ALL: Most unforgivable act of each soap

[All My Shadows]

What would you say is the most unforgivable thing each soap has done as far as storylines, BTS, character development, etc? Feel free to elaborate.

Here are some of my mine:

AMC: The Unabortion

ATWT: Keeping Lisa firmly on the backburner for the last 10 years

OLTL: Constantly letting go characters of diverse backgrounds in the last 10 years (and earlier)

Y&R: Killing off Liz Foster

[marceline]

GL:

Killing Maureen Bauer

Killing Ross Marler offscreen

Everything around the treatment of Michael Zaslow after he got sick

OLTL:

Sending RJ away with a [!@#$%^&*] note.

Evangeline's exit

Making DID an inherited condition by giving it to both Megan and Jessica.

AMC:

Making Greenlee Jack's daughter and ignoring Lily and Reggie, the two kids he chose to adopt.

Wiping out the Frye family

Stuart's murder

Janet's murder of Trevor

Saying that Jesse Hubbard abandoned his family only to have one a year or two later.

Bringing on Damon as Tad and Hilary's son but not Hilary

[amybrickwallace]

SB: Desecrating the Eden/Cruz relationship in 1991. Yes, I realize that Marcy Walker chose to leave the show and give primetime a shot, but the way they wrote her off was unforgivable. She should have just been pronounced dead after falling off the cliff - and then she would be found alive and well, and reconciled with Cruz once the show was cancelled. Yet, according to A Martinez in a Brandon's Buzz interview, he and Marcy were not even asked to return for the finale. He said he would have been back in a heartbeat (not sure about MW).

Instead, we got Eden mailing Cruz divorce papers, and then he hooked up with her own sister, Kelly, soon after. After all Eden and Cruz had gone through together (presumed death, paralysis, loveless marriages to other people, rape, their baby's kidnapping, etc.), they NEVER would have given each other up. Never, ever would and should that crap ever have gotten past the writers' room, much less on the air!!

[cassadine1991]

Y&R: Axing the Bill Bell legacy regime and replacing it

GH: The systematic destruction of the show's heart and soul the past 10-15 years

OLTL: Same with GH, but adding the lack of diversity that was driven away

AMC: Keeping Agnes Nixon out of the writers room, also same stuff as AMC and OLTL

GL: Firing Ellen Parker and later Michael Zaslow

[NothinButAttitude]

I think for ALL soaps, I think an unforgivable act has been criminally edging out core families that the audience is heavily invested in: The Bauers (GL), The Hughes (ATWT), The Woleks (OLTL), The Tylers (AMC), The Matthews (AW), The Brooks & The Fosters (Y&R), The Hardy/Webbers & The Qs (GH). This along with backburning veteran characters.

AW:

Brutually murdering Frankie in a pointless story

Killing off Ryan

Getting rid of Iris

GL:

Allowing Bev McKinsey to slip from their grip

Undoing Amanda Spaulding's paternity

Making Holly the 'Nursery Rhyme Stalker'

ATWT:

Turning Craig into a sociopath and destroying all his relationships (i.e. Lily, Lucinda, Margo....)

Getting rid of Andy Dixon, who should've been a leading man in the show's final years

Not giving Helen Wagner (Nancy) a proper farewell.

Writing off Larry Bryggman (John) in the early '00s.

Y&R:

Killing Cassie (Yes, I said it), Ricky, Dru, and Diane

Slaughtering the Abbott family (Colleen, John, Brad)

OLTL:

Creating Natalie and undoing Jessica's paternity

Giving Jess DID

Glamorizing Todd

AMC:

Killing Stuart

Undoing ALL those deaths at the end

GH:

Killing off the Qs.

Allowing Sonny to eat the freaking show.

Destroying Luke Spencer as a character--making him a baby killer, a lush, and a pig.

