Best/Worst Written Soap Affairs

[Planet Soap]

Cheating is an overdone saop cliche but we still wach lol! What do you think were some of the best or worst written soap storylines about cheating? (or) even if it was well written, did you hate the concequences?

Best: 
ATWT- Bob, Kim, Susan (1990). Mature respected charachters with 20 year old history between them. Despite their past history, Bob and Kim gave off the image of a respectable conservative American family. Accordingly, it was pretty surprising to see the the respected town doctor cheat on his longsuffering revered wife. 

GH: Bobbie/Tony/Carly: This love pentagon (AJ, Jason, Carly,Tony, Bobbie) was well written with mutliple consequences that drove story for about 3 years straight and had an impact lasting a quarter century now. 

Mixed:

Guiding Light Ed/Lilian affair (1992): many will say this plot was well written. From what I saw, I can agree. The consequences, Maurine's death felt, unnecesary and damaging to the show.

 

Edited November 28, 2022 by ironlion

[Faulkner]

Worst: Ashley/Brad/Olivia, Y&R. Just an ugly, random, out-of-character moment for Olivia to hook up with Brad when Ashley had cancer. And for what? Really damaged one of the show’s tightest friendships for no good reason, and I don’t think Olivia ever really recovered from that. It was like, “Oh noooow you decide to break Olivia out of the Hastings/Winters bubble to get some action in Genoa City. To betray her deathly ill best friend…”

Edited October 31, 2022 by Faulkner

[Soapfan8]

What do you all think about Brooke and deacon?

[Melroser]

AW: Best for me was Frankie/Cass/Kathleen when Kathleen returned from the dead. I was truly torn between the two as much as Cass was. 

 

Duds for me were Amanda/Sam/Olivia, Sofia/Nick/Maggie. I wasn't made to care about any of their relationships. I was a big Amanda and Sam fan at the start until Amanda got pregnant. Then it went down hill for me. After that, I didn't care. 

[carolineg]

Best- John/Marlena/Roman Days.  No bad guy in this scenario (really) and even if you don't like either couple, you can't deny the impact the storyline had on the show to this day.  Sami still brings it up 30 years later lol.

[AbcNbc247]

Piggybacking off AW, I think John’s affair with Felicia was written pretty badly, to the point where they rewrote history and characterization. And used John’s trauma from Vietnam to justify it.

And agreed that John/Marlena/Roman was one of the best 

Edited October 31, 2022 by AbcNbc247

[j swift]

Single character best/worst affair Alan Quartermaine edition

Best - Alan/Lucy, it was in character for both of them to get together, Lucy was using Alan for money and status, Alan was using Lucy for sex and revenge against Monica for her relationship with Sean.  However, the outcome of the relationship brought Alan and Monica back together and strengthened their bond.  It was truly remarkable that Alan never looked like a buffoon even when Lucy showed up at their wedding in that huge red hat.

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Worst - Alan/Rhonda Wexler - came at a low period for Alan in his career and his dependency on pain killers, this relationship teetered between a Days of Wine & Roses relationship between two addicts and romanticizing rich white guys saving poor women from abuse.  What could have been a responsible story about medical professionals struggling with sobriety turned into a sorrowful story of the accidental death of a low life all played out in the tiny Wexler kitchen.

Edited October 31, 2022 by j swift

[Planet Soap]

I loved that 2002 storyline. It was trashy soap goodness and one of the last good plots the show had in its last solid year. B&B has always had affairs but this was the most shocking and the lowest Brooke's charachter ever stooped.

John & Marlena's affair was well done and extremly concequential to future plots. 
 

I really liked the Allan/ Ray Conway plot.  The Riche/Levinson era was solod at creating dramatic moemnts and i like that Quartermaine's we're caught up with semi youth plots. 

Edited October 31, 2022 by ironlion

[Franko]

You have a lot of this right, except Alan's motivation for hurting Monica. He had already gotten revenge on the affair with Sean (which, to be fair, came after Alan fooled around with a nurse during a weak moment). No, Alan was mad at Monica due to jealousy over her closeness with Ned (Alan would learn that they actually slept together during his marriage to Lucy) and being hurt that she kept secret that Dawn was her daughter.

The funny thing about Alan and Lucy is that I don't think he was ever happy about being married to her. Mostly because he rightly assumed that he was always a means to an end for Lucy, who kept deluding herself about how she felt for Scott.

This one, unfortunately, is wrong. Alan and Rhonda occurred in 1993. Alan's pill addiction occurred in 1998. The stories never intertwined. I will give GH credit for the idea of a non-physical but still intimate affair. And I'll give you credit for picking up on the classism aspect.

[Paul Raven]

Y&R

Victor/Nikki/Ashley/Jack

Bill Bell took a risk in destroying the fairytale Victor/Nikki relationship but it was in character.

Although Victor had softened, at his core he was still selfish and controlling and while he enjoyed indulging Nikki and being her saviour he grew bored with the game and was intrigued by Ashley a seemingly self sufficient woman and total contrast to Nikki.

Of course, in turn, Nikki's need to be adored lead her to Jack, who had his own motivations for wooing Nikki.

Throw in family history, sibling rivalry and business machinations and your good to go for years.

A pity Terry and Eileen left as that changed the character portrayals to an extent.

[kalbir]

@Paul Raven Yes, the 1984-1988 Victor/Nikki/Ashley/Jack quad drove so much story in that era. Bill Bell revisiting the quad in 1990-1992 w/ the Ashley and Jack recasts didn't work in hindsight.

To think that the eternal triangle was the result of two accident pairings in Victor/Nikki and Victor/Ashley.

Edited November 1, 2022 by kalbir

[MichaelGL]

Looking back, Guiding Light had a few well written ones...

Ed/Rita/Alan/Hope

Holly/Ross/Blake

Mindy/Roger/Alexandra 

...and also a few not so well written ones

Blake and Rick which resulted in the twins

Rick and Beth while Rick was married to Mel. 

ETA: So-so 

Beth and Phillip sleeping together after their plane crash/avalanche. Looking back it wasn't so bad, the subsequent blackmail, tying to Lizzie's cancer, the story had ripple effects for a good 2-3 years, even playing out at the Bauer BBQ when Phillip found out Rick and Harley slept together which produced Jude. 

Edited November 2, 2022 by MichaelGL

[titan1978]

Hard to argue with the impact of this one.  I do hate what became of Wayne’s Roman, especially since it took years for John and Marlena to actually be together.

One I absolutely hated was Felicia and Luke on GH.  What a chore to get through, and just wrong for almost all the characters.

Alan and Monica had some of the best!  Rick/Leslie/Alan/Monica, Susan Moore, Sean, Lucy, so many greats.  And it is a real testament to Stuart Damon that Alan never seemed diminished by his relationship with Lucy.

[Planet Soap]

Its crazy how Alan and Monica's endless affairs never seemd to get old. It think what made it work is that the charachters only divorced once, as opposed to most soap couples that have repeated marraiges. It felt real because they were together for roughly 30 years.

[bboy875]

Yes to the best. And Rick and Blake were raised as siblings which made it so wrong. Instead of her cheating with him because she thought Ross cheated with Amanda, she should have gone to him needing her big brother for comfort of a different kind. They also should've banded together to protect younger sister Michelle in regards to the Santos & drawn in Blake's husband and Ed's best friend Ross, and Holly as Blake's mother who became close to Michelle after Maureen died.

The problem I had with Rick and Beth is that most of it played off screen. They should've bonded believing Phillip had died with Mel learning about Rick and Beth's past, causing her to worry where their bond could be headed. Blake would've also been involved in this as Mel's mother was introduced as Blake's friend