In hindsight, what moment would have been the perfect ending to your soap (before things got awful)?

[Faulkner]

Soaps are meant to be open-ended, but many of them would have been better off ending before they became shadows of their former glories. Setting aside the jobs that would have been lost and other concerns, if you had to pick a moment in your show’s history to wrap things up prior to its cancellation (or at any point for the four surviving soaps), what would you choose, maybe with a few tweaks to bring people back and honor the show’s history? Perhaps it would have been the death of a character like John Abbott’s on Y&R. For GL, I’d probably select Annie sending Reva to her “death” on that plane in early 1998. The show was never really the same for me after that (there was a lot of bad stuff in previous years, but that was the last hurrah for me).

[asafi]

Should have ended days when tom Horton died in 1994, or by late 1996. after that went downhill with crazy stories 

[MichaelGL]

GL 

I would've ended it in January 1993 after Maureen's death. Or if we're going for before it really got Bad (Peapack Bad), I would've gone with the 50th Anniversary episodes in June of 2002. 

[titan1978]

That week of her funeral would have been a special way to end the show, all about the community and how one person had affected so many.  If we are adding returning folks because it is a wrap up, maybe all the Reardons come back for her.

This is harder than I would have thought.  When it comes to soaps my brain automatically thinks of story to continue.

For DAYS, I think maybe I would pick John and Marlena’s wedding.  I know a lot has happened since then, but for me, most of it has been nonsense or barely tolerable.  A nice cap to the 1990’s with beloved characters and a story about love.

On GH- I have two possibilities.  The first one is that month long stint when Laura woke up from her coma, and they were fake re-married.  Pretty easy to have that be real and a nice ending.  Or Alan’s death after the Metro Court.  That was the best Guza event, and the show was still mostly intact minus Alan.  The next couple of years just destroyed the show almost completely.

Y&R- a hopeful ending is when John returns and they got Jabot back.  Again, a nice cap on a driving point of story for many characters and a renewed focus on the family that reinvigorated the show.  I can’t remember if Katherine and Jill were “related” yet when John died, so I would never want to end it there!

 

[Gray Bunny]

When Bo & Hope finally reunited in the winter of 2000 after he and the Salem gang rescued her and Stefano from the French castle turret. 

Or perhaps spring of 2002 after the baby switch was over and Bo & Hope had baby Zack. 

[kalbir]

1998 was the last excellent year for Y&R so if it had ended in 1999 with John Abbott's return and the Abbott family getting Jabot back, that would've been a perfect ending. We'd have been spared storylines from 2000-2006 that caused long-term damage that the show never really recovered from (ie. Victor's stolen DNA, Jill's parentage rewrite, Cassie's death, John Abbott's death).

B&B I think should've ended sometime between 1999-2002. The consensus on this board draws the line at 2003 being the start of the decline. I personally thought B&B's tank era was summer 1995 to spring 1999 and I stopped watching after the Jabot/Newman crossover wrapped up in spring 1999.

 

 

[carolineg]

I have to agree with @titan1978.  John/Marlena's wedding would have been a great ending to the show.  It did really cap off the 90's well.  As long as there was something Horton related (maybe a Bo/Hope double wedding?). 

I kind of think the 50th anniversary might have been a good time to end GH.  Obviously, with a little more closure for the characters, but that's the last time I really enjoyed the show.

[AMCOLTLLover]

Days of our lives should‘ve ended after 2014… realistic wise.

when it comes down to Storys it should’ve ended in like 2004/05!

b&b should‘ve ended in like 2002-03.. the repetitive nature has always been around and I still love b&b.. but come on? How much can U repeat a damn triangle? 
 

why are so many people so hard on Y&R? It had great storys during the 2000‘s.. and Muhneys Adam brought that show back to life. Hell even Hartleys Adam gave that show some juice back. I think it should’ve ended in like 2018 tbh. After 2018 it became quiet a snoozefest besides Dinah’s final story..

