The Loved and the Loathed

[vetsoapfan]

It has been quite interesting for me over the years, to read viewers' commentary on what constitutes a great (or not-so-great) soap opera story. There is a wide variance of opinion, with fans being quite passionate about what storylines have been the very best of the genre, and what ones have been the dregs.

 

Sometimes, thoughts expressed on the internet just boggle my mind ("Old people like Bob and Kim and Lisa and Nancy are boring! Get rid of them! I want to see more Brad and Katie and Janet!"), while at other times, my opinions align perfectly with the commentators', but hey: diversity is the spice of life.

 

With the understanding that this is purely based on personal opinion, what would you deem to be the very best stories from daytime's past; the stories that you absolutely loved and which kept you enthralled? What stories did you loathe with every fiber of your being (LOL), perhaps even to the point of abandoning a once-beloved series because of them?

 

Let's go!

 

The Loved:

 

1. The Alice/Steven/Rachel triangle, ANOTHER WORLD

2. Jonah Lockwood (Keith Whitney) terrorizes Monticello, THE EDGE OF NIGHT

3. Viki Riley's murder trial, ONE LIFE TO LIVE

4. Roger and Holly's tortured relationship, THE GUIDING LIGHT

5. The Leslie/Brad/Lorie triangle, THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS

6. Kim's Stalker, AS THE WORLD TURNS

7. The Bill/Laura/Mickey triangle, DAYS OF OUR LIVES

8. Chris and Snapper's romance, THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS

9. Stephanie Martin targets Nicole Travis, THE EDGE OF NIGHT

10. Meta Bauer's murder trial, THE GUIDING LIGHT

11. BJ's heart, GENERAL HOSPITAL

12. Barnabas Collins returns to Collinwood, DARK SHADOWS

13. Susan Martin is "raped" (but not really), DAYS OF OUR LIVES

14. Carla Gray passes for white, ONE LIFE TO LIVE

15. Bill and Bert's troubled marriage, THE GUIDING LIGHT

 

The Loathed:

 

1. The Ice Princess, GENERAL HOSPITAL 

2. Marlena's Possession, DAYS OF OUR LIVES

3. The Reva Chronicles (the clone, the time traveler, the Amish amnesiac, the San Cristobelian Queen, the illegal-immigrant savior, the blind, etc.), THE GUIDING LIGHT

4. Mr. Big, AS THE WORLD TURNS

5. Eterna, ONE LIFE TO LIVE

6. Ivan Kipling and the Brain Implants, ONE LIFE TO LIVE

7. Melaswen, DAYS OF OUR LIVES

8. Casey the Space Alien, GENERAL HOSPITAL

9. The Dreaming Death, THE GUIDING LIGHT

10. David Gray, GENERAL HOSPITAL

11. Viki in the Old West, ONE LIFE TO LIVE

12. Libidizone, ALL MY CHILDREN

13. The Oakdale Ladies and the Aging Spa, AS THE WORLD TURNS

14. Delia and the Gorilla, RYAN'S HOPE

15. Luke Spencer's Psychic Powers, GENERAL HOSPITAL

 

[NothinButAttitude]

Well I started watching soaps in the 90s as a wee child and thanks to YouTube, I've seen older stories so my list will be a mixture of modern and old (too) in no particular order: 

 

Loved:

• Who shot Roger? (Guiding Light) 
• Tuvia v. Saffra (Young and the Restless) 
• David Grant on the run (Guiding Light) 
• Jake & Spencer's takeover of Cory Publishing (Another World) 
• Sheila Carter saga (Young and the Restless & Bold and the Beautiful)
• BeLieF formula (Bold and the Beautiful) 
• Keesha/Nathan's affair (Young and the Restless) 
• Quint & Nola's search for the Golden Temple (Guiding Light) 
• Lorna's rape (Another World)
• Michelle marries into the mob (Guiding Light)
• Reva 'kills' Annie's baby (Guiding Light) 
• Doug Cummings saga (As the World Turns) 
• Frannie meets Sabrina in Oxford (As the World Turns) 
• James Stenbeck return (the FIRST one) (As the World Turns) 
• Roger and Holly's rape (Guiding Light) 
• Who shot Grant? (Another World) 

 

Hated: 

