Shocking Deaths and Surprises

[amybrickwallace]

Maybe he learned how to be sadistic with his characters from Irna Phillips. 😉

[j swift]

Was Susan S-H's mother on the writing staff of Days during that time because that would be odd; to say the least.

 

A couple of others:

I was shocked by Nicole's death on Edge of Night, she was such a central character that I was shocked when she was knocked off for good.

 

The reveal that OG Silver Kane wasn't really Silver and was conning Erica coupled with the Lucy Coe reveal surprised me.

 

The murder on AW during Felicia's birthday party and the reveal of Nicole Love as the killer was also a shock.  I also recall being shook by the reveal of Port Charles's Julie and Loving's Gwyneth as serial killers. 

[amybrickwallace]

I think Bill Bell wrote that story. SSH's mom didn't become the HW until 1979 or 1980.

[vetsoapfan]

 

 

I really wonder why Bell killed off Jennifer Brooks. And on her 30th wedding anniversary, no less. (Talk about sadistic!) As the matriarch of the principle family (and with four young daughters to herd), Jennifer could have remained on the canvas for many more years. Dorothy Green admitted that it was not her choice to leave, and when asked about it, Bell claimed that he killed off Jennifer in order to open up new storylines for Stuart. I found that excuse improbable. He would not have killed off Alice Horton, for example, to provide her husband Tom with new plot fodder. Weird.

 

Anyway, here we are discussing episodes from  40 years ago, proving just how memorable they were. Four decades from now, will any be looking back fondly on Sonny and the mob stories on GH?

 

Addie was a middle-aged woman who had survived a miserable marriage and years of loneliness, only to find a second chance at life and love with an attractive younger man and new baby. I think many viewers identified with her, particularly those whose own lives were stilted or unsatisfying. If Addie's fortunes could take such a turn around, so could theirs. The character's battling leukemia and surviving only ratcheted up the rooting value for her.

[Paul Raven]

ReJennifer Brooks

Dorothy Green spoke out about the writing for the older women, so maybe Bill was displeased about that.

He also knew (from Irna) the value of a surprise death and the need to evolve the cast so maybe all those factors came into play.

[vetsoapfan]

 

It's hard to say. Other actors like Janice Lynde, spoke negatively about their characters to the press ("There were times when I just HATED Leslie...she was a nerd, a nebbish.") but did not get axed. And while Bell and Phillips were both wont to inflict surprise deaths onto the audience, they usually preserved the matriarchs and patriarchs. Can you imagine either writer killing off Alice Horton, Katherine Chancellor, Bert Bauer or Nancy Hughes? Egads!!! The audience would have gone nuclear.

[Soaplovers]

Hilary Bauer dying in the fall of 1984 was a surprise.. and a decision my mom (till the day she passed away) said was a huge mistake.  I was a very small child, but do recall an explosion coming from upstairs and everyone being numb.. had no recollection as to why since I was very very young (like 3 or 4.. i think).

 

Only when watching the dvd releases and seeing her featured in the episodes from the early 80s did I text my mom and ask why Hilary was killed off and she said back 'because the writers were stupid'.  

[SoapDope]

 

I read some stuff online where Dorothy Green complained about how she, Jeanne Copper, Juliana McCarthy, and K.T. Stevens played long suffering older women on the show and were not allowed to be in a happy storyline. She pretty much slammed Bill Bell's way of writing for older women. So I guess he decided to get even by getting rid of her. She said she did not want to leave Y&R, but had no choice since he was killing her off. 

 

LOL at Janice saying that about Leslie. One guy on another board described Leslie as "always feeling guilty she was even alive" He described Lorie as " the bad girl who you knew would flash her boobs if you asked her too" and Chris " wholesome in that 70's Olivia Newton John Have You Never Been Mellow way"

 

 

[MichaelGL]

Some recent ones.....


DAYS Sami shoots Det. Bernardi and Sami uncovering EJ and Abby's affair and keeping it a secret

B&B Sheila's return this year.
Macy's death in 2000

GL Abby shooting her rapist in court. 

Hart dying because of Dinah (I was completely unaware of his departure from the show)




 

[jam6242]

Remembered another scene that shocked me re Susan Martin on Days.  When David's mother, Helen, shot Susan in the heart after Susan was acquitted for killing David (by reason of insanity). 

 

Also on Days, when Stephanie Woodruff (Brooke Hamilton) burned off her fingerprints by placing her hands in a hot skillet, and when Trish (though it turned out to be an alter) killed her abusive step-father by bopping him in the head with an iron.

[vetsoapfan]

 

Trish killing Jack Clayton was great drama, but the production staff made a boo-boo. She thwacked him across the back of the head with an iron, but when the authorities checked him over, the wound was on his forehead. 

 

After Katherine Chanceller stabbed Suzanne Lynch on Y&R, she wailed, "There was blood, there was so much blood!" But...there wasn't. Production had left a small, dried patch of what looked like ketchup on Suzanne's shirt, about the size of a silver dollar. It was kind of dumb. This is the sort of thing that makes condescending critics laugh at the soaps, LOL.

 

I was shocked when Amanda Howard was wheeled into surgery for a brain tumor, while wearing blue eye shadow.

 

And when Y&R's Brad Elliot came out of surgery for HIS brain tumor, he had a full head of hair. (The actor refused to compromise his appearance for the story, explaining to the press, "Who wants to see a bald Brad Elliot?")

 

The producer and writers at that time were shockingly callous and stupid regarding beloved, important, core characters. Within 18 months or so, they gutted 2/3 of the cast (NONE of whom needed to go.)

 

Killing Hillary Bauer was egregious, but they also brought patriarch Bill Bauer, only to kill him off as well, in a gratuitous and idiotic storyline. Mike and Hope Bauer were eliminated, never to be seen again. Add all this to the fact that Charita Bauer died and the show lost its matriarch and anchor of 35 years, and to the fact that the show had recently recast Ed Bauer with an actor who never really suited the part...and the destruction of TGL's founding family was accomplished. 

 

Pam Long, the writer during that time, later said that she and producer Gail Kobe decided to eliminate all the  "unnecessary characters" and focus on dynamic ones that would intrigue the audience. So we lost our beloved Bauer family and had Reva Shayne inflicted upon us. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!

[teplin]

 

Another shocker from that era: Larry Welch lifting up the veil of his soon-to-be bride to reveal, not Hope Williams, but Howie Hofstetter.

 

The first and only time I actually whooped at a soap scene.