I was going to wait after posting the 1997 one, but I figured to go ahead and get it over with. From the 12-22-1998 issue of SOD, here was their picks for Best & Worst of 1998: 

 

Best Secret: Amanda's Past (Melrose Place)
Best  Mystery: The Killing Pool (Days)
Worst Mystery: General Homicide (PC)
Best Wedding: Ben and Meg (Beach)
Worst Wedding: Brandon and Kelly (90210)
Best Reunion: Victor & Nikki (Y&R)
Most Boring Marriages: Cole and Ashley, Olivia and Malcolm (Y&R)
Best Daytime Couple: Phillip and Harley (GL)
Most Boring Couple: Eric and Nicole (Days)
Best Prime-Time Couple: Sarah and Bailey (Party of Five)
Most Entertaining Couple: Stuart and Marian (AMC)
Best Trend: Bringing Back Popular Characters
Worst Trend: Mind Control
Best Feud: Kay & Jill (Y&R)
Best Family Feud: The Quartermaines (GH)
Dumbest Male Axing: Daniel Markel (David ATWT)
Dumbest Female Axing: Kimberlin Brown (Sheila B&B)
Best Quadrangle Lucy/Scotty/Eve/Kevin (PC)
Worst Quadrangle: Josie/Gary/Cameron/Amanda (AW)
Best Exit: Todd (OLTL)
Worst Exit: Brenda (GH
Most Shocking Plot Twist: Teri is Annie (GL)
Most Preposterous Plot: Reva's Clone (GL)
Best Continuity: Hope's Missing Years (Days)
Dumbest Characters: The Women Of Sunset Beach (Beach)
Most Tortured Couple: Hayley And Mateo (AMC)
Most Surprising Couple: Neil And Victoria Y&R)
Most Rejuvenated Family: The Spectras (B&B)
Most Rejuvenated Character: Cass Winthrop (AW)
Best Use Of A Disaster: The Sinking of The Valetta (ATWT)
Worst Use Of A Disaster: Shockwave (Beach)
Best Friends: Lucky/Liz/Emily/Nikolas (GH)
Biggest Waste Of Talent: Linda Dano (AW)
Best Psycho: Dinah Marler (GL)
Worst Psychos: Georgie And Barbara (OLTL)
Best Social Issue: Camille's Breast Cancer (ATWT)
Worst Social Issue: Babies At Any Cost
Best Triangle: Austin/Carrie/Mike (Days)
Worst Triangle: Ross/Blake/Ben (GL)
Best Hero: Edmund (AMC)
Best Vixen: Amber (B&B)
Most Innovative Recast: Ellen Wheeler As Marley (AW)
Worst Recast: Timothy Gibbs As Kevin (OLTL)
Best Tear-jerker: Shane And Michael's Deaths (AW)
Best Teen Story: Jessica's Pregnancy (OLTL)
Best Story: Luke And Laura's Rape Revisited (GH)
Worst Story: Love With A Turkey Baster (Beach)
Most Improved Show: ATWT
Most Disappointing Show: AMC
Best Prime Time Show: Dawson's Creek
Best Show: Y&R
 

I about hollered when I read the pick for Dumbest Character. I wasn't expecting that...lol.

Edited May 1, 20205 yr by GLATWT88

What a trash year for soaps lol. Kit Fisher on AMC was emblematic of 1998 in daytime.

Edited May 1, 20205 yr by Faulkner

Worst Social Issue: Babies At Any Cost
 

God at one time every plot on all the soaps I watched were about babies or rape. Sometimes at the same time (Bianca and Babe's baby switch).

18 hours ago, Faulkner said:

What a trash year for soaps lol.

1998 was probably the last excellent year for Y&R, then came the tank years 1999-2005. OTOH, B&B was in the tank by 1998 (the tanking for me began around Fall 1995 and I stopped watching Spring 1999 at the end of the Jabot/Newman crossover).

On 5/2/2020 at 7:16 PM, kalbir said:

1998 was probably the last excellent year for Y&R, then came the tank years 1999-2005. OTOH, B&B was in the tank by 1998 (the tanking for me began around Fall 1995 and I stopped watching Spring 1999 at the end of the Jabot/Newman crossover).

