DAYS: Deidre Hall.

Is she even on the show?

Also, Drake Hogestyn, Peter Reckell, Kristian Alfonso, The Hayes'.

It seems to me that other than a very select few cast members, most soaps are focusing their stories younger and younger, even moreso during the summer. Y and R has a lot more talented cast and worthwhile characters, but right now it should be renamed Amber's antics. ATWT spent most of the summer focusing the heaviest storyline on Will and Gwen - neglecting worthwhile characters and talented cast as well. OLTL just showed what it could be for two episodes before moving back to McBain madness. AMC has spent so long looking for the next hot young actor/actress it no longer knows whose child it is. DOOL may have budget woes, but major draws for years have all but disappeared (and the audience with them). Even GH unwittingly acknowledged how selective it was by showing it had the strength for a spinoff with underutilized characters. B & B is known for hiring and firing very talented cast within a matter of months. Someone else will have to verify for Passions and GL, since I rarely if ever follow those at all.

It's almost a rule. If you are over 40, you are being wasted. It may be as low as 30.

Edited August 21, 200718 yr by ZaraB

Y&R

1. Jess Walton

2. Jeanne Cooper

3. Doug Davidson

4. Melody Thomas Scott

5. Kristoff St. John

6. Tonya Lee Williams

7. Eric Braeden

8. Tracey Bregman

9. Kimberlin Brown

10. Patty Weaver

11. Jerry Douglas

What message do you want us to send with this, probably?

ICAM!!! Well, Patty Weaver not really but the rest is AMEN-worthy.

The age-restraint coming up is very true: Y&R and B&B used to be above this but the first is no more. It's probably not that LML hates older people or does not WANT to write for them - like ABC does and can't afford like ATWT and GL - but besides Peter Bergman and Eric Braeden they just aren't her ditzy types and hence get nothing to write home about.

B&B on the other has always had THE oldest cast of the all where actors in their 50s play romantic heroes in their late 30s and their parents in their late 60s meddle all the way...

The only one getting the shot cut is John McCook and Lesley-Anne Down because their story is for some reason never really been told. That's probably the burden when you have such a strong force like SUsan Flannery so much front and centre.

This is actually hard because there are so many. I stay so busy I've lost track of GH, B&B, GL, and ATWT. I can comment on Days though:

Susan Hayes: IMO, the biggest waste. People who don't remember the 70's and 80's have been robbed of a chance to see this woman at the top of her game. I still get chills remembering her tell Doug "I went to Mexico to divorce you, my dear." She can melt your heart one minute, and have you cussing your TV the next.

Suzanne Rogers; Why aren't we seeing more of her right now. Hayes does big drama well, but no one tops Rogers in sentimental moments. (remember Bo's birthday last year when she brought him a cupcake...classic). She can take a marginal family scene, and make it something to remember.

LeAnne Hunley: Anna is a Days Icon. She is everything good about the show from the 80's. She personifies the supercouple era and brings a historic dynamic to the show that no one else can. She isn't a sterotypical good or bad girl. She's both, and it's amazing. She reminds me of an era when characters were more than plot devices. The rivalry between her and Marlena was brilliant and fun. If revisted just slightly, it could bring a few characters back to life and give Marlena that fiesty dynamic I miss so much.

Matt Ashford: Talent, need I say more? I'm not a huge J&J fan (l like them, but not as much as some couples), but he has not been given a decent chance at a storyline since the early 90's. Ashford is a great actor, better than a lot of newer viewers realize. He's gone from the canvas, but the show wasted him so horribly in the past, I found it fitting to include his name.

Thats my list. I based it on who gets the least amount of airtime, and on who can bring the shows personality back into focus. The charactres above, IMHO, could re-establish it as a family, character driven drama.

