In my seven decades of soap watching, one refrain has remained constant among newer viewers: they wish they had been around to see legendary storylines that their friends and family have raved about; storylines that had aired before these newer audience members became acquainted with daytime dramas.

I was lucky to have witnessed, first-hand, some of the best material the genre has offered throughout my lifetime.

--Meta Bauer's murder trial, THE GUIDING LIGHT

--The Alice/Steve/Rachel triangle, ANOTHER WORLD

--The Mickey/Laura/Bill/Mike's paternity saga, DAYS OF OUR LIVES

--The Jonah Lockwood/Keith Whitney reign of terror, THE EDGE OF NIGHT

--Victoria Lord's murder trial/Karen Wolek's breakdown on the witness stand, ONE LIFE TO LIVE

--Chris Brooks' rape, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS

--The Leslie/Brad/Lorie saga, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS

--The Liz/Dan/Susan/later Kim story, AS THE WORLD TURNS

--The Julie/Doug/Addie tragedy, DAYS OF OUR LIVES

--BJ's Heart, GENERAL HOSPITAL (IMHO, the last time daytime gave us a real masterpiece)

I am curious, however, for people who are "newer" viewers, who began watching in the 1980s, 1900s, 2000s, what do you consider the best of the best; the most riveting material soaps have offered?

What are the masterpiece moments you have personally seen?

15 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

Being a longtime fan of Emmerdale, what would you say are its best stories during your tenure as a viewer? And when was the last year it was consistently good?

 

I’m a long time Emmerdale Fan too. The introduction of the King family in 2004 up to 2008 really shaped the soap for a great run. 

Carl King had consistently hilarious, exciting and awesome stories. His brother Matthew too. The death of their father and the who done it in 06 was so impactful 

last year it was consistently good was in the mid 2010’s with Lachlan as serial killer. I would say 2018. People hated on the stalking and obsessed Meena saga from 2020-21 but it actually carried the entire show on its back. The anniversary episodes with the maze fire were epic and looked so good. 

2 minutes ago, AMCOLTLLover said:

I’m a long time Emmerdale Fan too. The introduction of the King family in 2004 up to 2008 really shaped the soap for a great run. 

Carl King had consistently hilarious, exciting and awesome stories. His brother Matthew too. The death of their father and the who done it in 06 was so impactful 

last year it was consistently good was in the mid 2010’s with Lachlan as serial killer. I would say 2018. People hated on the stalking and obsessed Meena saga from 2020-21 but it actually carried the entire show on its back. The anniversary episodes with the maze fire were epic and looked so good. 

I haven't had access to Emmerdale since about 2011, but I did enjoy the series way back when, with the Sugden family having a presence in the village. I was happy to have seen Annie Sugden's final appearance on the show in 2009, when the last of her three children passed away. I preferred the quieter, character-based slice-of-life quality of the early years over the melodrama which seemed to take over later on. I can't believe they kept killing off (or otherwise discarding) so many Sugdens. I know I'd have trouble watching the show nowadays, since I have always loathed the Dingles. I'm now curious to know how many of "my characters," the ones whom I liked when I watched the show, are still around. I'll have to check it out. I think the last storyline I got to see was Jackson Walsh's death.

Another masterpiece that comes to mind. 

The "Mansion of the Damned" - Nola Madison Reign of Terror - storyline on Edge of night.

PURE PERFECTION. This is what really hooked me into binging classic soaps on youtube. 

 

6 hours ago, Maxim said:

Another masterpiece that comes to mind. 

The "Mansion of the Damned" - Nola Madison Reign of Terror - storyline on Edge of night.

PURE PERFECTION. This is what really hooked me into binging classic soaps on youtube. 

Ahh, yet another gem by the legendary Henry Slesar, who thrilled viewers of TEON for many years with a succession of masterful stories.

The dumbest move TPTB ever made was firing Slesar in 1983 and replacing him with the mediocre Lee Sheldon. The plummeting quality of the writing was instantaneous.

The list of gems HS gave us on TEON, however, was impressive.

 

two from ‘world turns, both written by doug marland:  

bob and susan’s affair

the frannie/ sabrina reveal

Edited September 4Sep 4 by wonderwoman1951

1 hour ago, wonderwoman1951 said:

two from ‘world turns, both written by doug marland:  

bob and susan’s affair

the frannie/ sabrina reveal

Doug Marland was one of those rare writers who studied the past of his shows extensively, and wove it into present-day stories to strengthen the impact. Pat Falken Smith, Claire Labine and Agnes Nixon were also great at this when they took over the writing reigns of soaps, whereas the likes of Hogan Sheffer and Pam Long failed big time.) It was so effective. I get the sense that many writers just don't bother to delve into their shows' deep histories at all, which leads to glaring continuity, characterization and plot blunders.

The two stories you mentioned were excellent.

(But how stupid was it of ATWT to have Kim hugging Susan, of all people, in the soap's final episode? Susan? REALLY?)

15 minutes ago, vetsoapfan said:

(But how stupid was it of ATWT to have Kim hugging Susan, of all people, in the soap's final episode? Susan? REALLY?)

that was the LEAST of my issues with the final episode and the two years that preceded it!

so true about doug, aggie, and claire. 

10 minutes ago, wonderwoman1951 said:

that was the LEAST of my issues with the final episode and the two years that preceded it!

