Well Plotted Soap Stories

[Planet Soap]

What were some examples of soap storylines that were well planned, structured, and timed with a good payoff.

GH: Carly from 1996-1999. The umbrella plot was Carly being Bobbie's daughter which contained her affairs with Tony, Jason & AJ as well as the spinoff plot of Michael's paternity. I believe it came about as a result of Luke looking for a bone marrow donor which also spawned Nickolas. 3 years of solid story. The two big payoffs were the Carly & Bobbie scene at Michael's baptism and Robin teling AJ the truth.

OLTL: Victor Lord's murder 1993-1995. It started with the introduction of Sloan and "Lord of the Banner", spiraled into Dorian on trial for Murder, continued into Viki splitting into multiple personalities with the payoff being Viki realizing she "killed" her own dad. seeds of Vickys eventual psyche crack were being planted as early as late 94.

 

[Contessa Donatella]

On AW, Rachel had been saved by the love of a good man, Mac. Before redemption she was a bitch, sometimes a villain, always selfish, never satisfied with what she had & was always looking for the quick way around to get what she wanted rather than, say , working to accomplish a goal. This theme was played out in "The Redemption of Carl & the Romance of Rachel," where Carl was redeemed through the love of a good woman, Rachel. The writers knew, hell, everyone knew, that this was going to be a tough sell. Carl had on multiple occasions done horrible things to Rachel & her family. They made a calculated decision to take this very slow, I believe they planned out 18 months. And, they were going to take a classic path where they literally start not being able to stand one another. In the beginning Carl had found out that Ryan was actually his son. Ryan was a detective & a "Boy Scout" if anyone was & he wouldn't have anything to do with Carl. Rachel was struggling primarily with Cory Publishing. Carl conceived of a plan to get Rachel to be seen with him in public to get some respectability that way. He offered her control of his 10% of voting shares of Cory for one outing. At first she was totally resistant. That was parallel with where the audience was. He was charming & indefatigable. Eventually she gave in. She wanted that vote powerful bad. They wrote it, back & forth, with him at his most charming & her, all over the place. They continued to play all the beats of the stories. They became friendly. They ended up in NY at Christmas time. They did a walk by all the poet's residences in the Village. They began to have a good time with each other. Rachel began a sculpture & it was of Carl's body. Things went on like this until Rachel & Carl fell in love with each other. Then they had a grand romance & faced her family's wrath. Continued till it became happily ever after.

[carolineg]

I love both your choices! I would cast a vote for Stone's death on GH.  Everything about that story seemed very carefully and thoughtfully planned, well researched, and had a really good time frame in execution.   It had very lasting consequences as well.  Not just Stone dying, but Robin living with HIV which gave years of story.

I might actually chose the Affair between John/Marlena on Days.  If you believe Days was going for the long game in 1991 the evolution of the story was slow, but believable and the fallout was excellent and long lasting.

There are a lot of stories that I think were really well paced at the time and great story, but then the show kept going back into the same well and rehashing them.  IE OG Sonny/Carly or OG Jax/Brenda/Sonny/Lily.

[Contessa Donatella]

Literally just a little footnote, Scott McKinsey was the Director when Stone died.

Remember when he could suddenly see Robin!

[carolineg]

Of course!  I still can watch that whole story today and ugly cry.  It holds up really well and I like so much of the cast was involved. This may seem odd, but Tony Geary telling JJ that Stone died as Lucky and Luke was such an honest, touching conversation I will never forget it.   Sonny's "you're my brother speech" is amazing as well.   I honestly can say I have a copy of "Robin's Diary" or whatever that book was called that GH released in my house somewhere lol.

[Contessa Donatella]

I have it, too.

[Planet Soap]

Y&R had so many examples from the early 90s!

1988-90: George Rawlins death. It started with Paul discovering he was with his clients wife, and ended with Paul gaslighting Cassandra and believing she was seeing his ghost while vacation in the Caribbean!

1990-1992: Sheila's baby switch had so many twists. Sheila raping Scott and getting pregnant. Sheila realizing Scotty had a birthmark after the switch, then having it removed. Molly Carter learning the truth but catching a stroke which paralyzed her communication. Lauren setting up the insurance scheme to run a paternity test on Scotty not realizing she actually needed a maternity test. The doctor that treated Sheila's miscarriage showing up in town to work at the same lab as Sheila & Scott. The biggest payoff being her transition to B&B!

