Characters you once loved but grew to loathe and vice versa

[rangethatrover]

Easy- Used to love Natalie on OLTL- her 1st 6 months when she was a total bitch.

Now I loathe her, and I find Melissa Archer to be an extremely BORING actress. Very one note. Same reactions. Same expressions. No subtext. Just nothing.

[S&BFanForLife]

Love To Loathe:

Sonny(GH)

Lulu(GH) Can't. Stand. Her.

Loathe To Love:

Maxie(GH)

Spin(GH)

[detroitpiston]

I went from loving GH's Carly, to hating her, to loving her again, and now to being annoyed by her. OLTL's Todd was my favorite character until TSJ. I hated OLTL's Rex until he got with Jen. And for the longest time I hated GH's Sam until about December.

[rhinohide]

I didn't like Natalie at all at first. She reminded me of Sami Brady and I never liked Sami. Then there was the fight where she pushed Jessica over the railing and she suddenly became more interesting to me. Even then I was sorta neutral. Then the Cris/Jen/Nat/Al story began and I started seeing even more layers to her character. Now she's my favorite on that particular show. For me it's mostly about the character, although I think Melissa Archer owns the role.

I probably overstated my loathing of John. I am really slightly to the negative of neutral. But I loved him a lot at one time. <Swooon> So that was a long fall from grace. But I still think Michael Easton is very talented, in spite of the criticism he receives. It's the character I no longer have any affection for.

[Queen]

Phyllis Summers Romalotti Abbott Newman

I used to love this character. Loved it when her insecurities would rear their ugly head because of Christine. Then she bogarted her way into Lily's paternity situation being a complete and utter bitch to Drucilla and claiming that she was doing it all for her "friend" Malcolm. She's been downhill for me ever since. Then onto to destroying Sharon's marriage(with the help of Nick) to blackmailing Bradley(once again, meddling). She is completely intolerable and so smug and ridiculous. She's once again trying to bully someone(Amber) and not minding her own damn business. I wish there was another female character(now that Dru's gone) that would put her in her place. It's obvious Sharon or Amber are no match for her. She doesn't try her crap with Jill because she would get owned.

[rhinohide]

Was your affection for Carly strongly impacted by the recasts, the writing, the pairing? What? That's a really complicated one because there are so many factors that came into play.

Did your Rex affection survive Jen's "fun" exit?

[y&r_fan]

From loathe to love

Victor Newman (Y&R) - LML made me like him, and so is MAB

Nicholas Newman (Y&R) - has been much more likeable since he hooked up with Phyllis

Adam Wilson and Heather Stevens (Y&R) - since they hooked up

Colleen Carlton, Victoria Newman and Gloria Bardwell (Y&R) - since they were recast

Lily Winters (Y&R) - since the unrecast

Amber Moore, Jana Hawkes and Jeffrey Bardwell (Y&R) - since MAB took over as HW

Ridge Forrester (B& - since Nick made him the lesser of two evils

Donna Logan Forrester (B& - has become more mature since she got married

Jacqueline Payne Marone (B& - since she stopped pining for Massimo

From love to loathe

Lauren Fenmore Baldwin (Y&R) - since she turned Michael into a pathetic, sappy shadow of his former self

Felicia Forrester (B& - since she became an annoying brat with the "my parents belong together" mentality of a seven-year-old

[rhinohide]

Sorry Queen. I am just the opposite. Again this is primarily a case of one character written in opposition to another. I liked "Cricket" back in the day, so I couldn't stand Phyllis during the Romalotti era. I don't think I was watching during the Lily paternity story or her confrontations with Drucilla, so that might have had an impact, because I always loved Drucilla too. I actually started liking Phyllis with Jack, but remained mostly neutral. Then Nick and Phyllis!!!! Sharon is the embodiment of the kind of character I most detest (generally speaking). I don't really like Nick or any of his family all that much either. In fact, now that I think about it, Y&R is one of the few shows besides OLTL that I kind of keep an eye on still because it long ago was one of my favorites, but there are not any characters I feel passionate about on that show anymore. I am still slightly positive of neutral about Phyliss. And her friendship with Lauren (another longtime favorite) nudges her slightly more positive. Besides those two, Jill, Catherine, and formerly Dru, are the only characters male or female I have any real affection for, and it's mostly nostalgic.

[Queen]

Why do you detest Sharon? I'm not saying I "love" Sharon or Amber for that matter but I can tolerate them much more than I can Phyllis.

[rhinohide]

Again. I barely watch Y&R, so my opinions aren't really even opinions so much as vague impressions. And I actually kind of like Amber, but her role on the show about half the time seems to be "getting kicked around" by somebody. As for Sharon? It seems like everytime I watch she's moralizing to someone. She's so smug and self righteous. Those kinds of characters generally just bore me, but in the extreme they make me want to scream. They're necessary to soaps, and I realize some people like them for the very traits I hate. Something for everybody, I guess.

