Best Endings In The History Of Ever?
After what was roughly my seventh time watching the last thirty second's of Friday's spectacular One Life to Live, I was reminiscing about being a less jaded young soap viewer and how it felt when the big moments happened that I wasn't expecting. For obvious reasons so many of those moments came before spoilers and the internet made it virtually impossible for there to ever be any real surprise (which is why I have to give kudos to OLTL since the Two Todds moment at the end was not a surprise, but still made my heart flutter and probably elicited a few embarrassing squeals and gasps from me... which of course proves that even in this day and age it's possible to make a big soap moment great as long as it's done well). I really felt like a little kid again, and the big giant nonsense absurd hyperbolic world of soaps should do just that.
So it's poll time! What do you guys think were the greatest big Friday moments in all of daytime soaps? I threw together a quick poll which, of course, is severely limited by both my current lack of memory (I can't believe it was so hard for me to think of things!) and my lack of knowledge of many of the soaps I haven't watched (I know some canon but it would've been kind of vague -- Victor's alive! Patch is alive! -- so I will leave the informed descriptions up to you lovely readers). So please do throw in write-in votes for any shows in the comments!
I left off deaths (or apparent deaths) because those cliffhangers are obviously far more common so we'd be here all day. Reminisce with me, y'all!
I voted for 'Gwyneth Alden is the killer on Loving' because I was truly shocked at that reveal and it coincided with the end of the series. Can someone refresh my memory as to what the 'KAD Trial Verdict' was? Thanks!
Posted by: Soapbaby | July 31, 2011 at 10:50 AM
Okay, so I'm old. But for me, it's always going to be Luke seeing Laura alive on the mayor's lawn. Pretty sure that happened on a Friday. No matter how badly Guza gutted them and retroactively killed that reunion, my inner 14-year-old still squees with the memory.
But on this list, Angie seeing Jesse on the train comes real close.
Posted by: lucky-n-love | July 31, 2011 at 10:56 AM
I just want to second the embarrassing squeals and gasps portion of this post. My boyfriend was sitting beside me and kept mocking the soap, but as we got to the last five minutes, I snapped: "YOU NEED STOP TALKING OMG IT'S THE TWO TODDS OMG OMG TWO TODDS!"
Posted by: Claire C. Cake | July 31, 2011 at 12:13 PM
I freaking loved the "I am" reveal on Friday and the camera moving to Todd then showing Blair's shock (yeah and then the others... whatevs.)
But nothing tops Tina coming in to Cord and Kate's wedding with her 'Am I too late? This is our baby Cord! Our baby!' and fainting dead away in the church.
We'll never see a cliff hanger like that again. It's way too campy for this day and age but, Lord, that scene was always tops with me.
But now? I seriously cannot wait until tomorrow.
Posted by: Dandesun | July 31, 2011 at 12:46 PM
For re-living the joy a bit, Tina returns: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DajIpPmfUL4
Posted by: Louise | July 31, 2011 at 01:03 PM
I am a bit too young to have seen the Tina return live, but the Gwyneth Alden reveal shocked the s**t out of me. I was so stunned, I was sure it was a fake out. I could not wait for the next day.
The Angie and Jesse sighting was good, but the idea of Jesse being alive was so ridiculous that it took away from the impact. Also, it was promoted to death.
Friday's OLTL was so anticipated and all the drama leading up to it did not disappoint. I LOVED the last scene. I can not wait until tomorrow to watch. I can not remember the last time I said that about any show (daytime or primetime).
Posted by: CSG929 | July 31, 2011 at 05:29 PM
I was a big fan of ATWT during the Douglas Marland years, and to this day, no one can do a Friday shock like him - Lucinda goes to meet the woman claiming to be Lily's biological mother - and it's IVA? The mysterious monk haunting the McKecknie castle removes his hood to reveal - an ALIVE JAMES STENBECK (yeah, he died a million times after that, but the first time back alive was mouth dropping)! Iva thinks Josh (Lily's biological father) is about to rape Lily (he's not) and blurts it all out to the horror of Lily and shock of Josh! Beatrice is revealed NOT to be Duncan's sister but his daughter! And while not on Marland's watch, how about Duncan going to the police station to get his wife out of jail, only to find out the 'wife' in jail was not Jessica, but his presumed dead wife, Shannon! Loved, loved, loved those days.
Posted by: Mike | July 31, 2011 at 06:08 PM
Mike, those are great! I definitely remember hearing about some of those over the years...
