I keep seeing clips shared of Sharon’s “funeral” on Y&R from 2011, when MM’s Adam laid into everyone. The twist, of course, was that Sharon was alive—and the audience knew it at the time.

Back in the day, when soaps had bigger budgets, they’d sometimes go all out for these fake funerals. They even brought back several old cast members for Katherine’s fake death, which happened just five years before Jeanne Cooper’s real-life passing and Katherine’s “real” memorial service (which they handled pretty well). Compare that to more recent times: Phyllis’s own sister Avery didn’t even show up to her “funeral.” (Though to be fair, we've seen no-shows at real soap funerals over the years too. You can’t always bring back everyone.) These shows just don’t spend money like they used to unless they really have to...

What are some notable “fake” funerals you've seen on soaps (where the audience knew the “dead” character was actually alive)? Did they pull out all the stops like they would for a real death, or did it feel like they held back—like during Sonny's recent “death” and the Nixon Falls storyline on GH, when everyone’s grief seemed pretty muted and short-lived and there were no big returns?

How many has Victor had on Y&R again? 

13 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

How many has Victor had on Y&R again? 

I know. Was there a big funeral in 1993 during the Kansas/Hope story? I recall Victor’s looney tunes funeral that Sharon and SN’s Tucker planned to double as a wedding.

Victor had a funeral in 1983 when he was fooling Eve Howard. Nikki wanted to open the coffin. 

3 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

How many has Victor had on Y&R again? 

Victor had three "deaths" with funerals: 1983, 1993, 2012. Two "deaths" did not have funerals: 1999, 2020.

Days

I know Mickey had one when he was presumed dead (actually held captive by Stefano) in 82, leading to the awful Don/Maggie relationship.

It was pretty low key b/c we knew he was alive. They even had Maggie or Alice say they were going to talk to Bill who apparently was there but off camera.

OLTL

Did Asa have a fake funeral at one point?

13 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Did Asa have a fake funeral at one point?

He had at least one, and it was the incredibly fun funeral where several of his ex wives showed up in hats and veils.

 

Edited November 9, 20241 yr by titan1978

GH
Did Luke have a fake funeral in the early 80s he was first involved with Holly?  He was presumed killed in an avalanche but was injured and being held by DVX agents (their version of the KGB). That's when the whole Robert & Holly relationship began because she was going to be deported so Robert married her.
Also, if someone remembers better than I...was there a fake funeral for Laura in the 90s when she and Luke were trying to protect Lesley from the Cassadines? I seem to recall a story about them faking Laura's death and then Laura shocking Amy and everyone else at the hospital when she burst in in desperation for them to help her mother and everybody realized that both Laura and Lesley were alive.

Edited November 9, 20241 yr by applcin

1 hour ago, applcin said:

Also, if someone remembers better than I...was there a fake funeral for Laura in the 90s when she and Luke were trying to protect Lesley from the Cassadines? I seem to recall a story about them faking Laura's death and then Laura shocking Amy and everyone else at the hospital when she burst in in desperation for them to help her mother and everybody realized that both Laura and Lesley were alive.

They faked her death and the funeral aired on a primetime special called Twist of Fate.

 

4 hours ago, titan1978 said:

He had at least one, and it was the incredibly fun funeral where several of his ex wives showed up in hats and veils.

 

https://rumble.com/v52r31s-oltl-stunt-asas-wives.html

Jennifer had one on Days in 1998. It was right before she and Jack left the show. It was some kind of setup to get Peter to confess his crimes or something.

5 hours ago, applcin said:

GH
Did Luke have a fake funeral in the early 80s he was first involved with Holly?  He was presumed killed in an avalanche but was injured and being held by DVX agents (their version of the KGB). That's when the whole Robert & Holly relationship began because she was going to be deported so Robert married her.

Luke had two fake funerals in the early 1980s. The first was in 1980, when Luke was presumed dead after falling overboard from Frank Smith's yacht. The audience knew Luke was alive, and he even got to observe his own memorial service. The second was in 1983, when Luke was presumed dead after being caught in an avalanche. The audience didn't immediately know Luke was alive, but they found out in the episode right after the funeral.

9 hours ago, titan1978 said:

He had at least one, and it was the incredibly fun funeral where several of his ex wives showed up in hats and veils.

 

Asa's 2001 fake funeral is certainly memorable. I think he also had one circa 1983, during the love triangle with Bo and Delilah (as a way to test her fidelity?).

Don't know if this was mentioned yet, but Kay on Y&R had two funerals for her fake deaths

First in 1979, and the other in 2008, during the Marge/Kay redux story. 

Yeah when I think fake funerals, I immediately go to OLTL Asa's with his ex wives and the Blair in-joke as well.