Bad Girls Stir The Storyline Pot But Should Every Soap Have One?

Soap schemer. Soap vixen. Soap siren. They’re a soap opera trope.

Think Quinn (Rena Sofer) and Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) on The Bold and the Beautiful (BB). Think Eve (Kassie DePaiva) and Kate (Lauren Koslow) on Days of Our Lives (DOOL). Think Nelle (Chloe Lanier) and Ava (Maura West) on General Hospital (GH), and Hilary (Mishael Morgan) and Phyllis (Gina Tognoni) on The Young and the Restless (YR).

But has the trope outgrown its time? Do viewers want to see women lie, cheat, and backstab in 2017? Especially against other women? Here’s how a whopping 20,000+ of you voted!

Spice Girls
Bad girls are smart, bad girls are resourceful, and, most importantly, bad girls are not boring! Carly (Laura Wright) has been stirring up trouble in Port Charles since the 1990s.

Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) has been doing it even longer on B&B. Even Y&R’s Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) can still throw down with the best of them, after a less than stellar past.

They’re the ones who stir the pot, and 84% of you wouldn’t have it any other way. Heck, you’re looking forward to GH’s Joss (Eden McCoy), DAYS’ Ciara (Victoria Konefal) and Claire (Oliva Rose Keegan), B&B’s Sally (Courtney Hope) and Y&R’s Faith (Alyvia Alyn Lind) following in their footsteps!

Dial It Back
On the other hand, 15% of the audience points out that good girls can drive story, too. Look at Hope (Kristian Alfonso) and Abigail (Marci Miller) on DAYS, or Ashley (Eileen Davidson) and Lily (Christel Khalil) on Y&R. Look at Anna (Finola Hughes) and her daughter, Robin (Kimberly McCullough) on GH.

They make much better role models for the 21st century.

Bad girls are annoying. They’re, frankly, an embarrassment. They live to make other people’s lives miserable. What’s the appeal of that?