Stories that upset you more than they should have

[DRW50]

I don't know if we were really supposed to be upset (I got the feeling we weren't), but the whole way Higley wrapped up Hugh's story, all for a "clever" fakeout about John, was kind of horrifying.

[Vee]

I don't think we were supposed to care, no.

Originally, I believe John was dead - Michael Easton had left, but came back to the negotiation table at the last possible moment, after his endless hero's funeral had already been scripted. Unfortunately, this left the wonderful Josh Casuabon in the lurch and Hugh was killed off for no good reason. I couldn't stand him being made into yet another Buchanan heir by way of the worthless characters of Spencer and Paige, but I found it even more pointless to spend all that time on that shitty story only to immediately kill him off, and so brutally. He was a fine actor and had real potential on the show. He made a great lawyer.

[DRW50]

I forgot to mention this one earlier, but any time a group of characters would get together on Ryan's Hope to laugh at Delia and tell her what an awful person she was. This bothered me to no end, especially when Randall Edwards (who was more vulnerable than Ilene Kristen in the role) played Delia. 1981 RH is often impossible to watch for this reason. This also cemented my hatred for a number of characters the viewers were clearly supposed to enjoy (Kevin, Roger, Johnny).

[DeeeDee]

Every story LML, Maria, Hogan & Hamner have ever written.

[ellabelle]

The revelations about Erica's rape in 1993 were really hard to watch. I was about the same age then that Erica was when she was raped, so I think that may have been part of why it was so upsetting to me. The flashbacks of the rape were particularly hard to watch.

The Josh is Erica's unaborted fetus storyline I found massively insulting. It was such a huge violation of Erica, when she was already a rape survivor, and her daughter was a rape survivor, both of them bearing children from rape... for her doctor to extract her embryo and have it carried to term by someone else, against Erica's wishes, was just such a violation of her choices. I hated it. Plus it was - and still is - technologically impossible. It was just wrong on so many levels, and I actually stopped watching AMC for quite some time because of it.

[John]

just rewatched GH's Rick Webber return & Attic story. It was so pathetic to make a character that was a great guy for 11 years in the 70's and 80's into a serial cheater turned vilian. Plus it made Lesley into a woman who just sat back and didnt say boo about his affairs and she paid the Teresa woman off to leave town WTF. Then Rick would drug Laura so she wouldnt remember. The Webbers always spent time getting Laura to take responsibility for her mistakes.

I guess that story was better than the original idea which was for Laura to remember Rick molested her in the attic. Then to just kill Rick like that. Ughh

Seriously yes GF was leaving but she could have went to Paris on Deception business instead we got Laura going crazy and then catatonic. At least GF gave it her all and it showed on screen

[Khan]

Granted, I wasn't alive to see the original Rick/Lesley/Monica triangle. However, the fact that I know about it, and that I don't believe for a second that Rick had numerous affairs in addition to ping-ponging between the two women, is a testament to how important it was, and still is, to GH. Would it have been great to revisit that particular story? Definitely. Especially once Alan had died, I would have loved a Rick/Lesley/Monica redux. But suggesting that everything the viewers watched back then was one-sided at best, and a total lie at worst? That's downright criminal.

Plus, it's almost a total ripoff of a similar story Chuck Pratt did w/ Alison on MELROSE PLACE.

[Khan]

Or Lesley could have suffered a stroke and needed to go away for treatment, thus requiring Laura to go with her and supervise her care. I mean, really, just about anything (within reason) to spare us from The Mop's turn as the back of Cathy Lane's Laura's head would have sufficed.

[John]

Or ABC coulda just gave GF's vacation time so she could go to London while her husband started shooting a film. That is all she wanted.

[Ms. Chandler Quartermaine]

Having Evangeline die at the hands of that White supremacist group "One Pure People". Which she did die from, she would have never needed to be on life support if it wasn't for them.Basically that whole story was offensive.

But the most upsetting story for me, that I have ever witnessed was on Passions, when Gwen heard Theresa getting raped by Allistar, she did nothing, and then turned upped the radio so Ethan couldn't hear and save her. It was the final nail in Gwen's coffin, it was disgusting. Every rape story on Passions made me angry, they treated it like a joke, I mean Fancy got raped like 50 times.

[ellabelle]

I'd quit watching Passions by that point, thank god. Then again, what WASN'T offensive or upsetting on Passions? That show was such a mess.

[teplin]

I haven't watched GH since the 90s but just hearing about the Rick Weber rewrite upset me.

I was also offended when they made Kate on DOOL willing to murder Chloe. I know Kate tried to kill Victor before, but that was somewhat understandable in the context of story (though I didn't like that either). I pretty much hate any story that turns longstanding characters into killers or killer-wanna-bes and then doesn't play the criminal or emotional fallout. (Which pretty much every soap has been guilty of in the past 20 years.)

[greens_dupres]

I hated how GH trashed the promising AJ/Courtney pairing to throw her into Jason's orbit and have him save her from stripping. It had the potential to be a great story about redemption & Guza? just totally trashed it to carry out the agenda of completely destroying AJ.

I hated how PC turned Jagger into a cheater just to bring on a boring recast of Karen. ASJ was no thespian but I was like 7 and loved Jagger/Karen. They broke my little heart saying that he cheated on her and having her cut up her wedding dress.

I hated Felicia & Luke sleeping together. it damaged both character, but it really ruined Felicia. You just don't take your 2 most popular supercouples and play mix and match.

Also, the complete decimation of the Quartermaines still makes me soooo upset. GH had gold with this family and they threw it all away. Alan, Emily, AJ all dead. I don't even know where Ned went. I would be okay with a Dallas style dream to unkill Alan.

[NothinButAttitude]

The entire Lumina story on Another World. I hated that story from start to finish because I'm not a big fan of the supernatural but it also resulted in Amanda being dumbed down too.

Maureen killed off on Guiding Light. Even though it sparked stories for years to come, I felt it was pointless to kill off the one tentpole character--the one character that all fans loved and adored.

The Springfield Blogger on Guiding Light. Ugh... Just ugh... If Blake wanted to get at Dinah, she wouldn't've needed a stupid blog to do so. It was so OOC for Blake IMO

Phillip kidnapping his kids on Guiding Light. This story nearly stopped me from watching the show as it was OOC for Phillip and I was glad when GA walked away from Guiding Light.

Dru being tossed off a cliff on Y&R. Dru has to be my favorite female characters (along with Carly Tenney & Vicki Hudson) and to see her being tossed off a cliff was stupid and just a slap in the face to VR and fans. I would've preferred if Dru just left Genoa City for Paris again not being able to get over the fact that Neil was cozying up to Carmen.

The ruining of Sharon & Nick/making Adam a mustache twirling villian. Sharon has ALWAYS been my other girl on Y&R (besides my Dru) and watching Maria turn Sharon into a slut and Nick into a manwhore, and just ignoring their history so Phyllis can be implanted further in the front (IMO) pissed me off. I also don't appreciate Sharon being dumbed down and needy too. I also hate how they demolished the character of Adam. He had so much potential to be a classic corporate tycoon/town pariah with this Harvard background, yet Maria had to take it further for shock purposes and make him a baby killer. Then he had to switch the babies. Then get with Sharon, knowing he switched her baby. Then the diary, Hightower, & memory card incidents. It was just TOO much. I feel that he is now on a long road to redemption but knowing Maria, Hogan, and Josh, it'll be short term.