Popular characters who've never worked for you

[DRW50]

I don't mean characters you necessarily hate. I mean characters who, to you, just have never worked, and never will.

 

Beyond the obvious choices (Nina, Franco, 90% of new characters in recent years), or short-term failures on many soaps, my main choices for more recent years would probably be:

 

Katie (B&B) - 25 years years off and on and 2 very different actresses, and I can't think of one time I've given a damn 

 

Belle (DAYS) - I completely supported the show's decision to write Belle and Shawn out. They both felt played out and ancient. Beyond a bit of Kristen Storms's run, and the Charity Rahmer hilarity, I never have cared (there were bits and pieces where I thought Shawn had more potential, and I at least believed him more with his parents). This new return is same old same old, only with someone deciding that lack of viability and anti-chemistry can be hidden by making Belle a huge bitch for no apparent reason. Even Carrie's last botched return had a lot more life than anything with Belle in many years, to me.

 

Billy (Y&R) - I've just never cared. I will admit David Tom was a good actor and I can understand why he was popular, and while I never got the Kool Aid Man popularity, I won't run anyone down for liking him, but for me, the character has been a dead spot for many many years.

[YRBB]

I knew you'd bring up Billy

 

Let me see if I can come up with any

[Soapsuds]

She was a female with acne….LOL…how boring…didnt care for her. Wasn't it Rocco who Katie had a crush on? They should have revisited that story with Katie. I always thought the Logans were a rip off of the Snyders from ATWT…even though they didnt live in a farm.

I always thought it should have been DT Billy vs Jack vying for control of the company with Jill by her son's side. Instead everyone excepted Billy….I thought that was a wasted opportunity. After David Tom left..the character became less relevant IMO and what was left went away with the awful forced Victoria pairing.

 

 

Seth(ATWT)- He was such a boring character. What was the purpose to this character? 

Bianca(ATWT)- Again boring..not sure if it was the actress…but she was in Lucinda's orbit yet she never worked for me.

Aaron(ATWT)- Again like Billy of Y&R….he should have been a wedge between Lily and Holden. Instead he was nothing like his mom or Holden. He was too wishy washy for me.

Pam(ATWT)- Again why was she on? 

Lien(ATWT)-Tom's daughter….talk about just a waste

Chris(ATWT)- You'd think this character would have worked but it never did. So many actors came and went and the character never took off IMO.

[Skin]

I know I will probably be cursed out for this, but I don't really care. Erica Kane. I never cared for her character outside of what she represented for her children. Although she is legendary I think towards the last few decades she created more issues for the show than anything else.

 

I started watching in 1997 and I tolerated her presence because Erica was more or less royalty whose life never applied to the same laws of realism, but I found most of her storylines to be exhausting because they were always some variation of Erica is the best or Erica is truly the baddest and best of all women everywhere. Even when she lost she still won. The way she was treated by the writers and the way she was written for, was as if she was literally cradled by angels. She got everything she wanted, all the time,  she got out of things she was guilty as sin for, she flitted and flew wherever she wanted with all men lapping after her as if she were spun of gold and jewels. She had everything, fame, fortune, beauty, all the world was given to her, all just for being Erica. 

 

The world's rules never applied to her which just made her that much more entitled and privileged and despite all of this, I never felt anger so much as boredom. Because you always knew she was as safe as a triple bubble wrapped package of Teflon in all of her stories.

 

Perhaps she was better in the 80's but her narrative never seemed to change much, so I can't imagine Erica being much more interesting to me as a viewer as I felt as her sole point of value and interest was the maternal relationship she had with her children in the end. The problem as I saw it was she was written as a comedic lead in a dramatic narrative, and the two never supported one another. It's like watching Lucille Ball in the Godfather, it would never work as the mediums are so starkly different. I often found it difficult to care about her stories or her difficulties mostly because of the way they wrote her which was with such fanaticism, it almost verged on fan fiction.

 

It's hard to tear your heart out over a heart transplant story and then dive nose deep into one of Erica's ridiculous Vegas girl antics where she acted like a 12 year old preteen. I felt towards the end she was a hindrance and albatross just as much as Luke Spencer and Victor Newman were to their shows, because of this.

 

 

[quartermainefan]

GH Sonny, Jason, Sam, Alexis:   Just wastes of time each and every one of them.  Aside from MB who shows occasional talent, the rest were played by forgettable soap nonentities.

[P.J.]

ICAM---ATWT never got Chris right (well, the adult version anyway), which is the fate of a lot of soap children, oddly enough. Look at all the children Reva Shayne Lewis had----and every one of them boring beyond belief. Back to Chris---I never understood why he was suddenly thrust into the "screwed up son of Dr. Bob" mold. I'd forgotten how downright snippy Bob could be (aside from his Chief of Staff battles with John in the '70's and '80's) until he suddenly was disappointed in his son 24/7 for each and every boneheaded mistake he made (and all this after raising Tom with his like 20 marriages before Margo....).

 

B&B's Taylor never worked for me. I firmly believe the real reason she and Ridge never broke up (aside from his paroles via her "deaths") was that they could never build a believable romance for her with anyone else. I don't remember how many men they brought on for her, who were all inevitably "obsessed" with her in some way or another. I always scratched my head and wondered why---she was upright, uptight and younger version of Stephanie. She could practically freeze dicks with her dead-eyed stare.

