Created by….

[carolineg]

Is that the same shooting when he saw Carly/Sonny together?  And just left and left the show lol

[vetsoapfan]

I think both those stories worked well, but for very specific reasons. Primarily, the writing was exquisitely beautiful and heavily predicated on character development and relationships. Few, if any writers available to daytime TV today would be able to pull sagas like that off. Plus, both stories mixed hope and heroism in with the tragedy. BJ died but her death resulted in saving her cousin's life. Stone also passed away, but he regained his sight at the last moment and was able to see Robin one last time; Robin, who was also HIV positive but who survived, and who then championed the fight for HIV causes. Along with the pain, there was a ray of light.

In the short term, yes, but then the hopelessly grim plot would be over, and the show would be left without the only decades-long matriarch left on its canvas; a character who had been a hub of the wheel since almost the beginning. The show could never, ever replace a character like that. I've always felt that cutting off the vets is like hacking away at a plant: if a soap tears out the last remaining roots, the entire plant will suffer for it.

Right.

At least nowadays, the prognosis for HIV+ patients is more optimistic.

When TPTB don't even understand the degeneracy of what they are presenting, you know soaps have taken quite a tumble. 

Edited August 26, 2021 by vetsoapfan

[DRW50]

I don't think so - I think this wasn't long after Carly married AJ. 

[carolineg]

I think it was.   I would have to look it up, but Carly slept with Sonny because she saw Jason making googly eyes at Liz and was all hurt.

[I Am A Swede]

That is exactly how I feel about Emmerdale and the reprehensible Dingle family! 

[vetsoapfan]

I no longer have access to episodes of Emmerdale, alas, so I have not been able to watch it in years, but even way back then, the overexposure of the vile Dingle-berries turned me off, big time. TPTB killed off and otherwise eliminated a huge number of the core Sugden family, and THIS was their idea of a new principle clan? More like an infection. Yuck.

[j swift]

I would add that dementia is also not very visual, so it is difficult to portray on screen.  Of course, you could write a few scenes of someone being forgetful, but most of the experience is internal.  The cruelness of the disease is that once people see the decline, there is too much damage to have an effective treatment.   So, it really becomes a story about those around the person with the illness as opposed to showing the issue itself.

On the other hand, pseudo-dementia which is a symptom of geriatric depression would be an interesting story and an educational oppertunity.

[titan1978]

And that would have been a wonderful story for someone like Audrey, especially after she lost Steve and had to confront her past after Liz was raped to better help her heal.

[amybrickwallace]

Especially because Rachel Ames did such a fantastic job when Audrey learned what had happened to Liz. Her sharp rebuke of Sarah to back off because she didn't know what it felt like would have fit in perfectly with that type of affliction. Audrey was already in denial.

[vetsoapfan]

When actually given material to work with, Rachel Ames was an excellent actress.

[Efulton]

Never mean!? Pat Randolph would like to have a word with you. 

[Paul Raven]

Speaking of Pat, would Irna and Agnes ever pictured her as an alcoholic?

Or for viperous Liz to become a gossipy old busybody?

[amybrickwallace]

Her GH heyday was before my time, but her work in the Liz storyline then was wonderful. 

[vetsoapfan]

Yes. She was given some meaty material, after many years being sidelined, and she hit it out of the park.

As much as I loathe the current, apparent story with Doug and Julie on DAYS (I do NOT want to see Doug deteriorate with Alzheimer's), I have no doubt that these beloved vets will work their magic on screen as well.

[titan1978]

What about a character like Blake on GL?  I have read she was introduced by scab writers, and Pam Long came back and made her Holly and Roger’s child after the fact when the strike was over.  I would say that is a fundamental part of who Blake was.