ALL MY CHILDREN welcomed Sarah Michelle Gellar (Kendall), Eva La Rue (Maria), Sydney Penny (Julia) and Grant Aleksander (Alec).... Erica tied the knot with Dimitri (her seventh spouse); her ex, Adam, married Gloria; and Adam’s former wife, Brooke, said, “I do,” to Tad, who’d learned he’d sired her son, Jamie. Tad also got his memory back and bedded Dixie, with whom he dodged a murder attempt by Ted Orsini.... David Canary (Adam/Stuart) added to his trophy with the Daytime Emmy for Lead Actor…. Scheming Kendall Hart turned out to be Erica’s surprise firstborn, the product of her long-ago rape by Richard Fields…. Edmund and Maria fell in love…. Natalie died in a car wreck…. Jack adopted Lily. Amy Carlson (Josie), Grayson McCouch (Morgan) and Julian McMahon (Ian) debuted on ANOTHER WORLD; Ricky
Paull Goldin (Dean), Alla Korot (Jenna) and Sandra Ferguson (Amanda) left; and Anna Holbrook (Sharlene) and Charles Keating (Carl) returned.... Original cast member Constance Ford passed away, so her character, Ada, died in her sleep.... Linda Dano (Felicia) was named Lead Actress at the Daytime Emmys.... Terri Guarnieri became the new executive producer, replacing Michael Laibson.... Vicky married Grant, and Cass and Frankie got hitched, but Paulina dumped Jake at the altar.
AS THE WORLD TURNS mourned its head writer, Douglas Marland, who died following abdominal surgery shortly after receiving the Editors’ Award at the Soap Opera Digest Awards; Juliet Packer and Richard Backus became head writers. Martha Byrne (Lily) and Scott Bryce (Craig) returned; Michael David Morrison’s fatal drug overdose prompted Caleb to be recast with Graham Winton; Paolo Seganti (Damian) debuted; and Sharon Case (now Sharon, YOUNG AND RESTLESS) was axed as Debbie…. Hal and Barbara remarried and welcomed a son, Will…. Angel wed Seth…. After divorcing Holden, Lily became Mrs. Damian Grimaldi…. Jessica and Duncan had a daughter, Bonnie, while John and Iva had a son, Matthew John (M.J.), and Holden discovered that he was the father of Julie’s son, Aaron…. In medical news, Mac was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and Emily donated her egg so that Larry and Susan could expand their family…. Ellen Dolan (Margo) nabbed the Digest Award for Supporting Actress. BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL Creator/EP William J. Bell turned over the head-writing reins to his son, Bradley Bell, and Ian Buchanan began playing James.... Sheila became the new Mrs. Eric Forrester and she blackmailed Y&R’s Lauren into staying mum about her true identity.... A paternity test (wrongly) named Ridge as the father of Brooke’s baby girl, Bridget, and Brooke became the majority shareholder in Forrester Creations.... Macy battled her dependency on booze.
Alison Sweeney (Sami), Bryan R. Datillo (Lucas), Eileen Davidson (Kristen, now Y&R’s Ashley), Renee Jones (Lexie), Jaime Lyn Bauer (Laura), Deborah Adair (ex-Kate) and Jason Brooks (Peter) began their DAYS OF OUR LIVES runs, while Joseph Mascolo (Stefano) and Thaao Penghlis (Tony, now
Andre) returned, and
Matthew Ashford
(Jack), Crystal
Chappell (Carly) and Michael Sabatino (Lawrence) left. Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie) was fired, then rehired.... Sheri Anderson was let go as James E. Reilly’s co-head writer, while Steve Wyman replaced Francesca James
as supervising producer.... The show aired a prime-time installment, “Night Sins”.... John and Marlena’s tryst produced daughter Belle, but thanks to Sami’s DNA test tampering, Roman was thought to be the dad.... Vivian buried Carly alive.... John took up with Stefano’s adopted daughter, Kristen.... Victor and Kate tied the knot; his son, Bo, fell for her daughter, Billie.... Carrie’s face was disfigured with acid.... The Digest Award for Supporting Actor went to Richard Biggs (Marcus).
