2009 Year in Review

This year in soaps review is about two weeks late. I hope that this is better, late than never. There will be things I miss or skip, for brevities sake. These are just the things that made the largest impact on me and I’ve limited myself to 70 words per program.

All My Children had weddings (Bianca/Reese, Jake/Amanda, Randi/Frankie), funerals for people who died (Myrtle and Stuart) and those who didn’t (Greenlee and Trevor). A drugged Adam shot Stuart; Madison harassed the Hubbards. Randi miscarried; Amanda gave birth to Trevor. Natalia became a cop, and won a dance contest with Brot. Aidan, who’d lost his mind, kidnapped Kendall. Erica and Ryan developed feelings for each other.

As the World Turns was cancelled with its last planned show airing in 2010. Before the cancellation, they brought in former soap stars in guest stints: Judi Evans, Stuart Damon, Lynn Herring. Some were disappointed that the proposed Hughes story was a bust. Jack killed Brad, Lily married Damian, Noah was adopted, for health insurance reasons and now is brothers with Luke.

The Bold and the Beautiful won the best show Daytime Emmy, its first ever in the program’s over 20-year history. While people were thrilled, it was disappointing that the speech was not broadcast. Ridge and Brooke got married again. Betty White came back as Stephanie’s mother and died. The Soup continued mocking the show, though not as often as in the past.

Days of Our Lives wrote out a paralyzed John and Marlena together, Steve and Kayla left and Max and Chelsea moved to London. Carly, Justin, and Vivian returned. Rafe and Sami fell in love. A quadrangle was born among Stephanie, Nathan, Melanie and Philip. Baby Grace died, as did Nicole and EJ’s marriage. Ciara was kidnapped, which strained Bo and Hope’s marriage and Anna took Sydney.

General Hospital didn’t have much hospital action, but Michael had surgery, which reversed his coma. Kristina caused Claudia’s miscarriage and Michael killed Claudia. Carly gave birth to Josslyn. Maxie and Spinelli didn’t get married. Olivia’s son Dante who is a cop caused problems for her relationships with Johnny and Sonny. Many people sang karaoke at Jake’s. Jason and Sam reunited, as did Lucky and Liz.

Guiding Light was given an April Fool’s Day gift, a cancellation notice. The final episode aired on September 18, 2009. Phillip returned and renewed his relationships with his kids, Beth and Rick. Olivia and Natalia weren’t allowed to kiss, once they were in love. Most of the characters were given hopeful endings as they were alive, except for Alan who died during the last week of shows.

One Live to Life had four marriages and a funeral. Jared/Natalie, Tea/Todd, Clint/Nora and Viki/Charlie wed. Three of the marriages ended as Jared died, Nora cheated on Clint with Bo, and Tea was already married. Charlie started drinking again. Fish came out and was intimate with Kyle. Stacy became pregnant, first by Rex, than by Fish, as she miscarried. Mitch is alive. Dorian became mayor.

The Young and the Restless continued to have the highest ratings. There was a gay controversy, and an emergency recast with Sheriff Lamb from Veronica Mars. Eric Braden’s near departure from his role as Victor Newman was even talked about on sports radio. Colleen died where her father Brad did. Phillip faked his death for years due to being gay. Jill wasn’t Kay’s child.