I'll go first:

B&B

- While not perfect, the show is currently in the best shape it's been in since 2003.

Y&R

- Genie Francis is terrific as Genevieve Atkinson. I know she wasn't well liked in her first few months on her show, but I'm currently watching June 2011 episodes and I LOVE her campy take on the character, despite the overall wretchedness of the storyline. Although I never saw Francis on GH, so I don't have that to compare it to. I'd love to see her on B&B in a Sally Spectra/Jackie Marone type role.

- Phyllis is one of very few characters to actually flourish under MAB (save for the Lucy custody madness). And of course, I still consider La Stafford to be the best actress in daytime.

- Maura West was AT LEAST as miscast as Diane as Shari Shattuck was as Ashley.

This inspires another round of unpopular opinions:

GH

Perhaps it's because I wasn't around to watch either, but I could care less about Liz/Jason or Jason/Sam and have no clue as to why either couple inspires such rabid love/hate. Both bore me to tears and I sure blame their sucktitude that is Steve Burton for that.

I consider Sam to be the bootleg version of Brenda Barrett without a tenth of the personality that the latter character has. I know KM isn't to blame, as I adored her as Livvie Locke on PC.

Liz Webber was far more multi-layered and compelling as a teen than she has ever been as an adult.

I've always believed that Jason Q-becoming-Jason Morgan was just an excuse to curtail the potential of Keesha Ward becoming an ingenue in the same vein as the other young female characters.

While I found both Michael and Kristina to be loathsome turds, I believe that recasting them was another sign of laziness.

OLTL

I liked Luna Moody. Sure, her accent was grating at times, but overall, I thought she was a great Mary Sue to balance everything out.

I prefer Original Cristian Vega. He had a sweetness and innocence that complemented Jessica very well.

I never had any use for Jessica after Erin Torpey left, as Bree Williamson signaled the beginning of Bimbofied Jessica.

I've always found Tea Delgado to be completely useless and never understood why she had to be paired with Todd in the first place, so it was painful to see my Blair being forced to prop her worthless ass up due to Ron's undying affection for the character.

I feel the same about Daniella, which is why I wasn't mad to see her taking a backseat as soon as RH revealed himself to be The Real Todd Manning.

Considering that I never liked Trevor St. John as Frodd, I was glad to see him leave and the real Todd Manning take his rightful place in Llanview.

AMC

Since my first glimpse of Tad & Dixie was seeing Brooke being left in the cold in favor of them, I've never taken to that supercouple at all.

As fun as I find Kate Collins' Janet Green, I prefer Robin Mattson's take on her - as she brought a vulnerability that made her vile actions sympathetic.

Although I found Anita useless and her love triangle with Bobby and Kelsey to be boring as hell, I liked the rest of the Santos (Maria, Mateo, and Julia) clan just fine.

I wish that Shannon Kane had been cast as Randi instead of Natalia. Not that I disliked the latter character, but I think that Frankie & Randi would've gotten more mileage if SK (a far more charismatic actress than DV could ever hope to be) were playing Randi.

Zach never should have lasted beyond 2005 as a character. He should have never been involved with Kendell either. He should have come in between Edmund and Maria and then bowed out when they both left the show. Ryan never should have came back after he originally left the show. AMC had so many characters that went way past their due date in it's last years.

I think there are characters on all the soaps that have outlived their shelflife, the ABC soaps the worst and then Days. The problem when you have actors and characters on all the time is that you end up burning through too much story in too short a time. Years back you had leads and supporting players but the stories all seemed to be spread across the canvas while the focus on characters was rotated.Somewhere along the way daytime seemed to adapt a PT model giving a small group of characters endless focus while rationing the remaining airtime to the other 90% of the cast. How the players chosen ranked no clue other than favoritism.

Okay firstly, that Y&R/streetwalker comparison was hilarious. Kudos!

Now that OLTL is over, I always check in on B&B and Y&R to see if there's anything worth while. I will be doing the unthinkable and DVR GH just to see the OLTL alums, as well as see the old-school vets return. I've never been a GH viewer, just couldn't get into it.

B&B

Liam/Steffy/Hope doesn't interest me at all. I'm glad the show is finding success with viewers being interested, but I never waste my time watching them. Gimme a good ol' bitch session between Stephanie and Brooke and I'll stop the fast-forwarding.

If B&B wants to showcase himbo eyecandy, I'd rather see Texas Battle than Brandon Beemer.

DAYS

I'd much prefer Austin Peck over Patrick Muldoon as Austin. I think his chemistry with Christie Clarke was just fine, and he's so much easier on the eyes. Not for "eye candy" so to speak, but I literally cringe when I see Muldoon. His days in the sun are done (pun intended).

I don't care for Jack. I love Jennifer, but recent Jack/Jenn scenes I have fast-forwarded through. My favorite Jack was Mark Valley.

Eric Martsolf is meh... He's pretty much just attractive cardboard.

I look forward to Bryan Dattilo's return as Lucas. I hope he isn't sporting a goatee. Ugly goatees completely distract me (same with Y&R's Joshua Morrow).

