Jump to content

All : Storyline risks that didn't pay off.


Recommended Posts

  • Members

The flipside to Amy's thread.

What were some chances soaps took that didn't work? 

Now we know there were many so let's try and keep it to those that did go out on a limb a little bit rather than just stories that you didn't like.

To start

Y&R

Paul and Nikki as parents of Dylan.

To accomodate Steve Burton, TPTB decided to tie him to beloved core characters and return to a past storyline. But viewers didn't buy it as they twisted history and Dylan was a pretty dull character. He's hardly been mentioned since he left.

AW

Steve/Rachel/Alice.

AW resurrected it's signature 60's/79's story but the revived triangle had 2 recasts ,neither of whom captured the essence of the original with Rachel a different character to what she had been originally. The end result was killing off Steve again, and dropping Alice.

Days

David/Val. The groundbreaking interracial romance ended with Val being written out. She was never contract anyway. Overall, they decided not to continue as ratings  and response wasn't there.

Looking forward to your responses...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 47
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Members

Killing off Maureen Bauer.

Storyline did nothing for the overall canvas, as a matter of fact the show fell off in quality without a moral compass type of character.

Ed Bauer grieved for a couple of months, but started to have goo goo eyes for a younger woman was eye rolling material at best.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Bold

 

1. Massimo is Ridge's real father. It just ruined the show in a way. It changed history. Bad.

2. Brooke is alcoholic. It was a what the [!@#$%^&*] moment. So not in Brooke's character. Never went anywhere... just bad and stupid.

3. Taylor back from the dead. It cheapened the show and made it look like over the top trash.

4. Every attempt to bring back Sheila Carter... since 2002. It just doesn't work, because Sheila was a character that stayed in the 90s... Her shooting Stephanie should have been the end. It never pays off, because they imitate the past and Sheila comes off as a cartoon character.

5. Ridge and Bridget. Completely disgusting.

6. Ridge and the new Caroline. Didn't evolve. Didn't stay. Didn't do anything.

7. Thomas is a psycho. Completely ruined the character... 

 

and so much more. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Killing off Maureen Bauer.

Storyline did nothing for the overall canvas, as a matter of fact the show fell off in quality without a moral compass type of character.

Ed Bauer grieved for a couple of months, but started to have goo goo eyes for a younger woman was eye rolling material at best.

One Life to Live Eterna 

Guiding Light clone storyline 

When soaps not named Days of Our Lives or Passions start dabbling in the sci-fi/fantasy stuff 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Talking about current stories...I would say the re-possession on DAYS. I was kinda excited for it at first, but I think the build-up just wasn't there. I think it may have worked better for ANOTHER character to become long-term possessed...maybe Allie, Belle, or someone else Marlena cared about, and then it was up to her to save them. She would have to come to terms with her own past as a result providing the character an arc. I can think of any character growth or long-term story fallout from the current story.

Edited by pdm1974
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The first half of the Clone Saga with Joie Lenz as Cleva were fun but turned into just another evil doppelganger plot. Yawn.

 

Personally I found Maureen bland, they needed an older lady as matriarch like a Meta or Trudy or heck even Grandma Santos. So many times TPTB are afraid to kill important characters so its a rare event when it happens.  

 

Y/R Bringing back Phillip Chancellor III from the dead. Convoluted plot and they did nothing with him.

 

Also making Jill/Katherine mother/daughter had some payoff but was so contrived, the Jill/Lauren retcon was just random with even less payoff. 

Edited by Spoon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I mean, I agree with a lot of the comments so far but I feel most of them were not truly a *risk*.
A gamble is different from a bad decision that didn't pay off. Most of the storylines mentioned above are awful but they were not a risk per se.

A risk would be a headwriter knowing something they write might really piss of the audience but writing it anyway thinking it might be so great as to be worth it.
Ridge/Bridget definitely a good example.
Erica's unabortion too: if Josh had been a great character this might not be remembered as uniformly negatively as it is now (inversely because OLTL's Natalie worked as a character, the retcon of her birth paid off).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

This one may be a mix of taking a risk but not going that far out on a limb: Dawn Rollo on AW as the first HIV+/AIDS character. She was a new character, not related to any major characters (her brother had been MJ's pimp but Chad was also pretty disposable), a straight female. Yes, AW addressed AIDS first and showed that even "nice girls"/straight people could get it. But Dawn was a disposable character that viewers were maybe minimally invested in, if at all. This wasn't Kathleen, MJ or Amanda. This was AW deciding to do an AIDS story and bringing in a new character just for that purpose; she was dead within 6 months of her introduction and even that happened off screen. There really was no long-term impact from her having been on the show.


