Soap Opera Digest: Best and Worst of 2015 (Read 815 times)

[heroicmuse]

Soap Opera Digest this week had its annual roundup of best and worst of the year. Stories and characters from all 4 daytime soaps were eligible.

I wanted to summarize the DAYS-specific "awards" for those who can't find the magazine. (I realize it was published last week but I just got to read this today)

Worst Story: Serena And the Elephant

SOD felt that this storyline was a waste of actress Melissa Archer's talents and was ridiculous and contrived. In their opinion, the most intriguing thing Serena did was get killed by the Necktie Killer.

Best Reveal: JJ and Eve's Affair

SOD acknowledged this storyline was hated by many fans and thought it didn't make much sense. However, they thought the reveal was incredibly well done and made Paige and the story more interesting. They also thought Paige being on outs with Eve over the affair made her death at the Necktie Killer's hands more poignant.

Best Triangle: Chad/Abby/Ben

SOD felt that Ben turning out to be the Necktie Killer put an interesting twist on the typical triangle/affair story. They believed that even if he had not been the killer, Ben never stood a chance because of Chad and Abigail's chemistry, and that Robert Scott Wilson (Ben) did a fantastic job playing psycho Ben.

Worst Marital Conflict: Will and Sonny

SOD didn't understand why the writers destroyed Will and Sonny when their marriage was a groundbreaking moment. They also felt that the ending of Sonny leaving and Will being killed was ridiculous.

Worst Breakup: Justin and Adrienne

Actually, this was tied with the breakup of the other character Wally Kurth plays on General Hospital with his SO for worst breakup. As far as DAYS goes, SOD was not happy that Justin's affair came out of nowhere and his and Adrienne's reconciliation was very short lived.

Best MakeUp: John and Marlena

SOD was very happy with John's trip down memory lane to woo Marlena. They felt that John and Marlena could be the new Tom and Alice and are glad to see them back together.

Most Ruined Character (Male): Aiden Jennings

SOD acknowledged that the Chase killing his mom story could have been rewritten into an Aiden as killer story, but thought the way Aiden was totally changed overnight was ridiculous, and that it not only destroyed his character but made Hope look stupid and gullible. They consider Aiden to be a victim of hasty rewriting.

Worst Return: Kristen

SOD saw very little point to Kristen's last return. They felt it was a cheap vehicle to get Brady and Theresa back together and that Melanie and Marlena's involvement in this story didn't really make sense. They want to see Kristen back but only in a better storyline.

Most Senseless Death: Will
SOD felt that instead of killing Will off, the writers should have tried to rewrite his character to undo the damage that had been done with the Will-as-sleazy-reporter storyline. They also were not happy that Will's death was graphic and that he appeared to have quickly been forgotten afterwards.

Most Improved Show: Days of Our Lives

Despite some of the negative awards given, SOD feels DAYS is much improved since the new writers took over. They like that classic characters like Patch and Kayla are back, and that new characters like Eduardo and Lani are connected to people we already know. They feel that some characters have been rejuvenated, and like Justin being made DA, Ben turning out to be the killer, and are really enjoying the Chad/Abby stuff and the Basic Black stuff. They are also happy that there are more home sets so people aren't always talking in the park and that the stakes are higher in the storylines.

Best Short Term Return: Bo

SOD loved seeing Bo again and thought his death was heartbreaking.

Most Rejuvenated Character: Rafe
SOD is happy that Rafe is no longer stuck with Jordan. They enjoyed both his stint as nightclub owner and his return to the police force and interest in Hope, as well as his estranged relationship with Eduardo and his renewed relationship with Gabi.

Most Tortured Character: Hope
SOD really felt for Hope having lost both of her loves in quick succession.

Worst New Sets: Smaller Sets on DAYS

SOD is glad to see the mini-versions of the Kiriakis Mansion, Dimera Mansion and Brady Pub go.

Best Use of History: DAYS

SOD loved the bicentennial gala, the Martin House, and Julie and Doug now running a B&B out of it.

Most Unnecessary Family Ties: Paige, Rafe and Gabi

SOD doesn't really see the point since Rafe and Gabi never knew Paige and Rafe was already motivated to find the killer before he found out he and Paige were related, plus making Eduardo have two abandoned families didn't do anything for his character.

[Kpatch]

Great commentary and I would say I agree with just about everything. Love how SOD makes up categories to fit the occasion.

Thanks for posting this heroicmuse!

[wendylou]

I agree with so much h of what they said. It's nice to see someone with a voice that might get heard say the same things we do.
I'm really glad they mentioned hating the smaller sets. The Serena story was no surprise. That was the worst. I'm also very glad to see what they had to say about Hope and Aiden's change of character making her look stupid.

[sevenna92]

I agree with most of the stuff said here, except for a couple of things. One thing I disagree with is that the Kristen story was a cheap way to reunite Brady and Theresa. I think it was more of a way to bring angst for Brady/Melanie which was lame. I do agree though that having Melanie in the story made no sense at all. Theresa was a two bit player in her own story and to this day that still infuriates me.

Also if this was really a way to reunite Brady and Theresa, this story didn't accomplish anything in that respect because they didn't end up together anyway after they first brought Tate home.

Another thing I disagree with, and this is only my personal opinion, is having Rafe as the most rejuvenated character. I call bull on that. That distinction should've gone to Theresa because before the writing change she had almost nothing going for her. But now she has more of a purpose and she's more fleshed out.

[nurse2herbalist]

Agree with it.

[doolfan4life]

agree with almost all of it
I don't believe the bit about the writers making it better and more improved,
that's a whole hearted disagree
I also don't agree with rafe and hope bit