I loved Y&R from 1999 until 2004... or maybe even 2005... when did LML come on? That's when [!@#$%^&*] fell apart for me.

This is the year CBS lost confidence in Estensen/Brown as head writers and were forcing them to do stories written by CBS exec Wendy Fischman. Terrible. Wendy wrote the clone story.

34 minutes ago, RavenWhitney said:

This is the year CBS lost confidence in Estensen/Brown as head writers and were forcing them to do stories written by CBS exec Wendy Fischman. Terrible. Wendy wrote the clone story.

I didn’t know the clone wasn’t an E&B creation! They’ve always taken the blame for it. 

On 5/2/2020 at 1:16 PM, kalbir said:

1998 was probably the last excellent year for Y&R, then came the tank years 1999-2005. OTOH, B&B was in the tank by 1998 (the tanking for me began around Fall 1995 and I stopped watching Spring 1999 at the end of the Jabot/Newman crossover).

For me, Y&R was in transition mode in 1998-99 and started to pick up a bit in 2000 with the Glo by Jabot crew and Tricia’s unraveling. It never really recaptured what it was in the early ‘90s, which was exquisite.

 

DAYS was meh with Sally Sussman after being THE show in the mid-‘90s.
 

GL had squandered all the goodwill they’d received in ‘97, and while I thought a lot of Lorraine Broderick’s ATWT run was underrated considering the wheel spinning that came before it, it deteriorated fast. (Loved Camille and Brad in spite of what it did to Ben, who deserved better. Lauren Martin and Nick Kokotakis had such amazing chemistry. But the “boring” black dude had to lose.)

 

ABC soaps were just hot steaming garbage across the board. Especially AMC and OLTL.

Edited May 3, 20205 yr by Faulkner

Oy. 1998 was the year it all came crashing down, especially in the ratings. You had AMC below a 4.0, DAYS take a major stumble, OLTL hitting their personal record low (at the time), GL bested ATWT & AMC briefly by holding on to their 4.0-4.2 range in the summer while the others fell below 4.0, until GL dropped too (ironically, or maybe not ironically, they finally dropped into the 3's *after* the clone story ended). 

 

I remember the following year around Spring of 1999 when ATWT hit No. 3 in the Nielsens, but it was with a 4.0. Even the exec at the time (can't remember) was quoted as saying something along the lines of, "a 4.0 would've never gotten anyone 3rd place before, but times have changed..." 

10 minutes ago, Gray Bunny said:

Oy. 1998 was the year it all came crashing down, especially in the ratings. You had AMC below a 4.0, DAYS take a major stumble, OLTL hitting their personal record low (at the time), GL bested ATWT & AMC briefly by holding on to their 4.0-4.2 range in the summer while the others fell below 4.0, until GL dropped too (ironically, or maybe not ironically, they finally dropped into the 3's *after* the clone story ended). 

 

I remember the following year around Spring of 1999 when ATWT hit No. 3 in the Nielsens, but it was with a 4.0. Even the exec at the time (can't remember) was quoted as saying something along the lines of, "a 4.0 would've never gotten anyone 3rd place before, but times have changed..." 

 

I was wondering what your thoughts were @Gray Bunny! Today this day I still defend that in spite of the wackiness of GL in 1998 I still found it to be entertaining and just suspended my suspension of disbelief. The clone story got so much better once Joie Lenz played the teen Reva and then we finally had Zimmer planning to have her honeymoon in Genoa City. I know the show had long wanted to do a doppelganger story with Reva but the clone and aging serum was too much. Kind of hated they killed off Cleva/Dolly too. One story I really loved in the middle of all of this was was Abby and Patti's jailbirds story

 

Days definitely did get so messy in 1998 once Davidson, Jack & Jennifer, Edmund etc. were all written off but Vivian's tooth and Sami being made to look like fool aside knew the writing was on the wall in regards to Hope's story when that old lady was telling Hope how Gina's ncestors were on the Titanic with lots of paintings ....LOL a full two years before JER did his Titanic plots on Passions LOL. 

