Article: Best and worst of 2001

After posting his review of Novemeber sweeps in 2001, I also have his best and worst articles for the years 2000-2006. Here's his review on what the best and worst of 2001 in the daytime world was, boy does this bring back memories!

2001. A year of devastation and discovery. Of tragedy and triumph. Of heartache and hope.

by Tom Smith, January 4, 2002

Of course, this has nothing to do with the innately inept, sadistically shallow, unbelievable buffoonery that is now characteristic of the soap industry. But, every other awards show has tried to make its’ subject seem more relevant than they are. So, why should I be different? This however, is as maudlin as it gets. I think now, more than ever, daytime really needs to be held to a higher standard--or at least a consistent one. Passions doesn’t pretend to be anything other than it is, but, almost every other soap does--and when they fail to meet that standard, I will skewer them.

There are a ton of new categories this year, as well as some hold-overs from last year. Many categories were dropped because I couldn’t think of anyone who deserved the win. As you might expect, positive categories were largely slim pickings; negative categories had a cadre of candidates. I try to limit each category to one winner, so I don’t type forever, but I occasionally break said rule. Also, it’s a good thing I waited until the end of the year to do this, because some of the winners have literally come forward in the past few weeks. Oh yeah--unlike some soap mags, I didn’t put this list together in September.

Best Wedding: ATWT’s Katie and Simon. The recent nuptials was the capper to a great year of conflict and romance between these two. A truly romantic sentimental wedding, and some great chemistry between the two leads. Katie and Simon get the nod for Best Couple as well.

Worst Wedding: AMC’s Leo and Laura. A paint-by-numbers triangle ends in an oh-so-predictable “traditional AMC wedding”. (Executive Producer Jean Dadario Burke’s words, not mine). If I had been one bit invested in this triangle, I might have been mildly entertained by the payoff. Instead, I was subjected to months of a couple with great chemistry being nasty to each other for no good reason, while another AMC character was assassinated for plot purposes. Worse, AMC’s done this all before!

Couple with Most Wasted Potential: ATWT’s Ben/Lien. ATWT did the impossible here. They took fan-favorite Ben and returning core family member Lien, and paired them. As if pairing a stuffy doc with a loose lawyer in an interracial romance wasn’t conflict enough, Lien became Ben’s lawyer in a custody dispute! But wait--there’s more! Lien also had a serious medical disease which turned out to be a side effect of Agent Orange! Life and death situations! Social relevancy! Ben and Lien must have taken over the show, right? Nope. After going to all the trouble to set up years of story for this couple, every single plot was dropped in favor of The Bar-Bar-Que Hour and Malta Misadventures. No wonder the actress ran back to Broadway.

Most Boring Couple: OLTL’s Bo/Melanie. The only people thrilled with this pairing were their portrayers. And maybe the people in the control room. Bo/Melanie weren’t an option for Super Soap Weekend, but if ABC ever hosts a Super Snore Weekend...

But It’ll Create Story-Really Award! To AMC, for killing Gillian. Do I need to elaborate?

Best Psycho: The competition was fierce, but I must give the award to Y&R’s Tricia. Y&R’s writers and actress Sabryn Genet teamed up to show you Tricia’s descent into madness. True to Y&R’s strength, it was a madness that had been building for years, and you could look back at specific events and see what made her snap. Bonus points to Genet for bringing a bit of understatement and class to the role, only displaying Tricia’s full psychosis when necessary. Silver and Bronze straight jackets to ATWT’s Annie Parrise (Julia) and B&B’s Sarah Buxton (Morgan)

Worst Psycho: AMC’s Laura. The most boring pedestrian nut of the year. As with all of her interpretations, Laura Allen was a washout, and the utterly cookie-cutter writing didn’t help. Allie Doyle was more menacing.

Best Potential Psycho: GL’s Tory. You know something’s brewing there.

Best Villain: B&B’s Deacon Sharpe. The best villains aren’t rich, megalomaniac, take over the world types. They’re not unsympathetic. Sometimes, they’re just ordinary folks who will play with people’s emotions just to get what they want. Deacon, who uses and abuses naive Bridget, is the best and most realistic heel in daytime.

