Likes & Yikes 2012

Here is my version of best and worst for 2012. This is far from a complete list and just how I feel today about daytime soap opera related items. First will be general soap opera thoughts and later I will have two for each of the four soaps still on the air plus One Life to Live, which aired its last show in January 2012.

Yikes: Last year, I was thrilled over SoapClassics.com producing DVDs of As the World Turns and Guiding Light, with the possibility of getting some Another World, Edge of Night and Search for Tomorrow on DVD. This year, we got the news that there would be nothing else. This was extremely disappointing, annoying, frustrating and maddening. While I am glad we got something, I wish we had gotten a lot more (or at least the GL Christmas DVD that had been decided upon and not released.)

Yikes: The death of Soap Opera Weekly. While I understand with only four soap operas that there is less to cover, I feel for the people who have lost their jobs. The last issue wasn't even a tribute to the magazine, so once it disappeared from newsstands, it was gone for good.

Likes/Yikes/Uncertain: Prospect Park being back in the game and supposedly bringing back our All My Children and One Life to Live in some form in 2013 taping out of Stanford, Connecticut. If this happens and the shows are good: awesome, but if it doesn't happen or the shows are disappointing: tears. Having the possibility dangled in front of you and then nothing comes of it would be worse than not having the possibility at all.

Likes/Yikes: We had a Daytime Emmy ceremony, with red carpet coverage, which was a good thing. The negative part was that it was how certain things were handled like the non-tribute from AMC and OLTL.

Likes/Yikes: SoapNet is gone, no not really. In my area, SoapNet is no longer available unless you have a satellite dish, which is the case in a lot of places. So for the lucky, they get to see their shows still, but the rest of us it is very frustrating, if there is a preemption.

The Bold & The Beautiful

Likes/Yikes: The triangle, aka the main story for the majority of 2012 on B&B with Liam (Scott Clifton) being torn between Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) and Hope (Kim Matula). While the story seems to have helped the show and its ratings, only focusing on one thing hurts in the long run. I'm of the opinion that both ladies could find someone better.

Likes/Yikes: The end of the core four. B&B was known for its core four performers, Susan Flannery (Stephanie), Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke), John McCook (Eric), and Ronn Moss (Ridge), but 2012 saw both Susan and Ronn leave the program. The write off for Stephanie was rather good, but Ridge's breakup via text message to Brooke was poor.

Days of Our Lives

Likes/Yikes: While I wasn't a huge fan of the reboot, how it was rest on Days was crazy. In late 2011, many characters returned to Salem, but in 2012 they were gone again like Austin and Carrie. Stories that had been ignored like Will (Chandler Massey) and Sonny (Freddie Smith) became involved, but Gabi (Camila Banus) being pregnant didn't fit what Will had learned about himself in that time. Nicole (Ari Zucker) had a late term miscarriage, and Sami (Ali Sweeney) went back to a triangle with Rafe (Galen Gerring) and EJ (James Scott) after they brought Lucas (Bryan Datillo) back after Sami and Lucas were back together for five minutes. Jack (Matt Ashford) was also killed off again. This was just too much. It sometimes feels like Days is in a strange time vortex for this reason.

Likes: Lexie's death was handled well, after Renee Jones gave notice that she no longer wanted to appear on the program.

General Hospital

Yikes: The Woman in white and Ethan's departure. So the woman in white aka Cassandra was Helena's child, and Helena allowed her to be killed in cold blood. While I didn't care for the character this was crazy, then Ethan decides he must go. And we get a story where Luke (Tony Geary) decides to save Robert (Tristan Rogers), he will say Ethan is a Scorpio, so we don't see Robert at Robin's funeral. ARGH

Likes: Anna (Finola Hughes) is back in Port Charles, and acting like herself. While I have not much issue with OLTL characters on GH, bringing back people like Anna and Felicia (Kristina Wagner) is something I like as they harken back to my early years as a viewer of GH.

One Life to Live

Likes: I enjoyed the last episodes and wrote about the last two weeks in my blog back in January. I felt the show went out on a high note and made me want for more, unlike other finales which just left me a bit frustrated and made me seek out fan fiction.

Yikes: Other than that we only got nine episodes in 2012, and the two shows that replaced OLTL were a failure, I'd say how to bring in OLTL characters to GH they destroyed happy endings. It bums me out that Hope, Cole and Tea's son with Victor are all dead.

The Young & The Restless

Likes: We got to see more Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) in 2012, I had the lack of Nikki as a yikes last year. Also tied into that was how after Jill (Jess Walton) was written out it felt like that character was gone for good, but now we are seeing her again.

Yikes: Sharon (Sharon Case) and Victor (Eric Braeden) getting married. Usually I like couples that have age differences, but this pairing was even too much for me. This ties into how Nikki and Jack (Peter Bergman) were also married for less long than that as Nikki went running for Victor, why waste a wedding and add another name to Nikki's list. While Victor was missing with amnesia in California,  Sharon destroys Newman. Later Sharon burns down the ranch, being gets diagnosed as bipolar, and causes the end of Adam (Michael Mulney) and Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan).  The whole thing was just a mess, and frustrating. I hope Y&R stabilizes soon.

That's my short list of some things I liked and didn't like in soaps in 2012. Let's hope in 2013, we all have a lot to discuss about online that is good news rather than bad.