All My Children
On-Air On-Soaps Michael Fairman's Best and Worst List of 2011!
Courtesy/ABC
In an emotional, bizarre, and heartbreaking year in the world of soaps, there was still tremendous work done by the talented performers in the genre in front of the camera, as well as those behind-the-scenes who illustrated brilliant creativity and passion for their field, and for loyal soap fans everywhere.
In addition, there were several not so stellar moments, characters, or storylines that get the dubious honor of some of the “Worsts” of 2011. So with that said, Michael Fairman presents to you his fourth annual Best and Worst of the Year. In several categories, it was almost too tight a race to call, and so we have showed you the runner-ups in those particular cases, and in some cases, we had to call it a “tie”.
From Best Soap to Worst, to Best Overall Performance by an Actor and Actress to Most Irritating Character, to Best Storyline to Worst, to Best Newcomer to Worst Return, to Best Single Performance in a Storyline by an Actor and Actress to Most Tortured Character, to Most Inexcusable Way to Handle the Soap Audience, we dissect it all, in our annual look back at the year in soaps.
Now, while we know many of you have your own picks and choices, we encourage you to let us know your thoughts as well. And most of all, we want to wish all our soapers a healthy, prosperous, and fantastic New Year!
So without further ado, after the jump, we reveal the list!
ON-AIR ON-SOAPS MICHAEL FAIRMAN’S BEST AND WORSTS OF 2011!
BEST SOAP
One Life to Live
BEST WEB SOAP
Courtesy/ABC
Venice
WORST SOAP
General Hospital
MOST DISAPPOINTING SOAP
The Young and the Restless
MOST DISAPPOINTING EPISODE
All My Children finale
BEST STORYLINE
Tale of the Two Todds – One Life to Live
WORST STORYLINE
Who killed Skye? – The Young and the Restless
MOST BOTCHED STORYLINE
The Balkan and Brenda- General Hospital
LOOPIEST STORYLINE
Courtesy/MFSOAPS
Trippy-Berry Island with Brooke and Thomas – B&B
MOST OFFENSIVE STORY POINT
Lisa yielding an HIV positive blood-filled syringe as a weapon – GH
BEST RIPPED-FROM-THE HEADLINES SOCIAL ISSUE STORY
Teen suicide via bullying – One Life to Live
BEST WRITING
Ron Carlivati – One Life to Live
WORST WRITING
David Kreizman and Donna Swajeski – All My Children (For the beginning of 2011)
Garin Wolf – General Hospital (For the latter part of 2011)
BEST SINGLE PERFORMANCE MALE
Courtesy/ABC
Jonathan Jackson – Lucky addresses Luke during Luke’s intervention – GH
BEST SINGLE PERFORMANCE FEMALE
Erika Slezak – Viki battles her alters in Erika’s special 40th Anniversary episode– OLTL
BEST SINGLE PERFORMANCE BY A YOUNGER PERFORMER
Austin Williams – Shane’s suicide attempt – One Life to Live
BEST EPISODE OF THE YEAR
The Fraternity Row Fantasy Episode – One Life to Live
BEST COMEDIC EPISODE OF THE YEAR
The Vicker Man Premiere – One Life to Live
Runner up: The Blanca Show – One Life to Live
BEST OVERALL PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR
(TIE) Trevor St. John – One Life to Live, Jonathan Jackson – General Hospital
Runner up: Steve Burton – General Hospital
BEST OVERALL PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS
Courtesy/ABC
Florencia Lozano – One Life to Live
Runner-ups: Erika Slezak – One Life to Live, Crystal Chappell – Days of our Lives
BEST OVERALL PERFORMANCE BY A SUPPORTING ACTOR
Billy Miller – The Young and the Restless
BEST OVERALL PERFORMANCE BY A SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Ilene Kristen – One Life to Live
BEST YOUNGER ACTOR
Chandler Massey – Days of our Lives
BEST YOUNGER ACTRESS
Molly Burnett – Days of our Lives
MOST BELOVED CHARACTER AND PERFORMER WE WILL MISS THE MOST
Michael E. Knight – All My Children
BEST RETURN
Courtesy/ABC
David Canary – All My Children
Runner up: Andrea Evans as Tina with David Vickers, the dog in tow – One Life to Live
WORST RETURN
Debbi Morgan – The Young and the Restless
BEST RECAST
Barbara Rhodes (Irene Manning) – One Life to Live
WORST RECAST
Tom Degnan (Joey) – One Life to Live
BEST RECURRING PERFORMER
Tuc Watkins – One Life to Live
BEST RUINATION OF A CHARACTER
Chloe Lane who becomes a hooker – Days of our Lives
MOST TORTURED CHARACTER
Jason Morgan – General Hospital
MOST OVERUSED PLOT DEVICE BY ONE SHOW AT ONE TIME
Photo Credit: Getty Images
The soap epidemic called The Doppelganger – DAYS, AMC, Y&R and OLTL all head them! Enough!