 

Edited by applcin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

That weird Irina Story on General Hospital in 2011 or 2010. That gave Helena a weird daughter just to kill her off. I don't know why they tried to go all in and gave that evil twisted Helena a daughter just to kill her off?

Tinas return story in 2008 on OLTL. Great idea to tie Tina into the 40th anniversary but it just didn't worked out the way they hoped for tbh.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • Bizarrely, while I didn't see it, I distinctly remember my younger sister telling me. We were walking to the store, and at the top of the hill she let out "Roger raped Holly", and I swear I remember it echoing for what seemed like forever. She would've been five at the time.  I know,,,which I find extraordinary. I have toyed with the idea of watching Another World for Maeve, Kathleen Widdoes and Beverlee. But watching Vanessa call Emma Snyder "momma" kinda weirded me out. LOL. I believe that's what I read in the recaps from the time as well. I meant, I couldn't quite believe that the audience wouldn't understand that a woman preparing to go to her engagement party  was raped. I know that on ATWT John raped Kim while they were married, resulting in Andy, but I think they shied away from calling that marital rape.
    • I have my fingers crossed for a baby to be named Monica Michelle & called Monica. And, yes, I do realize that is not equal to having her onscreen but, like you said & of course a recast is unthinkable. 
    • I would love to have Monica on screen. Leslie Charleson has died. She played the role for 46 years. Monica should pass as well. No one is going to accept a long-term recast for Monica, no matter how great  the actress they could get.
    • Coming into June...   It just occurred to me that seeing Carter/Hope engaged that there was something missing. Oh, yeah! DAPHNE. I missed a few episodes, but she left, right? So is Ridge going to be the spoiler for Carter/Hope now? I felt that Daphne/Carter/Hope had more legs to it. But I guess we will see.   I did enjoy that show circling back around to Luna/Will/Electra. Katie was spitting nothing, but truth. Same for Sheila. And it's good to see Luna vs Electra, and they gave off more adversary chemistry this time around versus when they were at Deacon's.    I was happy to see Liam reduced to C plot.
    • To bring over from the May Sweeps Thread from @Chris B   I know the fashions have gotten mixed reviews but I actually like what the new costume designer is putting the cast in. It feels more modern and the more tacky pieces I feel make sense for rich people. They're buying for the brand and the price and we often see celebs in things like this. Especially for a character like Nikki, I feel the more over the top (and tacky), the more realistic it is.   I agree. While it has been hit and miss no question, I have found it fascinating to watch what the costume designer is attempting to do with the various characters and their clothes. Some have been overdue. Some have been fascinating. But (outside of Billy) not boring to watch. I definitely find it more modern as well.   My growing issue has been it's not good that the best reason to watch Y&R as of late has been to see what people are wearing rather than the writing. It feels like a red flag.
    • Haha. The fact that I stopped regularly viewing at the same time and know what you are talking about is chef's kiss.    I'm slowly bingewatching Nurse's Ball Week. But it's slow for me because a lot of the same tics and writing flaws for me that made me throw up my hands is still evident *cough*CVE*cough* Thankfully, there are some things I like also and from a glance in the GH May Thread, it seem like it had a good Sweeps with good fallout. And do I even need to mention Nina finally slapping the taste out of Carly's mouth? See? Regardless of her flaws, I do enjoy Korte-headed episodes over CVE-headed episodes because they always seem to have more emotional resonance to long-time fans.
    • And that charity does still get mentioned from time to time. I want to say the last time was some time this year, too. 
    • Oh, no. Vernon has definitely had his moments.   Choose silence anyone?
    • Search YT for Edwyn Sanchez, he posted an AI enhanced episode of ATWT and it is beautiful.   
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy