Best and worst funeral/tribute episodes

[DRW50]

I'm sure this has already been talked about before, but oh well. Since DAYS did their funeral for Lexie today, which seemed to be well-received, I thought we could share memories of funeral/tribute/goodbye episodes we loved or hated.

I think the one where I felt the most emotion was probably Myrtle's on AMC, mostly because of the heartfelt performances from actors who'd worked with Eileen Herlie for a long time, like Francesca James.

I thought HB Lewis' funeral on GL was very well-crafted, they brought back just about everyone he knew and loved, and there was some first-rate dialogue and commentary. I didn't feel as strong of an emotional connection as I wanted, mostly because the Rauch era of GL didn't have emotional connections.

Honorable mention goes to ATWT's funeral for David Stewart, which included a long letter from the show's only gay character (then long gone from Oakdale), who thanked David, an AIDS researcher, for spending so many years trying to find a cure for a disease which afflicted many who were hated and feared and seen as deserving to die. I'm still surprised any writer got that through in 1991.

Too many bad ones to list but the one that stayed with me for a long time was Nadine's funeral on GL, when her son Frank put a rose on her coffin and said, "This is from Harley." (his sister/Nadine's daughter). Harley would NOT have just sent a rose to her mother's funeral. When Beth Ehlers returned to the show a year later, one of the first things some writer did was to give her a long speech about how she could not face the pain of her mother's funeral.

[Cheap21]

well Lexie didnt have a funeral. Days did it off screen. What we had was the aftermath of it today

[DRW50]

True. That's why I included tribute in the title.

[quartermainefan]

On AMC I loved Pheobe's funeral. The montage was so nice and the choice of music perfect. Unfortunately, YT has deleted it because of copyright issues, but it is worth a listen and even if you are so inclined to find a soundless video of the montage and synch it up

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I wanted to love Palmer's but for some reason they included Babe's mother (whose name I forget) as this longtime friend of his. It struck me odd considering by the time this person joined the show Palmer was barely on.

[Delia]

I think Mona's funeral on AMC (with Susan throwing herself at the coffin) is considered a classic. More recently, I thought AMC did a very nice tribute to James Mitchell. It helped a great deal that they brought back Taylor Miller and Gillian Spencer.

[DRW50]

Phoebe's memorial got a lot of criticism but I did like the moments when they read the advice letters from her. I liked Palmer's tribute episode too, for the most part.

[Cheap21]

I know. I was referring to your text in your opening post which said she had a funeral

[DRW50]

To me it's all pretty much the same.

[Quent]

I guess the tribute that I remember most is that for Hal Munson on ATWT. Of course, it was really for actor Ben Hendrickson, who had just committed suicide in real life. Although the tribute was set in a bar, and no funeral was shown, the grief by Ben's co-workers showed through their characters. To watch long-time scene sharers like Scott Holmes, Maura West, Colleen Pinter, Kelley Hensley and Michael Park talk about "Hal" was heartbreaking. The only thing missing was Hillary B Smith, who ws featured with Ben for so long.

On a completely different note, I enjoyed the David Stenbeck funeral, with the only attendees being five women who hated him (Lily, Julia, Denise, Molly and Emily). Watching Julia pull out a gun and shoot the corpse was over-the-top melodrama at its best.

[soapfan770]

Best ones? I'd have to go with Mac's funeral on AW, Tom Horton's on Days, and if fake funerals count probably Victor's funeral on Y&R which I still to this day remember quite well.

Putting all the Serial Killer funerals on Days there 2003/04 aside, I particularly didn't care for Ross' funeral on GL as much as I tried to.

[applcin]

Mary Mae Ward's funeral on GH as a tribute to Rosalind Cash was beautifully done. And it was classy of GH to allow some of her non-GH friends (Esther Rolle, Lou Rawls, etc.) to be a part of it.

[OldGHFan]

I watched Lexie's funeral tribute today on DAYS and was impressed. On the other hand, I was underwhelmed by the funeral tribute to a quarter of a century long GH character (Robin Scorpio Drake). WTF? There were like 11 people there. No hospital personnel. Her father couldn't be there. It was a joke. If this was how FV and RC decided to honor GH history, they failed big time!

[Antoyne]

Victor JR. on OLTL...

[DRW50]

Best or worst?

[Antoyne]

Worst. It was garbage.