Likes and Yikes 2011

Here is my version of best and worst for 2011. There are some things I've enjoyed this past year, while others had me shaking my head in confusion.

Yikes: The cancellation news of both All My Children and One Life to Live on the same day. I would be remiss if this was not my first yikes of the year. The last episode of AMC aired in September, and we are less than two weeks out until the last OLTL. A Hail Mary play of sorts was attempted by a company called Prospect Park. They bought the rights to both series sadly nothing came out of it except getting people's hopes up for nothing as now neither will continue. Stories were changed for that reason too, leaving a major cliffhanger in Pine Valley.

Likes: Soapclassics.com buying the rights to old episodes of Procter and Gamble soaps, Another World, As the World Turns, The Edge of Night, Guiding Light, Search for Tomorrow and Texas. In 2011, they released 25 episodes for sale, and streamed three free (one for Thanksgiving, one for Christmas, and one for New Year's). They also announced a Guiding Light release of 20 episodes for January 2012. Hopefully streaming will be happening soon, so the opportunity is out there to watch clear reruns of decades old soap opera episodes.

All My Children:

Likes: the return of so many characters that were no longer on canvas. Seeing Adam and Brooke (David Canary and Julia Barr) one last time was great. It was also fun we had cameos by people like Sarah Michelle Gellar (who claimed she was Erica’s daughter, and well she was Kendall in another life.) Dixie and Zach (Cady McClain and Thorsten Kaye) weren’t actually dead. Seeing Leo (Josh Duhamel) and Gillian (Esta TerBlanche) was nice, but it wasn’t enough.

Yikes: Madison (Stephanie Gatschet) and Angie (Debbi Morgan) had dead babies. Madison had a late term miscarriage, while Angie’s pregnancy ended in a stillborn child. While there are already a lot of children for the next generation (which we won’t see obviously), I don’t understand why we had to see this sad story play out twice in a few short months.

The Bold & the Beautiful:

Likes: Finally Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) and Taylor (Hunter Tylo) are feuding, but not about Ridge (Ronn Moss). Perhaps the last go round of the Brooke/Ridge/Taylor triangle is the last for a long time. Taylor’s daughter Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) and Brooke’s daughter Hope (Kimberly Matula) both want the same guy Liam (Scott Clifton). That said Ridge is supporting his biological daughter Steffy over Hope potentially causing other strife.

Yikes: While I like the idea of Hope and Steffy fighting over a man, I think how Liam married Steffy was ridiculous. Hope ended it with Liam after seeing him kissing Steffy. She left her engagement ring, and not even 12 hours later, Steffy was wearing the ring and in Liam’s bed. A few days later, Steffy rigged a gondola in Aspen so Hope could not reach Liam before he said “I do” to Steffy. I think the remote looked pretty, but I couldn’t believe the plot ran so quickly.

Days of Our Lives:

Likes: the initial returns of Marlena (Deidre Hall), John (Drake Hogestyn), Carrie (Christie Clark) and Austin (Patrick Muldoon) were entertaining. It was nice to see Sami have family and characters like Bo and Hope have friends.

Yikes: Having Melanie (Molly Burnett) and Daniel (Shawn Christian) become insta-family to Maggie (Suzanne Rodgers). I liked that Melanie and Maggie are close, but there was no need to make them blood related. Family isn’t always about genetics. Both Melanie and Daniel had love interests who are members of the Horton family, so while there is no incest it feels a bit too close for comfort.

General Hospital:

Likes/Yikes: Lucky (Jonathan Jackson) and Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst) find out he is Aiden’s father. Of course, while Liz was looking at the document little Jake ran into the road and got hit. The culprit was Luke (Tony Geary). Small dead children stories are not the most uplifting, neither is seeing Luke implode and explode at the same time. Nikolas (Tyler Christopher) also left town after finding out about Aiden not being his son. Basically the Spencers become completely shattered, and I’m sad.

Likes/Yikes: Late in 2010, Michael (Chad Duell) became involved with Abby (Andrea Bogart). She was much older than Michael, but was a good influence on him, even if she was willing to sleep with him without getting to know him. Abby gave Michael a place he felt safe, and a person to trust. So while the pairing started oddly, it was a great thing that Michael had someone outside of Jason or his parents. Michael helped Abby get a great job at ELQ and face her attempted rape. Sadly, she died in a freak crane accident. This has set up Michael to relapse into rage and despair.

One Life to Live:

Likes/Yikes: The end of Charlie and Viki leading to the reunion of Viki and Clint. Charlie (Brian Kerwin) and Viki (Erika Slezak) were married and happy, but Echo (Kim Zimmer) came back to Llanview to break them up for good. She succeeded, but ultimately lost Charlie due to her lies. Having Charlie fall off the wagon made it even worse, though at least we got caught up and it looks like Charlie is back in recovery. Viki moving back to Clint (Jerry verDorn) made sense from a historical point of view, but Clint’s denial of Rex (John-Paul Lavoisier) helped Echo get closer to Charlie. It is disappointing that Clint’s part in the end of Viki and Charlie’s marriage was not dealt with further in the story.

Likes/Yikes: When Roger Howarth returned as Todd, the story was interesting and exciting as now it was uncertain whom Trevor St. John was played. It was revealed that Todd had an identical twin brother named Victor. The reason for the yikes is that before the story began it ended as Victor was murdered, and OLTL would air the video clip of Todd seeing himself shoot his brother on nearly a daily basis. When a flashback is shown so often that is sounds like a new drinking game will be created in its honor, there is a problem.

The Young & The Restless

Likes: Devon (Bryton) got a story. It has been awhile since Devon Winters had a plot focused on him and in 2011, he got a brand new biological family. Tucker (Stephen Nichols) was his father, making Kay (Jeanne Cooper) his grandmother. Devon even started a new company with the help of Abby (Marcy Rylan) who also had a crush on him. Hopefully he will be able to navigate his complex new family.

Yikes: Nikki disappeared from Genoa City and we didn’t see Melody Thomas Scott on screen for months. The character was in rehab, and at one point it felt like she wouldn’t return. Nikki as the mother of both Victoria and Nicholas, along with being the former wife of Victor and Jack has a lot of story left to be told. Hopefully in 2012, we will see more of her.

There were some of my likes and yikes for 2011. I wanted to be fair to each show, so I limited myself to two entries by program. There were other things I liked and loathed in 2011, and they can be found within other entries.