What storylines do you think soap operas would never do?

[Vanguardian]

This entire thread makes me long for someone to create a nighttime soap/drama/crime drama which steps outside of the box and tells many of the types of stories you all have posted. I love edgy material.

[Vanguardian]

Or Greg Vaughan! Or Shawn Christian! Or Ryan Paevey! Or Josh Morrow! The list goes on and on.

[Soapsuds]

Ryan Paevey yes...Josh Morrow...hell NO...I dont get the appeal with him....where is Alvin?? He cant stand him either...I think that is one thing we agree on.

[Gray Bunny]

I was just using an example, but if we wanna make actual requests, I vote for Shemar Moore please

[ellabelle]

What things did you hear??

[cassadine1991]

I remember hearing about actual nude scenes being filmed

[John]

Yes nudity on both AMC & OLTL. OLTL: The Open marriage with Rama & Patel was actually gonna be a story. Jeffrey King was gonna be Bisexual

[Auroraila]

Re: Child Molestation Stories

It's true that many soap characters were abused as children, there have been stories in this realm that have happened to teenaged characters, and mentions of rapist characters abusing children in their past. Re: Richard Fields/Bianca on AMC - I personally feel, while this was a partial exploration of a child-molestation story, it was pretty clear that Richard Fields didn’t manage to rape Bianca off-screen. It’s true TPTB would certainly not have shown the act happen on-screen, especially not on a daytime soap opera, but while they could have had this happen to Bianca off-screen, they would have outright said if something sexual did happen to Bianca to drive this point home because I believe a child-molestation story would have been ruminated on and explored (as this would have been significant even on HBO, not to mention a daytime program) instead of going in other story directions. I felt they showed us a sequence of events to show a juxtaposition between Erica testifying how Richard Fields was setting her up to rape her and him doing the same thing to Bianca in real time before she managed to escape his grasp, him tearing her dress when he tried to grab her back, and Kendall walked in and stopped it. He advanced on her and pinned her in a chair, yes, and this would be enough to traumatize anyone as it was clear what his intentions were but I felt the show was pretty clear in stopping short before the act happened when Bianca kicked him and got to the door just as somebody interrupted. This is just my interpretation

I believe this is as far as a soap will go with child-molestation stories. I think if a soap opera were to do a full present-time child-molestation story, they’d need to devote so much time to carefully writing it, portraying it, and analyzing it. However, I think the concept of molesting a child character is too brutal for a daytime show.

[BoldRestless]

Quinn and Bill did some BDSM stuff on B&B, but it was more played for laughs than anything.

That reminds me of a couple of other stories I always wanted to see:

-A love triangle that ends up in open relationship and navigating the drama and jealousy that comes with that. Like I could just see Steffy Forrester telling Liam she would be open to that rather than lose him to Hope, and Hope reluctantly agreeing.

-A storyline about what constitutes cheating. On soaps characters always kiss or have intercourse and get pregnant. No in between. A kiss is usually written off as nothing. What if a guy was getting sexual favors from a woman, just short of intercourse, and then he told his wife it was just a BJ so he didn't consider it cheating and she had to struggle whether to forgive him? Or a storyline about whether sexting and porn is considered cheating? (That Daniel story on Y&R sucked but it could be done well).

[SoapDope]

A storyline where the woman works and the man is a house husband and remains that way for years. Maybe for a plot twist, the house husband gets bored and starts prostituting himself out of the home while the wife is at work.

A teenager who beats up their parents on a regular basis.

A character with the disease Pica. They are always shown eating bizarre things from homes and businesses like drywall, flowers out of vases, couch cushions, drapes, etc.....

An majorly Obese character that is confined to bed and all the other characters are always dropping in for a visit.

[DeeeDee]

Michael & Sandra Nelson's Phyllis engaged in BDSM & leather during sex on Y&R.

[allmc2008]

I can kinda see that happen. My mother A friend of mine is just like that!

[John]

Loving did a molestation story with Lily Slayer (Jennifer Ashe) in 1983-84 and ATWT did one in 1989 with Angel Layne (Alice Haining)

[amybrickwallace]

How about a woman who is pregnant who actually has morning sickness? Food cravings? Swollen ankles? It would be so funny if this beautiful ingénue carrying Mr. So-and-So's child (honestly, who uses that phrase in real life?) was having a serious conversation and then without warning, runs off to throw up and the audience can actually hear it. (I don't need to SEE it, thank you very much.)

[Vanguardian]

What I think might not happen for a storyline but should? A double serial killer storyline. Both serial killers are women. Neither of the female killers are aware of each other. The cops think that only one serial killer is at work. The cops also think that the "one" serial killer is a man. The complicated story ensues.