FAVORITE DOPPELGANGER
Jane – All My Children
WORST DOPPELGANGER
Caleb – The Young and the Restless
WORST WAY TO WRITE OFF A MAJOR SOAP CHARACTER
Marty Saybrooke wanders on to a plane, because she is told her presumed dead husband Patrick is on board. And, we see no on-screen reunion of Susan Haskell and Thorsten Kaye!
MOST UPSETTING MOMENT OF THE YEAR INVOLVING A PERFORMER
Trevor St. John ends up being killed-off of OLTL after a murky and confusing negotiation, and the return of Roger Howarth. Thus depriving fans of the two Manning brothers for any length of time.
MOST INEXCUSABLE WAY TO HANDLE THE SOAPS AND ITS AUDIENCE
Prospect Park allowing OLTL to film their final episode knowing that they couldn’t come up with a way to put it online, and making the actors tout that the show is continuing, and leaving fans in the dark with no proper press.
WORST DECISION THAT IMPACTS SOAP FANS
Courtesy/NBC
ABC cancels One Life to Live and All My Children in the same breath!
BEST TRIANGLE
Viki/Charlie/Echo – One Life to Live
WORST QUANDRANGLE
Steffy/Liam/Hope/Thomas – The Bold and the Beautiful
BEST COUPLE
Billy and Victoria – The Young and the Restless
MOST CRINGEWORTHY COUPLE (TWO YEARS RUNNING)
Adam and Sharon – The Young and the Restless
SEXIEST NON-COUPLE
Brooke and Thomas – The Bold and the Beautiful
WORST COUPLE
Joey and Kelly – One Life to Live
WORST QUANDRANGLE
Courtesy/ABC
Steffy/Hope/Liam/Thomas – The Bold and the Beautiful
MOST IRRITATING CHARACTER
(TIE) Siobhan McKenna – General Hospital, Damian Spinelli as Jackal P.I – General Hospital
WORST NEW FAMILY INTEGRATED INTO A SOAP
The Patels – One Life to Live
MOST REVITALIZED CHARACTER
Nikki Newman – The Young and the Restless
MOST CREEPY PERFORMANCE
(TIE) Brianna Brown – General Hospital, Bruce Weitz – General Hospital
BEST WEDDING
Sonny and Brenda’s wedding – General Hospital
BEST WEDDING FALL-OUT
John and Natalie’s confrontation after the double wedding of Natalie/Jessica busts up! – OLTL
BEST NEWCOMER MALE
Courtesy/ABC
Josh Kelly – One Life to Live
WORST NEWCOMER MALE
Barrett Helms – One Life to Live
BEST NEWCOMER FEMALE
Kate Mansi – Days of our Lives
WORST NEWCOMER FEMALE
Diana DeGarmo – The Young and the Restless
BEST NEW CHARACTER
(TIE) Sonny Kiriakis, Days of our Lives, Cutter Wentworth, One Life to Live
THE CHARACTER WHO KEEPS COMING BACK AND NO ONE CARES
(TIE) “Franco” and Lisa Niles – General Hospital
BEST GUEST STAR PERFORMANCE
Josh Duhamel – All My Children
All My Children
Chrishell Stause Wins ‘MTV Movie & TV Award UNSCRIPTED’ For Best Reality Star
Selling Sunset and former soap star, Chrishell Star (Ex-AMC, DAYS, and Y&R) took home the fan voted Best Reality Star at the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards: UNSCRIPTED that aired Sunday night.
During her acceptance speech, Stause expressed deep appreciated for the positive response she received after making her new romance with Australian singer/rapper G Flip public.