Anthony Geary and Genie Francis reprised their legendary GENERAL HOSPITAL characters, Luke and Laura, and the show introduced Jonathan Jackson as their son, Lucky. Other major hires included Maurice Benard (Sonny), Sean Kanan (A.J., now B&B’s Deacon), Rena Sofer (Lois, now B&B’s Quinn), Mary Beth Evans (Katherine, now DAYS’s Kayla), Michael Sutton (Stone), Robyn Richards (ex-Maxie) and John Ingle, who took over as Edward when David Lewis retired. Jon Lindstrom began playing Kevin in addition to Ryan, while Jane Elliot (Tracy), Emma Samms (Holly) and Kin Shriner (Scott) exited…. Claire Labine took over as head writer, succeeding Bill Levinson.... Scott and Dominique renewed their vows before she succumbed to an inoperable brain tumor; surrogate Lucy gave birth to their daughter, Serena.... Lucas was officially adopted by Bobbie and Tony.... Luke and Laura returned to town (accompanied by son Lucky) after mobster Frank Smith hunted them down; Bill Eckert was shot dead after being mistaken for Luke, his look-alike cousin…. Karen popped pills and stripped at Sonny’s club; he and Brenda first crossed paths…. Lois hit the sheets with rocker Eddie Maine — who was really Ned…. Gerald Anthony (Marco) nabbed the Outstanding Supporting Actor Daytime Emmy. GUIDING LIGHT snagged Justin Deas as Buzz, and recast Alexandra with Marj Dusay, and Mindy with Barbara Crampton. Robert Newman (Josh) returned, while Beth Ehlers (Harley) and Mark Derwin (Mallet) exited, as did Jordan Clarke (Billy, who was recast with Geoffrey Scott). Marcy Walker (Tangie) and Sonia Satra (Lucy) began their runs.... Maureen was killed in a car wreck after learning that her hubby, Ed, had strayed with Lillian.... Eleni divorced Alan-Michael and swapped vows with Frank; they also welcomed a daughter, Marina.... Harley and Mallet wed and left town.... Billy and Vanessa remarried after he divorced Nadine; they got custody of Bridget’s son with Hart, Peter.... Roger took Jenna as a bride.... The Cooper family expanded to include presumed-dead patriarch Buzz and his daughter, Lucy.... Holly and Roger slept together.... The show won Daytime Emmys for Writing, Supporting Actress (Ellen Parker, ex-Maureen) and Younger Actor (Monti Sharp, David).... GL went from three head writers to two when Lorraine Broderick left (Nancy Curlee and Stephen Demorest remained).
LOVING lost Noelle Beck (Trisha) and Rebecca Gayheart (Hannah), but introduced Amelia Heinle (Steffi, now Y&R’s Victoria), Catherine Hickland (Tess) and Philip Brown (Buck), and welcomed back Randolph Mantooth as Alex. In addition, Debbi Morgan joined the cast in the guise of her AMC character, Angie, and Anders Hove crossed over as GH villain Cesar Faison. Head Writer Robert Guza, Jr. ceded his position to Millee Taggart, who was then replaced with series Co-Creator Agnes Nixon.... Louie passed away after the death of his portrayer, Bernard Barrow.... LOVING’s Ally and Cooper were wed briefly and had a son, Tyler; Dinah Lee married Curtis.
ONE LIFE TO LIVE welcomed back Robin Strasser (Dorian) and John Loprieno (Cord) and introduced Reiko Aylesworth (Rebecca) and a new Blair, Kassie Wesley (now Kassie DePaiva), replacing Mia Korf; Thom Christopher (Mortimer) and Yasmine Bleeth (Lee Ann) exited…. At the KAD Spring Fling dance, Todd, Zach and Powell gang-raped Marty. Defense attorney Nora threw the trial when she realized her clients were guilty, and Todd got his facial scar courtesy of Luna, who came to Marty’s defense when he attacked her again…. Viki separated from Clint and gave in to her feelings for Sloan…. Max and Luna tied the knot, as did Cassie and Andrew.
SANTA BARBARA went off the air on January 15. In its final episode, C.C. and Sophia reconciled, B.J. and Warren exchanged vows, and Mason and Julia learned that she was pregnant with their second kid (and seemed also to agree on adopting Gracie’s newborn son).
Christian J. LeBlanc (Michael) and Peter Barton (Scott) exited Y&R, while Signy Coleman (Hope) and J. Eddie Peck (Cole) began their runs.... John and Jill remarried and welcomed their son, Billy.... Neil and Drucilla tied the knot.... Nikki and Jack mourned when their preemie son didn’t survive. Meanwhile, presumed-dead Victor began a new life in Kansas with blind beauty Hope before returning to take control of Jabot.... Lauren was widowed when Scott succumbed to a mysterious illness.... Michael went to jail for tormenting Christine.... Cole became romantically entangled with both Nikki and Victoria; he married the latter, even as the possibility lingered that he and Victoria had the same father.... Y&R was named Outstanding Drama at the
Daytime Emmys, and Heather Tom (Victoria) notched her first trophy, as Younger Actress.... Peter Bergman won the Digest Award for Lead Actor. Executive Shuffle: ABC Daytime got a new president, Pat Fili-Krushel, who replaced Dennis Swanson…. Charlotte Savitz was named NBC’s director of Daytime Programming.