All the soaps do it,for one reason or another - killing off major characters.

Maybe for the shock value,for story reasons or a popular actor leaving.

In retrospect,sometimes these decisions seem not the wisest course of action.

In the Bill Bell days,Y&R hardly ever killed off characters.

It made the deaths more dramatic and left options opened for possible returns(without the overused 'back from the dead'choice)

However I think the death of Phillip Chancellor 111 was a mistake as the character had years of story to be told.

What characters do you think should not have been killed off ,as long term their absence hurt the show?

Drucilla Winters (Y&R) will also surely be missed.

I don't know if it hurt the show, but Leo Du Pres (AMC) should have stayed.

Maureen Bauer on GL is the OBVIOUS choice. They spent years grooming and making the character the true successor to Bert Bauer, GL's premiere matriarch. However, unlucky for us fans, Jill Hitler Phelps was EP of GL at that time and didn't realize the significance Mo had on GL and its long-term history, so she had the character killed off.

Needless to say, GL has never truly been the same again and has yet to recover from such a powerful loss. While the story before and after her death was impactful, it truly hurt the show in the long run.

I guess we got some vindication when JFP admitted years later that killing off Maureen Bauer on GL was the biggest mistake of her professional career.

Lucky for Ellen Parker (the portrayer of Maureen) that she won the Emmy for Supporting Actress, the next year. Truly deserved, but for a storyline that should've NEVER happened.

Drew and Duke Buchanan!!

In OLTL, they've been killing off younger characters for years (even if weren't either the greatest casting or conception), that could have helped carry a generation of family/story -- Megan (Viki's daughter), Drew Buchanan, Duke Buchanan, Al Holden, and even Jen Rappaport.

I'll go along with Maureen Bauer (GL) for all the same reasons as stated above.

Dan and I had the Maureen talk...her death while the story was amazing her death was sad. Then again I wouldn't want my beloved Maureen running around Springfield sniffing amnesia gas...plus there is only one true Bauer on canvas now, so Mo would have prolly fell victim to a bad storyline and at least this way the story was good and she won her well deserved Emmy!

AJ Quartermaine (GH). Closely followed by Alan. Two powerhouse, foundation characters. AJ is the anti-Jason, the other side of the coin. Complicated, angry, drunk, unexpectedly tender, truly a three-dimensional character, despite Guza's attempts to make him the Boring Bad Guy. He should be on the canvas for the sake of balance, if nothing else.

Dixie on All My Children!!

John Abbott on Y&R. What was the point of killing him off just to make him a freaking ghost or conscience or whatever he is.

Gabrielle, OLTL

Ryan, Y&R

Al, OLTL

Lujack - Guiding Light.

Killling him off was such a waste of a great character. They should have either had him leave town with Beth (she left a few months later, anyway - presumed drowned, no body to bury) or had him "lost at sea" - no body to bury. That way VI could have come back as Lujack instead of Lujack's twin - boring Nick.

Edited August 8, 200718 yr by Helena

Surprised no one has mentioned Eve or karen on PC.

Darla on The Bold and the Beautiful- This made no sense and what did it do, give Taylor and Thorne a storyline for 2 months. Big Mistake.

Bryant on As The World Turns - This character had major ties to two Oakdale Families and the storyline possibilities were endless.

Jake on As The World Turns - This made no sense at all! Move Tom Eplin from AW to ATWT, put him in a relationship with Molly, make all of us love them and then kill him off. Another BAD move.

Dixie on All My Children!!

ICAM. AMC has been ruined for me because of it.

I also hated that they killed off Gillian (and to save the useless Laura - what a waste).

There are other characters who I didn't want to see die, such as Jenny, but when the actor/actresses chooses to leave I am much more okay with it then if they fired someone and killed off their character.