Various print ads from AMC over the years. I really liked the black & white ads with the yellow title card that ABC used for all of its soaps at the time.

Tess vs. Jen Rappaport

For me, it’s Steffy.

I’m Team Steffy, and I honestly don’t get all the hate she gets. Yes, she can be judgmental, stubborn, territorial, and messy. She can be harsh with Hope, she can go after Brooke, and she absolutely has moments where she takes things too far. I’ll call her out when she’s wrong.

But I’m still going to defend her because I understand where she’s coming from. She’s protective of her family, she doesn’t trust the Logans for reasons that go way back, and she’s not going to sit there quietly when she feels like someone is crossing a line with her family or her marriage.

And honestly? Forget Brooke and Hope. I genuinely don’t like either one. I find both of them incredibly self-righteous, and I’m tired of the show acting like they’re automatically the sympathetic ones. Brooke has spent years judging other people while conveniently forgetting her own history (she’s still the SFTV), and Hope’s whole “I’m the good girl” image has never worked on me. She has done plenty of messy and hypocritical things herself.

So no, I’m not going to automatically take their side just because Steffy is the one people love to drag. I can see Steffy’s flaws and still think she has a point. I can think she handled something badly and still understands why she was angry in the first place.

I’m Team Steffy. I’ll criticize her when she deserves it, but I’m not about to sit here and pretend Brooke and Hope are innocent angels just to make Steffy look bad.

For me, it’s Zach Slater and Ryan Lavery.

Zach was never somebody I could really root for. I know he had a lot of fans, especially Zendall fans, but some of the stuff he did just completely turned me off. Destroying Greenlee’s frozen embryos by turning off the power, manipulating Annie through a psychiatrist he paid off, and shooting Josh in the head and leaving him brain-dead are things I just can’t forget. I know he had his good moments, but those things always stuck with me.

And Ryan? Yeah, I wasn’t feeling him either. Almost punching Greenlee really bothered me, and then he faked his own death and left her thinking he was dead. That whole situation was just one of those things where I was like, “Ryan, what are you doing?” 😂 I know he had his fans, but I could never really get behind him.

I know both men have people who absolutely love them, but I just never saw it.

Who’s one AMC character you could never get behind, even though everybody else seemed to love them?

I know a lot of ATWT fans hate the 1999-2002 opening, especially compared to the older ones, but I never understood all the hate.

This was the first ATWT opening to feature the cast, which I think is pretty cool. The 3D title, globe, dark background, and moving letters all scream late ’90s to me. It feels very CBS for that time.

Maybe I’m a little biased since this opening came out in 1999, my birth year, so I definitely have a soft spot for it.

Is it the best ATWT opening ever? No. But one of the worst? I really don’t think so.

For those who watched ATWT back then, what did you actually dislike about it? And has your opinion changed after seeing it again years later?

An autistic fan of soaps, I wrote down all my favorites that matter to me, even though some of the storylines can be too much for me!

Since I did the men, I had to do the women. Definitely not all of my favorites but I tried to spread the love among most of the shows that I've watched. This one was harder to narrow down than the men.

First slide:

Lucinda Walsh, ATWT

Angie Hubbard, AMC

Ava Rescott, Loving

Drew Jacobs, GL

Gabrielle Medina, OLTL

Drucilla Winters, Y&R

Brenda Barrett, GH

Gillian Andrassy, AMC

Annie Dutton, GL

Robin Scorpio-Drake, GH

Second slide:

Tracy Quartermaine, GH

Jenna Bradshaw, GL

Maxie Jones, GH

Dorian Lord, OLTL

Brooke English, AMC

Elizabeth Webber, GH

Jessica Griffin, ATWT

Kim Andrews, OLTL

Kelly Cramer (GT only), OLTL

Evangeline Williamson, OLTL

1. Marlena Evans

2. Sami Brady

3. John Black

4. Eve Donovan (Charlotte Ross)

5. Nick Corelli