in 1998, the series chose to revisit the luke and laura rape storyline of the 1970s by having the incident revealed to lucky. the controversial story of luke raping laura had quickly been renounced to a seduction at the time, after facing pressure from fans of the newly popular couple. in 1998, pat fili-krushel, then president of daytime programming for abc daytime, explained to "the new york times": "what we felt we should investigate is how, as the famous saying goes, the sins of the father are visited on the children." head writer at the time robert guza, jr. commented to the associated press: "we are going to say, certainly, that the son is dealing with rape in a much better way, a much more appropriate way, and a much healthier way, than the father did."