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Our First-Ever Thanks-But-No-Thanksgiving Roundup of the Things Our Shows Did That — Facepalm! — We Really Wish They Hadn’t
Wednesday, November 24th, 2021
“Why?” we found ourselves asking over and over in 2021. “Just… why?”
Can we speak freely? We’re all soap fans here, right? Great. We all want our shows to be not just good, not just interesting, not just suspenseful. We want them to be great, captivating, intense, don’t we? Oh, and one other thing…
We want them to be smart.
So it bugs us to no end when they aren’t. It actually feels kinda like a parent/child relationship. We don’t get mad at The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of Our Lives and General Hospital, we get disappointed with them.
Hey, it always works on the kids!
More: Soaps’ best and worst of 2021 so far [PHOTOS]
But our soaps just keep on making boneheaded mistakes, moves that are so very “OMG! What the heck are you doing?!?”-worthy that our jaws hurt from dropping so often. Popular characters are inexplicably sidelined. Payoffs are mystifyingly shortchanged. Plots twist in a manner that leaves us wanting to throw a shoe at the TV.
We don’t, though; it’s not the TV’s fault.
Which offenses of the past year (so far!) are the most egregious? As luck would have it, we’ve compiled a list, our first ever thanks-but-no-Thanksgiving roundup of the moves the daytime dramas made that — yikes — we really, really wish that they hadn’t. To see our picks, click on the photo gallery below. Then be sure to add your suggestions in the comments. (Much as we wish this story wouldn’t have a sequel, you just know it’s gonna!)
Image: ABC
1/30
<p>Although <em>General Hospital</em> had Chase go so far as to fake paralysis to keep Willow from Michael, when the truth about all of their lies came out, the fireworks amounted to a damp sparkler. That’s Soap 101, people: Don’t build to a payoff and then deny viewers a payoff!</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
2/30
<p>Despite striking gold in Sasha Calle, <em>The Young and the Restless</em> sped through Lola’s marriage to Kyle, then banished her to the kitchen, where apparently, Hollywood took note of the soap’s colossal mistake and <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/the-young-and-the-restless/news/592623/young-restless-sasha-calle-leaving-lola-flash-role/" target="_blank">decided to make her a movie star</a>.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
3/30
<p><em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em> turned the Logan sisters from casual hypocrites into full-time professional ones. One question about that: Why?!? Is this supposed to make us, dunno, like them or care about what happens to them? ’Cause it sure hasn’t done either of those things.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
4/30
<p>Oh, but you should’ve, Kristen. You should’ve. Because as much as we have found ourselves digging <em>Days of Our Lives</em>’ Xander with new love Gwen, there was kinda-sorta no sense whatsoever to the decision to bench Linsey Godfrey, thereby eliminating “Xarah,” one of the show’s most appealing new couples in ages.</p>
Image: ABC
5/30
<p>Supportive as <em>General Hospital</em> fans have been of talented Wes Ramsey, we were all beyond ready for Peter’s story to end when he took that “fatal” tumble down the stairs. But as if to reaffirm that no one ever <em>really</em> dies on this show, he was up and at ’em again before we could say, “God, no! No, no, no!”</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI (2)
6/30
<p>We’re going to need a diagram to explain to us why <em>Young & Restless</em> has kept Sharon in her lukewarm marriage to Rey when viewers are all hot for her and Adam — whether hot and bothered because they like the idea of real-life couple Sharon Case and Mark Grossman being paired on screen or hot under the collar because they think the formerly married characters are toxic for one another.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
7/30
<p>Sure, it was a kick that<em> The Bold and the Beautiful</em> reintroduced Sheila. She’s always good for a bit of cray-cray. But to make her return satisfying and not just a psycho sugar rush, the show would have had to make it make sense, and it didn’t. Why did Sheila wait until Finn married Steffy to reveal herself to him? When in Sheila’s timeline did she even hook up with Jack to conceive Finn? And on what planet would Sheila’s return address not be a padded cell somewhere?</p>
Image: NBC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection, Jill Johnson/JPI
8/30
<p>… so <em>Days of Our Lives</em> should’ve thought twice — and then thought <em>better</em> of — its decision to try to recreate classic “Bope” moments with “Cin.” (We even <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/days-of-our-lives/news/605011/days-of-our-lives-ben-kidnap-ciara-bo-hope-comparison/" target="_blank">wrote a whole column on the subject</a>.) Both couples are awesome in their own right; the newer one doesn’t need to borrow from the older one to establish itself as super.</p>
Image: ABC
9/30
<p>If there’s one soap trope we hoped <em>General Hospital</em> would never trot out again, it was mind control. Yet no sooner had Cameron Mathison been introduced as the new Drew than we were dragged kicking and screaming back to that well again.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
10/30
<p>The <em>Young & Restless</em> storyline in which Abby recruited Devon and Mariah to make her a baby failed on more levels than, honestly, we even knew existed. To the point that — and we hate having to call it like we see it, but — it was painful to watch. The soap then continued to bungle all things Abby by ruining her ex (more on that later) and revealing that Chance had been recast while still expecting us to give a [bleep] about her endless mourning.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
11/30
<p>… isn’t just a sentence that’s the fastest way to start a marital argument on <em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em>. It’s also an apt description of the show’s dialogue, which has become so repetitive, every day feels like Groundhog Day. It’s also an apt description of the show’s dialogue, which has become so repetitive, every day feels like Groundhog Day. It’s also an apt description of the show’s dialogue…</p>
Image: NBC screenshot
12/30
