival had been in place for severa months. It was all for nothing though because Dante was written out because of backlash over featuring a Middle Eastern villain in March 1994.

[Paul Raven]

Here's what SOD said about Loving:

if we had written this issue about eight months ago,Loving would have probably been the contender for a lot more Worats and no Bests whatsoever. but it's amazing what a new villianess, drug problem and a resurrected patriach can do for a show.

Deborah's schemes,Casey's addiction and Cabot's return from the dead have kicked off a slew of stories that we actually care about. The writing is better and has resulted in a number of scenes - Buck's plane crash,Cooper streaking through the bank and Isabelle making Deborah carry her suitcases to mention three - that will long be remembered.

Dennis Parlato(Clay),Amelia Heinle(Steffi),Nancy Addison Altman(Deborah)and Michael Weatherly(Cooper) tend to get all the accolades where this show's acting is concerned, but the truth is,almost everyone's good:it's just that those four performers are consistently front burner.

We look forward to the days that Debbi Morgan(Angie)Alimi Ballard(Frankie)Geoffrey Ewing(Charles)Catherine Hickland(Tess) and Elizabeth Mitchell(DinahLee) aren't so shockingly underused.

Of course,mistakes have been made this year. Janie,the freshest face that Corinth had seen in a while,should never have died in the plane crash and Christopher Marcantel (Curtis) should not have been dropped to recurring status. But the show has recovered nicely from the departures,and Alex and Ava have filled the void created by Leo and Shana's sudden exit.

With Loving's unfortunate timeslot(it kicks off the ABC lineup and in many areas competes with Y&R)nobody's holding their breath for the show to crawl up from the ratings cellar. but it would be a shame if soap fans confused this show's Nielson rating with it's quality; Loving is slowly but surely becoming a show that you really can't miss.

Exec Producer Jo Ann Emmerich in response to "What's the best thing that happened to your show in 94?"

"I'd say that the fact our wonderful writing team won the Writers Guild Award and that we continue to receive overwhelmingly positive support from the media as well as strong word of mouth from the fans."

[EricMontreal22]

Shame--I actually loved the Dante story--Curtis being his "pet" in the cage, all that stuff. I like when AGnes Nixon does wacky

Thanks for posting that--Loving got paid so little attention during its run, it's heartening to read (I didn't know they got a writer's guild award!)