[detroitpiston]

When I first started hating Carly, it was because of CarSon. Then TB came and any of the love I might have still had for her was gone. TB left(thank god) and JB came and I fell in love with Carly all over again. She was fired, and LW came and I was just blown away. But right now, the writing just isn't there for Carly anymore. I really wish Guza would go back and look at how he wrote Carly when Laura first came cause IMO, thats when Carly was the most Carly like she's been since SJB.

And no, after Jen's "fun" exit(thanks Dena! ), I was done with Rex. I didn't really start liking him till Farah Fath showed up as Gigi.

[rhinohide]

That was quite a journey! Based on what I've seen on the internet, Carly is one of those characters you either love or hate, but are never neutral about. I love those polarizing characters. They get my adrenaline pumping and I think they are the key to creating passion for soaps. So love em or hate em, they're too few and far between these days. That must have been quite a dark spell in your soap watching life (when TB was cast in the role).

I liked Rex best when he was boffing Lindsay and pulled off the admittedly skeevy internet porn thing. LOL. And I still get a kick out of his friendship with Bo in part because they have both been with Lindsay, and I was so glad they brought that up when Bo asked Rex to be his best man. One reason I am looking forward to the 40th Anniversary Confusion, LOL

ETA: Love your new siggy

[CassieFan]

Greenlee - AMC. Loved her 5 years ago, loved her during Singh, hate her now.

[Cheap21]

Loathe to Love:

Gwen Hotchkiss (PSSNS) All thanks to the wonderful Natalia Zea

Blair Cramer (OLTL) Always hated her but loving how she's written now

Love to Loathe:

Theresa Lopez Fitzgerald (PSSNS) I stopped loving her once I realized how truly psychotic she was

Lulu Spencer (GH) For reasons already stated by others

Elizabeth Spencer (GH) once a favorite, but became an unbearable shrew when put with Jason

Carly Jacks (GH)

Dixie Martin (AMC) Her affair with David did it for me

[R Sinclair]

From Love to Loathe:

Tad Martin: Loved him until about late 1998, then when Dixie was pregnant with Bess, he got so concerned about Dixie's health that he seemed to almost WANT her to have an abortion just so her heart wouldn't be in jeopardy from the stress during the pregnancy. And then when she miscarried, he didn't seem that bothered. It was all downhill from there. His interference with Adam and Liza's marriage... his "Friendship" with Liza during his marriage to Dixie knowing they previously divorced because of his affair with Liza which Liza and Marian broadcasted his confession on live television (how anyone could expect their spouse to remarry them and keep the "other woman" as a "friend" is extremely selfish and beyond me)... Then his constant gloating when it came to Junior and Adam, how Junior loved Tad more than Adam made me sick... followed by his stealing Adam's company under false pretenses and the writing was so that we were supposed to feel compassionate for Tad -- he only stole Adam's company because he wanted to finally feel good about himself for the first time in his life -- you know, because he never got over being an abused kid even though the Martins adopted him at the age of nine, had a family, sons, friends, ran a vineyard and hosted a television show. THIS underhanded theft was finally going to make him feel good about himself... then of course it's been his hypocrisy, self-righteousness, helping Liza run off with Colby, betraying JR, burying Madden alive, sleeping with Krystal while she was still married, and everything else that came after that this past year -- so it's been ten years that I've loathed this character.

Greenlee Smythe: Loved her from 1999 to 2001, then she just got too one note. When Becky left in 2005, I was like "THANK YOU! YOU DO LOVE ME AFTER ALL!" Greenlee's good as a troublemaker -- not as a leading lady. She should've stayed the woman who comes in every so often and stirs up the pot. Not part of a super couple. Now, the character's all over the map.

Kendall Hart: Loved the character under SMG. She was on during my junior high to sophomore year of high school years, and since SMG is about a year and a half older than I am, I was growing up with her as well so I thought she was sooo cool! I loved the character and loved all of the trouble she caused too. When Lish took over, yeah Lish was horrible at first, but I still enjoyed the character and rooted for her. Then the last two years, Kendall's just been on too damn much, I became sick of her. She was part of the reason that sent me into lapsed viewership this past year.

Zach Slater: Again, he was awesome when he first came on. He was calling EVERYONE in Pine Valley out on their [!@#$%^&*] and read them like a book. It was so good, you know? Just so good to actually hear someone say the things I've been thinking. Then, somehow, he started to become boring... and then the shift from outcast to in crowd came in, and then this air of superiority came over him and he started acting just like everyone else in the Valley. I guess it's the air.

Ryan Lavery: I enjoyed con artist Ryan from the moment he debuted in 1998. It was awesome watching him in scenes with Kelsey and Gillian and how he charmed his way through town. I enjoyed the Ryan and Gillian romance - version one. I was on his side during the whole Who Raped TKFP storyline. I wanted him to be cleared and wanted everyone in town who turned on him to eat ten miles of [!@#$%^&*] when the truth came out and was disappointed when it didn't happen. I wanted that for him so bad. And then, Gillian died and he became this unlikeable character and hasn't recovered.