<p>If <em>Days of Our Lives</em> couldn’t get Renee Jones to reprise her role of Lexie for James Reynolds’ 40th anniversary as Abe, what on earth was the point of getting a stand-in to play the back of her head?</p>
Image: ABC screenshot
13/30
<p><em>General Hospital</em> had set up a total knockout of a comeback for Sonny… then pulled its punch by not having Jason and Carly sleep together before his BFF and her husband revealed that he still had a pulse. As a result, what should’ve been high drama played like, at best, mild interest.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
14/30
<p><em>The Young and the Restless</em> has in its ranks true soap royalty in Peter Bergman. Yet its only idea for Jack is… to make him suddenly, nonsensically yearn for ex-wife Phyllis anew? No. Just no. If you can’t figure out a love interest and a plot for Jack, that’s on you, <em>Young & Restless</em>, not Bergman or his beloved character.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
15/30
<p>When <em>Bold & Beautiful</em> viewers reacted with gasps to Eric’s decision to use Carter as a kind of sexual surrogate, the soap didn’t say, “Ah! At last, we’ve got their attention!” it backed away from the edgy and original storyline so fast, it left skid marks on the floor of the Forrester living room.</p>
Image: ABC screenshot
16/30
<p>We were stoked that <em>General Hospital</em> returned Sean Blakemore’s Shawn to the canvas… until, that is, it began to look like there was no significant plan for the character.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
17/30
<p>Unfortunately, the “bang” was our heads exploding over the fact that <em>Young & Restless</em> let Gaines just slither out of town instead of killing Ashland’s blackmailer and launching the whodunit it had spent ages setting up.</p>
Image: Evans Vestal Ward/Peacock
18/30
<p>Was it fun to see Eileen Davidson back in action as Kristen in Peacock’s limited series, <em>Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem</em>? Absolutely. Did she, as always, slay? Most definitely. But did the powers that be’s decision to have her temporarily step back into the role that’s been so brilliantly played by Stacy Haiduk since Davidson’s exit from Salem feel disrespectful to her replacement? Sorry to say, yeah. It did.</p>
Image: ABC
19/30
<p>Alas, that book doesn’t say that the brilliant Roger Howarth’s new character is a hit. True, at first we applauded the daring that <em>General Hospital</em> showed in killing off Franco and were excited to meet the Emmy winner’s next incarnation. Months later, however, we’re, um… we’re not so excited anymore. Are we <em>sure</em> Franco isn’t just pulling a Peter and laying low for a minute?</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
20/30
<p>No matter how long or loudly fans of <em>The Young and the Restless</em> have clamored for Doug Davidson to be reinstated as Paul, the Emmy winner has remained on the wrong side of the soap’s revolving door.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
21/30
<p>When <em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em> blew up Zoe’s life, it did so… without Zoe being present. Instead of at Quinn and Eric’s vow-renewal ceremony, the model found out about her fiancé’s affair with her insta-bestie from sis Paris, kinda shrugged and exited in a manner that was so undramatic, it made our list of <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/gallery/daytime-soaps-worst-exits-all-time-list-photos/" target="_blank">daytime’s all-time worst goodbyes</a>.</p>
Image: ABC (2)
22/30
<p>We can see the value in <em>General Hospital</em> having a voice of goodness, of righteousness, of justice. Where we stumble to the point of falling on our faces is the choice of Carly and the Corinthos clan to provide that voice. As they targeted Nina for <span style="text-decoration: line-through">revenge</span> retribution, decrying her actions every step of the way, it was all we could do not to scream at the TV, “Y’all <em>know</em> you’re literal criminals, right? Mobsters? Hitmen? Molls?”</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
23/30
<p>It may have been cancer that <em>The Young and the Restless</em> said was killing Ashland, but we’ll be damned if it wasn’t his never-ending secrets that nobody cared about that was killing <em>us</em>. We were all in on Ashtoria, guys; there was no point at all to the zillion obstacles that weren’t really obstacles and left us more irritated than intrigued.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI (2)
24/30
<p>Much as we were into “Quarter,” <em>Bold & Beautiful</em> lost us when it had the lovers act as if they’d all but been <em>forced</em> to sleep together because Eric had given the OK. They could’ve just kept their distance, with Carter moving on and Quinn taking “matters,” so to speak, into her own hands. (Our sister site <a href="https://stylecaster.com/ella-paradis-stylecaster-stella-vibrator/" target="_blank">StyleCaster could’ve really helped her out there</a>.)</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
25/30
<p><em>Days of Our Lives</em> has in Philip what should be a complicated but appealing romantic lead — and one played once again by original portrayer Jay Kenneth Johnson. (Bonus!) So why is the character being written as borderline psycho? When we try to answer that question… Well, we wind up about as frustrated and confused as he looks here.</p>
Image: ABC
26/30
<p><em>General Hospital</em> seemed to think that Sasha being pregnant with Brando’s baby was a storyline. It was not.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
27/30
<p>No one was more excited than we were when we heard that <em>The Young and the Restless</em> was bringing back Sean Carrigan as Stitch. But after seeing what the show did to the character — for reasons too silly and mind-boggling to comprehend, he became a kidnapper — we kinda wished he hadn’t returned at all.</p>
Image: CBS screenshot
28/30
<p><em>Bold & Beautiful</em> teased a big murder mystery, then killed off Vinny in a head-scratcher of a storyline — he committed vehicular suicide to help out buddy Thomas? — that was neither a murder nor a mystery.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
29/30
<p>We love a good tease, but <em>General Hospital</em> brought up Hayden’s name so often — without bringing back Rebecca Budig — that it ended up feeling less like a tease than a taunt. “Nya nya, you can’t have her!”</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
30/30
