Soap Opera Digest Best & Worst of 1996

[Franko]

By the numbers:

GH -- 9 entries, 6 positive and 3 negative

AMC -- 7 entries, 6 positive and 1 negative

DAYS -- 7 entries, 4 positive and 3 negative

Y&R -- 6 entries, 5 positive and 1 negative

OLTL -- 6 entries, 4 positive and 2 negative

GL -- 5 entries, 2 positive and 3 negative

ATWT --  5 entries, 2 positive and 3 negative

AW -- 4 entries, 2 positive and 2 negative

B&B -- 3 entries, 2 positive and 1 negative

Savannah -- 2 entries, 2 positives and 0 negative

The City -- 2 entries, 1 positive and 1 negative

MP -- 2 entries, 1 positive and 1 negative

 

With the exceptions of GL and ATWT, SOD either found a balance or more good than bad with each show.

 

[Faulkner]

1996 was the infamous Stern/Black year for ATWT. To be honest, not a great year for most shows.

[carolineg]

14 hours ago, Dion said:

Yeah pretty much as @titan1978 and @carolinegdescribe, although the best and worst column itself was actually published about two months before Lois' brief return in early '97 (which was so bad that if it weren't for Thorne and Macy I wouldn't have been surprised if they had gotten worst break-up of '97 as well as '96!).

 

I had this particular issue of SOD once upon a time and I'm trying to remember what the write up actually said. I think it made the argument that - after forgiving Ned for his Eddie Maine lies and marrying Katherine - it was out of character for Lois to have left Ned due to Q family squabbles, let alone whilst pregnant.

 

Funnily enough she did come back to support Brenda after the jilting, but I think Ned was out of town. And then Rena Sofer got Melrose Place and also separated from Wally Kurth so I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

 

So true about all the stuff Lois put up with for Ned it seemed stupid that the Q's dumb bickering and schemes bothered her enough to leave Ned.

 

Thanks for clarifying her 1997 return post-S&B non wedding.  I clearly remember her and Brenda, but I could not recall Lois and Ned having scenes.  And I thought I must have forgotten them because obviously they would have had them but I guess my memory wasn't wrong.  I loved Lois and Lois/Ned. It's a shame they couldn't build a better break up for them.  Rena, along with KMc leaving to go to school, and the writing off of Lily and Miranda left a big hole in females in that age range.

[amybrickwallace]

On 11/25/2020 at 12:22 PM, soapfan770 said:

Worst Triangle - Jack, Jennifer and Peter (DAYS)
Mark Valley, Stephanie Cameron & Jason Brooks

Worst New Female Character - Cameron/Olivia (OLTL)

Worst New Male Character - Franco (DAYS)

 

My sister would totally have taken umbrage with Worst Triangle. She loved that story...OK, she loved Mark Valley as Jack. On the other hand, she would have agreed about Franco - she couldn't stand him!

 

I've heard of Olivia/Cameron on OLTL, but I don't know what her arc was or which characters she had story with. Can anyone fill me in?

[victoria foxton]

47 minutes ago, amybrickwallace said:

 

 

I've heard of Olivia/Cameron on OLTL, but I don't know what her arc was or which characters she had story with. Can anyone fill me in?

I was watching back then. And for the life of me. I can't remember her. Or what her story was. 

[carolineg]

22 hours ago, amybrickwallace said:

 

My sister would totally have taken umbrage with Worst Triangle. She loved that story...OK, she loved Mark Valley as Jack. On the other hand, she would have agreed about Franco - she couldn't stand him!

 

I've heard of Olivia/Cameron on OLTL, but I don't know what her arc was or which characters she had story with. Can anyone fill me in?

She was only on for a few months, but she had a story with Kelly/Joey.  I think she worked for Cord, but was secretly spying or doing something for Dorian.  

 

I am not going to lie, I liked the Jen/Peter/Jack triangle until they recast Mark Valley.  Stephanie Cameron honestly didn't bother me much.  And I loved Jason Brooks.

[titan1978]

12 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I am not going to lie, I liked the Jen/Peter/Jack triangle until they recast Mark Valley.  Stephanie Cameron honestly didn't bother me much.  And I loved Jason Brooks.

Oh I hated her at the time.  But back then Missy’s Jennifer was one of my favorites, and she had just as much chemistry with Mark Valley as with MA’s Jack.  I think I even like Mark’s better at one point.

