Best and Worst of 1997 - Soap Opera News

[DRW50]

If you want more details, let me know.

Story of the year

Most heartbreaking story

Surprising story twist

Outstanding newcomer

Most welcomed return

Outstanding actor

Outstanding actress

Supporting actor

Supporting actress

Underused actor

Underused actress

Best couple

AMC:

Maddie saga

Plane crash

Trevor, Amanda and Janet

Carrie Genzel (Skye Chandler)

Michael Lowry (Jake)

John Callahan (Edmund)

Susan Lucci (Erica)

Mark Consuelos (Mateo)

Julia Barr (Brooke)

Michael E Knight (Tad)

Jill Larson (Opal)

Adam and Liza

AW:

Toni's rape

Kirkland's accident

Bobby Reno is Shane Roberts

Rhonda Ross (Toni)

Lisa Peluso (Lila)

Tom Eplin (Jake)

Jensen Buchanan (Vicky)

Mark Pinter (Grant)

Kim Rhodes (Cindy)

Anna Stuart (Donna) and Stephen Schnetzer (Cass)

Jake and Vicky

ATWT:

Racism

Barbara's pregnancy

Damian's 'career' change

Lesli Kay Sterling (Molly)

Jon Hensley (Holden)

Daniel Markel (David)

Martha Byrne (Lily)

Benjamin Hendrickson (Hal)

Ellen Dolan (Margo)

There are a lot of underused actors and actresses

Carly and Jack

B&B:

Sheila vs. Maggie and James

Stephanie's discovery about Lauren's affair with Eric

Thorne divorces Macy

Adrienne Frantz (Amber)

Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke)

John McCook (Eric)

Kimberlin Brown (Sheila)

Ian Buchanan (James)

Barbara Crampton (Maggie)

Charles Grant (Grant)

Bobbie Eakes (Macy)

Eric and Lauren

DAYS:

Kristen and Susan

Billie battling drugs

Susan's wedding

Jensen Ackles (Eric)

Jason Brooks (Peter)

Drake Hogestyn (John)

Eileen Davidson (Kristen/Susan/et al)

Roark Critchlow (Mike)

Louise Sorel (Vivian)

Lauren Koslow and Bryan Datillo (Kate and Lucas)

John and Marlena

GH:

Murder of Dr. Pierce Dorman

Brenda left at the altar

Monica held Dorman hostage

Lisa Cerasoli (V)

Genie Francis (Laura)

Maurice Benard (Sonny)

Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis)

Steve Burton (Jason)

Sarah Brown (Carly)

The Quartermaines

Sonny and Brenda

GL:

Reva's trial

Buzz's amnesia

Nola going psycho

Taye Diggs (Sugar Hill)

Beth Ehlers (Harley)

Justin Deas (Buzz)

Cynthia Watros (Annie)

Jerry ver Dorn (Ross)

Elizabeth Keifer (Blake)

Jay Hammer and Maureen Garrett (Fletcher and Holly)

Harley and Phillip

OLTL:

Custody battle over Starr

Marty and Patrick's love story

Starr's unlikely donor

Stehen Markle (Mel) and Florencia Lozano (Tea)

Don Jeffcoat (Joey)

Robert S. Woods (Bo)

Robin Strasser (Dorian)

James DePaiva (Max)

Gina Tognoni (Kelly)

Philip Carey (Asa)

Hillary B. Smith (Nora)

Andy and Antonio

PC:

Terror stalks General Hospital

Lucy loses her baby

Scotty has grown up

Jennifer Harmon (Karen)

Kin Shriner (Scott)

Wayne Northrop (Rex) and Lynn Herring (Lucy)

Edward Albert (Bennett)

Lisa Ann Hadley (Julie)

Jon Lindstrom (Kevin)

Patricia Crowley (Mary)

Karen and Joe

SuBe:

Meg and Ben's love story (also named Best Couple)

Caitlin's miscarriage

Elaine killed Del

Sarah Buxton (Annie)

Peter Barton (Eddie)

Sam Behrens (Gregory)

Lesley-Anne Down (Olivia)

Timothy Adams (Casey)

Kathleen Noone (Bette)

