On episode 1191, Daytime Confidential looks back at 2025 with the Best and Worst of 2025 in Soap Operas, Part 2. Luke Kerr, Jillian Bowe, Joshua Baldwin and Melodie Aikels dive into the Best and Worst of Beyond the Gates, The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of Our Lives, General Hospital and The Young and the Restless headlines and storylines, including all your favorite long-running categories.

Listen to Best and Worst of Soap Operas in 2025, Part 1. 

Share your picks for Best and Worst of Soap Operas in 2025, Part 2 in the comments!

Best Scene:

Worst Scene:

Glittery Hoo Hoo of the Year:  

MP (Magical Penis) of the Year:

Most in Need of some Lovin':

Why, Just Why:  

Read a Book (Dumbest Character):

Einstein Award (Smartest Character):

Soap Opera Scenery Chewer of the Year:  

Hall of Shame:

Charity Ramer Award for Babies Who Don't Know Who they Are:

Worst Daytime Drama:

Best Daytime Drama:

All this and more on the latest Daytime Confidential podcast!

Bluesky: @DCConfidential, LukeKerr, JillianBowe, Josh Baldwin, and Melodie Aikels.

Facebook: Daytime Confidential

Subscribe to Daytime Confidential on iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify.

On episode 1190 of Daytime Confidential, Luke Kerr, Jillian Bowe, Joshua Baldwin and Melodie Aikels look back at 2025 and the Best and Worst of Beyond the Gates, The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of Our Lives, General Hospital and The Young and the Restless headlines and storylines, including all your favorite long-running categories.

Share your picks for these categories in the comments below! 

Most Improved Character:

Best Male Character:

Best Female Character:

Biggest Waste of Talent (Male or Female):

Most in need of a Makeover:

Character Most in Need of a Recast:

Dreams Really Do Come True:

Be careful what you wish for:

Best Couple or Triangle:

Worst Couple or Triangle:

Worst Storyline:

Best storyline:

All this and more on the latest Daytime Confidential podcast!

Bluesky: @DCConfidential, LukeKerr, JillianBowe, Josh Baldwin, and Melodie Aikels.

Facebook: Daytime Confidential

Subscribe to Daytime Confidential on iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify.

In episode 1189, Daytime Confidential marks Season 19 with a special Reflections episode featuring Melodie Aikels. 

Melodie Aikels looks back on how she went from a teenage listener on a Guiding Light message board to a core member of the Daytime Confidential team. She talks about discovering the podcast in high school, setting iTunes alerts so she would never miss an episode, and what it felt like to be “the baby” among a group of veteran soap fans and journalists.

She remembers breaking Guiding Light’s cancellation story, covering So Long Springfield events, and how a last minute call from Jamey Giddens led to her very first flight: a Guiding Light media trip to Universal Studios that threw her into the deep end of the soap press pool. From red carpets and Emmys to Performer of the Week “checkboxes,” Melodie explains how she found her voice as a critic while still fangirling over icons like Melody Thomas Scott, Eric Braeden and Lawrence Saint-Victor.

Melodie also digs into how the genre has changed over the past 19 seasons: the loss of the New York soaps and the Broadway pipeline, the shift from slow burn storytelling to fast, condensed arcs, and the frustration of “telling not showing.” She shares why Beyond the Gates gives her hope, why she will always defend Nikki Newman, and what it means to literally grow up on a podcast while the soap world reshapes itself around you.

00:00 – From Listener to “the Baby” of the Podcast
Melodie remembers discovering Daytime Confidential in high school, listening on the way to and from school, and falling in love with the rants and top fives.

06:00 – Message Boards, Early Podcasts and Becoming DC Family
Old school SoapNet and TWoP message boards, Luke and Lisa’s early days, Jamey debuting as “Jay,” and how different ages and perspectives shaped the show.

12:00 – Guiding Light, Mel’s Guiding Gossip and Breaking a Cancellation
Running a Guiding Light board, launching Mel’s Guiding Gossip, and how a connection through Nikki led to writing for Daytime Confidential and later breaking the GL cancellation story.

18:00 – First Flight, Universal Studios and So Long Springfield
Jamey’s call that sent Mel on her first ever plane trip, Guiding Light’s media shoot at Universal, meeting other soap press, and covering the So Long Springfield events with Mike.

