Soaps Most Foolish Decisions

[DeeeDee]

Getting rid of Max, Gabrielle & Al was such a WTF decision.

DePaiva & Hutchison were perfectly fine & as you said Al could've been recast. Even if it was a budget issue for OLTL why not just write them out together?

[Vee]

It didn't make any sense not to at least write Max and Gabby out together. Doing it the way they did, on the heels of Michael Easton's costly hiring - JDP and FH were both almost certainly cut by Frons to pay for him, and Ilene Kristen has confirmed the former, if no one else - dragging it out, and killing Gabrielle, sent a message to everyone that no one was safe and they didn't care what you thought of it. That was one of the first deaths I remember being truly arbitrary and careless at the show, excepting something like, say, Drew. Which I recall Gary Tomlin (who came on as EP afterwards) calling a terrible mistake, but of course he was long gone by the time Gabrielle was iced.

Incidentally, it would not surprise me at all if Carlivati shares the same opinion regarding Drew Buke, and is going to make Rex the 'real' Drew. It's just his type of thing and in some ways, on paper, ignoring what's become of Rex, is a neat idea. I wouldn't have minded that story five years ago - today it just annoys me.

[BadBoy93]

Don`t worry she is coming back soon fULL TIME

Who THE HELL SAID THAT ?

[bellcurve]

Guza. This was during the Faith Roscoe era IIRC.

[reallyhateskateonlost]

GH Killing Alan Quatermaine

All: Hiring writers then canceling the soap. OLTL is the next to go with JP as head writer.

NBC: The cancellations of Santa Barbara and Another World.

[BadBoy93]

Is it me or was Faith quite a popular character.

[Cheap21]

She was but she was a direct threat to Sonny and Jason so she had to go.

[Khan]

I would think so. Eunice, after all, was Jo's sister and (IIRC) only sibling. IMO, unless the actor dies IRL (or chooses to leave -- and judging from the book Ann Williams' children recently published, that was not the case) and he/she is so strongly identified with that character to the point where a recast would be next to impossible, then killing off someone so closely related to the show's core character(s) should never be an option.

Moreover, Eunice's murder seemed to set a horrible precedent for SEARCH, as legacy character after legacy character was bumped off for the sake of ratings. Jennifer could have just injured Eunice, and the story would've had the same impact.

[P.J.]

ATWT---I will never understand killing off children from core families. Yes, once in a great while, it's dramatic and wrenching. But it leaves such a hole in the fabric of the show. I thought Bryant and Jennifer's deaths were unnecessary and arbitrary. Bryant especially, since he had so many ties on the show. They'd just recast Hunt Block in the role of Craig, yet in about a year, his son was dead. Then they went ahead and cast Lucy with a green, neophyte in Peyton List. Lucinda's only hope for an "heir apparent" is five year old Ethan. Ain't no way Luke will ever be man enough to step into Big Lucy's shoes...he's as airbrained as Lily.

My beef with Jennifer's death was the same basic issue---there's a lot of inherent conflicts in the mother/daughter dynamic. I think watching Babs and Jen duke things out could have fueled stories for years.

[BoldBeauty]

All soaps: SORAS. Lord I hate it!!! Kids aren´t useful on soaps between age 2 to 17. Don´t they realize how much potential there could be?! Always aging them to 17 or 18 so they can start having them in lovetriangles. So boring.

B&B: Ridge being Massimo´s son. After two. Not one but TWO paternity tests on Bridget, including Ridge, Eric and Stephanie in both of them --- and not seeing it back then?! Ridiculous!!! And then have Bridget fall in love with Ridge? Please.

B&B: Having ANY family trying to take over from the Forresters. It doesn´t work. B&B = Forresters.

All soaps, esp B&B: All the twins and doubles. Caroline had a twin. Amber had a twin. Owen has a twin. I am tired of twins they never knew they had popping up. And this goes for ALL soaps.

Y&R: Sheila´s operation to look AND SOUND exactly like Phyllis. Way too much sci-fi for that soap!

DAYS: Going too much sci-fi. It started with Marlena being obsessed by the devil. WTF!! Hated it. Was ashamed for the show. It was too ridiculous for words. DAYS went downhill from that moment on. I really can´t take the show seriously.

All Soaps: All coming back from the dead storylines. They are TOO COMMON. Happens way too often. How can you even be sad when a character dies anymore, thinking they´ll probably come back soon anyway.

[Quent]

Bold, I agree with almost all your points, especially about characters returning from the dead too many times. James Stenbeck's fiftieth death had zero effect on me, but Hal Munson's true death had me bawling like a baby.

I slightly disagree about the "identical twin" cliche. Most times it's pretty bad, lazy writing or a star's ego trip. The Rachel/Justine (AW), Gwen/Cleo (ATWT) and Amber/April(B& s/ls were horrible, but when the actors are up to the challenge, it can be great. Examples : David Canary (AMC) and Martha Byrne (ATWT).

[Cheap21]

I think most Sheila fans dont even acknowledge that story. That was Sugar in her sick obsession with Sheila. Sheila is out there somewhere waiting for Kimberlin Brown to take over again

[Eric83]

+1.

That was just sick.

[GroovyTracyQ]

Exactly! That's what I meant in terms of how they were killing off the future as well as the past with her death.

I'll take any back from the dead scenario. Let's see something different like Georgie just shows up one day as if she never left. And she wonders why anyone thought she was dead. Let them figure it out from there...lol Seriously, though, there are so many scenarios and she barely qualifies as soap dead. There wasn't even an autopsy. She's lying on the ground, they say she's dead, whisk her away, and nothing. We didn't even see a body after that. So, there's lots of latitude for explanation.

[All My Shadows]

Ugh. I hate it so much. Not only does it screw around with a show's timeline (because there isn't a specific SORAS formula, hence why characters who were older-younger when they were kids can be younger-older when they're adults), but it also screws over the parents as characters. Sami Brady should not be the mother of a kid who is pushing 20! And they write Will knocking some chick up at anytime, so Sami'll be a grandmother. Grandma Sami Brady. SMH.

I wonder why someone like Bell never decided, when creating his soaps, that in his world, SORAS would not exist. Characters would be allowed to age and progress life naturally. Y&R has a rep for being high class and top notch, but they're one of the worst when it comes to SORAS, along with its trashy little sister B&B.