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2020 Soap Superlatives! Usual disclaimer: I only watch #BoldandBeautiful, #Days, and #GH (but did catch a #YR or two due to shutdown)...
Best Shutdown Classics: Young & the Restless #YR
B&B had some good ones, we know GH blew it completely. But Y&R had the coolest, most fun throwback weeks by a country mile.
B&B had some good ones, we know GH blew it completely. But Y&R had the coolest, most fun throwback weeks by a country mile.
Cleverest Pandemic Approach: #GH's attempt to extend the supply of new episodes by augmenting with recent flashbacks. (Notice I said "cleverest," not "most effective." It made the show drag, but I give them credit for getting creative.)
Best Actresses: had to make it plural because #GH's women just cleaned up here. Maura West & Nancy Lee Grahn delivered both big and small all year. (Honorable mentions for specific moments: Jacqueline M Wood on #BoldandBeautiful & Genie Francis and Finola Hughes on #GH)
Biggest Comfort: #Days staying on when we had no new content anywhere else. Soaps are comfort food as it is and we needed it more than ever. For once, their crazily ahead-of-time production schedule yielded something great!
Wildest relaunch: #BoldandBeautiful for coming back (first!) with the most balls-to-the-wall insanity they could think of. Love scenes from across the room, messages written on panties, basically we didn't need it to be good, we just needed to be gobsmacked. And we were.
Best Temporary Recast: Briana Lane filling in for Amanda Setton as Brook Lynn on #GH. She fit in perfectly & left her own mark on the role without stepping on toes, I hope we'll see more of her in another role or on another show!
Most Improved Actor: Lamon Archey on #Days, not because he was doing anything wrong before but they finally gave him some big story this year and he stepped up and made Eli a lot more than just a (very, very) pretty face.
The "Least Interested in Drama" Award goes to #BoldandBeautiful, for taking high-drama potential and snuffing it right out. Shauna & Ridge have a polite phone breakup. Eric kicks Quinn out till he shrugs & undoes it. Steffy's 1-week addiction. Etc. Etc.
Most Infuriatingly Pointless Secret: Sasha & Chase inexplicably continuing to keep up the dumb affair lie well after Nelle was confirmed dead. #GH
Best Wedding: Ciara and Ben on #Days. (No, I haven't changed my mind about the couple, but I know a damn good soap wedding when I see one!)
Best Couple: this one's a tie between Nikolas & Ava on #GH and Sarah & Xander on #Days. Both pairs hot as hell and not a boring, admired hero in the bunch.
Hottest Sex Scene: obviously Xander and Sarah. We don't see this often in daytime. Personally I'd welcome a lot more of it! #Days
(Okay, taking a little break! Back later with more!)
Best Permanent(?) Recast: Cady McClain as Jennifer on #Days. This one could've been impossible, taking over a role that someone has played since the 80s. But somehow it was almost seamless, perhaps b/c soap audiences were already comfortable with her. Regardless, she nailed it.
Best Excuse to Bring Someone Back: Stefan had a heretofore unknown identical twin brother Jake, #Days
Not exactly a new idea, but Barash was way too fun to watch on the show to let go & a twin's better than yet another resurrection.
Not exactly a new idea, but Barash was way too fun to watch on the show to let go & a twin's better than yet another resurrection.
Saddest (but Best) Death: Mike Corbin on #GH
I don't want to talk about or re-live it ever, but they did good work.
I don't want to talk about or re-live it ever, but they did good work.
Best Dialogue: #GH
I don't know what it is & if the scriptwriting lineup has changed, but since the return from shutdown the characters have just sounded a lot more like... adults.
I don't know what it is & if the scriptwriting lineup has changed, but since the return from shutdown the characters have just sounded a lot more like... adults.
Most Improved Dialogue: #Days
They, too, sound a little more like grownups this year. The campy quips are still there (a trademark!), but some more savvy quips are entering into the banter and I dig it.
They, too, sound a little more like grownups this year. The campy quips are still there (a trademark!), but some more savvy quips are entering into the banter and I dig it.
Worst Dialogue: B&B
I know I gave them the opposite last year. I know they don't choose the story. But the words coming out of these people's mouths just got too abysmal not to notice this year, I can't pretend otherwise.
I know I gave them the opposite last year. I know they don't choose the story. But the words coming out of these people's mouths just got too abysmal not to notice this year, I can't pretend otherwise.
Best Actor: this is a tough one but I'm going to give extra points for the difficulty factor and go with Matthew Atkinson on #BoldandBeautiful.
