DRW50

I'd wondered about that, as I've heard of some actors who have to stop playing disabilities in long-term characters due to the pain it causes them in real life (Laura Innes on ER, for one). Maybe they figured out something better for Stephen when the patch came back, I don't know. I guess it helps that the character is on much less...

That made me very mad at the time, although I guess NLG isn't too sorry about it these days.

I think it is interesting to discuss, character or not. I remember reading about the change and the fan backlash. I can see why the show wanted to try, and there could have been an interesting story, although that didn't seem to pan out. I wonder how Stephen Nichols felt about the change.

A few from OLTL, among many I'm probably forgetting (I'm trying not to count the likes of the college students brought in under Malone as they were never meant to be meaningful in story): Melanie, the "good" sister to wicked Lindsay, and Bo's true love for less than year. I think this was around the time they were trying to make Bo seem a bit younger. The actress was mainly known for being on that USA bike cop show, and more recently known for ranting at a city council meeting. This was one of those cases where the audience ended up rooting for Lindsay. Melanie's lasting legacy on OLTL was Ty Treadway as her evil ex. Barbara Niven as Keri's mother, Liz, who was meant to have a baby for her, but the baby was actually Antonio's, as he and Liz had hooked up before they realized who the other was. Liz also rekindled her old love with Keri's father, RJ, around this time. The whole story was seamy and dull and dumped as soon as Gary Tomlin was gone. Only memorable for being RJ's last story, or close. Sarah/Flash...twice! Grace Rappaport. The actress, Susan Misner (?), was more of a dancer and not up to much, but wasn't horrible, IIRC. The family was just very disliked by fans, as was Tim Gibbs as her beau Kevin Buchanan. JFP/McTavish, seemingly in an attempt to shame viewers for not getting the message, had her unwittingly killed by Big Bad Asa, trapped under a dock or something, getting hypothermia. I can't remember. Needless to say, viewers still didn't give a damn.

She was initially nerdy and then got a makeover to show us how sexy she was. She then began scheming to keep him from Rosanna. IIRC, she lost her virginity to his brother Linc, who had somehow gained an [!@#$%^&*] personality and lost a lot of muscle mass. After Linc used and dumped her, she had a breakdown. A bad character and not very good acting either. I was surprised at how good Sharon Case was on Y&R due to how offputting I found this character to be.

I never knew that. I guess this was part of the relationship with Sly. That whole story was grimy and unnecessary. The entire younger set was written out around the same time - the perils of a half-hour show I guess. Dylan Neal was briefly almost paired with Lauren in a stupid stripper story (IIRC the "sexy" stripper clothes he wore were tamer than what Ridge used to wear in everyday scenes when B&B started). They should have tried a little harder to find some use for him, but it wasn't a huge loss. Speaking of B&B, thanks @Huntress for the extensive list. Some of those characters like the ones played by Ellen Wheeler and Kin Shriner were likely never intended to stay and B&B just stunt cast whether they needed to or not (the same happened with Tristan Rogers). DAYS also had Jaime in that period - I never knew if she was meant to be more than Sami's friend and things went haywire because of her relationship with RKK, or if that was never happening. Another would be Sara, that Aremid girl who was written out because the spinoff never happened. That whole spinoff is a real what if. I didn't mind her but the whole comedy capers with the Ned/Alexis/Jax/Chloe quad and the halting attempts to pair her with Jax no one ever went for wore on me.

Shades of V (although I wouldn't say V fizzled - that character probably lasted longer than any narrative purpose warranted). Thanks. I wouldn't know where to start. The Latino brothers Greenlee was involved with...Ryan's sister Erin who was murdered...that "edgy" twin of Lily...Kendall's brother Trey. Trey was a character I would have kept, admittedly partly because Sam Page had a nice ass but that wasn't the only reason (he had an interesting relationship with Kendall - they painted him into such a corner early on I wasn't that surprised he went though).

Lark Voorhies. Wasn't she also on DAYS as Jonah's girlfriend or something? They had some potential story for her on B&B, as a designer for Sally (?), but instead she was just used by Sly and written out not long after getting horrible burns. Such a waste. I never know who to list as these are also characters who lasted more than a year, but the thought that they were all written out just because Peter Bergman (who had only been on the show half a decade) wasn't happy annoys me. The show was lucky to have an actress as talented as Elizabeth Sung, and that was a more interesting story than anything Jack had for most of the next few years. Mai was never really a character anyway. I remember it now too. I wonder if those were really the only plans they had for Braden - being a rapist - or if they just realized the actor was a zero. There were so many on AMC it can become a blur. Some I don't think lasted a year (like Adrian's girlfriend Tina, who vanished) and some probably did but never went anywhere (like that blonde guy who was introduced as a love interest for Fusion ladies but was more believable as their gay best friend - I think he briefly dated Simone).