Posted by: Louise | July 31, 2011 at 06:38 PM
I voted for Angie and Jessie. I'm sorry but come on when she was running along beside the train screaming his name and then home girl jumped on the tracks (in heels) and started running down the tracks after the train! My husband was looking at me all kinds of crazy ways as I was jumping up screaming "run girl run!" lol
Posted by: LaTanya | July 31, 2011 at 06:42 PM
My favorite is one of my first soap memories from New Years 89/90. We knew that Jimmy had poisoned Robert's aftershave, so at midnight the whole town was at Spoon Island counting down the new year and Robert was stumbling around on the stairs. The clock strikes midnight, Robert falls down the stairs, and I think it was Katherine that screamed a blood curling scream. I can remember literally praying that Robert would somehow survive. I'm sure there were people who followed the soap magazines and knew that TR's contract wasn't up, but for me, watching for the next couple days, I really believed that he was dead. They freaking showed his body in the morgue.
Posted by: Spazzo47 | July 31, 2011 at 10:43 PM
The GL blackout cliffhanger was also inspired. Bridgette plugging in her hairdryer probably wasn't the most exciting moment in the show's history. And there's wasn't a single WOW moment as we saw where all the Springfield residents were located and with whom. But it kicked off one of the greatest stories in soap history.
Posted by: Spazzo47 | July 31, 2011 at 10:52 PM
It's too bad you discounted deaths because I think GH's clink/boom was probably one of the last times I was truly shocked by a soap. I remember going to the local bookstore to read the mags to see if Lily was really dead. (I hoped not because I was a Jax/Brenda fan) but it still was one of the best plot twists that meant a lot.
I thought of GL too: I believe finding out Marian was actually Brent Lawrence was a Friday cliffhanger as was Danny telling his mother that he and Michelle had married (to protect her from his mother/the mob).
Of these, it was tough but I voted for Tina interrupting the wedding. I didn't watch OLTL back then but it has become such a classic scene that as soon as YT started uploading old vids, I had to check it out.
Posted by: Kendra | July 31, 2011 at 11:56 PM
I agree about the Gwyneth Alden being the killer one out of the choices here...I loved that whole storyline. I still remember Steffi telling her in shock, "You're not Trisha!" and Gwyneth replying, "Sometimes I am..." I still fail to see how Christine Tudor failed to even score an Emmy nomination that year, let alone the win I thought she deserved.
But the ones that probably stick with me the most are 3 from the first soap I watched religiously growing up, Santa Barbara: Christy Duvall refusing to step down from the witness stand and saying "No...I have something I want to say..." when Ted was on trial because he was falsely accused of raping her--and the real rapist, her stepbrother, who was also conveniently the prosecuting attorney, standing up and looking like he wanted to kill her on the spot; CC collapsing from his aneurysm as Gina kept moving the will papers he was trying to sign to cut her and Brandon out of it further and further away from him; and, of course, the infamous giant neon "C" falling on Mary.
Posted by: Ryan Mason | August 01, 2011 at 12:22 AM
I have to say, Luke seeing Laura on the lawn outside the mansion is tops, and always will be for me. But Todd's "I am Todd" was right up there too. Great, just great!!
Posted by: Nancy | August 01, 2011 at 12:33 AM
I don't know if it was a Friday cliffhanger because I was very young but the Adam has a twin reveal on AMC stands out for me. I know he was using the secret passages to terrorize Erica. And I think she thought Adam was trying to gaslight her. What I really remember is my sister screaming out to me that there are two Adams. It was pretty awesome.
Posted by: chaka | August 01, 2011 at 03:41 AM
This one is from Days - and it happened many many years ago. Tony DiMeara was being held captive in a secret room with a double taking his place. Anna, his love at the time inadvertantly found the secret room and there scratched on the wall was "I am Tony DiMeara". It was so cool.
Posted by: Debbie | August 01, 2011 at 10:48 AM
I'm SO EXCITED to hear what you thought about today (Monday)!
Posted by: Claire C. Cake | August 01, 2011 at 04:21 PM
What? No "Marlena murdered by the Salem Strangler on Days of Our Lives?" That one made the newsmagazines at the time! NBC switchboards were overloaded by distraught fans venting their rage and sorrow. The numbers were into the tens of thousands I believe (and am too lazy to look it up.)
Pop quiz: the real murder victim was ____________. And the audience discovered it when ______ arrived at the cottage and found ______'s body.
Posted by: Brett | August 01, 2011 at 06:15 PM
So Claire, I take I wasn't the only person in America to squee with sheer delight at the end of the show today? :)
As for the pop quiz, I remember that the real victim was Marlena's twin sister, Samantha. Played by Ms. Hall's real life identical twin sister.
Posted by: stlbf | August 01, 2011 at 11:24 PM
No, stlbf, you were NOT. The KISS! THE. KISS. OMG.
Posted by: Claire C. Cake | August 02, 2011 at 10:47 AM
OMG, that kiss! YES!
I don't remember if this was a Friday cliffhanger or not, but I freaked out when Mario turned out to be Marco on OLTL! back in the late '70s or early '80s.
Posted by: Judy | August 05, 2011 at 12:25 AM
I also would like to know what the KAD trial verdict was. I remember the KAD killer from a couple years ago but I'm not sure that's what you meant, Louise.
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