ALL: Bad Moves by Well Regarded Soap Writers/EPs

[Khan]

Yeah, the past 20+ years of DAYS is like a jumble in my mind - and can you really blame me for that? - so I'm not sure who did what and when, lol.

[te.]

I'd say they had too short of a run to be well-regarded (about a year). While they're better than what had been (Tom Langan) and what was to come (Dena -> JER 2.0), I don't think they had enough to establish themselves.

Reading the DAYS wiki it was revealed during Caroline's funeral by Sami and then shortly after that Cassie was killed off. So I guess JER could be construed as "well-regarded" (during his 90s run), but I don't think the same for the 2.0 era lol 

Edited November 21, 2024 by te.

[Bright Eyes]

Brash and Cwikly's only real stumble was how they introduced Rex and Cassie, but I loved both actors and though Eric Winter would have still left regardless, Alexis Thorpe could have been a great mainstay. It was absolutely Dena Higley that then ret-conned them as Roman and Kate's children. JER would have had a ball with Cassie, but felt she had to go because the retcon closed up any chance of any real future pairing. 

Edited November 21, 2024 by Bright Eyes

[Soaplovers]

I remember that ski lift location segment...it was masterfully done.

Daryl should have been the killer, with the aftermath involving Frannie coming to terms with her pattern for being drawn to dangerous men..and working to over come that pattern.

ATWT:

Reversing Holden's memory loss in 1997 and instantly reuniting him with Lily.  It reversed character growth that Lily had undertaken between 1993 to 1997 instantly.

A slower build up to them reuniting would have worked better.

One life to Live:

This one is before my time...but according to my late mom and all of her friends...killing off Vicki's sister Meredith was a mistake.

However, I think her death knocked Vicki for a loop...and she never really recovered.  And we would have been robbed of good story had she lived.

 

 

[DRW50]

I do think the show in that period tried to write Lily as more mature - one of the few positives of the nasty story with Molly drugging Holden to lie that they had had sex was Lily did not believe her and soon found evidence proving Holden's innocence - but returning Lily to being hysterical was an inevitability.

Darryl being the killer would have been a fitting finish, but I don't think it was the reason the story didn't work. The whole thing just ran too long. Even then, if Frannie had remained on the canvas, there would have been a powerful story, not just in showing her getting over what happened, but also her hostility with Barbara. I felt like they might have been teasing a Frannie/Hal pairing too. I'm sorry Marland's likely plans to bring Frannie back never got to happen. That was a real mistake and made the whole Darryl story seem like a waste of time.

[Planet Soap]

Did we not like Ben lol?

[Vee]

Lots of people hated Ben.

[Planet Soap]

Yikes. Once again,  the YouTube comment section under classic videos proves its not a total barometer of soap fans perception.

Everyone seems to adore that couple there.

Regardless, The scenes of Nikki trying to frame Natalie into thinking she had DID were a little silly.

[Vee]

If you listen to the YouTube comment section 'everyone' hated the Gottlieb era too. The one or two people on many of those videos relentlessly ranting about how terrible it was compared to the genius of Rauch crack me up.

Ben and Viki (I refuse to call her Blondie) had a reasonable fanbase. And Erika certainly loved it. I liked the idea on paper of a May/December passion for Viki and was open to it at the beginning as frontburner story, but in practice Ben was generally a two-dimensional rage addict with very little personality or distinguishing characteristic and he wore thin very fast. As far as the larger audience goes, at best he was very polarizing with longtime OLTL fans re: the characters he displaced, the story he dominated and his role in an intrusive family, his snarling about the evils of Asa, etc. and was often as unpopular as any other Rappaport element of the JFP era outside of the hardcore Ben/Blondie fans. A lot of people rejoiced when he went out that window.

I think it was a bit of a shame Mark Derwin's own very funny, sweet IRL personality couldn't translate to the character - as a dramatic actor he was always very limited on soaps. As a person he seems like a mensch.

Edited November 22, 2024 by Vee

[Soaplovers]

He did much better in comedy though I did think his Mallet was decent...at first.

[Vee]

He did have serious chemistry with Beth Ehlers, and better writing at GL helped. But as a dramatic actor Derwin has always had about one speed.

[Khan]

Frankly, I just never believed that Viki was the type to fall for a younger man.  And I don't know, maybe that was the point: that, after a lifetime of relationships with men who were more her age (and who, on one level or another, reminded her of her father), she had discovered happiness again with someone so unexpected.  But, again, I just never believed she could fall for a guy with whom she had not that much in common.

[Contessa Donatella]

How surprised am I to learn there's a type who goes by chronology to fall in love, or not. Simple me, I thought people fell in love with a person not their birthdate. 

[Soaplovers]

Except that younger man had an intensity and anger about him...so it played into Vicki's dysfunction.

And didn't Ben turn out to be related to the Buchanan's?  Maybe deep down, he reminded her a bit like Clint.

Edited November 22, 2024 by Soaplovers

[Planet Soap]

Bad moves by well well-regarded writers: Who wrote the Viki Sloan affair on OLTL? Michael Malone?

I didn't like that Viki betrayed Clint who stood by her through all the Niki drama. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Viki know Sloan was dying before their sexual affair? Why betray your husband and marry a dying man, only to end up alone in the end? I could excuse the affair plot if Clint hadn't been back burnered t until Jerry Ver Dorn assumed the role.  

It kind of reminds me of how GH's Tony Jones was back burnered after the Carly affair. 

Good points.