The Top 7 Moments In Soap Opera History

I have a long history with soap operas. From even before I can remember, I know that I watched soap operas. I came from a household with a working mother and a nanny as well as a region of the country with occasionally unbearably hot summers. In short, it was bound to happen.

In case you’re wondering, I’m an ABC girl. I can recount plot lines and family connections going back over 20 years from All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital without batting an eye. I gave Days a try for awhile in high school, but everything moved so slowly and then there was an actress playing four different parts, including a nun with terrible teeth, and I had to give it up.

My freshman year of college, as we were reviewing an essay of mine, a professor said, “Have you ever thought about being a writer?”

“Not unless it was a soap opera,” I thought, and I forgot about the whole conversation for another five years.

There were times I would have given my right eye for a column in Soap Opera Digest, but eventually I got to a point where I just couldn’t handle it all. It’s too long a story for most of you, but let’s just say that it began when they broke up Jon (who, yes, used to be my cell phone screen saver) and Natalie on One Life to Live and officially ended when they put Jason and Sam back together on General Hospital. I can’t remember the last time I watched a soap, and sadly, I don’t think I’ll go back. I like my couples strong (Joey and Pacey), and I like it when TV writers accept that certain people belong together no matter how many other relationships they have to explore (again, Joey and Pacey). 

I also have two theories about soap operas: 1) Any man who has ever watched a wrestling match cannot bitch about soap operas. They’re basically the same thing, soaps just tend to have better acting (especially if you’re on ABC) and 2) Say as much as you want about groundbreaking television, but most social taboos have been broken on daytime long before they hit the prime time scene. Ryan Phillippe played a gay teen with AIDS on One Life to Live in 1992. That’s got quite a few years on Will and Grace or Glee (both of which I love before anyone gets too worked up).

This past week, I discovered that the website I worked for in Nashville finally came down. While this wouldn’t be that big of a deal to most people considering that the company itself dissolved in 2007, I’m feeling a little bit like I lost a year of my life. My writing samples from that time were on a computer that underwent a major virus attack and I barely survived the recovery process with my family photos and thesis work in tact. And, yes, I had time to take all of those samples off the web, but I just never quite got around to doing it. Of the 100 or so pieces I wrote while I worked there, I think I’ve gotten about 20 back.

(I’m throwing a pity party of one, but despite my own procrastination and role to play, losing any of my writing – no matter how bad – is hard for me. I never really thought “Cat Scratch Fever: Seven cat breeds perfect for your family” would launch my career, but I still miss it.)

Fortunately, for you and me, one of the many pieces I’ve been able to save is a list I wrote on soaps. (Like I’ve said before, I spent most of my early publishing career as your go-to gal for Top fill-in-the-blank lists.) So, without any further ado (Lord knows there’s been enough all ready), I give you my Top 7 Moments in Soap Opera History (with YouTube web links):

1. Katherine's Cosmetic Surgery
The Young and the Restless

In 1984, Katherine/Kay Chancellor (played by Jeanne Cooper, veteran actress and mother to actor Corbin Bernson) had her real-life face lift written into the storyline of the popular daytime drama The Young and the Restless. Cooper was filmed, bandages as all, as she had the surgery and recovered. This was the first time such a merging of fiction and reality occurred on television. Years later, in 1997, Linda Dano would follow Cooper's lead when she had her face lift procedure written into the storyline for her character, Felicia Gallant, on Another World.

2. Marlena's Possession
Days of Our Lives

In a storyline that was often mocked yet still fascinated viewers, Days of Our Lives took a page from The Exorcist when Dr. Marlena Evans' body was taken over by the devil in 1994 and 1995. During this time, Marlena (Deidre Hall) was prone to levitating and having her eyes turn green. Luckily, the love and priestly skills of Marlena's better super couple half, John Black, prove enough to save her from the dark side.

3. Erica's Visit to the Clinic
All My Children

In 1973, infamous soap character Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) was an up-and-coming model who found herself with a dilemma – her career was taking off, and she was pregnant. Unbeknownst to soap husband Jeff Martin, Kane decided to terminate the pregnancy, and the first legal abortion was addressed on daytime television. In 2005, history was made again when Josh Madden showed up in town, and it was revealed that the doctor who supposedly performed Kane's procedure in 1973 had actually transplanted her fetus to his wife who carried the baby to term. (That last medically-impossible part doesn't seem to leave much room for follow-up.)

4. Noah and Luke's Kiss
As the World Turns

Hot button social issues are nothing new to daytime. In 1987, a woman suffering from AIDS made her first appearance in Pine Valley on All My Children. In 1992 on One Life to Live, a gay male teen named Billy Douglas (portrayed by Ryan Phillipe) stirred things up in Llanview. All My Children made headlines again in 2003 when the first romantic kiss between female characters was aired. Yet, it wasn't until 2007 that As the World Turns made soap history with a lip lock between Luke Snyder (Van Hansis) and struggling-to-come-out-of-the-closet Noah Mayer (Jake Silbermann). Once you throw Noah's strict military dad into the mix, you've got the recipe for great daytime drama.

5. Luke and Laura's Wedding
General Hospital

True Luke and Laura fans have trouble picking out the top moment for the super couple that puts all other super couples to shame. These two have certainly had their lows – there's Luke's rape of Laura in 1979, the discovery of Laura's son by a Cassadine in 1996 and Luke's attempt to account for the rape to the couple's confused son, Lucky, in 1998. But, their highs are just as great – misadventures on the run from Frank Smith, the birth of Lulu, a reunion in 2006. Yet, the crowning moment for Luke and Laura will always be their 1981 nuptials. With millions of viewers and a cameo by Elizabeth Taylor, this moment in soap history is hard to beat.

6. Reva's Dip in the Fountain
Guiding Light

As the indomitable Reva Shayne Lewis on Guiding Light, Kim Zimmer has wowed audiences and taken home four daytime Emmy awards. Despite years of plot twists and turns, Zimmer is probably best known for a 1984 scene in which the actress stripped down to her skivvies for a dip on the patio of the country club where she "baptized" herself the "slut of Springfield." Zimmer's performance is incredible, but it's the combination of formal wear and biblical imagery that makes this moment truly special.

7. Karen's Testimony
One Life to Live

Some soap moments are great for their outlandishness; others feed our fantasies of love or comeuppance. And some captivate us for their humanity. Such is the case with the 1979 testimony of Karen Walek (Judith Light) on One Life to Live. Walek is married to kind-hearted, unsuspecting Dr. Larry, when she is forced, under oath, to admit her past as a prostitute. The cold-hearted drilling of the D.A. stands in stark contrast to the desperation and self-loathing of Light's character as she watches her world unravel before friends and family. Light's performance amazes, and this is a television moment that truly leaves the audience breathless.

I wasn't kidding about loving my soaps -- or my Judith Light.