Any storylines altered or dropped because of real world factors?

[Frank2803]

I looked if this topic was already discussed before I decided to create a thread. My apologies if subject was already discussed 

[Spoon]

Edge of Night had a cult storyline ala Jim Jones but had to change it to a serial killer. 

 

Also I think GH had an action  plot that had to be nixed due to 9/11.

[Forever8]

I believe in 2007 that OLTL was going to have a school shooting storyline involving Llanview High. But with Virginia Tech Shootings happened they scrapped it. 

[John]

Yes they did & filmed it. Henry (Jonathan Groff) brought a gun to school,

It was quickly reshot on a Saturday where Henry who was on drugs crashed the drivers ed car after having a heart attack. He died off screen

[j swift]

I was thinking this topic was familiar, so I found the two prior topics when we thought of similar examples, (including the OLTL school shooting story), for your reading pleasure

Edited November 9, 2021 by j swift

[Frank2803]

Awesome 

[Vee]

They rewrote a story point on OLTL in 2001 on the fly the week of 9/11. IIRC, Blair's plane to Mexico was supposed to crash, and she would deliver her baby (Jack) in the wreckage or something with Todd by her side. A cliffhanger or commercial break showed the plane suffering turbulence. When 9/11 happened, they hastily reshot and the plane landed safely.

I felt it was a mistake then and now that the soaps basically did not acknowledge 9/11 openly on air and in story. I take the Rosemary Prinz view of things (Prinz famously improvised a line about the Kennedy assassination during a live show on ATWT in 1963, the week after the shooting). The world goes through turmoil and these shows, which are companions to people throughout their real lives, should reflect it and be a source of not just comfort but commiseration. If Penny Hughes or Erica Kane or Viki Lord can talk about what we've gone through it can help other people deal with it too. I feel the same way about COVID today - I think it's a travesty GH in particular has not used it.

Edited November 9, 2021 by Vee

[titan1978]

It’s especially weird that soaps are ignoring COVID, and yet other shows are not that actually air in syndication and stream seasons.  This is a snapshot of a specific time and place, and yes, those shows might hopefully someday feel dated.  But these soaps appear delusional (B&B’s kissing dolls in particular).

[te.]

Melrose Place's original idea for the season 3 cliffhanger was that Kimberly was supposed to kidnap Sydney and fly a small plane into the building - because someone then crashed a small airplane into the White House lawn in September 1994, the idea was nixed. Of course they then went with having Kimberly blowing up the building and then had to delay the explosion to the fall because of Oklahoma...

[Vee]

There's also the infamous aborted Janet Green bomb storyline from around the same time on AMC, IIRC. I think her supposedly taking Brooke's face via plastic surgery tied into that somehow and was also scrapped to keep Robin Mattson.

[John]

The Bomb Story was scrapped in 94. The Brooke Story was 1996 & JB was gonna play both parts with ABC not renewing RM's Contract. Fans wrote in and saved her job

[Vee]

Oh, that's right. I don't know why I conflated them.

[John]

I think ABC didnt think RM would be a hit as Janet and when fans saved her job thats what started Janet's redemption arc

[Frank2803]

Here are some I thought of for primetime shows:

On the Sopranos it seems like they had plans for Livia Soprano to have a full on mob war with her son Tony before Nancy Marchand's death 

It seems like there were bigger plans for the "others " on Lost because Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros DUI.

 

[titan1978]

Oh Lost.  Remember the couple that were always there but we had not seen them before, and then they just killed them off at the end of the season because it wasn’t working.

On GH, whatever the Cassadine story was supposed to be was disrupted first by Bob Guza leaving for Sunset Beach, and then again when Genie went on maternity leave and basically refused to return until the writing was better and she wanted to.

 

It seems like pregnancies have possibly changed many storyline directions over the years.

Edited November 9, 2021 by titan1978