Randy Spelling (Sean)

Sherri Saum (Vanessa)

Y&R

Danny and Phyllis' breakup

Nina's low self-esteem

Victor's marriage to Diane

Sandra Nelson (Phyllis)

Heather Tom (Victoria)

Eric Braeden (Victor)

Lauralee Bell (Christine)

Scott Reeves (Ryan)

Tricia Cast (Nina)

Peter Bergman (Jack)

Jeanne Cooper (Katherine)

Nick and Sharon

[soapfan770]

What ODD choices for GL's most heartbreaking story, shocking twist, and outstanding newcomer. Perhaps someone here was an old Quint/Nola fan? Nola being Buzz's stalker was completely tame (and lame) compared to oh say, Reva and Annie on that staircase, Reva and Annie in the mental ward, and Abby in the courtroom. The Sugar Hill/Dahlia/Marcus tale was a non-story really. Carl can you share why they chose choices please?

B&B--Poor Grant and Macy, I loved them. Though I thought Thorne and Macy's split occurred in '96 with Thorne's affairs with the Cortez sisters.

Y&R-I'm very curious as to what they had to say about Nina's low self-esteem. It was a compelling and crucial element for the Ryan/Nina/Cole/Victoria quad but I thought they took it too far first with Nina seeing that guy in the bar and then shooting herself in front of Tricia.

[P.J.]

aaawwww...my Carjack got best couple. And they'd only just met in '97. Prophetic, baby.

[DRW50]

1997 was a good year for Carly and Jack -- it was never the same for me after Julia was forced onto the canvas.

I think that Winsor's Thorne started in October or November 1996 and then he and Macy had split up by January or February 1997 (that awful divorce by fax). There was only one Cortez sister wasn't there? That story was dropped very quickly.

At the time I never understood why they chose the Nola stuff either, a dud story which made poor Nola look terrible.

I'll type them up.

[DRW50]

[SFK]

Was it Victoria Platt who was like, "Sugar Hill?? I mean, c'mon..."

[P.J.]

I still laugh at Julia's entrance, dorky geek glasses and big floppy hat, scared by a thunderstorm on a train. *eyeroll*

Julia wasn't the problem. Forcing Craig between them---that was the big HUHA. They literally had to dumb Carly down and retool her entire romantic past to explain being "attracted" to Craig. Carly was a classic bad girl attracted to bad boys she could control. Ol'Man Montgomery NEVER would have interested her.

[DRW50]

She wasn't on GL until a few years later. Sharon Leal might have said it

[SFK]

LOL, maybe it was her, or even Kevin Mambo...

[DRW50]

soapfan I'm sorry I forgot - I'll write up the Nina bit later.

While I thought Tricia Cast was great in that story, it did bother me a lot at the time, Nina basically losing her husband to a teenage bimbo, and the show rewriting history to make it seem like she'd slept with Cole (which she hadn't) to somehow even the score. Then Nina almost killing herself...that hurt to watch. At least Bill Bell kept Nina around, which wouldn't have happened today, but it was sad seeing her wind down that way, and never really get another chance for a real love story.

[DeeeDee]

She got another love story.

And while the quad story was ugly it also gave Tricia Cast SO many chances to shine, redeemed Nina & provided an (in character) umbrella story for SO many characters that lasted years.

[DRW50]

She had the Tomas stuff; I guess I never saw that as being much of a story.

[DeeeDee]

It was a very good (albeit subtle) story.

Tricia Cast should have at LEAST a couple Lead Emmy trophies.

[soapfan770]

That quad was ugly though it was pretty intense for a while, mainly because of the psychological issues of Victoria's what ifs and Nina's insecurity. The one thing I did like about Nina was aside from the later stuff with Ryan and Tricia is she went through some realistic issues of viewing herself as an average woman. While she wasn't like Dru lashing out at Neil's misogyny Nina eventually overcame her own demons on her own terms. The odd thing was for a while before Tomas there was a running gag of Nina going on a bad date ie guys she met over the internet, the gay guys etc.

[DRW50]

Was it ever confirmed whether that story about the soccer coach was supposed to have him sexually abusing Phillip?