 

 

[Markjeh]

Carly Tenney from ATWT. Funny thing is on American boards she was extremely popular but on Dutch boards she was not popular at all.

[Melroser]

Jamie Frame on AW. Except for a short time when Larry Lau's version first got together with Vicky (Anne Heche) I never found the character interesting at all. 

He was a drug user, publishing employee, writer turned doctor. His pairings with Nicole, Blaine, Lisa, Kelsey, and Marley were forgettable. The character needed Cecile or Vicky to make him interesting and that was because of the talented Nancy Frangione and Anne Heche. 

As a Frame/Cory he had so much more potential to be in the thick of things. I think the show made a mistake when they made Jamie a doctor. He should have stayed involved with Cory Publishing and mixed it up with Amanda, Matt, Iris, and even Paulina who were all involved with the company to a degree. Making him a doctor pulled him away from everyone. 

[OldGHFan]

Alexis.  I know Nancy Grahn is a good actress and was popular on Santa Barbara but I never cared for her character on GH.  I don't get why more popular GH characters in the same age range (Laura, Holly, Felicia, Anna) aren't given what she is given.  I guess I resent it.  I don't get the hype at all over Julian and Alexis.  I'm not seeing how some one night stand in the back seat of a car ends up being this great love story.  I see no chemistry whatsoever between WDV and NLG.  And NLG on twitter makes me like Alexis even less.

[titan1978]

Ryan Lavery-AMC  Never liked him.  As much as I loved Gillian I still didn't like him.  He ruined a good 10 years worth of story focus on the show.

 

Jax- GH.  I just don't enjoy him.  He's really not much better than Sonny at his core (he was a corporate raider not afraid of using dirty tactics).  I think he was often sanctimonious and annoying.  And it has nothing to do with Brenda and the triangle, I just don't like him.

 

Sam-GH.  She just there, and more often than not the actress seems like she also doesn't want to be there.  I liked Courtney more, and ultimately couldn't stand her so that's how I feel about Sam.

 

Rex-OLTL. Just like Sam.  Always there.  Always driving story, and I could never figure out why.  Just generic and awful.

 

John Black-DAYS. I liked him just fine as Roman.  Drake is no Wayne, but I was fine with him as Roman.  Outside of the affair storyline nothing else has intrigued me in him.  I've watched and enjoyed many stories featuring him only due to the other people involved (Marlena and Kristen).  

 

Michael-Y&R.  His first story was enough for me.  Haven't enjoyed him or his family since.  Poor Lauren.

 

 

When Wendy Riche was still there, she was more tolerable because the other female characters did have story.  But other than Carly, it's like Alexis was the only female constant of the 2000's, and whatever I enjoyed about her is gone now.

[soapfan770]

ATWT: Katie Peretti, I actually surprised PJ didn't mention her. She has to be one  of the most selfish, obnoxious, egotistical heroines ever. She didn't deserve a happy ending, and the only good Chris' we got were Paul Kover and Bailey Chase the rest were awful. 

B&B: Ridge Forrester--Like McDonald's, 99 billion served, 99 billion disappointed,,,,

 

Days: Dr. Daniel(was he popular?) Austin and Carrie, Rex and Mimi

 

GL: Harley after 2005 or so, Lucy Cooper, Nick Spaulding, Marina and I suppose there's a lot more in there somewhere but don't come to mind right now. 

 

Y&R: Danny, Dickcholas

[Vee]

Well, she's no Babe Carey but Erica managed somehow.

[SoapDope]

Nick & Sharon (Y&R)...Hate those two with a passion. Same old crap over and over again for decades.

Kevin (Y&R)......why is he still there ?

Tom & Margo (ATWT)........I liked Greg Marxx and Hilary B. Smith in the roles.....but Scott Homes and Ellen Dolan did nothing for me.

Rosanna & The Kasnoff Brothers (ATWT).........I don't have the energy to rant for an hour about this mess.

Ridge (B&B).......Ron Moss must have studied Kent McCord (aka...Kent Cord Of Wood) on old episodes of Adam-12 and decided to copy his method of acting.

 

 

 

[YRfan23]

Y&R: Nick, Sharon,Phyllis,KEVIN,Adam, Billy.

B&B:Amber,Liam,Steffy,Bill

 

[Y&R21395]

Y&R:

 

Devon - Hate him. Hate him with a passion. The guy bores me no matter what he does. Nothing he has done in all the time he's been on has ever raised any interest in me. And I can't really say I was much fonder of him after screwing his Dad's wife and justifying it every step of the way.

 

Danny - I don't particularly hate the guy, but he's never really done anything for me. I personally liked him with Christine, I thought they complimented each other better than she and Paul, but that's really it. He was always just...there.

 

B&B:

 

Liam - I don't discredit SC, I do think he's a decent actor, but his character man...I have rarely ever seen a character drive me up the wall as much as this one. I'm going to play on Ashley's words to Brooke: just pick a woman, any woman! 

 

Nick - I got bored just by writing his name.

 

Jackie - Even when I tried to stop looking at her as a poorer version of Sally, she just never clicked.