Soap Cliches you wish would die

[Cheap21]

theres certainly enough overlap. Everything mention thus far in here, has been brought up there

[RomeAt50]

Grief sex is the worst. It is almost always completely contrived and unbelievable.

[Aback]

Oops double post.

[Eric83]

I still don't understand why EJ and Sami had sex when they thought Johnny died.

[NothinButAttitude]

Female soap characters using a baby to trap a man into a relationship/marriage.

Grief sex. When people are grieving, I doubt they're thinking about getting plowed.

Rapists becoming their victim's true love. Always hated this on soaps and the ONLY exception of this is Roger & Holly b/c Holly did love him before he raped her, and Nancy Curlee did a d*mn good job in the latter years making the rape be a huge obstacle in keeping these two a part.

Soap characters not using condoms.

[chicklitsandfantasies]

I hate back from the dead stories. I haven't seen one in several years that's been well told and all they end up doing is killing off whatever feelings I had for the character before they died. Its a lazy ass plot point for shock factor at this point.

[Juliajms]

I've always been annoyed by the yelling at God in a chapel scenes or chapel scenes generally really.

Also, the soap slap can go. I know a lot of people like them, but it's so inappropriate to haul off a hit someone. It makes soaps look dated and out of touch. I especially dislike it when a woman slaps a man. Can you imagine the outrage if some male character hauled off and slapped a woman?

[Gray Bunny]

All-too-convenient circumstances. This is something that will never go away and has only gotten worse, especially on a show like DAYS, where the same sets are used over and over so characters are conveniently bumping into one another (or eavesdropping on one another) all the frickin' time. Salem has an International Airport, so it can't be THAT small. Yet, characters are always running into each other at the same park bench, same coffee shop, pub, etc. etc.

[Faulkner]

I remember when Reese slapped Alan Quartermaine on GH, and Alan slapped her right back. Of course, Alan was written as well on the path to self-destruction at that point. But I wonder what people thought of that.

[chicklitsandfantasies]

I too hate the chapel scenes. All of a sudden we're supposed to believe these people are Christians when they don't even go to church for Easter or Christmas.

The soap slap can go mostly because they either still tape it so it looks very 80s and fake as hell or or the slap goes on one cheek and someone grabs the other.

[beebs]

Baby switching. Unless you're Sheila Carter and you work at the damned hospital, how are you gonna get away with that?

And yes, back from the dead. Unless I see you drive off into the sunset with everyone in town convinced you're a goner, I'm sorry, the shock value of being "soap dead" is long gone. It's SUCH a cliche and it's the one everyone thinks of when they think of soap opera that it's to the point where death holds ZERO weight anymore.

We have DNA now, you can't fool people that easily anymore, why are soaps so quick to use fake deaths so much?

[doolfan]

One thing that annoys me is these same stories done on daytime are copied on primetime and when its done on primetime critics just praise it and call it good storytelling. A lot of times I can't watch certain episodes of a primetime show because the story will be something already beat to death in daytime before. This isn't really a cliche its more of a pet peeve but my cliche would be who's the daddy. That has played itself out! Those stories became uncool around 1998. Enough with those!

[Gray Bunny]

Ironically, soap operas became uncool in 1998 too.

[doolfan]

Lol well i'd say right about the time JER left DAYS and the ratings began declining is when they started to become uncool. Then I really realised it in 1999 when NBC dumped Another World which shocked everyone. Not as much as CBS dumping 72 year old Guiding Light but still at the time it was shocking.

[doolfan]

OMG another cliche is the awful scenes that play out at the hospital sets after a character gets hurt and they must be saved. They are always bad. Plus do we really need the episode to end with them crashing? We know they are going to live so the hospital scenes aren't even suspenseful. Also we don't need characters to visit and give a sad speech to every character hurt or shot or whatever.