Linsey Godfrey (Caroline, B&B)
“Oh, that’s easy. It’s Maya’s story. It’s an important story to tell because the struggle that transgender people experience every day hadn’t been told on soaps, so to watch somebody as powerful and beautiful as Karla [Mosley, Maya, far l.] tell that story so perfectly, and to see Obba [Babatundé, Julius] and Anna [Maria Horsford, Vivienne] react to that and play the struggle of the families, and then seeing how accepting Jacob’s [Young, Rick] character was and eventually everyone rallying to support her. When Caroline and Maya had their first talk about it, I emailed Brad [Bell, executive producer/head writer] and I asked him, ‘Please don’t make her be a jerk. Please let her be accepting because it wouldn’t make sense given Caroline’s mothers,’ and Brad was like, ‘I’m already there. I got it.’ I just love that story.”
James Reynolds (Abe, DAYS)
“I will tell you what I think might have been the most consequential story of the last four decades: the Salem Strangler story. Modestly speaking, Abe came on, and Roman [Wayne Northrop, r.]. The Roman/Marlena connection began at that time, and then shortly after that, the DiMera and Brady families showed up.”
Michelle Stafford (Nina, GH)
“You can’t beat Luke [Anthony Geary] and Laura [Genie Francis] and the Ice Princess, right? It’s a classic! That really drew me in as a fan when I watched it years ago. My sister and I were screaming at the TV!”
Jacqueline MacInnes Wood (Steffy, B&B)
“I’m sure a lot of people have said this, but it was the transgender storyline — and doing the fashion show with all the transgender models was amazing. And, it’s not a storyline that has come and gone. The character is still here. I think it’s something that people needed to learn about, people needed to know about, and I was really happy to be a small part of that.”
John McCook (Eric, B&B)
“Well, the transgender storyline, of course, but I also really loved all the shows we did about the homeless. That really stayed with me. I think it affected a lot of people, and it was such a great story for that time. Seeing Stephanie [Susan Flannery, below r.] bring us through that whole story of living with the homeless and seeing what they’re dealing with and how they live, and using some of the real-life situations of the homeless people downtown.... It was a very well-told and well-acted story that was informative and it brought a lot of awareness to that situation.”
Joshua Morrow (Nick, Y&R)
“It’s going to come off as self-serving, but I think Cassie [Camryn Grimes] dying was one of the best stories Y&R ever told and it was also the saddest. It involved practically everyone in Genoa City, it was beautifully told, some of the performances were amazing and we’re still telling that story. Cassie’s death is still resonating, so it’s a story that stands the test of time.”