Edited August 21, 200718 yr by DaysFanatic777

This is actually hard because there are so many. I stay so busy I've lost track of GH, B&B, GL, and ATWT. I can comment on Days though:

Susan Hayes: IMO, the biggest waste. People who don't remember the 70's and 80's have been robbed of a chance to see this woman at the top of her game. I still get chills remembering her tell Doug "I went to Mexico to divorce you, my dear." She can melt your heart one minute, and have you cussing your TV the next.

Suzanne Rogers; Why aren't we seeing more of her right now. Hayes does big drama well, but no one tops Rogers in sentimental moments. (remember Bo's birthday last year when she brought him a cupcake...classic). She can take a marginal family scene, and make it something to remember.

LeAnne Hunley: Anna is a Days Icon. She is everything good about the show from the 80's. She personifies the supercouple era and brings a historic dynamic to the show that no one else can. She isn't a sterotypical good or bad girl. She's both, and it's amazing. She reminds me of an era when characters were more than plot devices. The rivalry between her and Marlena was brilliant and fun. If revisted just slightly, it could bring a few characters back to life and give Marlena that fiesty dynamic I miss so much.

Matt Ashford: Talent, need I say more? I'm not a huge J&J fan (l like them, but not as much as some couples), but he has not been given a decent chance at a storyline since the early 90's. Ashford is a great actor, better than a lot of newer viewers realize. He's gone from the canvas, but the show wasted him so horribly in the past, I found it fitting to include his name.

Thats my list. I based it on who gets the least amount of airtime, and on who can bring the shows personality back into focus. The charactres above, IMHO, could re-establish it as a family, character driven drama.

I love this post.

GH

Nancy Lee Grahn

Robin Christopher

DAYS:

-Peggy McCay

-John Aniston

-Suzanne Rogers

-Renee Jones

-Leann Hunley

-Julie Pinson

-Deidre Hall

-Drake Hogestyn

-Kristian Alfosno

What message do you want us to send with this, probably?

ICAM!!! Well, Patty Weaver not really but the rest is AMEN-worthy.

The age-restraint coming up is very true: Y&R and B&B used to be above this but the first is no more. It's probably not that LML hates older people or does not WANT to write for them - like ABC does and can't afford like ATWT and GL - but besides Peter Bergman and Eric Braeden they just aren't her ditzy types and hence get nothing to write home about.

Exactly. All the vets have been/are wasted.

On a show that once had the best cast in all of daytime to be what Y&R is now? Terrible. Absolutely terrible.

AndPatty Weaver's got chops, she's just been unfortunately wasted for the longest.

DAYS:

John Aniston

Suzanne Rogers

Deidre Hall

James Reynolds

Renee Jones

Julie Pinson

Lauren Koslow

Leann Hunley

Peggy McCay

ATWT:

Helen Wagner

Don Hastings

Kathryn Hays

Eileen Fulton

Elizabeth Hubbard

Colleen Zenk-Pinter

Kathleen Widdoes

Martha Byrne

Jon Hensley

Ellen Dolan

Scott Holmes

Cady McClain

Marie Masters

PASSIONS:

Juliet Mills

Andrea Evans

Kathleen Noone

Ben Masters

Kim Ulrich

Cathy Jeneen Doe

Edited August 22, 200718 yr by JenC

DAYS

Suzanne Rogers

Renee Jones

Lauren Koslow

John Aniston

HELLO DAYS: these are you're best kept secrets. These performers have the chops and they are being wasted horribly.

Y&R

Jess Walton

Jeanne Cooper

Melody Thomas Scott

Eric Braeden

Peter Bergman

Patty Weaver

Doug Davidson

HELLO Y&R/SONY/CBS/LML: these actors built this damn show into being number 1 for coming up 20 years. Without them this show is nothing. It will be dead in a matter of years if all of these actors aren't brought back front and center fast!

B&B

Lesley Anne Down

John McCook

HELLO BRAD BELL: honestly Bradley...you should know better. These 2 are amazing talents! Use them! Especially Ms Down. With the passing of the irreplaceable Darlene Conley B&B has been in desperate need of an accented diva, Ms Down IS that diva.