I agree. Jack and Jennifer were likely just about done anyway but he makes more sense as a continuation from Valley.

When Alexander Walters was on the Locher Room, he said not long after his ATWT exit, he was offered a contract role on DAYS. His agent pushed him to move away from soaps, so he declined the part, which he later regretted. He was done with ATWT around spring or summer 1997. I wonder if the role was Jack Devereaux, as Mark Valley was leaving around this time.

The show was wise to cast them the way they did in the end.

@dc11786 Thanks for all the DAYS rundowns. This sounds much more interesting than the likely onscreen version.

I wouldn't count Felicia/John because it was mostly the template JFP loved on many of her shows - an avatar of herself with a hunky leading man. Cass and Donna dated for parts of 1997 and maybe very early 1998, before Cass was miraculously repositioned as a more central character and Donna was sent spiraling after Michael's death.

That daughter was also Skye. Skye Chandler Quartermaine Ruthledge.

That's a good point. I know Bette Davis and I think Tennessee Williams were fans too. I wonder if Catherine was also drawn to the show because of how P&G-coded Days of the Week was.

Town and Country Web Soap on X: "In 1993, Catherine O'Hara discussed her love of the soap opera As The World Turns. 🌍🕊️ https://t.co/Ynt8FkuS2H" / X

I never knew Catherine O'Hara was an ATWT fan. I'm glad she was introduced to the show in the strong early '90s period. Town and Country Web Soap on X: "In 1993, Catherine O'Hara discussed her love of the soap opera As The World Turns. 🌍🕊️ https://t.co/Ynt8FkuS2H" / X

COMING UP ROSIE - CATHERINE O'HARA & JOHN CANDY'S FIRST TV APPEARANCE TOGETHER (1975) - YouTube

@Maxim Thanks as always for the works here. Glad they have found a better balance for Alex (never easy). She has some of her best material with Asa. I hadn't thought about it but you are right that Viki does get away here with what few could so unscathed. I guess she has suffered enough in life. And we are seeing the toll the whole mess took on her family in the long run. I keep forgetting Billy had a boyfriend who appeared for more than just one episode. This of course was the era on soaps when even adult men were not allowed to do more than hug, so Billy having a boyfriend was something of a risky choice on the show's part. I do have to laugh at the Banner writing a "queen of smut" editorial on Dorian. I'm sure Llanview was very scandalized... Anna Holbrook was one of the most intelligent actresses on soaps. She did excellent work as Sharlene but seeing her here in such a tricky role makes me sorry that she didn't get to play Lindsey for a longer period of time. I love how she faces down Kevin and makes him step back from his judgments of her (even if they were right), the force against that Buchanan machismo. If she had stayed I wonder if they may have had a fling... The writing for her here reminds me a lot of the complicated professional women in Harding Lemay's Another World who were often waiting for a co-worker in a troubled marriage to slip up. @vetsoapfan You may enjoy this clip too for that reason.

I was heartbroken to hear about Catherine. I first saw her in Home Alone, but I first truly noticed her when I saw her in Nick at Nite's SCTV reruns. I adored her work and that has never stopped. She was one of the finest sketch comediennes in history - her work was razor-sharp yet had a heart. She played so many characters, did so many impressions, made them real, but never got lost in them. I was very happy for her when Schitt's Creek blew up, and she got some of the recognition she should have had all along. That cast was incredible, but she stood out even among such names. I can't believe she's gone. Catherine and Phil Hartman - another legend: Proud Canadians / World Series - Saturday Night Live My favorite sketch she did on SNL: After the Halloween Party - Saturday Night Live An SNL short she did with the goddess Laurie Metcalf: Laurie Has a Story - Saturday Night Live My favorite sketch she did on SCTV: SCTV Tammy Faye Baker Skit with Catherine O'Hara

I just saw that Dylan Cash's most recent Twitter activity was retweeting a complaint about the Esme and Spencer story in 2023.

The character never went anywhere. I would say you may as well count him as he was even talked about in an SOD article at the time of fizzled characters - Riche or Labine claimed he had a strong entrance and then they didn't know what to do with him until the time of the article (I think this was when he was sleeping with Brenda). Marshall was given a raw deal. He was recast twice and then just stopped appearing.

I shouldn't keep picking on AMC, but this one was notorious at the time. Tamara Braun was clearly so proud with the story she was sold to get her onto AMC as Reese - yet in no time at all, they went from a passionate love story with Bianca to Reese trying to get dicked down by Zach the lesbian converter. Tamara left as soon as she could, IIRC.