All : Storyline risks that didn't pay off.

[SFK]

Were Rick and Myra still together when they left the show?

I feel the same about the killing of Alan Quartermaine. Why lose a strong actor and vital living character only to keep bringing them back for tired ghostly appearances?

[amybrickwallace]

SB: Eden's multiple personalities. Marcy Walker chose to leave the show, but what an awful story to exit on.

[titan1978]

Y&R- making Katherine and Jill related upended not only the core of their relationship and history, it also upended recent history with Mac and Billy.  Just because a couple of recasts were not working.

I also think killing Cassie was a risk, because it was to make Nick and Sharon seem younger and shake them up.  It was a huge failure in my eyes, even if it did lead to a popular (with some) pairing with Phyllis.

GL- Maureen’s death.  I kind of agree with JFP- the way they did it made it unbearable.  The affair, her raw emotions, and then the accident when everything was still in turmoil.  That is a risky way to send off a beloved character, and I think the way they told the story, while exceptional in a lot of ways, perhaps left the audience too upset with the how.

GH- revisiting Luke’s rape of Laura.  I do think it was a good idea, and it had many wonderful and powerful moments.  But the risk did not pay off because it was just another deconstruction by Guza without a plan to rebuild.  The fact that they divorced was such a slap in the face to the most important couple and wedding in the show’s history.  Warts and all, it shouldn’t have ended up the way it did.  And all that doesn’t even mention how awful Laura’s writing was- it was almost all about Luke and Lucky.

[Soapsuds]

ATWT- Might have been a rating success at the end but Marland not making Daryl the killer in Carolyn death. The story started off great but then went in circles to fizzle out with a day player as the killer. What a letdown.

[soapfan770]

Nope! Rick and Maya had an off-screen divorce in 2018 which Maya announced when she came back for the holidays. Maya stayed around in the background for a few months after that but was gone by the end of Spring 2019 without explanation. In fact the entire Avant family has now been wiped from existence probably never to return except for possibly Lizzie Forrester one day. 

Not to mention it was pretty unbelievable the mousy Vicki Harper was the one who ordered Carolyn’s execution. 

[John]

Yeah the fact that Lucky shaming Laura was all wrong 

[DRW50]

I will always associate JJ's Lucky with the scenes where he berated Laura over her rape...and the scene where he told Liz how pure their love was when he found her bleeding in the snow from a rape. He was the face of so much of Guza's sickness.

[SFK]

@soapfan770 Wow, thank you!

[Paul Raven]

Days took a big risk in 1980 by killing off/ writing off a bunch of characters Bill,Laura, Linda, Robert,  etc and focusing on a new set Kellam, Liz,Joshua etc

The show was moribund and needed to make some changes but all of this turned viewers off and ratings tanked. 

Within a year or so most of the newbies were gone.

[FrenchBug82]

I don't want to derail the thread but as an aside this is my number one gripe with Bell and B&B.
He gets us invested in relationships and write years of stories around them but is ready to chuck them in a handful of episodes or, even worse, off-screen.
Maya/Rick were popular; destroying them as a throwaway line is just such a spit in the face of invested viewers. Same with killing off Caroline off-screen. I hate that stuff. You can't get viewers invested in a character or couple and then have massive things happen off-screen, briefly mentioned and then ignored forever.

[Frank2803]

It sorta paid off if you count Emmy wins as successful 

[Gray Bunny]

 

Can't believe I'm gonna defend the cloning storyline, but GL's ratings stayed up during the clone saga (even beating AMC and ATWT for weeks in the summer of '98) and they fell out literally the week AFTER the clone died and Zimmer/Newman were off the canvas for 3 weeks. 

[Nixor]

I thought it was brilliantly done. I watched it as a teen and rewatched it recently and am still on Lucky’s side in all of his emotional reactions. It felt real, the dialogue back then was top notch and the acting was pretty mind blowing. But it was the beginning of Luke becoming one of the most insufferable characters. 
 

I do agree that GL killing off Maureen did not pay off beyond those first few gut wrenching months of Ed and Michelle grieving. The show lost a lot of its heart. 

[applcin]

AMC did it with Zarf/Zoe. Again, new character introduced just for the purpose and gone in less than 6 months.

 

[MichaelGL]

GL: 
The killing off of Hillary Bauer and Bill Bauer! Short term gimmicks that did the exact opposite of what they were intended for.