Name a Critical Year on a Soap

[Planet Soap]

Name an individual year in which something especially important happened on a soap in terms of on screen or behind the scenes events that significantly altered the show for better or worse. 

For example:

1975 (Y&R) Phillip Chancellor's death, a land mark storyline that would drive story for decades. 

1976 (OLTL) Victor Lord's death, which fuel Dorian and Viki for decades to come

1996 (GH) Jason Q becomes Jason Morgan, goes to work for Sonny and Carly comes to town. All three events events would shape GH for the next quarter century

1995 (all soaps) OJ trial causes mass preemptions significantly contributing to audience erosion. 

2011 (all soaps) OLTL/AMC cancellations mark the final nails in the coffin of the soap purge. 

 

Edited February 4, 2022 by ironlion

[kalbir]

Y&R

1980: 1 hour expansion. Introductions of Victor, the Williams family, the Abbott family.

1982: H. Wesley Kenney took over as EP from John Conboy. The Brooks and Foster families are phased out, and the Abbott family is expanded.

1982-1983: The season Y&R became CBS's #1 daytime drama.

1984: The transition from the Brooks/Foster era to the Abbott/Newman era is complete and Y&R became Y&R as we know it today.

1986: Cricket became a full time character and proceeded to eat the show for the remainder of the decade. Ed Scott took over as EP from H. Wesley Kenney. Cast purge that continues to the end of 1987.

1988-1989: The season Y&R overtook General Hospital as the overall #1 daytime drama.

1998: Bill Bell stepped down as HW and Kay Alden took over.

2006: John Abbott is killed off and Y&R has not been the same since.

B&B

1988: Introduction of Sally Spectra. 

1989-1991: Bill Bell built a business and family around Sally. The Logan family would be phased out and replaced by the Spectra gang. 

1992: The first Y&R crossover when Sheila turned up alive in Los Angeles.

1993: Bill Bell stepped down as HW and Bradley took over.

All

1987: Iran Contra hearings, the first big pre-emption I remember.

1988: Writer's strike, which may have caused alot of storylines to go off track.

1994-1995: The season of OJ.

2020: Covid hiatus.

Edited February 5, 2022 by kalbir

[Paul Raven]

AW

1975 Another World expands to an hour with ratings success and other shows soon follow. 

1979 The show expands again to 90 mins and Harding Le May departs as head writer. The ratings drop and the show is never recovers.

 

 

Edited February 4, 2022 by Paul Raven

[All My Shadows]

AMC's first huge year of transition was probably 1980-1981. The Cortlandts were fully integrated into the show and had a big, splashy wedding to prove it. The Tylers as a major family unit were no more - Phoebe was with Langley, Charles was with Mona, Anne was just about to be blown to bits, Linc and Kelly moved away and only returned for brief visits, etc. Nick Davis was long gone, Paul Martin was fading into the background, Jeff Martin was gone, Phil and Tara were almost out the door, Estelle was about the die, and Erica was gearing up to spend most of the early 80s in her own isolated stories. Most of the characters that took the show to the top of ABC's lineup in the mid 70s (and #1 of all soaps by 1978) were gone, and characters who had come on later in the 70s were slowly moving to the forefront while a new set of younger characters were just around the corner. It's really a miracle the show handled this period as gracefully as it did and continued to dominate.

There are those 1980 episodes on YouTube where you have characters like Palmer, Nina, and Myra alongside scenes with Tara and Chuck. It's weird because you really think of them as being from two different eras.

[Paul Raven]

Days of Our Lives

1980

Following  a few years of soft ratings and writer changes following Pat Falken Smith's departure they decide to revamp. Within weeks familiar characters die/leave town and a slew of new arrivals hit Salem. ratings slide further and by the end of the year new writers attempt to undu the damage.

1993

James Reilly buries Carly alive and the ratings jump back into the Top 5 in a week. The template is set for years to come.