GH

Jackie Zeman

Leslie Charleson

Constance Towers

Nancy Lee Grahn

John J York

HELLO FRONS/GUZA: you owe the success of this show to these actors and yet there they languish on the backburner. May you both rot in ageist hell for what you've done in the name of demographics.

AMC

Jennifer Bassey

Susan Lucci

HELLO ABC: Ms Lucci IS playing supporting isn't she? Erica Kane...supporting? Pathetic. Ditto Ms Bassey who is seen like 4 times a year? Pathetic.

ATWT

Jesse Soffer

Colleen Zenk-Pinter

Marie Masters

Days

Jay K. Johnson

Lauren Koslow

Julie Pinson (hmm..sensing a pattern here)

Martha Madison

GL

Tina Sloane

Marj Dusay (although I'm happy to see that they are starting to appear on a regular basis on the show)

Nicole Forester

Robert Newman

John Driscoll

GL

Maureen Garrett

Elizabeth Keifer

Kurt McKinney

Tina Sloan

Maeve Kincaid

Y&R

Vail Bloom

Veronica Redd

Kristoff St. John

Doug Davidson

Tracey E. Bregman

Susan Seaforth Hayes

Patty Weaver

Kate Linder

DOOL

Suzanne Rogers

Renee Jones

Leann Hunley

Susan Seaforth Hayes

Tanya Boyd

ATWT

Marie Masters

Helen Wagner

Don Hastings

Kathryn Hays

Eileen Fulton

Elizabeth Hubbard

Colleen Zenk-Pinter

Kathleen Widdoes

Ellen Dolan

Scott Holmes

B&B

William deVry

Eileen Davidson

Lesli Kay

Winsor Harmon

Lesley Anne Down

John McCook

GH

John Bolger

Kent King

Barbara Tarbuck

Rachel Ames

Denise Alexander

Jacklyn Zeman

Leslie Charleson

John J. York

Minae Noji

Ron Hale

Blake Gibbons

Constance Towers

Genie Francis

Adrian Alvarado

OLTL

Patricia Elliott

Patricia Mauceri

Hillary B. Smith

Robert Woods

Ilene Kristen

Timothy D. Stickney

Robin Strasser

AMC

James Mitchell

Eileen Herlie

Ray MacDonnell

Lee Meriwether

Jennifer Bassey

Half the cast of ATWT.

ICA! Most especially Roger Howarth.

OLTL- Erika Slezak, Robin Strasser, Patricia Mauceri, Hillary Smith, Timothy Stickney, Patricia Elliot, Robert Woods.

Edited September 23, 200718 yr by Harleyquinn

AMC:

Jill Larson

James Mitchell

Ray MacDonnell

Jennifer Bassey

Susan Lucci

Y&R:

Eric Braeden (he rarely appears anymore)

Melody Thomas Scott (somehow, having sex with David and making bitcy comments about and to Sharon and Phyllis is not ideal )

Kristoff St. John (the opportunities when Dru "died" went wasted)

Peter Bergman

Tonya Lee Williams (HAS to come back)

Jeanne Cooper

Jess Walton

Doug Davidson

Christian LeBlanc (only thing he does is take part on other people's storylines Still exquisite, though)

Tracey E. Bergman (hasn't had anything to do in so long)

Shemar Moore (HAS to come back, although it's not happening)

Ashley Browning (bring the first Mac Back!)

Thad Luckinbill (he's so good, and we see him twice a month)

Don Diamont (has to be written differently than he is)

Heather Tom (she HAS to come back.)

Focus on them, and de-focus on the youngsters. They are ALL (who still are on the show ) SERIOUSLY underused.

B&B:

Lesli Kay

Ashley Jones

John McCook (although he now has a storyline, with Donna)

Lesley Anne Down (she can be so good)

Katherine Kelly Lang (yes, I know, she's front and center, but, after the rape/custody storyline, she proved she can be damn good. However, the material she has been given for years is terrible, therefore she is underused )

Edited September 24, 200718 yr by YRBB