A Word From Our Sponsors: Soap Plot Points That Happen During Commerical Breaks

[Ira]

Watching yesterday's DOOL, I was pissed off with the fact that Lucas' fiancée Autumn broke up with him during a damn commercial break. Besides what a great opportunity it would've been for Tamara Braun to be IN again... this is seeming more and more common place where things that should happen on screen are relegated to commercial breaks or just don't appear.

I'm sure other Days fans recall the time Mimi went to abort's Rex's baby. She left the apartment and then returned after a commercial break with the abortion having somehow happened in between.

Any other examples from other soaps?

ETA: Of course I misspell commercial like an idiot... if a moderator could fix that, that'd be fantastic.

[DRW50]

I remember a lot of annoyance that Y&R had Mackenzie have a miscarriage during a commercial break.

[Vee]

I will never, ever forget a key episode of OLTL in fall 2003, in which Viki and Dorian mended fences following their plane crash ordeal in Saranac. They were talking about all their old grudges with each other, when Dorian happened to bring up the fact that Viki had 'started' their feud way back in the 1970s by causing her to lose her medical license after her affair with Tommy Lee Jones's Mark Toland led to the death of a patient. At which point Viki lowered the boom and revealed a factoid that the audience had known about for well-on perhaps thirty years, but which Dorian as a character had never been made privy to - Viki had in fact voted for Dorian to keep her license. Cut to Dorian's shocked face, then: Commercial break!

Then, some thirty minutes later, after the lion's share of the episode is taken up with lame-ass storylines, we return to Viki and Dorian for the veterans' allotted six minutes in this, the salad days of the Frons regime. Dorian is packing up to leave Llanfair, their conversation concluded, and tells Viki she's so glad they "cleared all that up."

I was [!@#$%^&*] flabbergasted. I considered firebombing something. I have never forgiven Michael Malone for that.

[DRW50]

I remember you talking about that - I kept thinking of what it was, as that is egregious, but it wasn't coming.

[Cheap21]

Tamara could still return as a pregnant Willow (typo but what the heck, Im leaving that in) who comes and puts a crimp in a possible Lucas/Samireunion

[Ira]

Hahaha! Tamara Braun IN as Willow Stark!

[juppiter]

ATWT's Katie listened to her father Casey's message to her during a commercial break. It was a great chance for the show to use its history and I am not sure why they decided to have it during a commercial break.

[DRW50]

I would have said it was because they didn't want to pay Bill Shanks but they may have had to anyway, wasn't part of his voice used?

Typical of ATWT by that time.

[yr9190]

I think a lot of Bill Bell Y&R (at least from what i have seen) had plot points that happen during the commercials, but they were pretty minor, so it's nothing to lose sleep over.

[juppiter]

Yup, the very beginning of the tape was heard, then cut to commercial and then Katie had heard all of it. It was so stupid. And of course then Katie had to tape over the recording to catch some rando criminal's confession so it wasn't possible that they could ever use the footage.

[DeeeDee]

So KEVIN could be there for her.

[DRW50]

I did read that armed robbery is the best way to get over losing a baby.

[DeeeDee]

Victoria & Billy will be robbing banks any day now.

[DRW50]

I can picture them going back to the same bank over and over and over, insisting they hadn't been there before.

[jcar03]

The entire Steve being arrested thing plus the whole organ black market whatever thing on GH happened off screen.