Returns from the dead As much as I hate seeing certain characters I love being killed off like (Adam Newman, Bo Brady, EJ Dimera) life does go on! Hence the characters I named all have children that could be aged or if they've been aged carry their deceased parents legacy. Writers and producers - think before you kill off characters! Don't kill off characters for a ratings ploy. Killing off characters should be strategic especially if the character(s) is downright abominable and has done far too much damage. Killing beloved characters (example Maureen Bauer of Guiding Light or Ryan Harrison from Another World) and legacy characters (example Will Horton before he came back from viewer outrage) are not ok.

Rape/Sexual assault/rapemances used as plot device or for shock values In the era of the Times up and MeToo movements, soaps have to stop glamorizing rape culture and chalking it up as it's just a soap opera. That should no longer be an excuse!!! Doing rapemances are also unacceptable. There is nothing sexy or romantic about a man or woman who rapes you in real life so why should it be fine on a daytime soap! Luke Spencer and Jack Devereaux are some of the few names that have raped popular female heroines in daytime and they got redeemed like it never happened and the female characters were forced to move on. Sami Brady was raped and became a rapist when she drugged Austin on Days. Chelsea on Y&R raped Billy and had his baby. By far the grossest rape I ever saw was Chase raping his stepsister Ciara on the Horton living room couch. There was no education and disclaimer just used as shock value. Days, in my opinion, has never recovered since that rape happened to Bo/Hope's daughter. The best written rape stories ever told came from GH's Liz, OLTL's Marty ...more

Baby switches/switched at birth Not only is this trope ridiculous but it drags on forever! Most of these stories takes about 2-3 years to finish and an era of a dying genre soaps don't need this storyline!

Brain tumors and brain injuries to give an excuse for characters doing bad behavior Remember when Roger Thrope was a classic SOB you loved to hate on Guiding Light? Well in this age of soaps, in order to create flawed characters a bump on the head, brain trauma or brain tumors are the excuses. If you don't believe me look at Franco fron GH!

Doppelganger/Evil twins/Long lost twins Marco/Jack... Princess Gina/Hope... Cassie/Mariah like how stupid and ridiculous. I'm sure the performers can turn poo to sugar but I can only suspend my disbelief for so long with these type of stories. If your last result as a soap writer is do doppelgangers and evil twins, then you should fire yourself before the executive or network does it for you.

Repetitive love triangles with no end insight Steffy/Liam/Hope from Bold anyone? When in doubt go back doing the same mind-numbing triangle that will never end! How silly that two women or two men are actually fighting over someone for long extended periods of time. That's not cute at all.

D. I. D. storylines Is this the only mental health story writers know how to write these days? This trope is done in elaborate ways to expand storylines and as well to give certain characters an edge. Or sometimes these characters that have D. I. D. are raped in the process to add on as a plot device. Like the writers and executives of this genre need to do more than this tired trope on mental illness and disorders.

Unplanned/Unexpected pregnancy With contraception and condoms talks in households, classrooms, and pop culture why on earth would in this day in age unexpected pregnancy happens on soaps still? It's so dated especially with the writers still not brave enough to do prochoice stories even. Like come on soap writers you can do better than playing it so damn safe.

Women always needing to be saved by a man With great supercouples like Luke/Laura, Steve/Kayla, John/Marlena and Roger/Holly, this was the era where female characters needed "saving" by a man when she was in danger. Now in 2018, why can't a sister do it by herself! She doesn't always need recusing by a man when she's in a bad situation, she can find her own way to save herself in moments of crisis without it being ridiculous and stupid.

The rush to SORAS legacy characters so vets can have a storyline. 10 I liked when Kimberly McCullough grew up on screen with General Hospital. Sometimes there shouldn't be a rush to get little kid characters rapidly aged so their parents can have storylines or we have to have a bunch of bratty teenagers arguing in triangle. Sometimes let the children stay children.

The Contenders

"The Tale of Two..." 11 This definitely goes hand and hand with returns from the dead and long lost twins. The first "tale of two" anything stories was done on Days of with John Black and the real Roman Brady. Jump to at least 25 years ahead we have "the tale of two Todds" with real Todd and Victor Jr on OLTL. And the latest is "The Tale of Two Jasons" dealing with Jason and Drew on GH. All I'm saying it takes a lot of suspension of disbelief telling these stories and they can be taxing! Not my favorite trope that's for sure.

Amnesia 12 "Who am I, where am I" My favorite amnesia story ever was Hope's on Days when she thought she was Gina when the actress had an epic comeback story. Since it's been monkey see, monkey do with genre trying to tell this brand of story. You have to be a hell of a writer to sell me the bridge if you add an amnesia plot point to the story you telling.

Microchips 13 Microchips in the brain to alter the memory of a character. Stupid! In a genre that's hanging on by a thread, if a writer remotely pitches such garbage, they should be fired and their keyboard thrown out the window.