ALL: Saddest Soap Moments

[Mitch]

Someone should have told Zimmer to keep her big mouth shut for a change. The show is more important then what she wanted. Of course I would have reunited them and then written them both off to save the cash and maybe create another set or two...and presto, no more worrying about what Zimmer wants and her constant yacking to the press. The show should have done the Days route and done just that. Zimmer had a lot of balls to throw her weight around like it was still 1985, I mean look at her now...shows werent dying to hire her.

[DRW50]

I think one of the problems was there wasn't a lot to replace Zimmer with. I didn't care for a lot of the Reva/Jonathan screaming but it did get a lot of attention and helped GL's ratings. I think there was still some life left in her, compared to what had become of, say, Harley, or the dreadful younger set.

I do think that she was probably making too much money, but Reva was one of the few major female characters, along with Olivia and Dinah, I thought was still viable by the end.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I always thought GL had so many better actresses in its history than Zimmer, and I always hated that Zimmer got so much attention for her Emmy's and being "GL's best actress."

Give me Maureen Garrett's subtle, yet powerful acting style over Zimmer's thanksgiving ham routine any day...

[Ann_SS]

I have to say that the scenes about Lila's death didn't work for me. They felt manufactured .

[Mitch]

She could easily have been replaced..especially with Maeve Kinkaid around as Vanessa. I truly thought that the shambles that Wheeler left GL in that some kind of stability could have been in place by having Billy and Van get together, before the last week of the show, form a stable older couple people could bounce of off. I just dont think that Zimmer's "acting," worked well with the new production format, where actors like Kincaid and Simon and Garret all low key and "real," could have made it work (interesting enough Deas, an actor I HATE, brought it down for the format and besides the overwraught death scene with his kid, I actaully started to be okay with him...Zimmer never seemed to be able to do that.

Also, we had Blake around, who could have been a younger and thinner replacement. It really rankles that up to the end, GL had potential, but the boxed in thinking of the people in charge ruined it all.

[Mitch]

As I was posting you posted your yours, and I couldn't agree more. Zimmer got the attention as she did it old school, she went out and worked for it, kissing the press' ass (and gossiping about her costars with them) but essentially, working up a crazed fan base to respond to her every interview about leaving. Zimmer would have been in her element in the old movie star system of the 40s. As I said, Garret and Kinkaid's style worked with the new production style much better then Zimmer's "I can't get out of the 80's" over the top cartoon acting.

But to bring this ship back to the original, the only time during the new process I felt any kind of emotion from the show, was a couple of the quiet, non dramatic moments, Rick at the Bauer BBQ talking about Bert and her legacy..the bittersweet emotions from the actors told it all. Also, the short scene of Phillip, helping Beth out of her bloody wedding dress, without any words, was powerful and emotional. More scenes like that could have saved the show for another year or two, instead of hokey stuff that may have worked in the old way, like Reva throwing things in the middle of a field when Jeffie was supposed to be dead.

[DRW50]

I would have been thrilled to see more of Maureen or of Maeve but they were always ignored by the soap press and they probably would have been criticized if they didn't go toe to toe with Pelphrey in scream sweepstakes (or, as with poor Maureen, criticized if they do try to overact, as she had to do in that Sebastian mess). I don't think that they had any real issue with Maeve - I think Wheeler used her more than she'd been used in years (not that that's saying much) but whether she would have even wanted to do more, I wonder.

In terms of what GL had to work with I can see why they held onto Zimmer. It's their own fault for not building up more of a base. They overrelied on certain people.

[dsvd79]

Y&R- Cassie's Death

B&B- Storm's suicide

[Shiner]

OLTL; Megan's death, Nash's death and the death of Jessica first baby Megan.

GH: Stone's death.

[Jay]

When Donna lost adopted son Mikey on AW. http://www.igs.net/~awhp/donnas2.html

And later, when Ada died.

[juniorz1]

Hard to think of the best. I know I cried when Victoria Wyndham gave that tribute to Douglass Watson at the 1989 Daytime Emmys. He had just died & I don't know how Wyndham kept it together, but she did. Linda Dano was in the audience just sobbing as she spoke, and, while her voice did crack a couple of times, Wyndham was strong for her long-time friend & scene partner. Brought me to tears though.

I remember the DAYS Christmas episode in I believe 1993, when John returned Belle at the church as Billie sang "Oh Holy Night." It's one of those episodes that hit you harder as a viewer, because you knew Marlena's own daughter, Sami was the culprit and really, all of it was the result of the pain Sami felt at the hand of her mother's affair with John. It was all so uplifting yet depressing at the same time. Though I'll never be one to claim Drake Hogestyn can act, you could see in his eyes in that episode that while it was wonderful that Marlena was being reunited with her daughter, this truly wasn't the happy occassion it seemed on the surface. Powerful stuff & one of the few times I remember subtext being played in a Reilly episode on DAYS. But Deidre was one of the few who really got his writing & Drake was right there with her so they shined.

[DRW50]

Wallingford's goodbye. This always gets to me, especially Felicia's eulogy, and then, the real life goodbye Linda and Stephen gave to fans, the one Linda insisted on. AW really made you feel like so many of these characters were your friends, your family. It was such a human show, even when those in charge of the last few years spit on that.

[YRBB]

I just remembered another one!

Tricia finding out that her baby is dead.

[Mitch]

I lurved AW when they had Felicia, Wallingford, Cass, and the Jackee Harry character getting into scrapes and Lucy hijinks, it was so unsoap like and lighthearted. I didnt watch at the time of his death, so thanks for posting this. I also forgot how hawwt Cass was. They were going to have him as Prince Richard on GL before they chose Brad Cole. Can you imagine limp swishy stiff Prince Richard as sexy?????

[DRW50]

FeliciasKid also has some Felicia/Cass/Kathleen/etc. stuff from around the mid-80s, around the time Zane was killed, and possibly a bit earlier.

I never knew they almost cast him as Prince Richard. That would have been great. He was a very underrated dramatic actor and very charismatic, which many people at AW/NBC seemed to forget in favor of the latest underwear model or expensive actor from another soap. At least the last year or two gave him a chance to shine.