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Best US Soap Scenes

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BoldRestless Grand Master

BoldRestless

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Some more Y&R:

 

Kevin's "blanket party" in jail (2004)
This is primetime-worthy, IMO.  Kevin was often propped (he can rape and commit arson, but oh, he can't to jail cause he's scared of small spaces!), and this was some of the only comeuppance he got for raping Lily. 

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Katherine signing the divorce papers (1975)

"Do you think that I could BEAR to live here without you?"

 

And a good complement is Katherine begging Phillip not to divorce her (start at 12:00) (1975)

 

Victor tells Nikki he wants to marry her after she's been shot (1998)

There's even better material from this storyline, but so little on youtube. This is very tender and "soapy."

 

Tricia kills Tony (2000)

Y&R has had many great car crash scenes, especially when a pregnant Ashley is hit out of nowhere (I can't find it). This was such a shock to watch unspoiled. Poor crazy Tricia, this one time she didn't mean it!

 

And one more, in honor of my avatar

 

Cole tells Victoria that they are siblings (1994)

J. Eddie Peck is great here.... the ending is so dramatic and Y&R does love their scenes in the rain (I would love to see the Victor/Ashley abortion scene in the rain).  But Y&R undid this by making Cole turn out  not to be Victor's son after all. JEP bore a resemblance to EB, so that was kind of a waste. He would've been the pre-Adam Adam. You could have layered in the crazy later since his mother was Eve.

 

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DramatistDreamer Grand Master

DramatistDreamer

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"Should we call the police?"

"Chet darling, they are the police!"

 

Anyone who has frequented the ATWT thread knows about my love of the seamless shooting of group sequences on ATWT during the 1980s, the fact that sequences were shot in almost continuous fashion, with very few cuts.

At a brisk 5 minutes, this is more of a sequence than a scene but it is honestly one of the zaniest, funniest series of scenes that I've ever seen on a soap!

It begins with the trading of verbal jabs between Lisa McColl and Lucinda Walsh, escalates with an arrest and culminates with an all-out brawl.

 

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vetsoapfan Mentor

vetsoapfan

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That would be my guess too: GH in the mid-1990s under Riche and Labine.

 

Since then, the soaps have steadily declined in quality to the point where there's very little of merit to the storytelling and production values. We are still blessed with some good actors, but everything else is below par.

 

It's painful and depressing to acknowledge that our beloved daytime dramas have been in the toilet, more or less, for a freaking 25 years. :(

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Planet Soap Mentor

Planet Soap

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Agreed,  GH under Riche from 93-00 was teriffic; All My Children was decent for me until about 1997ish. 

 

A great era of consistent quality was Y&R from 1989-1999, perhaps up to 2001 if you want to stretch it. (but especially anything 89-93). The show pretty much tanked (like pop culture and daytime in general )  post 2005.

 

Nothing else has really been consistent in quality as far as I've watched. I will say, One Life To Live's last stride was probably 92-95 under Malone. Anything after that was past prime quality. However, OLTL kept the action pumping straight through the 2012 finale. The Tomlin era had it's crappy moments but I really liked Todd & Blair from 2000-2003.

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YRBB Collaborator

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I'd say the last soap to be consistently good, sometimes even brilliant, was Y&R, up until 2003. It was the last holdout. 

 

A great example of Y&R production quality and excellent use of music.

 

 

It was a huge shock, indeed. Also, great location work. 

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Planet Soap Mentor

Planet Soap

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Hearing presumably wild rumors about an OLTL/AMC revival. (Hoping this is real) Being that online failed the only way it wold work for me is back on tv in a 1/2 hour format (maybe 3 days a week) with reruns on streaming. 

 

I really liked OLTL and grew to appreciate and enjoy older AMC, but if I had to save one back in 2010, it would be OLTL. Granted, the show wasn't as great as its older self by then but it had energy and diversity! AMC for me began running out of steam by the turn of the century. AMC 25th anniversary:

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DramatistDreamer Grand Master

DramatistDreamer

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Nia Long and Monti Sharp had such wonderful chemistry that I took a liking, almost instantly to David Grant and Kat Speakes.

These scenes,which are particularly hilarious are just one reason why the pairing was so popular and ultimately, so memorable on Guiding Light.

I hope you can see the clips but if you are having trouble watching on your device, the episode is posted on YouTube as Guiding Light March 1993, Part 5-- it begins at about minute 17:00.

 

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DramatistDreamer Grand Master

DramatistDreamer

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There's a very sweet scene that happens when Kat returns later.  I'll see if I can post it a bit later. 

 

The next episode is pretty strong, there's a sequence where Kat is admonishing Bridget, Julie and Hart about some missing money (that was actually misplaced) and how it could affect David versus how it would affect the rest of them. 

This is why I am so dismissive of soap fans who believe that soaps should only deal with wild fantasy and not deal with real world issues like racism.  Discussing real world issues is what made soaps relevant in the first place.  I think the failure to even mention these types of real world issues is what helps drive disinterest in soaps (as well as bad writing, indifferent direction and poor casting choices).

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