[Spoon]

GL

1979: Marland comes on.  and will go on to introduce several soon to be GL staples.

1983: Pam Long comes on, develops/expands the Lewis clan. Reva.   Basically sets the stage for the rest of the show's run.

1984: The phasing out of the Bauers begins in full force.  GL will never be the same as the newer characters continue their dominance on the show.

1989.  Roger Thorpe returns.  70s characters Roger and Holly immediately click with the almost  completely different cast.

1993.  Killing off Maureen.  I personally had no problem with it and found it well done.  Poignant soap deaths with lasting impact are few and far between.

1998.  Clone Saga and the Santos crime family.  The following year (or two?) would be the infamous San Cristobel crew would be introduced.

2003.  After a strong six-months under interim writers, tbe whole show is "blown-up" by the incoming John Conboy.  Despite some glimmers of hope in late 2004 and 2005 the show is basically circling the drain.

2008.  Peapeck, basically hospice care.  GL is clearly dying and you knew the end was just a matter of time.  

[Khan]

Another one for GL:

1977.  The year the show expands to 60 minutes, and also the year when then-HW's Bridget and Jerome Dobson introduce the Spauldings, a family that would dominate the show in years to come.

Edited February 4, 2022 by Khan

[Faulkner]

 

 

It’s been said before but 1993 feels like such a pivotal year for all soaps. Doug Marland’s death forever changed ATWT. Todd’s rape of Marty on OLTL changed the trajectory of that show to the end. Claire Labine took over on GH.

[Vee]

I would point to 1992 for OLTL, as I believe Gottlieb only took over at OLTL in August of '91 and the first months were rocky. I don't think they fully soared until Megan's death and Billy Douglas, though the pieces certainly began being put in place in '91.

[Planet Soap]

2005 is where we saw a major quality drop on multiple soaps y&r, gh, atwt, and GL. 

2004: ABC soaps drop their classic 90s openers (AMC had a good looking open which debut in 03) in favor of cheap, dark, runway looking intros with revamped themed songs. 

Edited February 4, 2022 by ironlion

[AbcNbc247]

Passions: 2004: That year was sort of the climax of Passions as a whole. Storylines that had been dragged out since the year it debuted finally reached their endpoint, couples broke up and others got back together, Characters were written out, new characters were brought in.  Too bad it all didn't work out in the end.

[Planet Soap]

2012/2013: GH changes head writers who revamps the show and build Significant press around the shows 50th anniversary. Not to mention a massive marathon on soap net. 

2017: nostalgia comes alive as Sheila returns to B&B, and Steve Burton's Jason returns to GH. 

[titan1978]

GH- 

1973- Denise Alexander jumps ship from DAYS to create Lesley, becomes a pivotal lead her entire run on the show, and her soon to be added lost daughter Laura has a major impact on everything to come. Her arrival ultimately displaces Audrey and Jessie as leads within a couple of years and they are never frontburner again.

[Melroser]

I remember when I was a kid being devastated in 1986 when I found out that AW was losing Ellen Wheeler (Marley/Vicky), Tom Eplin (Jake), Stephen Schnetzer (Cass), and Julie Osburn (Kathleen) at the end of summer with announcements that Anna Stuart (Donna) and Sharon Gabet (Brittany) were also leaving in the fall. Nancy Frangione (Cecile) also left again after her summer story. 

These were my faves on the show and drove most of the story. I think the show floundered after all the mass exodus and it turned more viewers away. Viewers the show already couldn't afford to lose. 

[Paul Raven]

GH

1978 Gloria Monty takes over as EP as the show moves to an hour. With Doug Marland as headwriter the Laura/Scotty/Bobbie story as well as Alan/Monica/Rick propel the show up the ratings chart. New production values change the look of soaps (no more live to tape)

1981

The Ice Princess story brings spies and sci fi to daytime and other shows begin fantastical storylines.

Edited February 6, 2022 by Paul Raven