Soap Opera Digest Special Issues : the results by year

[GillesDenver]

1985 (season 6) :
Best Wedding - Ben & Val
Most Romantic Scene - Greg's Dinner For Laura
Most Intriguing Character - Joshua Rush
Best Performance By A Celebrity - Ava Gardner

1987 (season 8) :
Best Prime-Time Casting - Nicollette Sheridan

1988 (season 9) :
Best Wacko on Primetime - Jill
Biggest Waste of Talent - William Devane

1989 (season 10) :
Most Shocking Twist (Prime Time) - Greg Marries Abby
Best Show (Prime Time) - Knots Landing

1990 (season 11) :
Best Villain (Primetime) - Danny Waleska
Best Hidden Pregnancy - Lar Park Lincoln
Best Widower - Frank Williams

1991 (season 12) :
Best Villainess - Claudia Whittaker
Most Disappointing Show

Source : https://soapoperaworld.com/soap-opera-digest-c-21.html

 

[James from London]

Best Hidden Pregnancy - Lar Park Lincoln
Best Widower - Frank Williams

Ha ha! Please tell me those were/are annual categories.

 

[Daniel Avery]

From what I remember from that period, Soap Opera Digest's "Best and Worst" issues often had "recipients in search of awards". That is, the editors would see something they liked/hated (or simply had favorite actors/shows) and wanted recognized in some way, so they'd create an "award" (recognition) for them. Also, there was the perception that they played favorites with certain shows (they did ), so they would go out of their way to create "good" and "bad" awards for all shows in equal numbers--leading to some silly choices for 'awards'. It wasn't like there was a trophy or anything involved--it was just an annual photo essay accompanied by a paragraph or two explaining the reason for the honor (or, in some cases, the criticism). This is a sampling of their Best/Worst issue "categories":

 

[GillesDenver]

Ha ha! Please tell me those were/are annual categories.

No but the very same year you've got "Worst Hidden Pregnancy" (Jacklyn Zeman in "General Hospital) and "Worst Widower" (Ridge Forrester in "The Bold and the Beautiful") !

 

[Mel O'Drama]

From "Best Show" to "Most Disappointing Show" in two seasons. The tragedy.

Still - it's quite an achievement to win the latter when it was up against the final season of Dallas.

 

[Daniel Avery]

These decisions (I won't even call them 'awards') were simply the editors of the magazine sitting around and reviewing/giving their personal opinions of the events of the year. They held no weight like an opinion poll of the readers would have, and in some cases they published purposefully controversial opinions just to get people fired up. The yearly feature was known more for its humor and gentle prodding of producers, though. The 'Disappointing' label is certainly nicer than 'Worst Show'.

 

[Karin Schill]

I still think it was quite an achievement to be labelled as the best prime time show in it's 10th season!
I agree that the show did keep a very high quality for a long time.

 

[Monzo]

What is the difference between a wacko, a psycho and a villain?

Soap Opera Digest said Danny and Claudia were the best villains, while Jill was named best wacko. To me (the later) Jill and Danny were more psychos, while Claudia was actually the closest villain to me out of the three options mentioned. But who was a real wacko on Knots Landing, Chip perhaps?

 

[Mel O'Drama]

But who was a real wacko on Knots Landing, Chip perhaps?

Chip was far too cool and calculating, I'd say.

Out of interest, I just did a search for the slur "wacko", and it gave this result:

a person whose behaviour is strange and different from that of most people

By that standard, I think pretty much everyone on the series qualifies.

 

[TheRealEwing]

"a person whose behaviour is strange and different from that of most people"

By that definition, the correct answer will always be Lilimae.

 

[Toni]

"a person whose behaviour is strange and different from that of most people"

By that definition, the correct answer will always be Lilimae.

"Wacko" will always make me think of her:

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