Worst of soaps: 1950s to 1980s?

[ChitHappens]

I agree. We see a lot of things that are popular, but that does not mean it's quality or good. IMO, Kim crippled RH and it even got to the point to where she polluted the Ryan HH. They were twisting characters in knots to make Kimberly work - Jill, Seneca, Rae, Frank, Roger.

Kimberly weakened quite a few characters to the point of no recovery.

I liked KMG's Faith. She was my favorite, but I thought it was desperate to put Frank in the middle of the Coolridge sisters. That conflict was not needed. The merry-go-round with Jill and Frank was nauseating. The show began with this affair, and it should have remained as such. The only way to get Jill away from Frank was thru memory loss? Ugh!

[DRW50]

I agree. You could tell the show was terrified of actually putting Frank and Jill together long-term. The performances saved the Ken/Jill story for me, and I thought it was an interesting concept for an affair, but the whole thing also smacked of needing to break Jill and Frank up. If not for Nancy Addison they likely would have destroyed the character.

I enjoyed Faith as a drunk, but the constant bitterness and the history rewrites (Jill was NOT Mother Coleridge's favorite - she could barely stand to be in the same room as Jill) enraged me.

I guess this is more for the RH thread.

Let's just say if anyone ever watched 1981 RH with me, they'd need earplugs.

[ChitHappens]

Wow! Where do you guys get this information?!

[Ryan Chamberlain]

I think the writers drank the worm in the bottle of the bottle of tequila. (Watch two episodes of George Lopez and you'll see what I'm talking about. There was these episodes where George drank the worm and he had these weird mushroom samba trips. LMAO. )

[ellabelle]

That was 1999, not the 1950s - 1989s. That story could have been really fabulous too, but it veered into camp. The relationship with David made up for it though, at least for me.

[EricMontreal22]

(I kinda enjoyed the Phantom of Pine Valley.......)

[Pine Charles]

How about Barney the Clown on AMC?

[ellabelle]

God, Barney the Clown... IDK what they were thinking. Eric is alive, but he's a damn CLOWN? They cast an actor who looked to be at least 10-15 years younger than Fra Heflin - Eric looked more like Erica's potential suitor than her father. I assume someone thought it would be interesting to see Erica interact with her father now that she was a mother herself, which I think was a good idea in theory, but I disliked a lot about that story.

I realize the other one is propably an unpopular opinion, but I really loathed Jeremy the Monk. Pine Valley's idea of Jeremy's monastery in Tibet looked like someone dreamed it up on an acid trip, and I couldn't keep a straight face watching Jimmy Smits as Jeremy's spiritual leader. Plus the idea that Erica was involved in a chaste relationship with a celibate mercenary-turned-monk-turned-artist was just ridiculous. To me that story didn't get remotely interesting until Alex and Natalie Hunter got ivolved.

[RavenWhitney]

unfortunately, Edge of Night was unwatchable from the moment Slesar's stories stopped airing.

All of Texas was unbearable as was Lovers and Friends and For Richer for Poorer

The last three years of Love of Life was unbearable to watch.

[edgeofnik]

I lived in Chicago at the time, which shift the show to the morning and it was clear we were day behind. Based on other boards, mags at the time discovered that this was an attempt to actually save the show because major markets were ready to drop it in favor of syndicated programming. CBS offered to let them air at earlier time to keep up clearances.

[Khan]

And I think that's why they eventually wrote out Eric -- although, Agnes Nixon, and her view of Erica as someone eternally hungry for daddy's affections, probably had a lot to do with that decision as well. (IIRC, it was Maggie DePriest, and not Nixon, who wrote the "Barney the Clown" saga.)

[teplin]

The last six months of Texas (under Pam Long) was good, solid soap. But up until that point, yeah, it pretty much sucked. What a waste of Beverlee McKinsey!

I still maintain that Passions represents the nadir of the daytime genre.

[titan1978]

I often wonder if Monty/Marlands GH angered fans when they took over. It proved to be a hit, saved the show, but Steve and Audrey and Jessie became supporting players and a major section of the show was turned over to youngsters Laura, Scotty, and Bobbie. Plus the Quartermaines.

I think killing Leslie Webber off was a mistake.

Also the 70's on GH had major stories going on, and by 1981 almost all the actors were gone. Jeff Webber, Diana Taylor, her husband (peter?) Steven Lars. In clips I love Diana Taylor!

[DRW50]

Marland's GH still had Jessie, Steve, and Audrey in somewhat prominent roles. After he left, that changed.

[will81]

For me the change from the 70's to 80's was a bad period for many soaps. The first three years of the 80's and the last two of the 70's were bumpy.

Days - Lost its identity and struggled at least until 1981/1982

The Doctors - Was on decline and eventually cancelled

Another World - Was on decline by the end of the 70's, some say it recovered, others don't.

Texas - Was a failure and by the time it corrected itself it was too late and it was cancelled.

Y&R - struggled going to 1 hr until about 1982. There were some interesting plots, Derek trying to take over Chancellor (the first business oriented storyline on Y&R?) Kay throwing herself over board while on a cruise, Vanessa killing herself and pinning it on Laurie and Victor imprisoning Michael Scott in his dungeon.

Love of Life - Was cancelled

GH - This may have been at its most popular but I don't like that period after Marland left. Though I am partial to watching anything with Leslie Webber in it.

Edge - got rid of Slesar

OLTL - The introduction of the Buchanan's and putting Karen in some of the weirdest story-lines. Was this also the time of Pat's evil twin or something, I am sure that was 1979/1980.

ATWT - Seemed stale and out of date. Granted I have only seen a handful of episodes from that period.

Judging by comments from others Ryan's Hope wasn't fairing too well with the dawn of the new decade. That accounts for most of the soaps on air at the time, I don't know much about GL or SFT during that period.