Best Actor Honorable Mentions: Jon Lindstrom, Max Gail, William DeVry on #GH
Best Soap Kid, Tiniest Category: Douglas on #BoldandBeautiful
Too cute, and they write both for him AND around him well.
Too cute, and they write both for him AND around him well.
Best Pandemic Look: Thomas on #BoldandBeautiful
He left kinda dweeby-looking and came back Hot Lumberjack.
He left kinda dweeby-looking and came back Hot Lumberjack.
Most Eligible Bachelor: Curtis on #GH
Yeah, he's technically still married but it's on the rocks and we're YEARS late getting soaps' best catch in the romance mix. Time to bring the heat.
Yeah, he's technically still married but it's on the rocks and we're YEARS late getting soaps' best catch in the romance mix. Time to bring the heat.
Worst Character, Female Category: Flo on #BoldandBeautiful. She came in as a bad girl and that was the only interesting thing about her. Now she's bland and sanctimonious and inexplicably forgiven for child trafficking by all of her victims.
Worst Character, Male Category: Peter on #GH. He is both an evil villain AND a tortured soul hoping for redemption, but is bland & irritating in both guises. Worse, he's made Anna difficult to root for and Maxie totally insufferable. There's no excuse for boring bad guys.
Worst Story: a tie! #BoldandBeautiful's awful Quinn/Shauna/Ridge/Brooke fake-divorce-blackout-wedding embarrassing nonsense & #Days's "let's force motherhood on a traumatized woman and then do a rape storyline that has to do with everything but the victim's trauma!" shitstorm.
Best Lemonade Out Of Lemons: #GH brings in another repetitive "opposing mob" storyline & a soap legend to play a boring attorney w/a bad accent, but spices it all up by making Laura the common denominator.
Worst Couple: you'll be shocked but... Maxie & Peter, #GH. It's not that he's a villain in disguise & she doesn't know it. That SHOULD be really fun! But it REALLY REALLY ISN'T. Based on the info she DOES have, this pairing still makes no sense and they look so bored together.
Most Infuriating Prop: the friggin' photo of Steffy and Liam in her living room on #BoldandBeautiful. KILL. IT. WITH. FIRE.
Best Performance as a Villain, Female Category: Kassie DePaiva as Eve on #Days. She showed up to torture in creative lighting, looked great doing it, but somehow found moments to actually tap into deep wells of grief in the middle of all that high camp.
Okay, I'm taking another break. This is hard on my aging brain!
Best Use of History: #GH.
This year we got back Jackie Templeton, incorporated Gordon Grey and his offspring, brought Taggert back to town, and plenty more I could probably list if I thought a little harder!
This year we got back Jackie Templeton, incorporated Gordon Grey and his offspring, brought Taggert back to town, and plenty more I could probably list if I thought a little harder!
Most Infuriating Friendship: Lani & Kristen on #Days. Honestly it was fun at first but then Lani became irrationally fixated & risked her career, marriage, children & freedom to keep a kidnapper & killer out of prison. The devotion was straight up bizarre.
Most "Can't Miss" Story: the Hope Mannequin on #BoldandBeautiful. It ended too soon & ultimately led to retreads of terrible stories, but seeing what happened next with that mannequin was crazy fun while it lasted.
Best Reveal In A Bad Situation: Holly's in captivity, #GH. We knew they had a plan they had to scrap but thankfully they didn't let us wait a year or more till Emma Samms could come back post-COVID to find out that Holly is very much NOT dead.
Best Supporting Actor: Wally Kurth in both #Days and #GH. Great, low-key and believable heartbreak in his work as Justin grieving and heartbroken, and as an angry but loving father to Brook Lynn as Ned.
Worst Death: Neil on #GH. A big pile of "seriously?" from the abrupt death to the retroactive "fact" that he was such a raging addict that he literally shot up in Alexis's bed while she was post-coitally making coffee. Didn't even lead to a mystery. Just... bye. What a waste.
Quick shout-outs to good things that didn't quite make the "Best of 2020" list: Isabel Durant as Claire on #Days (felt weird at first but then she put the WORK in), Sami's visit, Portia on #GH, Britt's return on GH, Lulu's "last" few days, Ethan's visit, M Benard in Mike's story
Most Insane Costumes: #BoldandBeautiful. I don't know what's going on behind the scenes over there, but they're putting on a lot of whackadoodle ensembles. Bad or good? I don't know! Half the time B&B is clearly just messing w/us for fun.