Following thanking those involved in Selling Sunset including her ex Jason Oppenheim, Stause shared: “I knew about this nomination before I had said anything about my sexuality. I’m not trying to get really deep with you guys, but the fact that this was voted on after means so much to me because I wasn’t sure how that was gonna go.”
Stause won the award over Chris Tamburello (The Challenge), Lindsay Hubbard (Summer House), Teresa Guidice (The Real Housewives of New Jersey) and Willow Pill (RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 14).
After her win, Chrishell tweeted: “I. AM. SO. HONORED!!! Truly thank you to everyone that voted And thank you so much MTV & Netflix”
Photo: CStauseIG
During the Selling Sunset reunion special on Netflix, Chrishell confirmed she was in a relationship with G Flip.
Check out Stause’s speech below.
Drum roll, please 🥁 And the winner for Best Reality Star at the 2022 #MTVAwards: Unscripted goes to…. @Chrishell7 📺 pic.twitter.com/mFgXHoL2fM
— Movie & TV Awards (@MTVAwards) June 6, 2022
All My Children
Chrishell Stause and Singer G Flip Confirm Relationship
During the premiere of Friday night’s Selling Sunset reunion show on Netflix, there were several major moments, but one of them surprised many.
Former All My Children, Days of our Lives, and ‘Young and the Restless’ star, Chrishell Stause confirmed that she is in a relationship with Australian singer, G Flip.
Stause revealed that she is seeing the non-binary singer after the moderator, Tan France asked Chrishell if she was seeing anyone. The former soap star expressed: “I recently have been spending a lot of time with someone that’s very important to me. Their name is G Flip. They’re non-binary, so they go by they/them,” adding, “They are an extremely talented musician.”
Leave it to her soap background to play a part in the ultimate connection between Chrishell and G Flip. Stause explained: “It started because I was just going to be in their video. And it’s about this chaotic love story. I come from soaps, I love acting. And with the job that we have, I don’t always get to do it. At first of course I was like yes, let’s do that.”
G Flip’s latest single GAY 4 Me is out now and her new single is dropping on May 13th, GET ME OUTTA HERE.
Photo: Netflix
Previously, Chrishell was dating her ‘Selling Sunset’ boss, Jason Oppenheim, who opined about the break-up of their relationship on the special. In a scene shown on the Netflix special, Oppenheim shared, “This is not the time of my life where I want to have a family.” Months back, reports had surfaced that the couple had differences they could not overcome. However, now Jason expressed that Stause was “the love of my life” and said he may regret forever the fact that he let her go.
Now back to present time. According to PEOPLE.com, Stause is enjoying the company of G Flip, and the two were seen out and about at West Hollywood’s nightclub/bar, The Abbey, this past Thursday cozying up to one another.
In addition, it appears that Stause and G Flip are now living together in Chrishell’s Los Angeles home, which reportedly was purchased, in part, by her selling her wedding to her ex husband, This Is Us star, Justin Hartley.
Over the last 24 hours, Stause took to her Instagram story clad in a bikini, and showed us the renovation progress of a large closet at her home. She closed the IG story withm “I’m gonna come out of it now,” to which several of her former DAYS castmates had fun with the ‘play on words’ response and shared some comments back to her.
So, what do you think of Chrishell entering into a relationship with G Flip? We wish them the best. Share your thoughts below.
All My Children
Susan Lucci Shares on the Loss of Her Husband Helmut Huber: ‘The Love of My Life’ Followed by Outpouring of Support From Co-Stars & Colleagues
Anne Heche in “Extremely Critical Condition”; Still in Coma Following Fiery Car Crash
Y&R’s Joshua Morrow Shares His Son, Crew Has Launched Hoodie Clothing Line Campaign To Help Ukraine
THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL PREVIEW: Sheila Stunner … Is She Dead?
‘That’s A Wrap’ For Dynasty’s Elizabeth Gillies & Adam Huber As They Share Farewells
Anne Heche in Critical Condition After Fiery Car Crash
Y&R’s Christian LeBlanc Shares Emotional and Heartfelt Message to Fans and Colleagues
DAYS Brandon Barash On Stefan’s Resurrection: “You’ll See Some Revenge, Corporate Takeovers, Losing a Memory … Maybe Gaining of Memories”
BREAKING NEWS: Days of our Lives Ending Its Run on NBC, Moving to Peacock Starting in September
THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: What Did You Think of Steffy and Finn’s Highly-Anticipated Reunion?