DAYS:

Underusing Lucas

Killing Jack

Making Daniel the center of the show

Tying Melanie to Maggie and Carly

Destroying the beloved Carly and making her a coke head

[ellabelle]

AMC:

Canceling the show

Pushing Agnes out

Letting Megan McTavish stay on as long as she did in the 2000s

Brian Frons

Charles Pratt

The unabortion

Killing Stuart - not sure why they couldn't write off Stuart and Marion if David Canary found dual roles too taxing.

Bringing back multiple 'dead' people in 2011 - say Zach faked his death to hide from the mob and protect Kendall and the boys and you could still realistically bring him back, but Dixie and Stuart died on-screen, and they should have stayed dead.

Project Orpheus - I'm all for secret science projects but this was so poorly thought out.

[P.J.]

IA, and especially with the first one, or in general, most of Sheffer and Goutman's bastardization of established characters to fit plot. Whether it was rewriting Lyla as some negligent mother to her brat Katie, or the so-called rebooting of Craig into a lousy, egomaniacal asshat with a God complex, Dusty being little better than a thug, Paul being smug and dark....the list goes on and on.

ATWT---I think they really crossed a line in The Spa from Hell storyline---not as much with the actual spa or even the goofy "aging" crap Carly, Rose and Emily were supposed to be experimented on. (granted, ATWT was not known for veering into more sci-fi elements) It was the aftermath, with Julia raping Jack and then nearly killing him, Hal's being "programmed" by Stenbeck, Babs' part in the kidnapping and eventually Paul faking his death and bringing him back as Howarth. That entire spring was very dark with all that going on and Jake's death. I can't comprehend Goutman (or whoever) listening to Sheffer pitch that story and thinking that rip off of Misery with Jack and Julia was going to fly with the viewership, with that outcome.

[soapsnstuds]

The only thing that I really got super mad about in all my years of watching soaps was in 2009 on Young and the Restless when Phillip came back from the dead and revealed that the reason he faked his death twenty years earlier was to spare his loved ones from never having to learn he was gay.

To this day, I still can't believe that story line really happened.

[NothinButAttitude]

Yes! ATWT did get so dark then. Jake dying was pointless and it pissed me off. He actually fit perfectly into the show. I loved his relationship with Molly, his friendship with various men of Oakdale, and his antics with Emily. Jake could've flourished in the long haul.

[cassadine1991]

And he was the last connection to Another World

[Khan]

And really, in the end, what purpose did bringing him back at all serve? You didn't need Phillip alive in order to prove Cane wasn't Jill's son.

[reallyhateskateonlost]

AMC: Making Babe Carey David Hayward's daughter.

OLTL Making David Vicker's Bo Buchanan's son. Having RH back as Todd.

ATWT went downhill after they killed off Jake from AW.

[YRBB]

Y&R

Katherine & Jill are mother and daughter.

Changing the tone, pace, style, lighting, directing.

Kevin's existence beyond his initial statutory rape storyline.

Killing off John

Pheila.

Victor and Sabrina.

Ashley, the doctor & the fireplace.

Destroying Sharon, Adam, Victor, among others.

Phillip is back from the dead

Countless Sheila/Meila/Teila/Keila nonsense

Ruining the awesome story potential of Phillip III

Killing off Drucilla, Brad, Colleen, Diane, Ricky, Liz

And, a total personal thing, but I hated that they burned down Gina's. I still miss it to this day. And the Newman ranch.

[YRBB]

B&B

Ridge is Massimo's son

Insane focus on the Marones

Brooke & Deacon sleeping together (liked the initial storyline but it started a trend regarding Brooke I could do without).

Darla's death (although it did provide good story)

Constantine

This will sound a little weird but... allowing Stephanie's haircut & shoddy wardrobe. I understand the BTS reason for it completely but, in terms of the character, it seemed to signify the complete and total shift of classy, icy social queen matriarch Stephanie into butch lesbian with abusive behavior, both character and look-wise.

[Vee]

Stephanie dressed like Chairman Mao (or Kim Jong-un). Let's just be real.