• Satin Slayer (All My Children) 
• Text Message Killer (General Hospital) 
• A pissed Jack marries                      (Julia #2, Katie, Janet...) (As the World Turns) 
• Noah marries Ameera (As the World Turns)
• Who killed Sofie Duran? (As the World Turns) 
• Jessica & Margo both screw Doc Reese (As the World Turns) 
• Will the 'bad seed' (As the World Turns)
• Kevin the thieving chipmunk (Young and the Restless) 
• Sticky fingers Sharon (Young and the Restless) 
• Phelia aka Shelia as Phyllis (Young and the Restless) 
• Sharon switches Summer's DNA (Young and the Restless)
• Victor marries Sharon (Young and the Restless) 
• Adam gaslights Ashley & steal Sharon's baby (Young and the Restless) 
• Adam kills Delia (Young and the Restless) 
• Victoria/Billy romance (Young and the Restless) 
• Cassie marries Josh (Guiding Light)
• Otalia (Guiding Light) 
• Who shot Phillip? (Guiding Light)
• Maryanne Caruthers (Guiding Light) 
• Bianca/Reese/Zach/Kendall quad (All My Children) 
• Prom Night the Musical (One Life to Live) 
• Adam the rapist (As the World Turns) 
• Lizzie Borden Nikki Newman kills again (Young and the Restless) 
• Hope/Liam/Steffy/Ivy/Wyatt incestuous love story (Bold and the Beautiful)
• Taylor carries Brooke's egg (Bold and the Beautiful) 
• Psycho Pam v. Donna (Bold and the Beautiful) 

[vetsoapfan]

I hated most of the stories you hated, and enjoyed a number of the ones you loved.

 

If other posters respond, it will be interesting to see if any plots are universally applauded (like the Roger/Holly rape saga and the Doug Cummings/Kim Hughes drama), or universally hated, such as the Maryanne Carruthers drivel (which I also hated).

[DRW50]

I'm a negative and guarded person so I rarely "love" stories, but I'll try. 

 

Loved:

 

Nell Beaulac's arrival, aneurysm, reunion with Seneca, death - RH

 

Baby Edmund's death/Jill's pill addiction - RH 

 

Siobhan/Jack anguished and destructive love  - RH 

 

Daniel's cot death/baby switch - Emmerdale 

 

Shane Doyle's murder coverup - Emmerdale

 

Donna's return and death - Emmerdale 

 

Kathy's rape - Eastenders (the best rape story ever on a soap opera) 

 

Hassan Osman's cot death - Eastenders

 

Megan's slow-building mother-daughter relationship with Viki - OLTL 

 

Megan/Max/Gabrielle triangle - OLTL 

 

Margo pulling Casey's plug and going on trial - ATWT

 

Lisa suing John for malpractice - ATWT (Marland-esque, but more Marland than Marland, because it went further than he ever would taken it) 

 

Sierra/Craig/Ellie triangle - ATWT

 

Dream curse - Dark Shadows (not always for the right reasons!)

 

Phoenix story #1 - Dark Shadows 

 

Quentin and Beth haunt Collinwood - Dark Shadows 

 

Janice Frame's spiral into hellish madness - AW (Christine Jones giving some of the best performances I have ever seen on television)

 

Felicia's alcoholism - AW 

 

Cass/Kathleen love story - AW 

 

Mansion of the Damned - EON 

 

Stuart/Marian finding love - AMC 

 

Natalie's rape - AMC 

 

Cindy's AIDS - AMC 

 

Kevin's reparative therapy - AMC

 

Reva's "death" - GL 

 

Holly's rape - GL 

 

Eve's illness and death - GL 

 

Veronica Landers Gone Wild - Y&R 

[NothinButAttitude]

Ooo! I forgot to add those to my love list too.

 

Felicia's alcoholism still remains to be the only alcoholism story I've enjoyed of all my soap viewership. Linda Dano needs to give a class to all actors how to act drunk b/c no one does it better, not even some of the actors in primetime.

 

Loved Veronica Landers too b/c I was rooting for her. I actually enjoyed when she shot Nikki's ass.  Nikki was such as nasty bitch to her when she pretending to be Sarah the maid. 

 

Lisa suing John was one of the last great stories post-Marland. I enjoyed John faking he loved Lisa only to embarrass her in front of all of Oakdale. 

 

I agree that Daniel's cot death was stellar b/c of Charlotte Bellamy and John Middleton. Sucks that dynamic duo is gonna be busted up in about a year's time. Donna's death was great too. I just hate the payoff with Ross immediately being tossed into that skeezer's (Debbie) orbit. 

[DRW50]

Hated: 

 

Stacey blackmails Donna into giving up custody of her son Mikey - AW

 

Ben being a serial killer because he was raped as a child - GL

 

Dumbass Faith being shocked that a man who had been involved with her sister for a decade left her because of feelings for her sister, and verbally abusing her sister, dismissing her (she was adopted by the family) as a "thing" who had crawled into their home as a child - RH

 

Phil's verbal and physical abuse of his wife and his son, with viewers encouraged to laugh and cheer - Eastenders

 

Holden takes custody of his son from Iva, then dumps his son off on other people over and over, even spending far more time with his girlfriend's child than with his own son, to the point where Holden's mother had to call his deadbeat ass out) - ATWT

 

(...let me sum my feelings on the above five up - HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE RAGE RAGE RAGE RAGE RAGE RAGE RAGE)

 

Anything with Tess - OLTL 

 

Ford rapes Jessica out of love - OLTL 

 

"Todd" rapes Marty out of love - OLTL 

 

Hayley's rape - AMC (I was traumatized by this story - I'm not kidding)

 

Kit Fisher's rape - AMC

 

The revisitation of Laura's rape - GH (shameful shameful shameful)

 

Alicia's rape - Emmerdale (for the godawful, disgusting aftermath)

 

Linda's rape - Eastenders (unforgiveable) 

 

Carla's rape - Corrie 

 

(sense a pattern here?)

