Q: Which is your favorite daytime soap opera? Melanie, of Santa Clara, Calif.

A: In the words of "Ryan's Hope" matriarch Maeve Ryan when asked about her favorite child: "Each one is my favorite — for different reasons." I feel the same way about soaps. Likewise, every parent can tell you their children will from time to time upset them so much they would not mind if the kid went away for year and came back better than ever. For soaps, that happens when a hack writer is fired and a new one brings their best game.

Before I talk about the soaps that are on the air, I will tell you my all-time favorite daytime drama. It is "All My Children." It was not my mother's soap. We would watch "Search For Tomorrow" together from the time I was 5 years old. "All My Children" changed that.

By then we had two TVs, so during Mom's "Search For Tomorrow" time I would watch "All My Children" on the small TV. The characters were young and attractive. It started with a main character marching for peace, which I eventually did myself. It had the ever-scheming Erica and the dashing Chuck Tyler. Kate Martin would give shelter to anyone in need.

Now on to the daytime dramas still airing. What I love and what not so much:

"The Young and the Restless" is the secrets soap. Everyone has a secret that if revealed could be a game-changer: Adam pretending to be Gabe; Sharon letting Dylan think she is pregnant; Neil hiding Hillary. I can follow their business-based plots. The dialogue can be funny, even touching. I do not enjoy Victor getting away with everything while Jack is portrayed as a schnook. And their DNA lab has never gotten a test right on the first try.

"Days of our Lives" is the family soap, truly one for all and all for one. No matter what a person does, her family will have her back. "Days" is also the master of adventure. Steve, Bo and John have dual lives. They are loving, family men who will risk everything to save the country they love. No matter what the age everyone gets a story line. The wrangling between the very powerful Stefano and Victor is great fun. But enough already with John's past! While searching for his past, John was told he was a priest, raised by wolves and is a DiMera. He is on "who am I" search. Please make this the final answer. Stefano, meanwhile, seems to have fathered everyone. If I checked my birth certificate I bet his name would be on it.

"General Hospital" of course has the hospital. The show often features couples who are each other's one true loves. Even when a person dies the mate left behind does not forget them. "General Hospital" really respects its past. There is never an "I don't remember that happening" moment. They put interesting twists on past plot lines. The characters are flushed out. The things that make me want to check out of "General Hospital"? The continual reviving of criminals from the dead: Helena, Faison and the rest. I think the show is too mobbed up. I thought the new head writers would not make the show so mafia-centric. It seems I was wrong. Everyone who comes to town is part of a gang war. How about a wedding where no one gets shot? I hate it that the bad guys are the good guys (Sonny and co.), and the good guys are the bad guys (e.g., every police officer and DA).

"The Bold and the Beautiful": Its title says it all. It is bold — their recent transgender story line is proof. And as for the beautiful, everyone on the show looks like an 8 x 10 glossy. It is the one soap that knows how to go on location. Most on-location soap shots look as if they could have been shot in my basement. No matter where "The Bold and the Beautiful" heads, it is lush territory and progresses the stories. Characters just disappear on this soap. It also has a tendency to push new characters down viewers' throats. Most of all, they do not utilize one of the core characters, Thorne. He is a tragic hero, surviving the death of his wife and his daughter. We got to see him mourn for a day or two, and then he was gone. Use the character!

To find out more about Lynda Hirsch and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.