AMC

When I tuned in for the final few months, I always fast-forwarded Kendall/Zach. I liked Kendall, but found nothing appealing about Zach/TK.

Y&R

I never understood the Billy Miller hate. Granted, I haven't watched regularly since late 2010, but I liked what Miller brought to the role. He definitely was a solid performer recently on "Ringer" too.

I've heard some positive praise for Y&R lately, but I tune in and just can't get back into it. Too many new characters, too many useless characters, too many uninteresting characters. Even the Lauren/Sarah Smythe stuff was more interesting (but I'm a sucker for doppelganger stories... except Rafe/FauxRafe on DAYS... that was painfully bad).

OLTL

I liked Robert Ford. I saw no appeal in John/Natalie. In fact, I just didn't like Natalie period.

Edited February 22, 201213 yr by Gray Bunny

Zach never should have lasted beyond 2005 as a character. He should have never been involved with Kendell either. He should have come in between Edmund and Maria and then bowed out when they both left the show. Ryan never should have came back after he originally left the show. AMC had so many characters that went way past their due date in it's last years.

Agreed, although I did like Zack with Kendall the first year or so--I was surprised how much I liked them together when they got married as revenge, etc. But then...

Their marriage never made any sense to me. It was a business arrangement but I never liked how Kendell completely kicked Ethan a side for his father. If Zach wanted to make any head way with Ethan that was not the way to go.

Out of Jope and Jarlena Peter Reckell is the best actor of the bunch.

GL's finale was better and more poignant than OLTL

Higleys first few years at One Life were better than Ron C's last few years.

Obviously I just think Ron C sucks and thats my unpopular opinion. lolz.

Out of Jope and Jarlena Peter Reckell is the best actor of the bunch.

GL's finale was better and more poignant than OLTL

I think most people would agree that Reckell is definitely the strongest actor of the "big four."

That reminds me of an unpopular opinion of my own: I thought OLTL's last episode was boring and unfulfilling, and it didn't feature enough characters. The Thursday episode was certainly better and more poignant, but overall, I thought the very last episode was blah and kinda sloppy. I definitely think AMC's final episode had a more lasting impression. JMO.

General Soap Opinion

Soaps are and have always been a guilty pleasure - nothing more - which is I have always been able to enjoy them as they are - hot ass messes. If I wanted to watch an intelligent show, I'd tune into Mad Men.

Y&R

Contrary to popular belief, Victoria Rowell isn't crazy or belligerent for being outspoken about the racist double-standards of the show that made her a star/the soap industry. Nor is she a hypocrite for wanting to come back to Y&R, as it is clearly in response to overwhelming fan demand.

GL

I loved every cringe worthy second of Jonathan and Tammy. I could care less that they were an incestuous mess or that the acting was over-the-top (as I said, I do love campy soap), those two were magic.

AMC

I prefer SMG's Kendall over AM's - not because SMG went on to bigger fame, but because I loved Kendall in her original incarnation as an unrepentant bitch who lived to make her mother's life a living hell. Once they decided to make her a weeping willow that needed love, my interest in that character died.

GH

I've always had and always will love Brenda Barrett, so seeing her being trashed onscreen/off-screen so that the show could prop lesser characters that were proof of how far the show'd fallen since her original tenure in the 90s plain old was beyond infuriating. To say that I am actively wishing for the show to get canned because of this is an understatement.

So much WORD to all this. I loved Jonathan & Tammy, too, and no amount of "You have no taste!" is going to make me rescind my opinion. As for Brenda, I quit GH forever after the effed up her marriage to Sonny (and I'd been watching for more than two decades). All done to prop up that heffa Carly.

B&B:

-Brad Bell is a good EP but a bad HW. He should focus solely on EPing and leave Patrick Mulcahey, Jack Smith and others to write B&B.

-Yes, Ronn Moss is one of Daytime's worst actors, but if he left B&B I would be quietly devastated. I hate Ridge but he plays him as such a pompous, scarf-wearing a$$ that I sort of get a kick out of it.

-Used to love KKL but have become increasingly bored and annoyed by her breathy, wittle-girl voice and Brooke's Stepford Wife metamorphosis. She's like Ridge's poodle now.

-Brooke & Thorne was a great pairing and I will never understand why Brad Bell put the kabosh on these two.

-Ditto why Becky was killed off -- a WAY better character than Amber.

-Jennifer Finnigan was the most overrated actress on B&B back in the day and completely miscast as Bridget.

-I prefer Heather Tom on B&B more than I ever did on Y&R.

-Ditto Don Diamont.

-Loved Darlene Conley and Spectra Fashions, but never really got into Bobbie Eakes as Macy. Yeah, she's pleasant enough but I haven't missed her since the day she left.

OLTL:

-One of the reasons why I could never stick with OLTL for long periods was because Melissa Archer (Natalie).

-I'm one of those people that enjoyed TSJ. But I liked Roger Howarth, too.

-Florencia Lozano is a force of nature onscreen and I couldn't take my eyes off her.

Y&R:

-Hearing about Peter Bergman and Michelle Stafford treated Victoria Rowell backstage really changed my perceptions of them and the characters they play. Scratch that -- I always thought Phyllis was an annoying, smug twit from the moment she came back to launch Brash & Sassy or whatever that was called.