 

Maeve bankrupting Delia out of spite - RH 

 

Faith and Roger bankrupting Delia - RH 

 

Roger's endless moral lectures to Delia - RH (I HATED that fuc!er)

 

Kimberly. Just...Kimberly. - RH 

 

Maureen's death - GL 

 

Lonatrat/gaslighting Roger - GL (absolute trash...I felt dirty watching this) 

 

Kevin/Molly affair - Corrie 

 

Any Social Issue Written By Bradley Bell - B&B 

 

 

This cracked me up. I've lost track of how many times with her.

 

I'd blocked out some of those you mentioned, like that Doc Reese trash, and Bianca/Reese/Zach/Kendall (which was AWFUL). What I realize when I see your list is how many awful stories I failed to mention because of lack of emotional reaction. I'm just so used to garbage on soaps the last 20 years. How sad.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Ugh. I hated both of these stories. Roger being drugged so that Dinah could be with Hart, and Kevin screwing that dud, Molly.  

[Cheap21]

I thought this was the name of some new web soap or something. Thread sounds like the title of a Tyler Perry production

[DRW50]

It was so awful. Both were (GL was nearly canceled after that trash). Corrie's was so bad Vicky Binns quit the show and Michael le Vell nearly did. Shameful. I still remember Kevin saying "I want to jump your bones." Why why why 

[NothinButAttitude]

I was glad Molly left b/c I never liked that bitch. Tyrone always gets stuck with the duds. His only good pairing was with Maria.

[Soapsuds]

Ha…he does it only to get publicity for the show and he actually thinks he is good at writing them. He can't write regular stories…repeats Liam and the flavor of the month girlfriend theme. He shouldn't do any more SI story lines….because he is awful with them.

[juniorz1]

Loved-

Kirk/Eden/Cruz/Santana quad, Santa Barbara

Eden/Cruz/Victoria triangle/KatieTimmons' death, Santa Barbara

Gina and the Tape  (Gina blackmails the Capwells with the proof that Kelly only accidentally killed Dylan), Santa Barbara

Marlena/John/Kristen, DAYS

 

The Plane Crash on Stefano's Island, DAYS

The Salem Slasher, DAYS

Who Shot Jake McKinnon?, AW

The Cory Publishing Takeover, AW

Frankie/Cass/Kathleen, AW

Victor's "Death"/Meeting Hope in Kansas, Y&R

Who Shot Victor? (90s version), Y&R

Kay vs Jill- especially the controversy over Philip's  will in the 90s, Y&R

Adam Causes the Plane Crash, AMC

Arlene/Alec/Hayley/Mateo, AMC

The Gwen/Jennifer Baby Switch, ATWT

Rose's Introduction/Katie's Comeuppance, ATWT

Barbara & Henry's Love Story, ATWT

Brooke & BeLief, B&B

Brooke & Thorne's Love Story, B&B

Marty's Gang Rape and The Trial, OLTL

[DRW50]

Great picks juniorz. Always glad to see more SB stories chosen. 

[vetsoapfan]

So, how many people has Nikki "offed" at this point? I can think of three. Are there more than that?

 

Both of you have been dredging up many memories for me of both good and bad stories. I did not mention some of the good ones simply due to space restraints, and as you say, DW50, some of the horrible stories don't even merit a comment because after a certain point, you just don't care enough about the garbage to complain about its smell.

[DRW50]

I know her father, the kid she killed as a child, and Diane. I thought there was one more. 

 

I'd love to see more of your picks, especially as I have not seen a lot of that material. I know mine took up too much space, but I figured why not. 

 

Another I meant to put on the list, even though I don't think fans liked it that much and it did Jill no favors as a character, was the Ken George Jones/Jill/Frank story on RH. It's so so late '70s/early '80s, as Jill goes on and on about "no commitments" and brazenly asserts her right to have an emotional affair with a dying Ken while still in her heart loving Frank (even if she didn't want to marry him), but Nancy Addison gives an absolutely impeccable performance, and as much of a cliche as he was, I really liked Ken - Trent Jones did a great job. (I even named a Youtube channel after Ken...). The story had a beginning, middle and end that all made sense and felt fresh and had an impact - something that was not happening elsewhere on RH by that point.