A CLASSIC SOAP OPERA SHOCKER - WITH A MODERN TWIST!

Last week’s The Bold and the Beautiful was an utter shock to viewers. The last time we in soap land were so surprised by a revelation may have been in 1981, when General Hospital‘s wedding of the century ended with (warning: 34-year-old spoiler ahead) Scotty catching his ex-wife Laura’s bouquet.

Then–head writer Thom Racina told me in my book, "Soap Opera 451: A Time Capsule of Daytime Drama’s Greatest Moments," “It’s a twist, and God knows, in daytime, twists are the foundation of keeping the audience tuning in tomorrow.”

In 2015, the Internet makes that kind of shocking twist almost impossible. There are simply too many spoilers out there, some leaked by insiders, but many officially released by a soap opera’s own publicity team to drum up interest and viewership.

That’s why the recent March Madness Wednesday cliffhanger on B&B was such a genuine jaw-dropper. Not only was supermodel Maya (as played by actress Karla Mosley) once a man named Myron, but her secret hadn’t been predicted and endlessly anticipated by every viewer and online pundit for months. It was classic soap opera at its best. And it was only the beginning.

Read more, and check out a history of soap-opera transgender stories and how they worked out at: http://community.ew.com/2015/03/24/maya-is-transgender/