Trevor St. John Joins the Cast of The Young and the Restless
BREAKING NEWS: Days of our Lives Ending Its Run on NBC, Moving to Peacock Starting in September
Y&R’s Christian LeBlanc Shares Emotional and Heartfelt Message to Fans and Colleagues
THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL PREVIEW: Sheila Stunner … Is She Dead?
Y&R’s Joshua Morrow Shares His Son, Crew Has Launched Hoodie Clothing Line Campaign To Help Ukraine
Anne Heche in Critical Condition After Fiery Car Crash
Trevor St. John Joins the Cast of The Young and the Restless
Heather Gray, Executive Producer at ‘The Talk’, Passes Away at 50
THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: What Did You Think of Steffy and Finn’s Highly-Anticipated Reunion?
DAYS Brandon Barash On Stefan’s Resurrection: “You’ll See Some Revenge, Corporate Takeovers, Losing a Memory … Maybe Gaining of Memories”
Anne Heche in “Extremely Critical Condition”; Still in Coma Following Fiery Car Crash
THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL PREVIEW: Sheila Stunner … Is She Dead?
Anne Heche in Critical Condition After Fiery Car Crash
Y&R’s Christian LeBlanc Shares Emotional and Heartfelt Message to Fans and Colleagues
DAYS Brandon Barash On Stefan’s Resurrection: “You’ll See Some Revenge, Corporate Takeovers, Losing a Memory … Maybe Gaining of Memories”
THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: What Did You Think of Steffy and Finn’s Highly-Anticipated Reunion?
Kin Shriner Celebrates 45-Year Milestone as General Hospital’s Scott Baldwin
B&B’s Tanner Novlan on Steffy & Finn’s Reunion Scenes: “It’s Very Cool and I Think ‘Sinn’ Fans Are Going to be Over the Moon with the Payoff”
General Hospital’s Maura West Delivers The ‘Power Performance of the Week’
THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: Finn and Li are Reunited
Steve Burton Talks On: ‘Beyond Salem’, His Co-Stars, Dismissal From ‘General Hospital’ Over Vaccine Mandate, and What’s Next
-
Breaking NewsAugust 3, 2022BREAKING NEWS: Days of our Lives Ending Its Run on NBC, Moving to Peacock Starting in September
-
NewsAugust 5, 2022Y&R’s Christian LeBlanc Shares Emotional and Heartfelt Message to Fans and Colleagues
-
PreviewsAugust 7, 2022THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL PREVIEW: Sheila Stunner … Is She Dead?
-
The Young and the RestlessAugust 8, 2022Y&R’s Joshua Morrow Shares His Son, Crew Has Launched Hoodie Clothing Line Campaign To Help Ukraine
-
Breaking NewsAugust 5, 2022Anne Heche in Critical Condition After Fiery Car Crash
-
Breaking NewsAugust 2, 2022Trevor St. John Joins the Cast of The Young and the Restless
-
Breaking NewsAugust 1, 2022Heather Gray, Executive Producer at ‘The Talk’, Passes Away at 50
-
RecapsAugust 3, 2022THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: What Did You Think of Steffy and Finn’s Highly-Anticipated Reunion?
I was really disappointed with the Lisa Niles story because with Brianna Brown, there was actually potential. Brianna and Brandon Barash had good chemistry and a better storyline/writing job would have utilized Brianna’s talent. Instead, they wrote the character into a corner that left fans gagging. GH has so much talent on board… I sure hope the writing in 2012 does the talent justice.
I disagree with you naming The Patels as the worst family of 2011! I loved them, and thought they all did a great job! I know you probably named best new male newcomer and best new character to Josh Kelly/Cutter Wentworth because this year was a very slow year for “newbies”, and they weren’t a lot of them this year on the soaps, but I was indifferent to the Cutter character at the beginning since he was involved in that lame storyline con job scam with Aubrey scamming Joey, and the quadriangle between Cutter/Aubrey/Joey/Kelly. The I really hated the character… Read more »
Agree with most,…..I have Jerry Ver Dorn in a three tie with Trevor and Jackson for lead actor…….
Also for worst quad, I did not like the setup but i think the Steff/liam/Hope/thomas storyline has turn the corner in the last few weeks and is really good right now….
