Most annoying soap miscarriages/stillbirths

[DRW50]

This has probably been a topic one, two, or twenty times, but if so then it will fade away soon enough.

There have been many pointless or annoying stories about women on soaps having all kinds of kids that are rarely seen or mentioned. Yet there are other stories where women are pregnant, for no apparent reason, and then have a miscarriage, solely so we can have a dramatic moment/breakdown/baby switch/etc. Or no story at all.

Were there any times when this really annoyed you, or you felt like all kinds of time had been wasted for nothing?

For me, the most annoying were on ATWT - Liberty, a teenage girl, got pregnant, was very upset, and had the usual five minute soap drama over whether or not to have an abortion, as her mother was very religious. Instead of making a decision, she went out wandering, and was knocked over by a high school boy, and had a miscarriage. End of storyline.

Shannon, who had once been a very fun character, broke up with her soulmate and got involved with a man who turned out to be a contract killer. When he was killed, she became close to his nice brother. She learned she was pregnant, and this led to months of her being depressed about not being with the man she loved, being depressed about carrying the child of a man she saw as a monster, and generally being depressed. This led to what seemed like weeks of episodes in the hospital before she finally had a miscarriage. This came across as nothing more than a cheap stalling tactic, as she reunited with her soulmate in record time after her miscarriage.

I think there were also about a dozen miscarriages a year on ABC Daytime in the late 90's, but I have tried to block most of that out...

[Cheap21]

AMC: Sarah Lavery's death. The show spent ALOT of time focusing on Madison's pregnancy and the baby was set to be a major source of drama and storyline for her, Rylee and Scott. Then out of nowhere Madison gives birth and baby dies. What was the point

GH: Lila Corinthos. It was annoying due to the fact that it would dictate the next 7 years of Sam whining about wanting a baby

[DRW50]

The AMC logic of having two stillbirths at the same time escaped me.

[juppiter]

I love the quote from Roseanne:

Dan: Soap operas? All those people do is get pregnant and die.

Roseanne: Well that's cause it's based on real life.

Seriously, I think the fact that they were ballsier with the topic of abortion in the 70s than in the 00s is one of the reasons soaps died.

[Cheap21]

thats another thing that was so awful about it. It happened JUST after they did the same with Angie's baby. At least that oen was a springboard for a new story (the baby switch) but Madison's baby loss? It killed the angst in Rylee's marriage, ended Scott/Madison and had her becoming a mess. The characters were essentially left with nothng as the death served no purpose storywise

OLTL - Megan Buchanan Rappaport. I always hated when they killed Jessica's baby especially since the baby itself was past due.

[Ryan Chamberlain]

OLTL: Jessica having another stillbirth with Chloe in 2008. Already went there with Megan in 1999. Plus, the horrendous baby switch...That dragged on forever and a day. Messing up the show that was so damn good that Summer. Also, it was Nash's kid and that was so not fair.

[edgeofnight]

But, sadly, as the years have gone by, when you would THINK the country was more enlightened on the subject, they have back-peddled to please the Bible belt thumpers. In fact, on many soaps, they're been even afriad to use the word 'abortion,' when clearly, it has been the law of the land for nearly 40 years. I knew Liberty on ATWT wasn't going to go through with her procedure, similarly I knew that Destiny on OLTL would not go through with it. And, the light tap by a high school football player that made Liberty fall to the ground was the lamest I have ever seen. The guy barely touched her, and down she went. The next scene, she's in the hospital and has lost the baby.

[ellabelle]

Angie and Madison both losing their daughters at the same time was awful.

Erica's miscarriage with Dimitri in the mid 1990s upset me tremendously not just because she lost a baby she obviously wanted but because Dimitri was such a jerk about the whole thing. Plus it then led to the awful Erica-kidnapping-Maria's-baby-when-it-wasn't-even-Dimitri's-child storyline.

Greenlee miscarrying Ryan's baby made me sad because it led to the whole messed up surrogacy storyline.

While this isn't quite the same thing, Bianca being the one to get raped and pregnant by Michael Cambias really bothered me. I thought it could have been a far more compelling story if Kendall had been the one put in Erica's shoes, given how much grief she gave Erica in the 1990s.

[DRW50]

The Erica miscarriage bothered me a lot too - it was just so depressing. I still remember her miscarrying on what was supposed to be her wedding day, wearing all black.

[MoTheGreat]

CKLily miscarriage or whatever that storyline was about.

[soapfan770]

Josie losing both her babies on AW was pretty bad, especially the death of Gary Jr which was completely unnecessary to do.

Bridget and her what, fifteen miscarriages on B&B. Same with the death of Amber's baby there in 2002 which lead to her five minute pill addiction.

A lot of miscarriages seem to be taking the easy way out of what could be possibly riveting material too. What I'm even more annoyed by is a woman has miscarriage, she then finds out she can never have children again.

[P.J.]

I think I hate the "five minute pregnancy" cliche more than any other. Liberty's was the most egregious example, where a girl who had a ton of baggage being the result of a one-night stand and raised by a dippy, man-obsessed twit (at least as originally written) and knew exactly how her mother would react and force her to remain pregnant and resented her for it, just lost any bit of spine she acquired and five minutes before the miscarriage "understood" how important motherhood was and how much of a "sacrifice" her mother had made in raising her. To see that obnoxious loudmouth Janet held up as some kind of heroine for outright plotting to deny her own daughter her legal right to chose sickened me.

And then, like you said, Goutman&Co threw it all down the crapper anyway, wrapping it up in a neat little bow when Libby fell back in line. That is exactly the kind of true drama that could have fueled story for years (if ATWT hadn't been canceled shortly thereafter anyway). It's also indicitive of the cop-outs I believe made daytime an endangered species.

For stillbirths, it's a toss up between Emily's last one (where she gave birth on Emma's kitchen table) or Meg's (the result of the stupid Paul/Craig shoving match.) Em's because it seemed to be a sacrifice at the altar of Meg, and Meg's because they simply turned around and made her pregnant again in a few months anyway.

[DRW50]

Emma's kitchen table? Geez. I am even more horrified by what was done to the Snyder farm in the last years.

Yeah, there was a lot of story for Liberty's pregnancy, especially if she'd had an abortion. Far more interesting than that tedious leukemia story which amounted to a bad recast wearing a hat for a year.

[P.J.]

Well, Lily did give birth to Luciano on Emma's kitchen floor. I guess we could give TIIC points for hygiene. I'd much rather be born on a table than shot out across lineoleum, even if it was Emma Snyder's.

[beebs]

Keep in mind what Cady McClain said in that interview a few months ago about some higher ups at P&G who were supposedly so ultra-conservative to the point where they forced ATWT's gay stories to be completely neutered "if they had to do one at all". I'm sure Janet being seen as a heroine was another such mandate from above, and likely why Jean Passanante keeps getting work: She gladly does whatever the suits tell her to without a hint of objection.