Greatest Soap Cop-Out's.

[Winchester91]

I could think of a few times that there were legitimately good stories that ended up failing not for being too over-the-top or unrealistic, but not maximising the drama when it could have.

 

*DAYS: Theresa and JJ should have been explored further. Pairing her with Brady and de-fanging her was a waste of Jen Lilley's talents. 

*AMC: Michael Cambias being murdered by Bianca out of self-defense when it should have been Kendall as the one who put the creep away. That could have been a way to finally bring closure to the story started by SMG back in the mid-90s. It would have been poetic justice for her to, in a way, break the cycle of sexual abuse in the Kane family.

*OLTL: Killing off Stacy Morasco. She was just starting to become interesting with the addition of her BFF Kim and the incoming fight for Sierra Rose v. Kish. As much as I prefer Farah Fath as a person compared to the glass-crushing CH, I liked what Stacy brought to the show vis-à-vis Gigi. Had she stayed a bit longer, I could have seen a great triangle with Fake Aubrey and Cutter.  

*OLTL again: Victor Lord coming back from the dead, thus erasing a core part of what made Dorian, Dorian. 

 

[NothinButAttitude]

- Quinn & Deacon. B&B shot themselves in the foot by nixing this pairing prematurely and getting rid of Deacon altogether. These two had stellar chemistry, and it would've been interesting to see Quinn and Deacon scheme to take down the Forresters and Spencers. IMO, I think Deacon pushing Quinn on Eric in an attempt to pilfer money from him would've been more interesting of a story than having her and Ridge lust after each other. 

 

- Maya's transgender story. Honestly, I think that Brad Bell and B&B did a total disservice to the LGBTQ community. He practically used us (as I'm part of the community)  for a ratings spike and dropped it quickly without exploring all it could've offered. Where was the backlash from Maya coming out? I hate how they kept it PC and safe and Maya didn't endure opposition. Bill Spencer should've been that opposition until he slowly grew to accept Maya. This story should've been a true teaching moment for viewers and it wasn't. He's an idiot of nixing this arc. 

 

- Thomas/Caroline/Sasha triangle. This could've been B&B's modern day Brooke/Caroline/Ridge triangle, as Sasha was the oversexed vixen from the wrong side of the tracks much like Brooke. Now Caroline was practically written off. The writing is on the wall with Sasha, and it only due time before she's gone. Now Thomas has forgotten both women and has now professed his loved for a retcon, poor man's version of Sally Spectra. 

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- We were arguing about this a few weeks ago in the Y&R thread, but the show nixing the Jill/Hillary rivalry. They barely even interact now. Hillary should be made a modern day Jill, and should be driving Jill mad with all her social climbing, scandalous antics. 

 

- Going back, I'd say ATWT for not exploring Luke and Kevin at the height of that serial killer arc. There was just too much sexual tension between those 2 that it bugged me how Kevin was written off, then later brought back for stupid a** college campaign rigging story. They should've had Kevin emerge as bisexual and made him an interloper to Luke/Noah. 

[ghfan89]

Anytime a rapist or murderer runs around free just cause TPTB want to keep the actor around.

[edgeofnik]

DAYS and the wretched MALESWEN. Except for Marlena and Caroline, all those characters could've stayed dead. The original serial killer storyline was a ratings winner and was gaining a lot of attention in MSM.

 

AMC - Having Michael rape Bianca to give her a child. It was disgusting to do this a beloved character and an insult to acceptance. That made me turn off AMC for good. I watched two episodes of revival. 

 

B&B- Easily Maya for the reasons @Nothin'ButAttitude mentioned and more. B&B finally had a diverse lead actor. Brad thinks little of his audience. We wanted to see Rick struggle with this. And, no, not everyone - even in LA - would accept it. He stripped away all the drama and ruined the years of work it took to finally give Maya a voice. Two years later and what a waste. 

 

Y&R - P3 faking his death because he was gay and thought his family aka his mother, who is in the cosmetics industry, would reject the product of her great love. Ridiculous! Cane as Jill's son actually worked so well the show has gone to illogical extremes to keep DG/JW working together. If there's one genetic story I wish Sally would undo, it's that - not Lauren/Jill as hinted in her interview. 

[Cheap21]

AMC

When Hayley had her personality disorder where she thought she was Arlene, all she did was go down to bars, dress sexy and act rowdy. They should have had her drinking and screwing around bc thats what Arlene would have done. They played it way too safe so that there would be no longerm implications from that plot

 

how is that a copout of anythnig. Seems like the oopposite as that was anything but playing it safe and they got a good amount of drama and longterm repercussions from that

 

IA with the Days one =and I'll add the current one used to get Hope out of jail for murdering Stefano

[DRW50]

 

I didn't have a huge problem believing that Philip would assume they would reject him, as he was clearly self-loathing from what he said and he also had a very fraught relationship with his mother. The industry also fetishizes gay men rather and in that era in particular had its share of homophobia in part due to the AIDS crisis. And Jill, especially the Jill of the '80s, would be the type to enjoy laughing with a gay man at a party but turn pale when told her son is gay. The problem is there was no exploration of this. They all forgave him in one episode. It was clearly done just so that MAB could pat herself on the back.

[Dr Neil Curtis]

Days - making both Isaac (Zack) & Ciara Bo's children. I think so much more story could have been told if Zack was Stefano's or John's and Ciara was Patrick's. 

 

Also another one was making those twins, Rex & Cassie, Kate & Roman's children. With the timeline given, they should have been Marlena and Orpheus' and they could have played a major part in his return. 

