With just a handful of shows remaining on air, when there used to be 12 to 19, it’s safe to say that the heyday of the daytime soap opera is coming to a close. Loyal viewers are still hanging in there, though, wanting fresh and more timely stories for Days of our Lives, General Hospital, The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless before these serial dramas, too, are relegated to the annals of pop culture history. Who better than beloved romance authors to revitalize this once-vibrant medium?
So, I’ve picked four talented writers who I think could do fabulous things with the four soaps currently airing on TV!
Tiffany Reisz on Days of our Lives
Days has the distinction of being the only explicitly Catholic soap — and it once had its beloved heroine Marlena Evans become possessed by the Devil. Catholicism + WTFery is definitely erotica author Tiffany Reisz’s wheelhouse. Her award-winning Original Sinners books paint a sultry picture of what she could do with good-hearted former priest Eric Brady, or Salem’s gay male characters, Will, Sonny, and Paul. Meanwhile, her time travel book, The Night Mark, and her erotic fantasy The Red cater to Days’ supernatural side. Remember when Greta and Austin got trapped in a virtual reality Garden of Eden? Or when twins Rex and Cassie showed up in a pod like space aliens? Tiffany could handle those twists, as well as the show’s regular small-town hijinks, with a deft combination of humor and heat.  Â
K.M. Jackson on The Bold and the Beautiful
K.M., who has written fashion-themed books like Romancing the Fashionista, the Betting Vow, and Threads of Desire—and is a former fashion designer herself—would be a perfect fit for the glitzy Los Angeles-set soap about dueling designers and feuding families! B&B’s lost its way a little, forgetting its roots on the runway, and she could easily pull it back on couture course! She’s also no stranger to marriage-in-trouble stories, thanks to her women’s fiction-y novel, Bounce. And you know those Logans, Spencers, and Forresters have more than their share of marriages in trouble! In fact, current front-burner hero Liam has two wives and two babies in play—and I’d love to see K.M. give this wishy-washy character a much-needed reality check!
HelenKay Dimon on General Hospital
Despite being named after its hospital, the series set in Port Charles, N.Y., is more concerned with intrigue than medicine. Globe-trotting spies and morally ambiguous mobsters abound. (Not to mention that one time in the early ‘80s when the Cassadines tried to freeze the world!) I think romantic suspense author HelenKay Dimon, who has more than 40 books under her belt, would be a great choice to helm this 55-year-old sudser! Her Holton Woods spy series, for example, has competent people in high-tension — and highly erotic — situations! Plus, her Dirty duo and Tough Love trilogy feature gay male protagonists — so she would have no problem plucking fan-favorite pair Lucas Jones and Brad Cooper off the back burner and giving them a real storyline!
Tracey Livesay and Suleikha Snyder on The Young and the Restless
Yes, I’m going to call dibs and say I’d do a great job shaking up the staid, patrician burg of Genoa City, Wisconsin, but I wouldn’t want to do it alone! Tracey Livesay writes crisp, delicious contemporary romances featuring billionaires (The Tycoon’s Socialite Bride) and fake relationships (Pretending With the Playboy) and everything between the boardroom and the bedroom! Y&R, home to powerhouse Victor Newman and rival companies like Newman Enterprises and Jabot, could definitely benefit from her creative spark. Plus, I have it on good authority that Tracey’s award-winning amnesia (!!) romance Love Will Always Remember was inspired by the love story of Y&R’s Lily Winters and Cane Ashby! See? She’s already got this! Â