-Having said that, I'd rather watch Phyllis and Avery in any scene than just about anything else on Y&R currently.

-Jack Smith and Kay Alden should have never been fired from Y&R.

-John Enos was MTS's hottest onscreen pairing. Victor & Nikki is a dud pairing.

-I liked Vail Bloom as Heather. Not nearly as bad an actress as people made out. Plus she had chemistry with all the actors she came into contact with.

-I was over sage Kay Chancellor, like, years ago.

-John Driscoll was the only pairing Liz Hendricksen had chemistry with. He was treated really poorly by the show in favor of that awful Jonathan Lavery guy.

-Greg Rikaart needs to be written off the show. Every SL he has had in the last 6-8 years has bombed.

-Having said that, I really enjoy Gloria and Jeffrey. Ted Shackleford is awesome and hilarious.

-Lily needs to be recast again (or Davetta brought back) and Cane written off the show.

GH:

-My unpopular opinions for this show are totally redundant. Basically, everything GH has pursued in terms of direction, plot, pairings, characters has been the total opposite of what I have wanted. So I give up. This show has been in the shitter since the late 1990s.

That reminds me of an unpopular opinion of my own: I thought OLTL's last episode was boring and unfulfilling, and it didn't feature enough characters. The Thursday episode was certainly better and more poignant, but overall, I thought the very last episode was blah and kinda sloppy. I definitely think AMC's final episode had a more lasting impression. JMO.

I thought OLTL's last episode was very emotionless and stilted. I couldn't ever figure out why Allison Perkins was writing a manuscript in a voice which did not match hers or her view of the Buchanan/Lord family. Unfortunately that is probably my strongest memory of the last episode, although there were a few nice moments. Generally, for all the talk of how much FV and RC "loved" OLTL, I rarely felt that in the material.

-I prefer Heather Tom on B&B more than I ever did on Y&R.

I never was able to get past "Katie needs her nephew in law's dick because she's dying" or, "Let's have Katie's brother kill himself so she can get a new heart and swim with men wearing Joker makeup." Beyond that, I just feel like Tom was miscast in a pointless role.

B&B

I always felt like B&B is a soap that is often forgotten about. It doesn't really leave much of an impression and it really hasn't made much of a mark in the history of daytime soaps. If a big name actor joins (i.e. Sarah Brown) it's very ho-hum and it's like they were never even there. Like when Brown joined DAYS, her most notable accomplishment was her time on GH, not the fact that she just recently left B&B. The stories themselves on B&B are silly because couples and relationships are overturned ALL the time and they're SO short-lived, that there really isn't an emotional investment to be made on this show. If Stephanie does something revolting, you can bet that by Christmastime, everyone will be gathered together at the Forrester mansion, as if nothing ever happened.

So much WORD to all this. I loved Jonathan & Tammy, too, and no amount of "You have no taste!" is going to make me rescind my opinion. As for Brenda, I quit GH forever after the effed up her marriage to Sonny (and I'd been watching for more than two decades). All done to prop up that heffa Carly.

Like you, I left when Brenda did because the amount of times that she was thrown under the bus to make a chick that should've been gone 15 years ago look good was disgusting. That was the breaking point where I stopped caring about wishing that the show got better and have been actively wishing for it to be put out of its misery ever since.

As for Jonathan and Tammy, those two were the epitome of guilty pleasure soap from beginning to end. They were pure camp from their scandalous beginning to their tragic end and I shall forever cherish them for being one of the only couple from the 00s that I was actively stanning for.

General Hospital - Six plus years of playing the role and winning an Emmy, I still don't think Laura Wright makes a good Carly.

Young and the Restless - I have been on Nick Newman's side in the Nick/Sharon/Adam situation 100% for at least two years now (and I think Joshua Morrow is a very good actor).

OLTL

I could care less that TSJ was tossed out in favor of RH, as I've never liked him as 'Todd' and was glad to see him being written off as Frodd/Victor. "Killing" Victor off went a long way towards me ignoring whatever sins Cartini committed on OLTL and may commit with GH, as I was glad that the last months of OLTL were spent without having to see his smarmy ass on my screen.

I believe that the hate for Vangie had everything to do with her being a Black female character on that show who not only wasn't willing to be a background character (and had the fandom to prove it), but wasn't willing to bow down to the white characters on the show. Like Drucilla Winters, she had beauty, brains, and a strong sense of self-worth that she refused to rid herself of just to make herself "likeable".

- Genie Francis is terrific as Genevieve Atkinson. I know she wasn't well liked in her first few months on her show, but I'm currently watching June 2011 episodes and I LOVE her campy take on the character, despite the overall wretchedness of the storyline. Although I never saw Francis on GH, so I don't have that to compare it to.

If TPTB had been serious about redeeming Patty, I would have preferred Genie Francis portraying her rather than Gen. "Cane's mother" was a part more for someone like Judith McConnell (which would have meant re-casting his dad with someone older, but there you have it).

Edited February 26, 201213 yr by Khan