ALL: Darkest storylines in soap operas

[DramatistDreamer]

And Iva served as the redheaded herring in the piece, because at first Margo suspected Iva, who had admitted to doing some nude modeling when she was younger in order to make ends meet years after she had run away from the farm.

Denise became a different person once she went to prison for Channing’s murder (despite Lucinda and a whole host of other Oakdale residents suggesting that Denise be thrown a ticker tape parade instead of prison). I liked the fact that we saw the character two years later, hardened and bitter when Barbara spent time in the women’s prison after falsely being accused of murder. And the added complication of Barbara now in a relationship with the man who was the love of Denise’s life. I had always wanted the character to return to Oakdale, on a mission to repair her life and make amends to those she had wronged (like Barbara) and perhaps find forgiveness from Hal but skepticism from Barbara. Maybe even begin to renew a relationship with Hal before Hal was killed or even after the character was killed due to Hendrickson’s untimely death, have the character of Denise return with the revelation that she and Hal found each other while Hal was on reassignment in D.C. and renewed their romance, only to have things cut short by Hal’s murder while on duty. Perhaps she returns with a surprise. Alas, the things that could have been!

[Planet Soap]

The veiled woman gives me Vanessa Prentiss vibes.

Dark stories:

-Margo rape ATWT. The eyes of the rapist being shown through the mask as he's on top of her. Graphic, realistic, early SVU like quality.

-not a storyline but a moment: Y&R Jennifer Brooks wakes up bawling after her mastectomy. Just unsettling and tragic. 

Y&R Sheila baby switch, especially the farmhouse scenes

-OLTL Marty's rape, and Viki's 1995 alter story

-Knots Landing Jill forces Val to swallow pills at gunpoint

Edited December 28, 2023 by Planet Soap

[Beachstorm]

I'm new to this site, but can I just say how AWESOME all of you contributors are here! You all have a ton of soap knowledge that I really appreciate.

As a lifelong AMC fan to the very end, I have to start with the disturbing rape of Bianca by Michael Cambias. Very dark. Towards the end of AMC's run when babies were dying a lot, the most disgusting plot was when Jesse Hubbard buried a dead baby on the edge of a park, not even covering it completely with dirt. I have no idea who wrote that filth, but it was terrible.

Of course the graphic other rapes on soaps have been awful and dark.

My first foray into watching the much-beloved DOOL was in 2011 after ABC axed OLTL and AMC. I was devastated. I decided to try DOOL, and it was at the time of the Necktie Murders. (I had just seen the actor playing "Ben the NT murderer" as Petey Cordtland on the PP version reboot of AMC) Those actual murders were bad enough on their own. But the show loved to revisit the graphic murders over and over again via flashbacks. It was non-stop and was always horrible every time the flashbacks were shown.

So many other moments I have now forgotten, but thanks to you all for refreshing my soapy memory.

 

[BoldRestless]

What on earth? What even was the context there?

[Contessa Donatella]

Well, if it was terrible awfulness being written on AMC, it was likely either Megan McTavish who blessed us with the UnAbortion or Chuck Pratt who told all the actors to forget everything they knew about their character's histories because he did not believe in character driving story. Then he proceeded to have Reese kiss a man the night before she married Binks. I remember Jesse & the only partly buried ... ugh. 

BTW, welcome! 

[1974mdp]

I was always curious about this. Was in a write-in campaign?

[Contessa Donatella]

Write-ins, phone calls, petitions, you name it, we threw it at it! We had Eddie Drueding working with us. Tom Freeman was our fearless leader who applied political experience to fan campaigns & who had single-handedly gotten AW back on the air in Seattle. He talked to Victoria every day. And then Diva Lisa who talked to another cast member, also every day. They relayed info & strategy to all of us. And, the rest of us did what we were told, if you see what I mean! I don't know if you will credit this or not, but 6 of us are still in touch. It was invaluable that the actors were savvy & could not only give us advance info but could suggest strategy to us. That's how we knew ahead of time, usually, what they were planning. Frankly, in retrospect I find it gratifying that we drove JFP crazy. And, the next EP Charlotte Savitz hired bodyguards. Recently I have learned that NBC forced RKK on JFP. So, in effect, the fact that DAYS stopped using him as Bo (supposedly thanks to KA) indirectly caused Frankie's murder because NBC didn't want to pay him without playing him. Weird to learn this so many years later. Who knew?! 

[Lye-C]

Rose stealing Nina’s baby on Y&R

[Khan]

I might have some details wrong here, but...

Angie, now reunited with not-dead Jesse, gave birth to a daughter, Ellie.  (Angie's pregnancy had been particularly difficult, because she also was battling a disease that had left her blind).  Jesse, who had delivered his and Angie's baby himself, noticed that the newborn was not breathing.  (Angie was unconscious during the delivery, IIRC).  Despite attempts to revive the baby, Ellie was stillborn.  That was when Jesse buried Ellie in a shallow grave at a nearby park.

Believing that Angie would be devastated by the loss of their baby, Jesse, with help from Brot, switched Ellie with another newborn that Maya, a unwed, teenage mother, had abandoned around the same time as Ellie's birth.  Together, Jesse and an unsuspecting Angie named the baby Lucy.  And then it goes on from there.

Needless to say, I was not a fan of the story, or of much of Jesse's story once he was resurrected...but that is another post for another day.

I think it was either David Kreizman and Donna Swajeski or Lorraine Broderick.

Edited December 28, 2023 by Khan

[BoldRestless]

Wow, knowing the story of Angie and Jesse, I can't believe he would do that... but I do recall the obsession with baby switching for a while, particularly with ABC soaps.

[Khan]

I agree.  There is a lot that Jesse did, both during the years he was presumed dead, and after he had returned to Pine Valley, that I still have trouble believing.

[Efulton]

Yet somehow the neck tie murderer story inspired Ron Carlivati to turn Ben into the young romantic lead of the show.  And the producers and network said yes what a great idea!

[AMCOLTLLover]

That’s why so many people hated the character of Ben and them trying to making him a romantic lead 

[Marco Dane]

Victor molesting Viki - OLTL  Still say a uncle or cousin did this.

[AMCHistory]

The brutal and unnecessary murder of young children has made my stomach turn. Delia on Y&R was one. The characters involved had so many other stories, why did the death of this little girl need to happen?

Spencer on GH too. Especially with Luke involved. Jonathan Jackson was already crying everyday. This plot added nothing to the canvas but darkness. 

Edited December 31, 2023 by AMCHistory