My vote: having popular teen character Robin Scorpio, who had been on the canvas for a decade, contract HIV. In the hands of a lesser HW, EP and performer, it could have been a disaster. I can't think of any other social issue story that was so compelling. Kimberly McCullough earned that Emmy and then some.

For better or worse, OLTL took huge risks with both the Marty gang rape story and the DID revisit of the 1990s and both, in their own ways, paid off tremendously. For good or ill they became singular achievements and forever redefined swaths of characters and parts of the canvas - people may despise Todd Manning, or find him a relic of the past now (as I do despite once finding him a favorite), but he was tremendously galvanizing and popular for the show. Later years, of course, took all the wrong lessons from both of these stories. OLTL should never have touched DID again, at least not with Viki's family. And Todd, don't get me started.

I didn't see the Marty rape story when it first aired, but saw it years later on YouTube. It was nothing short of incredible and everything just coming together - producing, writing, directing and acting.

For better or worse, Marlena’s possession on DAYS.

(Agree strongly with Robin’s HIV story. I hadn’t watched GH in the ‘80s, but I’d known she was iconic as a child, the offspring of two legendary characters. To give someone viewers had watched grow up such a devastating and adult story was a jaw-dropping risk.)

I guess rewards can go two ways - ratings/commercial gain or critical acclaim/awards. So, while say Stone’s AIDS storyline got a lot of the latter, ratings also fell considerably over the course of it. The opposite scenario happened with Marlena’s possession.

Days going the sci-fi route in the aftermath of OJ almost resulted in them beating Y&R in the summer of 1997. Also Y&R went off the rails a bit in the aftermath of OJ so they were vulnerable.

Luke and Laura... and the rape.

27 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

I guess rewards can go two ways - ratings/commercial gain or critical acclaim/awards. So, while say Stone’s AIDS storyline got a lot of the latter, ratings also fell considerably over the course of it. The opposite scenario happened with Marlena’s possession.

Did the ratings fall BECAUSE of it or was it just a time where GH was not doing well for other reasons?

Killing off little BJ Jones on GH and giving her heart to Maxie. She'd been played by Brighton Hertford since she was a baby to about age 7. It was heart-wrenching all around...Tony losing his (and late wife Tania's) only child and making the decision to give her heart to his niece. The effect it had on the Jones clan. I thought that was Brad Maule's finest work.

2 hours ago, Vee said:

For better or worse, OLTL took huge risks with both the Marty gang rape story and the DID revisit of the 1990s and both, in their own ways, paid off tremendously. For good or ill they became singular achievements and forever redefined swaths of characters and parts of the canvas - people may despise Todd Manning, or find him a relic of the past now (as I do despite once finding him a favorite), but he was tremendously galvanizing and popular for the show. Later years, of course, took all the wrong lessons from both of these stories. OLTL should never have touched DID again, at least not with Viki's family. And Todd, don't get me started.

That particular storyline how ramifications on the canvas directly and indirectly until OLTL was cancelled 

5 minutes ago, applcin said:

Killing off little BJ Jones on GH and giving her heart to Maxie. She'd been played by Brighton Hertford since she was a baby to about age 7. It was heart-wrenching all around...Tony losing his (and late wife Tania's) only child and making the decision to give her heart to his niece. The effect it had on the Jones clan. I thought that was Brad Maule's finest work.

Brad Maule's first and only Emmy nomination 

Would creating AW's Vicky as Marley's twin count as a risk?
I feel creating "forgot I had that child" characters are always hit-and-miss and that one paid off spectacularly in terms of performances and driving story for the rest of the life of the show (to its detriment the last five years but that's another story).

Another one that is probably going to more controversial: OLTL's Natalie. The multiple retcons around Jessica were problematic but I think creating Natalie was something of a risk (and frankly ridiculous on paper) but I personally think it paid off creatively and obviously Natalie ended up being a big part of the last decade of the show.

6 minutes ago, FrenchBug82 said:

Another one that is probably going to more controversial: OLTL's Natalie. The multiple retcons around Jessica were problematic but I think creating Natalie was something of a risk (and frankly ridiculous on paper) but I personally think it paid off creatively and obviously Natalie ended up being a big part of the last decade of the show.

I always resented and hated Natalie as a Buchanan, especially the idea that she was Clint’s actual daughter and Jessica’s father was Mitch Laurence (which they revealed was a lie years later). But Natalie was indeed a popular character, even though I despised her, with several well-received pairings. 

1 hour ago, FrenchBug82 said:

Did the ratings fall BECAUSE of it or was it just a time where GH was not doing well for other reasons?

The storyline was so dominant and also preceded by things like BJ's death and Monica's breast cancer, that the popular opinion had been GH had gotten too "dreary" and wasn't a "fun" soap to watch anymore so people tuned out. Hence why the planned story of giving Audrey alzheimer's was canceled soon after. 

I didn't mind, but I could totally see if you were a fan of 80's GH not really being too thrilled with this creative direction. 

1 hour ago, FrenchBug82 said:

Did the ratings fall BECAUSE of it or was it just a time where GH was not doing well for other reasons?

The last few months it was kind of the only story.  Everything else was treading water while this played out.  It was incredibly sad and also full of heart.  And yes, the audience did start to tune out.  I think Robin’s diagnosis was a turning point- because the audience knows Stone is going to die and now the story is going to continue on in a real way, with Robin Scorpio.  This was also before HIV medications had started really giving people back their lives, so it was shocking to go that far.

OLTL Viki's DID revisitation in the 90s,

GH- giving Jason brain damage.Taking the Quartermaine golden boy into a brain damaged gangster. It went on to establish the next 25+ years of story.

AMC - Re writing history and making Kendall Erica's daughter. It set up years of story with the fantastic Sarah Michelle Gellar.

DAYS- recasting Wayne Northrup with Drake H. as Roman, then bringing back Wayne. It lead up years of tension especially the John & Marlena story which created evil Sammy! 

Edited October 31, 20214 yr by ironlion