Soap Storylines/Moments You Would Have Written Differently

[MichaelGL]

Guiding Light...where do I start? Having Ellen Weston finish stories set in motion by Millee Taggart and Carolyn Culliton turned out to be a MESS. None of the story resolutions made sense and some were never resolved at all.

Reva's stalker should have been Jonathan Randall, not Alex. And if you wanted to make the story even juicier, have Edmund come upon the truth while Jonathan is still stalking Reva, and have him be in the know.  

The battle for Spaulding with Alex vs Alan/Phillip, should have resulted in Alan-Michael's return and him siding with his aunt Alex. A-M recruiting Blake to be on his side, who had mentioned a desire to get back in the corporate world around that time. Blake and A-M grow close, and it leads to a Ross/Blake/AM triangle; not so much as a physical affair between A-M and Blake, but A-M being determined to woo Blake back; his intentions unclear as he would want Blake's shares of Spaulding, and Ross not being too keen on Blake's corporate ambitions, especially since they appear to be the opposite of his nephew Phillip. 

If the show was going to give Alan another son in the form of Gus, he should have been the child Rita Stapleton had after leaving Springfield. There'd even be a question of whether he was Ed or Alan's son. 

Edited March 8, 2022 by MichaelGL

[Vee]

I could've sworn that originally they'd intended for Gus to be Rita Stapleton's, and for Jonathan to be Reva's stalker. IIRC GL went through several iterations of trying to bring Jonathan on as an adult over multiple regimes (including Sandy "the Mole" who didn't work out/wasn't interesting enough, which is how Sandy became an imposter) before settling on Tom Pelphrey and introducing him as the genuine article.

Edited March 8, 2022 by Vee

[Fevuh]

GL - not really a re-write really but the Clone's death was done pretty well in the end. Although it would have been somewhat morbid I would have brought in Audrey Peters (Sarah) to play the Clone in the last few weeks of her life.  It would have been like Reva seeing herself die, and her mother die again, and maybe some thought about what it would mean in the end to clone people.  

[Spoon]

I would make random deep callbacks to a shows history.  Like on GL. DA Doris Wolfe could've  been a child of Dr. Fletcher or something.  That's  one thing I'm  enjoying about Days even if the execution isn't always great. I appreciate  the effort.

[Khan]

I could have, too.

I didn't mind Jonathan not being Reva's stalker, though, because I don't think we had seen Jonathan as an adult up to that point.  It seemed like the first time we were even gonna "meet" him was when he would be unmasked as the stalker; and to me, that's bad storytelling.

[Planet Soap]

b&b 2021/22 - Have Justin's takeover of Spencer publications be successful and have it be a long-term struggle with bill to regain control of the company

[Mitch64]

Agreed...he should have been introduced early in the storyline as a random friend of Shayne's from school. Now I know the world renowned Pelphery ( I'm sarcastic..I like him, I just think like Deas and Zimmer, the directors let him have his way and the audience thought yelling and screaming was acting ) would have been too old for that role (at least for the actor playing Shayne at that time..) so you would need someone a bit younger (and more subtle) to pull it off. Some clean cut kid we wouldn't suspect who could play ice cold when needed. Plus, I think the intro of Jon without his siblings around kind of lessened the impact..Marah and Shayne should have had huge abandoment issues what with Reva disappearing constantly and their MommyAnnie, turning into a psycho..but they always acted like they were the Brady Bunch. Pelphery could play any, "bad boy" role they wanted to pull out of their butts.

But yea, Jon was supposed to be the stalker, with that crazy guy they caught a red herring and Alex taking advantage of the situation to redirect both Reva and Holly's investigation into the Spauldings (and Gus being Alan's kid) instead of Alex being the main stalker which made no sense at all. Weston was going to make Sandy the stalker and introduce him talking to a sock puppet..( I kid you not..)

[MichaelGL]

And there was plenty of discussion about Reva's stalking being connected to the publicity she got after she went on trial for taking Richard off life support, so yeah it seemed like Jon would've been the likely suspect instead of Alex. 

[Mitch64]

The only saving grace in this whole thing, was when Reva finds out and goes up to Alex bitching and moaning MarjAlex just laughs, and waves her off...(GO Alex!) Though isnt it funny Zimmer had no scenes with JoanAlex???

[Khan]

Exactly.  Let us get to know him under seemingly ordinary circumstances; then, at a certain point, reveal (to us, not to the other characters!) his true identity and reason for coming to Springfield (i.e., to terrorize the mother he feels abandoned him when he needed her most).  Then, once WE know, let the suspense continue building, as we wait on the edges of our seats to see when Reva and everyone else learn the truth.

[Videnbas]

B&B - Stephanie's death. 

I may be in the minority, but it just felt so "staged" to me. From the moment she was dying, it was as if Stephanie stepped out of the flow of storylines and into a series of "special" episodes where nothing happened other than her delivering letters to loved ones and them taking turns crying over her imminent death. It would have been more poignant if the entire last few weeks of Stephanie's life weren't reduced to one extended goodbye ritual, but actually showed us Stephanie still taking part in the lives and storylines of her loved ones.

And then there was the Irish-themed goodbye party (where the grandchildren weren't even invited) for a character who had never been Irish in her entire life but somehow became very unsubtly Irish on her deathbed.

Finally there was her dying in Brooke's arms. Unlike many fans, I do feel it was absolutely right to have Stephanie and Brooke together in that scene. But I didn't think the mood was right (the whole "sing to me, baby girl" thing). There should have been some tension left between then, right until the very end. 

[Planet Soap]

 

that last part especially because Brooke learned absolutely nothing when she slet with her sister's husband the very next year.

[Melroser]

AW:

would not have killed Ryan when Paul Michael Valley wanted to leave. Ryan and Vicky were a great couple. Clearly, he was willing to come back (the heaven scenes). He could have been a good wrench in a Vicky coupling.

Would not have killed Frankie in such a brutal way. I would have had her run-off and make it a mystery of why she left Cass.

The later part of its run I would have had Cecile on. I would have made her less of a schemer and a general foe for Rachel-Donna-Felicia. 

 

[Spoon]

I would've had a Mike Bauer recast come on in '99 to take down the Santos clan.  Mike would get shot, possibly killed bringing Hope back to town with Alan-Michael who just split up with Lucy off-screen.  2001 I would've  given Rick a teen son from his Chicago days forming a new Musketeers group with Lizzie, Bill and either a SORAS'd Marina or another character.

[Khan]

Mike Bauer dying at the hands of the Santos clan?  I don't think so.