 

[YRfan23]

Passions: December 2000 when Ethan Proposed to Theresa and Sheridan reunited with Luis after she was buried alive…I did enjoy the first 3-4 years of Passions very much but in a “perfect” , happily ever after world in Passions I think those moments would have been good book ends. 

B&B: The end of 2002 when Macy reunited with Thorne after being “dead” for two years. I do consider that to be the end of B&Bs 1987-2002 glory years anyways.

 

Y&R: hmmm…maybe the end of 2002 as well? I wanted to think maybe the end of 2005 right before the whole Sheila/Tom ending but I would have done without Katherine and Jill being mother/Daughter and Heather Tom leaving…

 

Edited December 21, 2021 by YRfan23

[will81]

For Y&R I would pick 98/99 as well - The Abbotts getting Jabot Back/Nikki and Victor reunited/Dru leaves town/Jill and Kay are sentenced to hell living together

 

ETA - Also if they knew the show was ending in 1999 what I would have liked (but obviously didn't happen)

I would have just kept Cole and Ashley together and had them have the baby girl she had wanted with Victor. When I first watched I didn't really like Eileen and J. Eddie Peck, but on rewatch I think they had an interesting chemistry

Maybe reunite Nina with her lost son and have her leave town to be near him

Phyllis' crimes are discovered and she is sent away to jail and Danny and Chris reunite while Lauren returns to reconcile with Paul

Diane keeps her dignity in tact and takes the high road out of GC or maybe Jack and Diane do make it work - not sure if I would want Jack still single and swinging or not

 

 

Edited December 21, 2021 by will81

[Kane]

Even though it still had good (even great) years/storylines afterwards, if All My Children had ended with its 25th anniversary episodes, where current and former characters came together to welcome Joe and Ruth home to the rebuilt Martin house, I would have considered that a good ending. I've long considered those episodes the gold standard for how to commemorate a soap properly and I think it would have been special to end the show with Joe and Ruth sitting together and reflecting on the past, particularly since Mary Fickett retired so soon after.

[watson71]

Another World could have ended in July 1997 when the show aired the 25th Anniversary episode for Victoria Wyndham- the show was full of great flashbacks and Wyndham gives a speech at the end of the episode that was meant to be a salute to fans- "Thank you for choosing to be part of my life.  I love you very much."

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[DramatistDreamer]

I would have ended ATWT in the mid 90s, years before the onslaught of horrendous storylines that befell the show in the decade and a half ahead. Don't bring back any  ridiculously written long-time characters, don't bring back legacy characters to have them sleep with other characters they consider father figures. Don't kill off legacy characters that long-time viewers saw born onscreen in two years, especially less than two years after they are brought back. And don't devolve characters that put in so much work to evolve in the first place.

I'd rather end it when the characters were still recognizable to people who actually knew the history of the show's stories, before the pandering to the new fans that never came and other who wouldn't stay anyway.

[soapfave06]

If OLTL were to end prior to 2011 then I would say the climax to the DID/Victor Lord saga at the end of the 1995 would be best. The show was still diverse then and it ended the biggest storyline ever. The late 90s seem trash overall to me, then the show became camp, then the Higley years and then the Ron C resurgence that was still all over the place. 

Maybe soaps should all rotate in and out with small arcs instead of airing consistently

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[KLN]

I don't know if Days counts because it's still on the air and currently on a creative upswing, but prior to this I'd have ended it with ED's last episode in 1998.

After a decade of Stefano DiMera, the devil, Jim Reilly, big gothic romance, OG Kristen, years of torment for J&M and the last truly great artistic period of the show, it ended with Kristen and that guttural scream in the cell.

Once Sally Sussman Morina took over it became more of a Reilly imitation with no throughline vision. Ratings tanked and I was bored to tears by '99.

After Kristen disappeared, J&M shifted to side front, Reilly focused on his own show, Stefano switched his focus to Hope/Gina and they pretended Kristen never existed. Then they brought on Salem High, more teen-oriented stories and the show really switched to something other than what I'd originally fallen in love with.

Edited December 23, 2021 by KLN