[DeeeDee]

ATWT - MARSHALL TRAVERS, ruining Isaac & Bonnie, ruining Simon & Katie and Mike & Katie, ruining Jade, writing out Jessica, Emma, John & The Stewarts 

 

AMC - Everything with the Hubbards after Jessica & Angie's wedding, not recasting Randi, not having Brot & Natalie get married, Dmitri not returning, ruining Reggie & Dani, marginalizing the Fryes, ruining Mimi, writing off Bobby & Anita, having Bianca betray Kendall 

 

OLTL - ruining Destiny & Matthew, not recasting Destiny, ruining Cristian/Layla/Oliver/Kyle, pairing Jessica & Ford, writing out Brody & Markko, ruining Ross & Eli, killing off Gabrielle & Keri, writing off RJ, writing off Marcie & Michael, killing off Al & Jared, ruining Viki & Charlie, ruining Jessica & Brody, killing off Talia, writing off Rachel & Schuyler

 

B&B - Killing off Becky & Beth, writing out Kristen, Tony, Felicia, Mark, Bridget & The Spectras, not pairing Sally & Massimo, writing out Marcus, Dayzee & Justin

 

Y&R - Ashley not being John's child, Lily not being Neil's child, The Barber rape cycle, DIANE, killing off Rex, LEANNA, writing out Kyle, ruining Mac & Billy for Chloe, not continuing Nick/Sharon/Tony/Grace, CASSANDRA, ruining Katherine & Arthur and Jill & Ji Min, not continuing Victoria & Michael, ANDY, not pairing Neil & Nikki, not continuing Neil & Ashley, allowing the Williams family to die/disappear, SCOTT, writing off the Voilens, not recasting Tucker, not pairing John & Mamie, writing out Rianna, killing off Nathan, not pairing Nikki & Bobby, writing out Walter & Lillie Belle, ruining Traci & Steve, killing off Hope, Brad, Skye, Colleen & Jana, writing out Yolanda, Ana, Sophia, Leslie, Roxy, Tyler & Mason, ruining Adam & Patty, writing out Fred & Anita, not continuing Victoria/Billy/Mackenzie/JT, writing out Dina, not continuing Nikki & Paul, writing out Nina & Chance, ruining Kate, making Danny, Paul & Jack deadbeat dads, not pairing Jill & Malcolm or Jill & Ryan, writing out Olivia & Nate, getting rid of Bobby & Larry, ruining Raul & Brittany 

GH - Killing off The Quartermaines

 

Port Charles - Ruining Jamal & Alison, marginalizing Gabriela & Chris

[DRW50]

 

It's so hideous when written out this way, isn't it? 

 

If not for some of the fans here I would not have even been able to stomach as much of the last years of OLTL as I did.

[DeeeDee]

I loved that brief era before the Great Minority Purge.

 

I had issues with some of the writing and characterization at that time but it was the first time (in a long time) that OLTL felt like a genuine community.

[DRW50]

 

The writing was definitely a struggle but I agree about the community aspect and the show moving back to what it had been in some of its best years - being about friendship groups and other side of the tracks banding together. So of course they literally toss out anyone who isn't white and straight and then go and bitch about them to the press. I usually didn't get that hurt feeling from ABC soaps as my emotional investment was in P&G soaps, but that really did feel like a punch to the gut and a very direct message to a certain segment of their fanbase to GTFO.

[DRW50]

Any time a soap character becomes a psycho because their father or mother or another relative was a psycho. The one that jumps to mind first was that hambone Ricky on Y&R, who had to be nuts because Isabella was nuts. 

[Markjeh]

 

I shipped Kevin so hard omg. The actors of Luke and Kevin had so much chemistry.

[SoapDope]

What I have read and heard that Days didn't pursue David and Valerie back in the 70's after viewer backlash.

 

Speaking of Valerie, what ever happened to that spoiler a few months ago about her returning to the show ? Nothing ever came of it. Tina Andrews who played the role originally said she would love to return. There was speculation that Ted Corday wants a younger actress in the role. Richard Guthrie (David) passed away many years ago, but maybe Greg Marx would reprise the role. 

 

 

I guess I made a fool out of myself. I stopped watching Days last year and didn't realize Valerie was back on the show.....LOL

[NothinButAttitude]

 

I loathed this story with the fiery passion of 1000 suns. Ricky would've been such a better character had they just had him on as a pain in the ass to Paul/Cricket, not a damn psycho. Such a missed opportunity. What this show has done with Paul and all his kids (including Dylan) has been criminal. 

 

Speaking of YR, another story I wanna add to this list is the weird a** ending of Diane's death via Kyle and Nikki. I thought it was so stupid how the show dropped Kyle's frustration with Nikki getting off, and him immediately growing to accept her. Umm no. What child would be able to be in the same room with someone that killed their primary parent? No one. Kyle should've never liked Nikki again, and it should've been used to fuel his own hatred for the Newmans. It would've been so much more interesting to see Kyle's hatred for Nikki manifest into him doing dastardly deeds like using Summer to stick it to Nikki or targeting Noah. Instead, Kyle would go on to be a talk-to, pine after Summer, and immediately be written off under multiple decent actors. 

 

I think Y&R copped out on the potential that was Austin and Luca, Summer's other love interests. Tying Austin to lame ass Avery's background was the stupidest crap ever. Had this show used its history accordingly, Austin should've been tied to the cult and should've been trying recruit Summer, who was at an all-time low at that point. Once that story cleared up, Austin went on to have this weird affair with Abby that came out of left field when it should've been Mariah, as they had tension. Killing off Austin was just stupid & done too prematurely. Same with writing off Luca too. The entire Santori family story could've been thoroughly explore, but Y&R copped out and decided to rest on their laurels again.