LOL I'm now getting adoption ads when I open this thread.

OMG me too. How ironic.

Y&RWorldTurner's story has me listening to.....

<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Kp8pbKFcxRw" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="640"></iframe>

Strong Women

Multi Generational Families

Genuine Diversity

I miss leading male characters who could actually be kind and show emotion without being sneered at by TPTB's pets

Wait...Way to throw this thread back on topic.

I miss leading male characters who could actually be kind and show emotion without being sneered at by TPTB's pets

And leading women who didn't bitch at other women unnecessarily.

And leading women who didn't bitch at other women unnecessarily.

I miss blackmail stories and real whodunits where the killer comes out due to evidence. Soaps used to have such good villains, but now they all seem sort of blah.

THIS!

I always enjoyed the slightly over the top storylines that were also (somewhat) smart and involved complex villains. My favorite was Kimberlin Brown's Sheila Carter on B&B/Y&R. No matter how bad a parallel storyline may have been, you had the strange comfort of knowing she was there, capable of inflicting bodily harm, unpredictable and eager to shake things up.

Edited April 24, 201114 yr by postcoital

Pretty much.

I miss storylines involving comic characters, such as AMC's Alfred and Opal (as played by Dorothy Lyman), or DAYS's Eugene and Calliope. When GH's Spinelli is the best we can do these days, you know this genre's on the decline!

When GH's Spinelli is the best we can do these days, you know this genre's on the decline!

+1.

Whodunits

I miss people at work.

I miss twin stories, with the actor playing a dual role. I mean stories where one twin isn't evil.

I miss stories where everyone has an equal point of view and the view is respected, instead of the damn propping that has destroyed soap operas.

I haven't been watching AMC too much. But, when I was, I adored Adam and Stuart Chandler, especially, the sweet, mostly innocent Stuart.

I miss topical stories, of course, but I also miss the sort of "umbrella stories" that used to include large numbers of cast members. I realize they have their detractors, too, but I feel like they only enhanced each soap's sense of community, as well as helped to make each individual story feel less isolated from the others. (Ironically, as cast sizes have shrunk over the past 5-10 years, now would appear an ideal time to return to that kind of storytelling. Yet, the increasingly hectic taping schedules make that virtually impossible.)

Moreover, I miss tortured, star-crossed love stories that could go on for years. You know what I mean? Not the kind of [!@#$%^&*] that goes on these days w/ AMC's Rylee, or OLTL's Todd & Blair. I'm talking about romances between genuinely empathetic people you could actually root for (think my two personal favorites, GUIDING LIGHT's Quint and Nola, and AMC's Greg and Jenny), and not emotionally and/or morally bankrupt fools who are being shoved down our throats b/c so-and-so thinks they are "hot" together. There's a difference.

Definitely the amazing remote location shoots. General Hospital had some amazing shoots back in the day.

I miss when a proper story from beginning to middle to end was told period...

Exactly! Getting from Point A to Point B is almost unheard of in soaps today. And, there isn't even much in

between to get from Point A to Point B these days.

I never watched PORT CHARLES (only a few eps during the LML era), but from everything I've heard, Karen Harris seemed to be a HW who knew how to write short arcs in a way that didn't contradict characters' nature or insult viewers' intelligence. Too bad she didn't last long @ that job, though.

PORT CHARLES had some of the best production values in the business. I can cite episodes that were incredible - The Stephen Clay

Halloween Party. The Stephen Clay Rock Concert episodes (thinking of two on Nov. 8 and 11, 2002) were done like a real rock concert.

There was an MTV style documentary with the Stephen Clay Experience. Before the story arcs, there were also good stories, like

the General Homicide murders. Sure, some of the arcs, such as Torn, were kinda corny, but at least they were different stories than

were ever seen on a soap. Certainly not your "cookie cutter" variety of a soap, but just fun to watch. The angels coming down

from Heaven, the tainted candles, talking portraits, the Avatar in Torn. Sure, not everyone's "cup of soap opera tea", but I liked

them because they were different. PORT CHARLES had a small cast that really worked for them. Everyone interacted and it was like

an ensemble cast.

PORT CHARLES had some of the best production values in the business. I can cite episodes that were incredible - The Stephen Clay

Halloween Party. The Stephen Clay Rock Concert episodes (thinking of two on Nov. 8 and 11, 2002) were done like a real rock concert.

There was an MTV style documentary with the Stephen Clay Experience. Before the story arcs, there were also good stories, like

the General Homicide murders. Sure, some of the arcs, such as Torn, were kinda corny, but at least they were different stories than

were ever seen on a soap. Certainly not your "cookie cutter" variety of a soap, but just fun to watch. The angels coming down

from Heaven, the tainted candles, talking portraits, the Avatar in Torn. Sure, not everyone's "cup of soap opera tea", but I liked

them because they were different. PORT CHARLES had a small cast that really worked for them. Everyone interacted and it was like

an ensemble cast.

I guess I love the different-type stories, because I loved "Casey the Alien" story on GH. Bradley Lockerman was excellent in

portraying Casey and he and Kimberly McCullough and Finola Hughes (as well as others he interacted with - Jack Wagner, John

Reilly, Tristan Rogers, etc) had great acting rapport!