Worst Villain: GH’s Stavros Cassadine. Irritating beyond belief, Robert Kelker-Kelly’s attempt to bring Snidley Whiplash to the screen wouldn’t impress the most hardcore Passions fan.

Best Teens: Y&R. Well-acted and surprisingly realistic.

Worst Teens: Passions. The exact opposite of Y&R. Not the least bit entertaining, either.

Best Actress Hiring: OLTL’s Melissa Archer (Natalie)

Best Actor Firing: GH’s Robert Kelker-Kelly (Stavros).

Best Actress Firing: OLTL’s Darlene Vogel (Melanie)

Worst Actor Hiring: OLTL’s Brandon Routh (Seth.) (The “Best Batch of Crack” award goes to the people who made the rock Executive Producer Gary Tomlin was smoking when he insisted this guy was so good, he had to create a totally superfluous role for this guy. Woo-wee, that’s some potent stuff!)

Worst Actress Hiring: GH’s Jensen Buchanan (Melissa). What an utter waste of talent in such an insipid role. (GH’s Roy/Melissa were serious contenders for Most Boring Couple). To think, Buchanan almost avoided this career blemish when she was temporarily removed from the role due to the ABC/P&G lawsuit.

Best Recast: OLTL’s Gina. The Viki/Ben/Gina plot was a farce from day one. Lisa Peluso realized it, and gave the material the treatment it deserved. As such, she helped wring some entertainment from this mess.

Worst Recast: Y&R’s Susan Walters (Diane). Alex Donnelly was more than willing to come back, and the new actress brings nothing to the table. We like the old Diane in spite of ourselves--is the “new direction” supposed to stop that? Why?

One Step Forward, 312 Back: OLTL, for firing Kale Browne--only to recast Sam Rappaport in the form of Laurence Lau. Worse, the writing for Sam is more obnoxious than ever. Why didn’t they cut their losses when they had the chance?

God, I wished You’d Stayed Gone: OLTL’s Ty Treadway. Give the ladies in the audience a Treadway calendar, and nobody would miss this guy.

The Ham Award (tie): ATWT’s Colleen Zink Pinter. You know things are topsy-turvy when Hunt Block is giving tear-jerking performances, and Pinter’s chewing the scenery like a crack-crazed squirrel. She shares the award with hubby Mark Pinter, whose recent scenes as Roger “I Needs the Stuff, David” Smythe have been astonishingly bad.

Insult to Injury Award: OLTL’s Darlene Vogel. Not only was Vogel fired, but her character was stripped of every shred of dignity on her way out--the very thing Vogel complained about! Needlessly overwritten, utterly pointless, mean-spirited exit for The Dar.

Phrases I’m Tired of Hearing:

“Give __________ a chance--they’re just getting started.”--Anybody. Chances are if someone’s getting slammed from the beginning, they have a reputation that precedes them.

“I know the audience may be skeptical at first, but it’s necessary for me to do THIS story THIS way.”-- Any writer trying to scam the audience into accepting a pointless story or plot device.

“It’s a learning curve for me”--Jill Farren Phelps. Is there any soap Jill’s helmed where she doesn’t use a variation of this line when she gets in trouble? Jill, baby, if you’re always on a learning curve, when do you learn?

“I’m so glad we got the original actress back. Now, we can show the original flashbacks, and tell the audience, see, this really happened!”--Gary Tomlin. Gary, we know Allison kidnapped Jessica. What we don’t know is that Allison switched Jessica with Natalie--THAT’s the heart of this story. Where are the flashbacks for that?!

People I’m tired of Hearing From Award: OLTL’s Robert S. Woods and Darlene Vogel. ABC Daytime President Angela Shapiro; Jill Farren Phelps; Megan McTavish; Whomever writes the blind items in SOD/SID.

Bad Timing Award: Headlines on soap mags the week of September 11.

Worst Soap Mag Reporting: Cameron Mathison (Ryan) negotiates with AMC. SOD puts out a slew of misleading headlines and erroneous reporting so confusing, even Mathison doesn’t know if he’s re-signed.

We’re Trying to Kill Our Show: ABC, for seriously jeopardizing what little progress Port Charles has made with the new shooting schedule.