 

I could have taken another recast, but Missy brought a lot of spark and tenacity and could play the humor that both Jack’s were also good at.  They made excellent sparring partners.  Stephanie Cameron was just another soap heroine- incredibly bland.  The last couple of years of Reilly’s writing needed the stronger performers to sell the material, the recasts just didn’t pull it off well.  She’s like Peck’s Austin- attractive and there saying the words, but no character.

Edited December 1, 2020 by titan1978

[carolineg]

2 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

Oh I hated her at the time.  But back then Missy’s Jennifer was one of my favorites, and she had just as much chemistry with Mark Valley as with MA’s Jack.  I think I even like Mark’s better at one point.

 

I could have taken another recast, but Missy brought a lot of spark and tenacity and could play the humor that both Jack’s were also good at.  They made excellent sparring partners.  Stephanie Cameron was just another soap heroine- incredibly bland.  The last couple of years of Reilly’s writing needed the stronger performers to sell the material, the recasts just didn’t pull it off well.  She’s like Peck’s Austin- attractive and there saying the words, but no character.

I can admit the first scene SC did as Jen was a continuation of a scene Missy was in the day before and it was jarring.  I never had a huge attachment to Jen/Missy or Jack/Jen, so it was probably easier to accept for me.  I think the show did fine on impossibly short notice and very awkward circumstances.  I truly think Corday thought Missy would be back sooner rather than later.  As far as MV's Jack goes, he was a decent actor he just played Jack differently.

Austin Peck?  Didn't bother me because he actually seemed like someone who would continuously fall for Sami's idiotic schemes.  And he had okay chemistry with CC.  After PM left, Austin was the definition of a bland, attractive soap hunk.  I am not saying he was good, he just wasn't even given much to work with.  He was dumbed down worse than John at that point and I think John took one of the hardest IQ hits under JER.

[Gray Bunny]

I started watching DAYS when Mark Valley was Jack, so he was the OG to me at the time. Yes, Missy's departure caused the Jack/Jenn/Peter triangle to be backburnered for the majority of 1996, but it wasn't until Jack was recast with blonde himbo Steve Wilder that the two were dreadful. Not to mention, the majority of 1997 had Jason Brooks gone and Mark Valley's Jack stuck in jail. The Jack/Jenn story was basically non-existent for at least half of '97. 

 

One thing that always bugs me about DAYS is they rarely make any indication of a recast. There's no voiceover as is usually done, nor any explanation onscreen as they used to do. I think it was Melissa Reeves' abrupt December 1995 departure where we saw the last time DAYS put a chyron on at the beginning of Stephanie Cameron's scene indicating the part would now be played by her. 

[carolineg]

11 minutes ago, Gray Bunny said:

I started watching DAYS when Mark Valley was Jack, so he was the OG to me at the time. Yes, Missy's departure caused the Jack/Jenn/Peter triangle to be backburnered for the majority of 1996, but it wasn't until Jack was recast with blonde himbo Steve Wilder that the two were dreadful. Not to mention, the majority of 1997 had Jason Brooks gone and Mark Valley's Jack stuck in jail. The Jack/Jenn story was basically non-existent for at least half of '97. 

 

One thing that always bugs me about DAYS is they rarely make any indication of a recast. There's no voiceover as is usually done, nor any explanation onscreen as they used to do. I think it was Melissa Reeves' abrupt December 1995 departure where we saw the last time DAYS put a chyron on at the beginning of Stephanie Cameron's scene indicating the part would now be played by her. 

 

I give the whole thing a pass.  Where are you truly going to go when the Jack/Peter/Jen stuff involved such amazing stories as poison paint, jungle madness, and going on the run in the circus?  They got the worst stories by JER.  Worse than Bo/Hope/Billie and that's saying a lot.

[titan1978]

John absolutely took the hardest IQ hit.  Amazing to me that Reilly was on the GL dream team HW team, because those characters really seem quite intelligent, and the folks in Salem got so, so stupid.  Maybe Stefano put something in the water, forgot about it and also drank some?

[amybrickwallace]

3 hours ago, Gray Bunny said:

but it wasn't until Jack was recast with blonde himbo Steve Wilder that the two were dreadful.

 

Knowing what Steve Wilder would eventually do in real life makes it even more dreadful. (For those who don't know the story - https://www.welovesoaps.net/2018/09/days-of-our-lives-alum-steve-wilder-cut.html?m=1)