Retro SOD Article: Bomb’s Away! Soaps’ Biggest Story Mistakes

[Soaplovers]

Y & R

I thought Phillip's death was a good story decision.  History repeating itself with the car accident, Kay/Jill reunited in grief and also disdain for Nina...Jill trying to do to Nina what Kay had done to her, etc.  And it left Nina vulnerable to the likes of David.

B & B

I actually think Karen was a good idea, and at first, Joanna Johnson made her different than Caroline...she was more a fish out of water.   What went wrong was making her too polished too quickly...and not finding a proper story for Karen.  There were times she was not an ingenue and even had an edge....but her stories didn't get followed up on (she was paired with Thorne...and had good rival chemistry with Macy...but I don't recall any element calling into question if Thorne was with her because she looked like Caroline, etc).

Sunset Beach

Rae was dropped a mere few months into the show's run..and I recall people were pissed because she was likable..and she/Casey had chemistry.  What was SOD's write up on this story?

[carolineg]

Thanks.  I knew there was something ridiculous about Wayne Northrop pretending a mask made him as tall as Don.  I remember Don being heavily involved.   When do you think is the last time Marlena even mentioned Don?  30 years ago lol?

[AbcNbc247]

Probably lol I've heard that she mentioned DJ in the early 90s, so I guess that was the last mention of both of them. 

[Sapounopera]

Phillip's death was a great story. A real tragedy, Jill and Kay losing in a car accident another Phillip they both loved. TB was great as the shy, awkward, sensitive boy and that's where the story should have ended. No Cane, no Gay Witness Protection Program. 

[carolineg]

I have heard Marlena mention DJ here and there over the years but never Don lol.  I am drifting the thread, but I wonder how much staying power Don would have had if DJ had lived.  Probably more, but we did spend the 90's pretending Carrie was John/Marlena's kid so it didn't help Anna much.

Anyway, I don't think that was anywhere near Days worst story.  Outside from obvious clunkers with weird sci-fi stuff I think I would point to the Tale of 2 Romans.  Not only was the story bad, it changed Days irreversibly in a bad way.

[j swift]

OK, but we can agree this one was a huge bomb, and an illogical attempt to prop up an unpopular actor (at least I've never read anyone asking for more of RKK).

[AbcNbc247]

The producer and writer changes didn't help much either

[carolineg]

Yes.  Was RKK that popular to begin with on AW?  I admit I liked him as Bo, but he never wowed me otherwise.

[slick jones]

I liked him as original recipe Sam Fowler on AW, but I never cared for him as Bo.  I stopped watching regularly after Rachel took up with Carl, my only Bobby Reno knowledge is from recaps. Stavros... well..that was an OTT mess.

[carolineg]

I actually really liked him as Bo.  If he wasn't such a horrible person, I would have actively wanted him back when Peter left again.  But that's not the case.  I can't believe other soaps snapped him up after his behavior.

[soapfan770]

@Soaplovers Here is what they had to say about Rae and Casey on Beach:

After months of a slow build, BEACH axed this popular romance for no good reason, alienating the viewers they were struggling to attract. Casey and Rae were a charismatic couple and one of the few daytime love stories to feature an Asian-American. Since Rae's exit, lonely Casey has become the shoulder that everyone leans on. Yeah, he's been paired with Sara, but that relationship is based on the fact he helped her during the Melinda scandal and Shockwave. Kelly Hu (ex-Rae) is now starring on MARTIAL LAW, where she kicks bad-guy butt every Saturday night. Back at the beach, poor Casey's still waiting for a story. 

 

And here's what they said about Bobby/Shane @j swift

First of all, if AW wanted to rehire Robert Kelker-Kelly, they should've brought back him back as Sam Fowler, the popular character he played from 1987-1990. Second, switching horses, er, careers, mid-stream made no sense. Remember when Vicky suffered head trauma in a bomb blast while she and Bobby were out in the woods? He didn't know what to do, panicked, and raced her to a doctor. Then later, we find out that this guy is a top brain surgeon? Yeah, right, whatever. Bobby turned into Saint Shane. He performed life-saving surgery on Kirkland, discovered a cure for his own "terminal" disease and then died in a car wreck last winter. Shane and Bobby are now just Bay City history. The only good to come from it was Shane's secret ex-spouse, Lila, who arrived looking for him, stayed on after his demise and has livened things up considerably for Cass. 

[Titus Andronicus]

This was six months later and a different storyline, the Prisms. That storyline was ridiculous as all hell, making serial killer Roman to be quite grounded in comparison.

(Additionally, Slasher had one of my favorite scenes ever, when Roman convinces Abe that he's not the murderer.)

Edited February 13, 2022 by Titus Andronicus

[Khan]

God, what a mess, lol.

[FrenchBug82]

As Vee said just yesterday or the day before in another thread, it almost NEVER works when a show brings back an actor as a different character (that two of the entries are such story is a good illustration).
So RKK's return was weird and ill-fated from the get-go.

BUT RKK does the charming blue-collar thing pretty well and I am not going to lie, I was softer on Bobby that I expected to be. He was charming and he and Vicky had good chemistry. The story was a bit paint-by-the-number but I was sort of buying them falling in love which was a hard task after Ryan.
BUT it really really REALLY went pear-shaped when they completely switched the character, who he was, what his backstory was, etc. mid-way through.
It made no sense, removed every minor investment we might have had in what they had taken months to carefully establish and turned the character into something that is less in RKK's wheelhouse. All that because a new headwriter wanted to tell a story they had previous pitched or written in a book and decided to shoehorn it onto this existing character.
Only to kill him off less than a year later despite having had Ryan The Ghost give his blessing to what was supposed to be Vicky's new great love. 
I think the initial bad idea would have been salvageable because RKK, whatever his real-life faults, is a great screen presence and a good actor. It is the twist that made it go down as a huge mistake imho.

To me the worst mistakes are the ones that are both obviously a mistake from the minute they came up in someone's mind, are unnecessary (meaning no actor-leaving etc) and are unsalvageable.
The only one of the stories I am familiar with on this list (roughly two-thirds) that qualifies is Erica's stealing Maria's baby. This should have been shut down as soon as it came out the HW's lips (same with the unabortion later).
Others, at least, can be defended in theory (I hate lookalikes but how could B&B not jump at a chance of having JJ back) or have aged well (like killing Philip)
 

 

[Melroser]

AW: I enjoyed RKK initially as Sam when he and Amanda met and fell in love. Up until they saddled Amanda with a pregnancy. 

Bobby/Shane never worked for me. I know AW wanted RKK back and he balked at playing Sam again. They probably came up with Bobby too quickly without much thought.

A bigger mistake for AW was killing off Frankie to use her money for that mess!

DAYS: I couldn't stand the slasher story because I loved Renee! I was devastated when she was killed off! I stopped watching for many years. That was the first real story that upset me (and I was 10!)

The Texas cancellation the year before also bothered me but not as much. 

 

 

Edited February 13, 2022 by Melroser