 

B&B had a solid first half, the second half was not. I was surprised the show killed off Grant so quick after he and Macy had just gotten married. I was surprised that the show let Sheila go just as Sheila was beginning to reform after Maggie had gone insane and as her rivalry with Stephanie was taking a juicy turn with Stephanie being the one to cause problems for Sheila instead of the other way around. I was surprised how B&B hyped up the arrivals of Pierce Perterson and his creepy fat assistant Bailey to mess up Ridge & Taylor's marriage only for the story to be DOA. But that was 1998 me, 2020 me says that was one of the  first years Thudley probably didn't know what he was doing after finally wrapping up a lot of storylines that spring. 

 

ATWT was all over the place in 1998 saved of course by Carly's schemes & lies and by Lucinda being such a power player. I can't believe FMB fired Hubbard by year's end. 

20 hours ago, Manny said:

I loved Y&R from 1999 until 2004... or maybe even 2005... when did LML come on? That's when [!@#$%^&*] fell apart for me.

 

17 hours ago, Faulkner said:

For me, Y&R was in transition mode in 1998-99 and started to pick up a bit in 2000 with the Glo by Jabot crew and Tricia’s unraveling. It never really recaptured what it was in the early '90s, which was exquisite.

 

While 1999-2005 had some good storylines, signs of tanking were showing. 2006 was the year I'd say Y&R entered the tank.

14 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

The clone story got so much better once Joie Lenz played the teen Reva and then we finally had Zimmer planning to have her honeymoon in Genoa City.

 

Was Reva supposed to cross over to Y&R?

Also, I agree on B&B. 1998 was the beginning of Brad's 'telenovela style' writing.

 

43 minutes ago, kalbir said:

While 1999-2005 had some good storylines, signs of tanking were showing. 2006 was the year I'd say Y&R entered the tank.

 

I agree. 2006 is when I stopped caring about the show. I reprised briefly in 2008 with MAB's early work and in 2017 with Sussman's and Alden's tenure.

15 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

 

I was wondering what your thoughts were @Gray Bunny! Today this day I still defend that in spite of the wackiness of GL in 1998 I still found it to be entertaining and just suspended my suspension of disbelief. The clone story got so much better once Joie Lenz played the teen Reva and then we finally had Zimmer planning to have her honeymoon in Genoa City. I know the show had long wanted to do a doppelganger story with Reva but the clone and aging serum was too much. Kind of hated they killed off Cleva/Dolly too. One story I really loved in the middle of all of this was was Abby and Patti's jailbirds story

 

Days definitely did get so messy in 1998 once Davidson, Jack & Jennifer, Edmund etc. were all written off but Vivian's tooth and Sami being made to look like fool aside knew the writing was on the wall in regards to Hope's story when that old lady was telling Hope how Gina's ncestors were on the Titanic with lots of paintings ....LOL a full two years before JER did his Titanic plots on Passions LOL. 

 

B&B had a solid first half, the second half was not. I was surprised the show killed off Grant so quick after he and Macy had just gotten married. I was surprised that the show let Sheila go just as Sheila was beginning to reform after Maggie had gone insane and as her rivalry with Stephanie was taking a juicy turn with Stephanie being the one to cause problems for Sheila instead of the other way around. I was surprised how B&B hyped up the arrivals of Pierce Perterson and his creepy fat assistant Bailey to mess up Ridge & Taylor's marriage only for the story to be DOA. But that was 1998 me, 2020 me says that was one of the  first years Thudley probably didn't know what he was doing after finally wrapping up a lot of storylines that spring. 

 

ATWT was all over the place in 1998 saved of course by Carly's schemes & lies and by Lucinda being such a power player. I can't believe FMB fired Hubbard by year's end. 

 

I'm right there with ya on the clone storyline. Despite its absurdity and total lack of anything based in reality, the one thing it was? Entertaining. Zimmer and Robert Newman played the hell out of it. 

 

I personally started losing my enthusiasm by the Spring of 1999 when it was too heavily focused on the Santos newbies and a lot of vets were given nothing to do. I remember one episode in particular where every single character featured had all been brought on within the last 2 years, with Laura Wright's Cassie, Tammy Blanchard's Drew, and Paulo Benediti's Jesse being the "veterans" of the episode. 

 

Comparing DAYS summer of '97 versus '98 are like completely different shows. Talking about losing momentum. Sally Sussman Morina wanted to continue the Reilly over-the-top wackiness, but gave us silly and stupid instead.