SaBa/GL/AW/OLTL/GH: List of beloved actors

[Max]

As I was watching GH's Alan dying today, I was reminded again what a nasty [!@#$%^&*] Jill Farren Phelps is. Aside from JERk, I can't think of anyone who has done more damage to the genre than JFP.

One of the worst hallmarks of JFP is her callous firing of beloved actors. With your help, I'd like to complie a list of all the fan favorites fired by Phelps at the five sops--SaBa, GL, AW, OLTL, and GH--where she has worked. Below is a partial list:

AW:

Alice Barrett (Frankie; was fired partly on feedback from a focus group)

Paul Michael Valley (Ryan)

GH:

Stuart Damon (Alan)

Lesli Kay (Lois; was fired after she announced she was pregnant)

Anna Lee (Lila; was fired at the age of 91)

Kari Wuhrer (Reese; of course, Wuhrer was not "beloved" like the others on this list)

GL:

Ellen Parker (Maureen; was fired partly on feedback from a focus group)

OLTL:

Laura Koffman (Cassie; was fired during maternity leave)

[Max]

In my original post, I should have added the following quotes from wikipedia, all of which elaborate on JFP's firing decisions:

"On Another World Phelps released Paul Michael Valley from his contract, reportedly because she did not like him as a love interest for actress Jensen Buchanan. She also killed off popular heroine Frankie Frame (played by Alice Barrett). Frankie was strangled on-screen at the hands of the Bay City Serial Killer. Originally, fan favorite Anna Stuart was to be the victim of the Bay City Serial Killer. Phelps, with the help of head writer Margaret DePriest, encouraged the implementation of the story, which was a carbon copy of the Sin Stalker storyline which first aired on Another World in 1987. As the audience picked up clues and realized that Stuart's character, Donna Love, would be next to die, fans flooded newsgroups with their vocal opposition. Viewers called and wrote to the NBC studios in New York City, and Phelps was forced to pick another actor. In order to fit budget constraints, another "mid-level actor" would have to be fired; it was revealed later that the firing was necessary to bring back former AW actor Robert Kelker-Kelly. The two options were to kill either Barrett's character or Judi Evans Luciano's character, Paulina Cory Carlino. The focus groups liked Evans Luciano's character but were lukewarm toward Barrett; Phelps then decided on Frankie as the next victim instead of Donna."

"However, perhaps the harshest and most lasting criticism of Phelps was as a result of her decision to kill off the character of Maureen Bauer on Guiding Light in 1993. The character of Maureen died in a fatal car accident she found out that her husband had cheated on her with her rival. The role was played by noted stage actress Ellen Parker. Though the character of Frankie Frame was important to Another World, Maureen Bauer was the crucial "tentpole" character of Guiding Light. The character was the heart and soul of the show (especially after the death of the original central character, her mother-in-law Bert Bauer). In an interview years later, Phelps apologized for killing off Maureen, stating it was the most regettable mistake she had made in her career."

"In the cases of Barrett and Parker, she was reported to have relied on focus group for her decisions. It was not that the groups hated either character, but they were indifferent to them, in part because they had not been featured as leads and were not driving story. Phelps took this as an indication that the audience as a whole would not care if the characters were killed off their respective shows."

"In 2004, she fired 91-year-old actress Anna Lee from General Hospital. Lee, who had been on the show since 1978, was already ill and died within a few months, just one week before receiving her lifetime achievement award at the 2004 Daytime Emmys. Many in the soap and media world, including longtime GH fans, Carolyn Hinsey from Soap Opera Digest, TV Guide's soap columnist Michael Logan and Anna Lee's son, Jeffrey Byron, hold Phelps somewhat responsible for the events that led to Anna Lee's death, as the woman's livelihood was put in jeopardy. Phelps responded with a statement saying that no one's contract on General Hospital was etched in stone, not even Lee's."

"While at One Life to Live in 1999, Phelps disgusted many fans by firing popular actress Laura Koffman who plays Cassie Callison Carpenter since 1991, mere days after Koffman had left for what she thought was simply a maternity leave. In 2005, she also let actress Lesli Kay go off-contract after revealing her pregnancy. Lesli Kay has stated on her official message board that Jill Farren Phelps has said to her, "If you think GH is your place to shine, it never will be" and after days of announcing her pregnancy announced that the fate of Lesli's character was "In god's hands." All of this, like much of JFP's comments was unsolicited. In November 2005, Phelps released actress Kari Wuhrer from her contract at General Hospital. In January 2006, Wuhrer responded with a lawsuit against ABC."

"In December 2006, Phelps would stir up controversy again on GH by firing actor Stuart Damon right before Christmas. Damon has been with the show for thirty years and was reported to be devastated."

[bellcurve]

Kari Wuhrer was fired after announcing she was pregnant too!

JFP is gray, wore out ***t.

[Brandeis]

See now I thought Paul Michael Valley quit because JF-Pee fired his them girlfriend Christine Tucci.

Does that mean See You Next Tuesday? If so ITA!

[dawn9476]

I think Frons had more to do with Stuart and Anna's firing than JFP did. Everyone says that JFP is pretty much neutralize at GH and really has no power.

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

NO, Jill has the most power that any EP has at ABC. Sometimes I can picture the hag puttting Brian in check too. I wouldnt be suprised.

[KLN]

Didn't Sarah Brown quit because of issues surrounding JFP?

[bellcurve]

Uh huh!

Not to mention JFP also HAS one. How could Kale Browne have been with someone who, in theory, looks like his brother.

THat's the rumor, but Sarah has too much class to tell anyone that.

Maybe not Stuart, but totally Anna Lee. Even if she DIDN'T fire her, her comments to the press make her sound like a disrespectful ageist b!tch.

JFP is a disease on daytime. You guys have no idea how happy I was when that creature got cut off at the 2005 Emmys. It was like God answered my prayers.

[KLN]

LMAO! Perhaps the biggest trainwreck I've ever seen on the Emmy's -- ever.

Not only is the "God Bless you, Erica Braeden" hysterical coming out of Eric's own mouth, but the cutoff... ohh, the cutoff! Too bad the b!tch had the balls to continue the speech right where she left off the following year. "AS I WAS SAYING!!" Die.

"GOODNIGHT, EVERYBODY! Goodnight!"

[Mason]

LoL, that clip will NEVER get old...

[FrenchFan]

I love so much that clip !!!

[Scotty]

That clip is a classic....and it makes it even better when you see who the presenters were, and who were the ones who said goodnight. None of which were from GH.

[DruRocks]

LMFAO I [!@#$%^&*] LOVE that clip. HYSTERICAL. :lol:

[Y&RWorldTurner]

back to the JFP hate, seriously this woman has destroyed every soap she's touched. It amazes me that she continues to find work when she's fired from one soap. Let's also add Robin Strasser to the list of people she's driven out from shows. I also believe the Sarah Brown rumors, as she's always stated she hated the direction of Carly when GH changed hands in 2001.

JFP is like the plaque, it probably won't stop until it infects and kills all living soaps.

[Darn]

JFP is a plight upon humanity.