A common soap element is a mother favoring one son over the other. That element also has a biblical allusion (Rebecca/Jacob/Esau). Which soap storylines of mothers favoring one son over the other are the favorites of this board?

Bill Bell used this element several times, the two big ones being Vanessa favoring Lance over Lucas and Stephanie favoring Ridge over Thorne. To a lesser extent there was Cora favoring Matt over Victor, as Cora kept Matt and placed Victor in an orphanage. I don't think Liz and her relationships with Snapper and Greg apply here, and I don't count Mary and Paul as Mary's relationships with her other sons Todd and Steve were not really explored.

 

Edited February 1, 20223 yr by kalbir

2 hours ago, kalbir said:

I don't count Mary and Paul as Mary's relationships with her other sons Todd and Steve were not really explored.

 

Like Liz Foster I can’t see Mary favoring one child over the other…Paul was the oldest right? I could see him currying extra  favor with her more, but had Steve & Patty lasted into the 80’s and 90’s I could see Mary equally barging into their private lives as much as she did Paul’s….with Todd being a priest she may have felt satisfied enough lol. 
 

On ATWT didn’t Nancy prefer younger son Bob over Don back in the 60’s? I know Nancy also preferred her dead daughter over Penny as well. 

Primetime wise it was pretty clear Ellie’s favorite son was Gary on Dallas. 
 

 

On Passions Ivy always favored Ethan over Fox, cause he was  her true love, Sam’s son. 

As much as she loved Kevin, I feel like OLTL's Viki had a softer spot in her heart for Joey.  After all, he WAS his father's namesake.

Kate from Days is the first person I thought of.  Not so much now, but in the 90's it's clear Austin was her golden child.   She didn't even make it a secret.

Carly on GH clearly loves Michael the best.  I don't even know where her baby is most of the time.

40 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Kate from Days is the first person I thought of.  Not so much now, but in the 90's it's clear Austin was her golden child.   She didn't even make it a secret.

Are you sure about that?  Because, if memory serves me correct, Deborah Adair's Kate did her best to make like that part of her life (marrying Curtis/having Austin and Billie) never existed.  To me, Lucas was her golden child.

1 hour ago, soapfan770 said:

Like Liz Foster I can’t see Mary favoring one child over the other…Paul was the oldest right? I could see him currying extra  favor with her more, but had Steve & Patty lasted into the 80’s and 90’s I could see Mary equally barging into their private lives as much as she did Paul’s….with Todd being a priest she may have felt satisfied enough lol. 

From what I've seen/read, when Bill Bell added the Williams family, the children's birth order was Todd (away in the seminary), Steve (working as a reporter), Paul (working at a garage), Patty (high school student).

Wasn't Mary a very religious woman?  If she was, then I would imagine Todd to be her favored child, just because he joined the priesthood.

She was a churchgoer as many of her generation were. I don’t know if I’d describe her as “very religious” by the standards of her day.

Any thoughts on Bert Bauer? 

I don't recall her ever favoring Mike over Ed or vice versa.

 

Edited January 31, 20223 yr by Paul Raven

1 hour ago, Khan said:

Are you sure about that?  Because, if memory serves me correct, Deborah Adair's Kate did her best to make like that part of her life (marrying Curtis/having Austin and Billie) never existed.  To me, Lucas was her golden child.

I feel like once she found out they were her kids she bent over backwards to make Austin/Billie happy.  She was always weirdly invested in their love lives, gave them jobs, and I felt like Lucas was forgotten for awhile.  You can see it from both views because she has done a ton of stuff for Lucas as well, but I personally always felt she wanted Austin to get everything he wanted more than her other kids.

From watching episodes from when Patty was on, Mary had to keep Carl from butting into Patty's life while Carl had to keep Mary from butting into Paul's life.  I think the fact that Todd was in the priest hood made him the favored one

On GH, I always found it so stupid and weird, that Monica always seemed to favor Jason, her husband's bastard son over AJ, her own son.   I also never understood why they always had a blonde playing Jason, when Alan & Susan (Jason's mom) both had black hair.  

Didn't Justine favor Grant over Ryan despite the fact that Ryan was her love child with Carl?

42 minutes ago, David_Vickers said:

On GH, I always found it so stupid and weird, that Monica always seemed to favor Jason, her husband's bastard son over AJ, her own son.

Maybe Monica never got over the fact that he wasn't Rick's baby, lol.