Take the Radio Out of the Office: Port Charles Head Writers Barbara Esensten and James Harmon Brown. So, do they come up with the plots first and set them to song, or....Heh. Considering past interviews, perhaps I should call this the “Take the Jukebox out of the Bar” Award.

Talk that Double Talk: ABC Daytime Vice-President Felicia Minei Behr, for confusing everyone with her recent SOD interview on Port Charles.

Vote of Confidence Award: Angela Shapiro for talking up Port Charles’ success, while admitting that they came this close to axing it for a reality show.

Rip Van Winkle Award: DAYS Executive Producer Ken Corday. Welcome back to the land of the living, Ken--while you were in la-la-land, your show went in the crapper.

Waterloo Award: Jill Farren Phelps. I don’t think this is quite what JFP envisioned her first year at GH being like--having everyone from the viewers up to ABC corporate tell you that your vision sucks, and you have to do the opposite of what you’d normally do. Still, 2001’s been a pretty bad year for most of us. Why should JFP be different?

Best Backstage Exit: Y&R Executive Producer Ed Scott. Well-handled and classy.

Best Backstage Firing: DAYS Co-Executive Producer/Head Writer Tom Langan--long overdue.

The That Was So Last Year Award: The Internet. Last year, we were making major plot decisions on Days. This year, we’re picking baby names for Hayley’s kid on AMC. Not progress.

Worst Plot Device: Bombs in Salem. It was a bomb alright.

Most Pointless Gimmick: Time-tripping with Reva. Ugh.

Most Obvious Plot Twist: GL’s Carmen is still alive. Damn it.

Least Obvious Plot Twist: Y&R’s Sharon loses the baby.

Best Social Issue: Y&R’s Mac deals with her stepfather’s abuse and mother’s denial.

Worst Social Issue: AMC and Lesbianism. Bianca’s first love is last seen in a hospital, recovering from anorexia. Her second love doesn’t swing that way. Her third love is dead, supposedly at the hands of her mother. And Bianca’s reaction is the same: “I’m gay, mom! I’m gay! Can’t you accept that?” Is this what Agnes Nixon had in mind?

Most Out-of-Place Social Issue: Passions and abortion. What’s worse--that Passions is tackling such a serious topic, or that it’s doing so better than ANY soap since AMC’s 1994 storyline involving Julia?

Best Use of Flashback: Sparingly, and almost always relevant, this goes to Y&R.

Worst Use of Flashback: OLTL and the Alison flashback.

Best Holiday Episode: DAYS December 25’th flashback show. This is the format last year’s 30’th anniversary show SHOULD have used.

Worst Holiday Episode: GL’s December 24’th show. Relentlessly phony. Jerry ver Dorn‘s (Ross) knowing smirk couldn’t save this one.

Blooper Award: B&B. The difference between Morgan’s house and the outside world was like night and day during the climax of “Taylor Held Hostage.”

Best Show: The Bold and the Beautiful. That’s right, I said it! Other shows may have better storylines or casts, but no one was as consistently entertaining as B&B. Y&R had bright spots, but, on the whole, the year was a drag. After being the comeback kid of 2000, ATWT is slacking off. Neither OLTL nor GL have improved enough to snag this one. The others don’t even rate! B&B, my hats off to you!

Worst Show: Days of Our Lives. Agnes Nixon’s adopted motto: “Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry, make ‘em wait.” Corday and Langan’s motto: “Make ‘em bored, make ‘em scream, make ‘em say uncle!” The half-hearted attempts to return DAYS to normalcy in 2001 couldn’t overshadow the worst storyline in daytime for three years running, Sub-Spawn: The Story of John and Hope’s baby. Ignoring fans wishes at every turn, these two nimrods finally reaped what they sowed in 2001, with some truly embarrassing ratings--proving once again, the best way to get TPTB’s attention--turn it off.

Best fans: You guys, of course! You’ve written me, provided me with much column fodder, supported me when I was ill, and followed me to another soap jig. I’m not really worth all this adoration, but I’ll take it! Here’s to a better 2002, for the industry and the world!

COMING:JFP and McTavish on life support.

Edited March 15, 201015 yr by soapfan770