God yes. ITA 100%. That hug just popped into my head since you mentioned the Bob/Susan affair. After bitter animosity between Susan and Kim for decades (over both Dan Stewart and Bob), why the hell would Kim hug her? Even Ellen Stewart held a grudge against Susan and snarked at Susan until leaving Oakdale.

10 minutes ago, wonderwoman1951 said:

so true about doug, aggie, and claire. 

Part of the reason the greats were so...great!

I would give a lot to see the missing month-plus of the climax of the Frannie/Sabrina UK saga. A lot of the buildup in late '86-early '87 is online, but IIRC February sweeps is almost totally absent.

11 minutes ago, Vee said:

I would give a lot to see the missing month-plus of the climax of the Frannie/Sabrina UK saga. A lot of the buildup in late '86-early '87 is online, but IIRC February sweeps is almost totally absent.

I know. It's so frustrating when you are totally invested in watching vintage soap storylines, and then the videos just dry up and stop before the stories reach the conclusion. ARGH!

3 minutes ago, vetsoapfan said:

I know. It's so frustrating when you are totally invested in watching vintage soap storylines, and then the videos just dry up and stop before the stories reach the conclusion. ARGH!

We've recently been blessed with near-full runs of many ABC soaps from the '80s on (particularly the critical and long-lost Linda Gottlieb/Michael Malone transiition period at OLTL in the early '90s), and quite a lot of EON, GL, Y&R, etc. But the Marland era still being spotty is just a tragedy to me. I got to see a great deal of '86, but when certain key sections go missing it stings.

Y & R:

Nina shooting David Kimble point blank... and later David Kimble dying in the trash compactor. 

I was a small child, but I remembered the scene where he received a mysterious note with clippings of him with Rebecca with a note stating they know he killed her and would prove it.   Before that scene, David had been on as Jill's personal assistant and even had a brief fling with Jill before he was dating Nina after she inherited Philips money so that scene with the note and clippings came out of nowhere and made the audience curious to find out more.

GL:

Reva driving off the bridge in summer 1990.  My mom and her friends were on the phone after each episode wondering how Kim ZImmer was leaving the show.

Reva jumping off the bridge in her teddy as Barbra Streisand's 'Somewhere' is playing.. and the gothic way we saw Reva in the water hearing voices and the cries of the children she would end up having.

Lujack dying in Beth's arms 

Roger crashing Blake/Philips wedding and Ed pulling off his mask to reveal Roger with Holly screaming in terror at her nightmare coming back.  

As the World Turns:

The chase between Frannie and Daryl in Switzerland... great music, great suspense, and a great cliffhanger when Frannie thinks she's outrun Daryl and he jumps onto the platform she's on.

Bold & The Beautiful:

Caroline dying in Ridge's arms was the one time Ronn Moss truly showed some acting ability and was more than just the hunky guy that looked fetching in his speedos.

 

Edited September 5Sep 5 by Soaplovers

4 hours ago, Vee said:

We've recently been blessed with near-full runs of many ABC soaps from the '80s on (particularly the critical and long-lost Linda Gottlieb/Michael Malone transiition period at OLTL in the early '90s), and quite a lot of EON, GL, Y&R, etc. But the Marland era still being spotty is just a tragedy to me. I got to see a great deal of '86, but when certain key sections go missing it stings.

The Billy Douglas/AIDS quilt saga was beautifully done. It will forever boggle my mind how Michael Malone produced some fine material during his first tenure on the show (after a rocky start), but bombed so badly during his second stint.

30 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

Roger crashing Blake/Philips wedding and Ed pulling off his mask to reveal Roger with Holly screaming in terror at her nightmare coming back. 

TGL gutted such a huge number of its core cast members in 1983 and 1984, it just did not feel like "my show" anymore. The return of Maureen Garrett and Michael Zaslow was a much-needed relief and shot in the arm. Familiar characters with a history in Springfield, played by wonderful actors, were so welcome. If only TPTB could have gotten Mart Hulswit back as Ed Bauer.

30 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

Caroline dying in Ridge's arms was the one time Ronn Moss truly showed some acting ability and was more than just the hunky guy that looked fetching in his speedos.

Ronn Moss showing acting skill was a miracle in itself, LOL!

Edited September 5Sep 5 by vetsoapfan

6 minutes ago, vetsoapfan said:

The return of Maureen Garrett and Michael Zaslow was a much-needed relief and shot in the arm for the soap. Familiar characters with a history in Springfield, played by wonderful actors, were so welcome.

It was the combination of Roger return and Robert Calhoun becoming EP that got GL to finally hit its stride after some pretty bad years. Unfortunately the ratings during the Calhoun/Long/Curlee era did not reflect the quality of the show.

6 minutes ago, vetsoapfan said:

Ronn Moss showing acting skill was a miracle in itself, LOL!

It was easy to ignore Ronn Moss acting when he had Bill Bell writing for him and scene partners Susan Flannery and Joanna Johnson to carry him through their scenes. Ronn Moss acting got progressively worse in the 1990s, then again, Bradley writing didn't help matters much either.

from GL

---Nola getting dragged by Kelly when he found out she had lied and trapped him. LAWD...that dragging was literally the first fifteen minutes of the show.

---Nola and Vanessa's catfight before the engagement party. 

---Reva's Slut of Springfield moment

---Phillip finding out he wasn't Alan's son

---the Blackout of '92

---Maureen dragging Lillian after finding out about the affair with Ed

from ATWT

---the Doug Cummings stalker story

---"Hello, Barbara.."

---Paul shooting James

---the end of the Spa Story, when Jack finds Carly