I’ve only watched soaps since the 2000s, but I’ve heard about great triangles like Jax/Brenda/Sonny. I personally hated the Elizabeth/Jason/Sam triangle as I felt Sam was thrown under the bus. 

Yes, Jax/Brenda/Sonny had the makings of a good triangle.  However, the discord it caused online between the warring camps (those who preferred Brenda with Sonny vs. those who preferred her with Jax) make it tough for me to include it on any "Best Triangles" list.

 

Ask any soap fan of a certain generation, and they will tell you that AW's Steve/Alice/Rachel and DAYS' Laura/Bill/Mickey remain the gold standard of love triangles on daytime.

As much as I loved the original Billie/Bo/Hope triangle, it was pretty clear Bo and Hope were going to end up together.  But it was great to see Reilly not reduce Billie (in the original story before recast) to scheming to keep her man.  Plus I actually felt bad for Billie while also loving Hope.

 

Jax/Brenda/Sonny will always be defined for me by clink/boom.  Sonny is tragically free as Brenda and Jax marry.  Really great writing by Guza at that point.

 

The gold standard ones have always been the ones Khan mentioned, even if I never saw either.

 

Would a quad like Monica/Rick/Lesley/Alan count?

Not necessarily the best but what I liked...

 

Holden/Lily/Damian.....Holden/Lily/Dusty...the 80s.....

Two other good ones from ATWT: Bob/Jennifer/Kim and Dan/Kim/Susan.

 

Also: Tara/Phil/Chuck (AMC).

Edited July 4, 20196 yr by Khan

Good: Brooke/Ridge/Taylor (I was tempted to write Brooke/Ridge/Stephanie instead  )  At least it was good during its first 5-6 years.

 

 

Bob/Kim/Susan was well done. Margo/Tom/Hal, even as shortlived as it was. Once Gregg exited the role of Tom, I preferred Margo with Hal.

 

I also enjoyed the first round of Nikki/Victor/Ashley. 

 

Caroline/Ridge/Brooke

From GL - Alan-Michael, Eleni, and Frank, but you were always rooting for Frank.  The 4 musketeers kind of co-mingled for awhile...Rick, Phillip, Mindy and Beth.

 

I was doing data entry for a company that pretty much holed us up into a room to type our fingers off and I had a portable TV that I would sneak out and I was the GL fan - the others watched other shows.  When I would turn GL on during that time, they got hooked.  2 girls during that story at one point when Alan Michael was not going to "win" Eleni started action to have her deported back to Greece because she had chosen Frank.  And the 2 girls came in to work the next day and both said they couldn't sleep last night before because of what Alan Michael was going to do to Eleni. hahahahahaha.    

 

Our boss came in during the episode and said our productivity was good and we were ahead of schedule and I didn't get the TV out of the way before he saw it.  And he asked what we were watching.  And I said, Guiding Light.  And it was still on and he was watching and started asking questions...who is that?  "Alan Michael".  And one girl piped up and said, "He wants Eleni but she chose Frank and now he's mad and so Frank can't have her Alan Michael is trying to have her deported."  Boss said - where is she being deported to?  "Greece, she's from Greece".  Boss: "All so Frank can't marry her?"  "Yes, it's awful."  "Well Alan Michael would just have the person he loves deported just so she can't be married to someone else and be happy."  Us:  "YES".  And he sat right down and watched with us, for the rest of the year until our contract was up.  hahahahaha.  

 

Edited July 4, 20196 yr by Fevuh

Jax/sonny/Brenda is probably the best triangle I ever saw on soaps right up until VM/Brenda left the first time.  After that it became redundant.  And then there were all the years they just told basically told the  same story with Carly instead.  I never  really got into fanwars because I genuinely liked both S/B and J/B as couples.  I lean more torwards S/B but I liked J/B enough to say they are easily one of my top 10 favorite soap couples of all time.  Clink/Boom is just good soap.  Too bad Guza felt the need to re-do every few years in case we forgot.

 

One  that hasn't been mentioned that I loved was John/Marlena/WN's Roman.  It was so soapy and you felt for all parties involved.  Plus it created years of story.  Early Bo/Hope/Billie was good too.  It a shame JER decided to make all his triangles so lopsided in the mid 90's.  Carrie/Austin/Mike is the only triangle of that era that was balanced and Austin/mike are both pretty lame.

Best

Brooke/Taylor/Ridge

 

Jack/Victor/Nikki- with a splash of Ashley

 

Worst

Liam/Steffy/Hope- Just Ugh

 

Y&R....Katherine/Phillip/Jill drove story for decades. The Leslie/Lorie/Lance/Lucas quad kept storyline going for years. Also the earlier version of Leslie/Brad/Lorie. 

GH- Of course, Scott was part of the infamous Luke/Laura/Scotty triangle.  But he later became the focal point of a different kind of triangle, with Lucy & Dominique, which was particularly touching. Lucy had come back to town and found her old love married. Dominique was very sweet as well as wise and her being in their lives, as Scotty's wife and Lucy's friend (despite being her rival), made both characters more loving and less selfish people. The pinnacle came when Dominique was diagnosed with a terminal disease and Lucy agreed to carry her and Scotty's baby, out of love for both of them and not as a ploy to end up with Scott--even though she was hoping for it to happen eventually. The story played out with such depth of feeling, not only for Scott losing a true love but for Lucy as well, losing the closest (and only female) friend she had at the time who had accepted her.

 

Edited July 6, 20196 yr by applcin

I liked John/Marlena/Roman/Kate, had that baby lived they would have had story for days right now! 

For me, I hated the Iva/Kirk/Ellie quasi-triangle (ATWT), the entire thing didn't work. 

Kirk and Iva had unbelievable chemistry and it was ruined for Kirk and Ellie who ended up being a short-term couple that frankly, never truly worked.  I think TPTB thought Kirk and Ellie would be a hip, cool 90s kind of couple but it lacked the wit, zest and heat that Kirk and Iva had.  

And having Kirk pretty much abandon Iva, at a particularly low point in her life and get with Ellie without so much as a breather made both Ellie and Kirk look like jerks in the process.

 

I never thought Lily and Holden would have any serious competition until Damian arrived.