Soap Assignments Blog Questions: March & April

Months ago I had started answering the Soap Assignments blog questions. I stopped halfway through my entries, so I am starting again. This is for March and April's questions.


March:

1. What Was Your Favorite Soap Opera Event?

My answer to this would be General Hospital's Nurses' Ball. My second would be the fashion shows on The Bold & The Beautiful back in the day. Every other event I love(d) to watch usually falls with a holiday like Ryan's Hope on St. Patrick's Day.

2. Who Is/Was Your Favorite Couple?

I'm just going to list some couples I've emotionally invested in over the years with a little story on each. If I had to create a full list, I'd be writing for weeks. Some shows I don't have any couples listed, it doesn't mean I didn't like any couples, but none inspired me enough to share in this blog entry. Also there are some like Tom and Alice Horton or Joe and Ruth Martin, who I love, but they fall into a different sort of couple.

With All My Children, the couple I enjoyed seeing most during the last few years was Angie and Jesse (Debbi Morgan and Darnell Williams). The scenes where he came back from the dead and was reunited with her delighted me. When they married again, I was also happy. I felt the same way when watching that short segment in which Greenlee (Rebecca Budig) and Leo (Josh Duhamel) were back together, but that didn't stick.

With Another World, I was really into Dean and Jenna (Ricky Paull Goldin and Alla Korot). On Thanksgiving Day, AW aired a new episode and I made my entire family late for our dinner as I had to watch them. Any couple who causes a holiday disruption deserves to be on the list.

With Days of Our Lives, the first couple I ever cared about was Steve and Kayla (Stephen Nichols and Mary Beth Evans). I would stay home sick from school to see them. Later I became rehooked on Days due to the last blast characters of Shawn, Belle, Philip and Chloe (Jason Cook, Kirsten Storms, Jay Kenneth Johnson and Nadia Bjorlin). They were the best young scene in a long time and I shipped both pairings.

With General Hospital, the first one that came to mind was Lucky and Elizabeth before Lucky "died" and were played by Jonathan Jackson and Rebecca Herbst. There are others I enjoyed, but many were short-lived (like Dawn and Decker if you remember them you watched GH over 20 years ago) or started before I watched so I didn't see their whole story.

With Guiding Light, I recall my Christmas/New Year's Break in 1993. In that week, Ross and Blake (Jerry verDorn and Liz Keifer) got engaged while stuck in a blizzard with scenes that were both funny and poignant. Meanwhile, Blake's parents Roger and Holly (Michael Zaslow and Maureen Garrett) were reconnecting on their own. I love couples who have both humor and drama.

With One Life to Live,  Max and Gabrielle as played by James DePaiva and Fiona Hutchison. I recall seeing a promo and thinking what is that, which is the first and last time that has happened. The next time I was off from school and could watch I was hooked. Scenes like sex on the grounds of a nunnery were just so wild and memorable.

With Ryan's Hope, I'd say Jack and Mary (Michael Levin and Kate Mulgrew). When I started watching RH reruns on SoapNet, I was always the most excited on Jack and Mary days. You know you are hooked when you know how it ends and still are sad even though it has been over 20 years since it originally aired.

With Santa Barbara, Mason and Julia (Lane Davies and Nancy Grahn), why because I remember having a hissy once when I was stuck in school as a preteen who couldn't go home to watch them. Stupid school bus…

3. What Is Your Favorite Soap Opera Line of Dialog?

The answer to that is when two characters I want to be romantically involved say "I love you" for the first time or after a long separation.

4. At What Age Did You Start Watching Soap Operas?

Negative something, though my mom didn't watch really after I was born.

5. Who is Your Favorite Male Soap Opera Actor?

No comment, the couples list would be a start. If asked for a list of a dozen, perhaps I could oblige maybe.

6. Who Introduced You To Soap Operas?

I'm not really sure, as I've always known what they were.

April:

1. What is Your Favorite Soap Opera Town?

Bay City on Another World. That is what came to mind, so I am going with it.

2. Who Did You Watch Grow Up on a Soap Opera?

Jonathan Jackson playing Lucky on GH and many others.

3. Who/What Have You Named After a Soap Opera Character?

I don't have pets, I don't have kids, but I do have stuffed animals and other inanimate objects named after soap characters.

4. What Was Your Reaction To The Apr 14, 2011 Cancellation of AMC and OLTL?

Deleted expletive, at least it wasn't on April 1st like Guiding Light, and then both shows Noooo! They killed the NYC soap community on television argh.

5. Who Is Your Favorite Female Soap Opera Actress?

See soap actor answer.

6. What Is/Was the Craziest Soap Opera Story Line?

OLTL's Eterna in the 80s, Casey the space alien on GH. The gorilla being obsessed with Delia on Ryan's Hope. Those would be three, but there are many others.

Hopefully in the coming weeks, I'll catch up with the rest of the questions that were asked this year.