24:00 – Red Carpets, Emmys and Seeing Legends Up Close
Why red carpets feel like a circus, building rapport with actors, and the surreal experience of interviewing people she grew up watching, from Melody Thomas Scott to Eric Braeden and Lawrence Saint-Victor.

31:00 – Top Fives, Checkboxes and DC’s Running Jokes
Favorite top five episodes, Performer of the Week “checkbox” hall of fame, awkward Guiding Light moments, and the inside jokes that became part of DC’s language.

39:00 – How Soaps Have Changed: Speed, New York and Lost Pipelines
The last great era of mid-2000s soaps, losing the New York shows, what the Broadway pipeline meant for performance, and how faster pacing has cost the genre key emotional beats.

49:00 – Beyond the Gates, Bread and Butter Actors and Soap Optimism
Why Beyond the Gates makes her hopeful, the importance of a predominantly Black cast, and the renewed focus on veterans like Jane Elliott, Susan Seaforth Hayes and Melody Thomas Scott.

56:00 – Rewrites, “Tell, Not Show” and What Still Drives Her Crazy
The problems with rewriting on-screen history, off-screen “tell” instead of “show,” and why the genre has to get smarter about how it uses limited time and budgets.

1:04:00 – Growing Up on the Podcast and Meeting DC Listeners
Melodie reflects on literally growing up on DC, building real friendships online, being recognized by voice at plays and fan events, and why she still finds joy in doing the work.

All this and more on the latest Daytime Confidential podcast!

Bluesky: @DCConfidential, LukeKerr, JillianBowe, Josh Baldwin, and Melodie Aikels.

Facebook: Daytime Confidential

Subscribe to Daytime Confidential on iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify.

For this Daytime Confidential Reflections special, episode 1188, Luke Kerr sits down with longtime Daytime Confidential contributor J. Bernard Jones for a straight shot of soap history, fandom and survival. J. Bernard opens up about the stroke he suffered in May and how laughing at the occasional scrambled word has helped him keep moving forward.

J. Bernard remembers how he first found Daytime Confidential through the blog and became “a pure a-hole” in the comments before Jamey Giddens recruited him to write. He talks about launching J.F.Y., a glossy magazine for Black gay men that briefly thrived before collapsing with the ad market in the mid 2000s.

J. Bernard traces his soap roots to watching The Edge of Night with his mother, the bombed honeymoon that hooked him, and how that led to a lifelong obsession with Procter & Gamble soaps, Santa Barbara and Guiding Light. He and Luke compare the old magazine wars and AOL chat rooms to today’s forums tab on Google and social platforms.

The conversation turns to Beyond the Gates and General Hospital, where they break down pacing problems, the weight of Ashley and Derek, the power dynamics in Martin and Smitty’s relationship and whether the Drew shooting landed at the right time. Through it all, J. Bernard keeps one eye on corporate consolidation and one eye on the genre’s future, arguing soaps still matter if the industry treats them like they do.

EPISODE OUTLINE
00:00 – “Welcome to the Daytime Confidential

01:10 – “This past May I had a stroke and a little bit of weakness on my right side.”

04:30 – “My first exposure to Daytime Confidential was through the blog.”

08:30 – “J.F.Y. was actually targeted towards Black gay men, which I published in Brooklyn.”

14:30 – “It was that one episode of The Edge of Night that really got me hooked.”

20:30 – “Santa Barbara was the show. It was fresh. It was new.”

27:00 – “Fan interaction has exploded in ways now that are very reminiscent of the early 2000s.”

34:00 – “When I look at Beyond the Gates, my reaction to it has been relatively mixed.”

42:00 – “I initially was a little pissed off about a Black man who's gay who's being automatically paired with a white guy.”

50:00 – “I like where General Hospital is right now; I have a lot of problems with how they got here.”

56:00 – “I think that Curtis's dad did it.”

59:00 – “I really, really have loved my association with Daytime Confidential.”

All this and more on the latest Daytime Confidential podcast!

Bluesky: @DCConfidential, LukeKerr, JillianBowe, Josh Baldwin, and Melodie Aikels.

Facebook: Daytime Confidential

Subscribe to Daytime Confidential on iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify.