Soap Opera Digest's Best & Worst of 1987

[soapfan770]

From SOD's 01/12/1988 issue, these are their picks for the Best and Worst of 1987. LOL poor Days and Dynasty. They also didn't much at GL either but did name them as "Best Turning Point" as they did think the show was improving by year's end  there. 

 

Best Storyline - Life At Cortlandt Manor (AMC)
Worst Storyline - The Alphabet Wars (GH)

Best Love Triangle - Ashley/Victor/Nikki (Y&R)
Worst Love Triangle - Jack/Patch/Kayla (DAYS)

Best Love Story - Richard & Maggie (Falcon Crest)
Most Tortured Love Story - Cruz & Eden (Santa Barbara)

Best Scene Stealer (Female) - Elizabeth Hubbard (ATWT)
Best Scene Stealer (Male) - Ken Kercheval (Dallas)
Best Limited Run - David O'Brien (Another World)

Best Redneck - Eban Japes (Loving)
Worst Wedding - Michael & Donna (AW)

Most Pointless Show - Dynasty

Best Anti-Hero - Steve Johnson (DAYS)
Most Unusual Love Scene - John & Lucinda (ATWT)

Best Servant - Gilbert Lange (OLTL)
Most Pointless Story - The Return of Jock Ewing (Dallas)

Best Recasting - Jess Walton replaces Brenda Dickson as Jill (Y&R)
Worst Reconciliation - Reva & Josh (GL)

Best Out-Of-Body Experience - Viki Buchanan (OLTL)
Worst Out-Of-Body Experience - Rusty Shayne (GL)
Terrell Anthony & Krista Tesreau

Best Make Believe Illness - Nikki (Y&R)
Biggest Letdown - Vanessa and Ross (GL)

Best Fantasy - Cruz and Eden (SB)
Worst Fantasy - Phillip and Cricket (Y&R)

Best Confession - Nikki (Y&R)
Best Substitute - Les Tremayne as Edward Quartermaine on GH

Best Reconciliation - Mark and Ellen (AMC)
Best Interrupted Wedding - Cord and Kate (OLTL)

Most Ruined Character - Donna Love Hudson (AW)
Best Turning Point - Guiding Light

Most True-To-Life - Maggie Horton (DAYS)
Most Entertaining Couple - Gina and Keith (SB)

Best Extended Family - The Ryans (Ryan's Hope)

Most Shocking Twist - Richard Channing as Angela's Son (Falcon Crest)

Best Daytime Casting (Male) - David Forsyth on Another World
Best Daytime Casting (Female) - Joanna Johnson on The Bold & The Beautiful

Best Prime-Time Casting - Nicollette Sheridan on Knots Landing

Gimme A Break Award:  Reva's Baby on GL, Noelle's hypnotism on GH, and Close Encounters with UFO's on The Colby's and Dynasty. 

Corniest Show - Days Of Our Lives
Most Disappointing Show - General Hospital

Funniest Show - Santa Barbara
Most Improved Show - All My Children

Most Pointless Show - Dynasty

Best Prime-Time Show: Falcon Crest
Best Daytime Show - As The World Turns

 

[Faulkner]

Wait, what was this?

 

 

[titan1978]

Oh daytime soaps.  The fact that we had a best and worst out of body experience category?  LOL.

[Darn]

@soapfan770 Is there anyway you could take pictures of some of the pages? I'd love to see what they have to say!

[BetterForgotten]

That's not something you see quite often...

[DRW50]

 

Likely the scene in the hot tub that led to them getting married. (didn't Liz recently say she got in trouble over that scene?)

[Faulkner]

Oh ok. I think I remember that. Thank you.

 

This?

 

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[DRW50]

Yes.

[DRW50]

That Most Improved was very deserved. Lorraine Broderick, Wisner Washam, et al. did a wonderful, wonderful job at turning AMC back from years of moribund material and positioning it as a show that represented everything Agnes Nixon intended the show to be, as well as a show with an eye to the future. I'm sorry that it couldn't be maintained and that a lot of cheap and in the long term, very damaging changes were pushed through a few years later.

[soapfan770]

 

Luckily someone already beat me to it! 

https://classicsodnews.tumblr.com/post/168011708474/the-best-and-worst-of-1987-pt1-soap-opera

 

https://classicsodnews.tumblr.com/post/168011731803/the-best-and-worst-of-1987-pt2-soap-opera

 

 

As @DRW50 alluded to it was indeed the Hot Tub scene, here is what they said about it: 

 

"She was in her ribbed pink bathrobe, having a drink, all ready to plunge into her bubble bath, strung out as usual after a day of manipulating in Oakdale when he, in a suit, charged into her bathroom looking for a fight. Well, a fight is what he got. Fed up with his blackmail threats and other underhanded tactics concerning her daughter Lily, Lucinda Walsh pushed John Dixon into her tub and threatened to take a picture of him in the suds for the front page of her newspaper. Dixon pulled her in with him before she could get near the camera.

There they sat, facing each other and looking very silly, two middle-aged dragons with their fires suddenly put out. In many ways, they were exactly alike. Headstrong, stubborn, combustible, and easily the shrewdest people in town (if not the most compassionate). Weren't they tired of fighting? Yes, so they decided to elope to Las Vegas and become man and wife. And so began the fun -- the marriage of John and Lucinda was the most unusual and unexpected pairing on daytime this year. Let no man put this union asunder."

 

[YRfan23]

Thanks for posting this! It seems like Y&R got a lot of "Bests" for not being the best show that year. LOL at Days being named "Corniest show" I'm guessing that year must have been very bad, to get such a tittle! 

[Darn]

 

Ah thank you!

[soapfan770]

 

You're very welcome! SOD had actually named Y&R Best Show for 1986 and also named Nikki/Victor/Ashley as Best Triangle so this was s second year in a row for them in that category. 

 

As for Days, well here's what they said: 

"

"This year, DAYS OF OUR LIVES really overdid the hearts-and-flowers routine. The worst offenders? Justin and Adrienne. He developed a penchant for picking up a musical instrument and bursting into song. Which was always followed by Adrienne's tears. Then tere were those poetry readings. More tears. And the roses. And the costume ball, which featured yet another dose of Adrienne and Justin as Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester.

As for Steve and Kayla -- more mush. More waterworks. And another rose, this one made out of silver so it could never die -- just like their love. And let's not forget all those romantic fantasies in which the star-crossed couple found happiness. Corniest of all was the canine shotgun wedding. Calliope hitched her pregnant pooch to the dog who got Martha with pup. The couple "wed" in Neil's living room; an affair complete with human and doggie guests, entertainment and formal attire for the bride and groom. Only time will tell about Roman and Diana, but if the dancing-in-the-dark and seduction-by-microphone scenes are any indication, they're in for a long, corny romance."

 

Not a surprise that this year was all written by "Lethal" Leah Laiman. She probably should have just stuck writing romance novels as later her one year run at ATWT was dreadful. 

 

I also just realized I forgot to include Worst Murder Mystery for GL on the list. That would of course come to no surprise that they selected Paul Valere's murder, which they said: 

 

"The details of this one are fuzzy. Some creepy guy came to Springfield with hazy connections to Johnny Bauer and Alan Spaulding. Something about an art swindle. Suddenly everyone was wishing out loud that he was dead. Next thing you knew, he was. Johnny, Alan, Alex, Christine (remember her?) -- you name them, they were accused of killing Paul Valere. Problem was, no one cared about Valere, no one cared who killed him, but everyone was subjected to a convoluted, drawn-out story that made no sense at all. When all other possiblities were exhausted, and it became apparent that this mess had to end, someone inexplicably decided to blame it all on Warren. Now Warren had never been a terrific guy, but he wasn't a crazed murderer, and he had been entertaining. The real crime here wasn't murder, it was assassination of a character, and the blame rests with whoever concocted this preposterous plot."

 

Everything I have seen of Warren comes off as he was probably some old queen to be honest. Reminds me of when the mousy Vicki Harper on ATWT was revealed to be the one who ordered Carolyn Crawford's murder. 

[kalbir]

 

Little did Y&R viewers know then that this would be the eternal triangle that would forever affect future storylines.

 

The first of the big three late 1980s recasts and the most successful I think.

 

It was only the beginning of Cricket eating the show, yikes.

 

The original Ridge/Caroline story is what drew me to B&B and the main reason I ignored Ronn Moss's horrible acting for three years. Joanna Johnson was so natural and believable as Caroline and I'm glad she found success in her post B&B writing/directing/producing career.

 

They took half the acting Emmys and Best Show Emmy that year. Two of daytime's best were at the helm, Robert Calhoun and Douglas Marland.

 

Well it was right in the midst of the supercouple era LOL.

[Faulkner]

Is Wikipedia correct that, in one of the most legendary years for a soap ever, when it took Best Drama Series and Emmys for Bryggman, Marx, and Byrne, ATWT wasn’t nominated for writing in 1987?

 

So funny that Justin Deas actually turned up at the Emmys that year only to lose to the guy who succeeded him in his first major soap role:

 

https://youtu.be/eP42-h2sEO0