Great List Michael!!! Agree with most… Happy New Year and thank you for your great site, with awesome content and your wonderful interviews… oh and your fab podcasts!!!
We can only hope someone picks up OLTL… anything can be possible!
Okay—- Just have to say this was obviously one man’s opinion. OLTL is not THAT great. Sorry to say…. You can tell what his favorite soap is. Too bad the ratings don’t prove it…… Happy New Year, all!
Thank you,Michael.I agree with the vast majority of your picks.i dread that next year the worst coupling will be Victor & Sharon.Have a great New Year.
Woohoo! Great picks! I love my Villy. Miller and Heinle just SHINE together. There’s no one else like them
I agree with most of your picks especially Billy and Victoria as Best Couple and the return of Nikki Newman.
Happy New Year!!!
Great list Michael!
So happy to see Villy as the best couple! They definitely are! Love them And yay for BM getting best supporting actor! Well-deserved 🙂
Great picks but my favorite? Naming Billy and Victoria as Best Couple. They are a force to be reckoned with and their chemistry is amazing! <3
I would have put cringeworthing couple as anyone the character of Nick Newman is with, he is most definitely the male whore of daytime. I guess I am in the minority but I think Sharon& Adam have great chemistry. Don’t forget the Baldwin brothers did a lot of bad things before they were accepted into Genoa City society. I could list them for everyone but it would take too much time. And I am sorry I just don’t get Steve Burton’s acting or lack of he looks stiff. Just my opinion otherwise I pretty much agree Michael.
I’m in agreement with 99% of your list but totally disagree about your worst female newcomer. As an actress she’s really good. It’s not Diana’s fault that the writing is one dimensional. I see her doing a great job with not so stellar writing and don’t fault her at all.
good picks ,and I love that you agree with me about franco and lisa niles ,Im glad she is gone ,hopefuly franco is gone with all his finger painting and please ,I forgot her name right now but the one with the irish accent what a waste of her and lucky.please make her gone to.We only have 9 more days of one life to live ,the best soap,best writing ,best actors,It will be missed.
I agree with much of this list, but the Patels were integrated well into the OLTL canvas. Vimel was Clint’s lackey from 2010 and the addition of Rama was seamless. Tying her into new-ish characters also helped. I am neutral on Neela.
I am confused with how Debbi Morgan is a worst return to Y&R when she was never there before. Is her character’s return the worst?
General Hospital was not the worst soap. Dante & Lulu’s wedding was the best, definitely better than Sunny & Brenda’s.
Sorry, but I like the Patels! They’re great! When’s the last time a family of couple was integrated into a soap??
I agree with most. Definitely hands down OLTL was the best soap of 2011. I hope the emmys will recognize them with this distinction this year. It will be an injustice if it goes to any other soap.
I liked your picks this year. I’m sad cause I can’t say I will be waiting for next years list, anymore. I feel badly, Michael, because this must present a great deal of frustation for you and other journalists. But, I think because you are the best interviewer bar none, your creativity will find new avenues to write about. We still have Y&R and DAYS and GH and B&B and The online soaps. So hang in there everyone. Hope you will find new things to bring to us fans,Michael. You are the best.
Best Actor: Darnell Williams – All My Children
Best Actress: Debbi Morgan – All My Children
Best Couple – Jesse and Angie – Legends on All My Children
Best Single Performance by an actor: Jesse (Daarnell Williams) delivers his stillborn daughter.
Best Single Performance by A Couple – Angie (Debbi Morgan) and Jesse (Darnell Williams) at the gravesite of their stillborn daughter.
No racial balance in this article.
reunite sonny and brenda in 2012 and renew robin and patrick wedding vows
I Did NOT Think Debbi Morgan was the Worst Return of A Character on The Young And The Restless. I thought she did A Good Job. I thought the Worst Return was Gillian on All My Children. Gillian Barely said 5 Words. She might as well not have Returned. I know that Prospect Park wanted the Cliff Hanger, but I thought that Babe should have been Alive and Babe and JR and AJ could have Moved to San Diego. That way, Jacob Young could go to The Bold And The Beautiful and Alexa Havins could still do that Torchwood TV… Read more »
Jason Morgan the most tortured character?!?! Oh please, we have been tortured with Jason’s insertion into storylines that he has no business being in for years. How about tortured viewers! Completely over the character and “his pain”.