who would you say past or present has been the icons of each of the soap operas? Basically characters who are big figures and represent these soaps. These are my choice below :
Y&R- Victor Newman

B&B- Stephanie Forrester and Brooke Logan

Gh- Luke and Laura Spencer 

Passions- Theresa Lopez Filtzegard

Guiding Light- Reva Shayne

All my children- Erica Cane

One live to live- Dorian and Victoria Lord

days of our lives- Marlena Evans

ATWT: Penny, Lisa, Lily and Carly.

Dark Shadows: Victoria, Barnabas and Angelique.

Dallas: J.R., Pamela Barnes Ewing

Knots Landing:  Valene, Abby and Karen

AMC: Greg and Jenny; Jesse and Angie ("the FIRST and still the BEST No. 1 Black supercouple on daytime television!," so sayeth whatsherface); Tad "the Cad" Martin; Opal (as played by Dorothy Lyman); and (duh) Erica (Kane Martin Brent Cudahy etc. etc. etc.).

AW: Rachel and Iris (as played by Beverlee McKinsey).

ATWT: Lisa.  I'd also include Penny; she and Jeff literally invented the supercouple.

B&B: Brooke Logan Forrester (x8).

CAP: None.  (It didn't last long enough to build that kind of character.)

DS: Barnabas.

DAYS: Tom and Alice; Doug and Julie; Marlena; Bo and Hope; Patch and Kayla.

TD: Do people even THINK of THE DOCTORS anymore??

EON: Mike and Nancy Karr.

GEN: No iconic characters, but certainly an iconic catfight.

GH: Steve Hardy, Jessie Brewer and, of course, Luke & Laura.

GL: Bert Bauer, Roger Thorpe, Nola Reardon and (for better or for worse) Reva.

LOL: Vanessa.

LOV: Maybe Stacey?  Maybe Trisha?  Maybe Ava?

OLTL: Viki, Karen and Tina.

RH: Maeve Ryan.  (She wasn't just RH's heart and soul; she was also Claire Labine's entire philosophy embodied in one character.)

SaBa: Cruz and Eden.

SFT: Jo; Stu and Marge Bergman (at least, to the show's earliest fans).

SS: Amy Ames.

Y&R: Jill and "Miss Chancellor"; Snapper (as played by David Hasselhoff); Malcolm (not the sandwich king, but the original one, played by Shemar Moore); Victor and Nikki.

and...

PAS: Timmy, Tabitha's doll, who was always so [!@#$%^&*] needy.

Edited January 27, 20223 yr by Khan

AW: Rachel

ATWT: Lisa then Carly

GL: Reva, like it or not 😆

Y&R: Mrs Chancellor (as she was always referred to in my household), Victor Newman.

Days: Marlena/Sami

GH: Luke and Laura, then Sonny

AMC: Erica

B&B: Brooke

OLTL: Vicki

 

 

Y&R Victor and B&B Stephanie.

GH - Frisco! Robert ! Brenda ! Jason (like it or not)

Dool - Sami Brady ! Jack Deveraux ! Jennifer Horton! Bo Brady ! Hope !

AW: Mac, Rachel, Felicia, Cass

ATWT: Bob, Lisa, Lily,  Carly

B&B: Stephanie, Brooke, Taylor, Sally #1

Days: Tom, Alice, John & Marlena, Sami, Bo & Hope

GL: Josh and Reva, Roger

Sunset Beach: Annie

Y&R: Victor & Nikki, Jill & Katherine, Dru, Malcolm(as @Khan said not sandwich making Eddie Winslow!)

JILL, PLAYED BY BRENDA. ❤️