Edited May 10, 2022 by ironlion

[j swift]

I nominate the Another World's The Murder of Jason Frame.

The late 1980s were filled with murder mysteries in which everyone in town was a suspect, but usually the actual murderer was some backburnered cast member or a bit player introduced just as the mystery begun.  This time the audience saw Felicia Gallant shoot a gun, and then she was seen leaning over the victim, so it would be hard to write her out of that corner.

Coming on the heels of the plot-hole-heavy return of Reginald Love, this was the course correction that Another World needed in order to evolve from repetitive serial killers and a revolving door ingenues with a range of talents from Joanna Going (Lisa) to Kristen Marie (Cheryl).

The smart twist was that the trial brought together most of the major stories of the day.  Cass returned to being a lawyer to defend Felicia, and in order to establish credible doubt he exposed John's PTSD, Sharlene's past as a sex worker, and Vicky's confusion about the paternity of Steven at the trial.  We got the exploration of Felicia Gallant's past.  It also coincided with the return of Anna Stuart as Donna Love, the introduction of Frankie Frame, (and Derek aka the Beast, proving that not everything was great).

Most of all it set the stage for the legendary 25th anniversary of Cory Publishing Party.  Mac was forced to be a hostile witness against Felicia, whom he had heard threaten Jason.  Soon afterward it was exposed that Iris's motive was that Jason knew she was The Chief aka the person trying to takeover Cory!

It was a true umbrella story, the final murderer was not obvious until Cass began to suspect Nicole, and it didn't get boring because it was the center of so many other developments.

Edited May 10, 2022 by j swift

[Contessa Donatella]

I think I still have the videotapes of that week even though I'm not sure I still have a working VCR. And, the number one highlight of that week was having Anna Stuart at last back from Hollywood, followed closely by the number two which was the House Of Mirrors that the big gunshot went off in, and number three Felicia's extensions! Much later Nicole being led away, so very Tennessee Williams-ish, one more Blanche. A real classic. Who wrote that? And why don't I know?!!

[Videnbas]

I only watch B&B, but the storyline that stands out for me is Macy's first death in 2000.

It was built kind of like a classic tragedy - her fate was essentially sealed six months in advance in Venice, ironically through a scheme designed to save another character (Stephanie) from dying. And from that point on, the whole chain of events was set in motion towards inevitable catastrophe, fueled by the inescapable character flaws of everyone involved. The result was that when Macy died, virtually every single major cast member played a part in causing her death. The confrontation that followed at the funeral was one of the most intense scenes the show has ever done.

And there was also a nice sense of poetic symmetry in how the story began and ended exactly the same way - with Macy making an impulsive journey in pursuit of Thorne to warn him about Brooke.

[Contessa Donatella]

Wow! Do you happen to know if that is well represented on YouTube?

[MichaelGL]

GL: Roger Thorpe's Return in 1989 which gave way to his rise and fall. Romance with Alexandria. Blake incorporating herself with the Spaulding men, starting with Phillip, then Alan-Michael. Roger's dirty dealings at Spaulding, affair with Mindy, and it all culminating at the Country Club where Alexandria read him for filth in front of the whole town. Brilliant stuff all around. 

 

[Videnbas]

The story itself is not very well represented on Youtube, only bits and pieces here and there, but there is this clip from the funeral scene. It doesn't get much soapier than Stephanie Forrester roaring "WHO THE HELL IS IN THE COFFIN!".

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Edited May 10, 2022 by Videnbas

[titan1978]

As much as I do not like the Nick of it all, I do think all this leads very nicely to Alexandra telling Billy about Roger and Mindy, and then that to who tried to kill Roger.

There was a real organic and democratic flow to most of the work by Curlee/Demorest/Reilly/etc, until you get to characters like Buzz and Lucy, which scream JFP to me.

[Contessa Donatella]

Did you see the Locher Room where they talked about this? She said how much they wanted to bring Roger back but that they didn't like the way they had to do it. I wondered what that was about.

They also said they were suspicious at first of being put together as a threesome. I think she said that "Jimmy" thought so too. So, they became a united front so their chains wouldn't be jerkable. And then she said the most predictable thing about JER, that you couldn't believe the man's imagination. Of course they probably knew that long before the rest of us.

Hot d*mn, that was some very special soapy stuff. If you don't see any other Beverlee on GL at all, which would be a shame, see that day at the Country Club.

 

Edited May 10, 2022 by Tonksadora
Keep from having to make a second post.