I don't know if you can call the Dominguez family (Tony, Kristen & Zende) a real family, but they were also a big failure.

The Dominguez were an extension of the Forresters; I wouldnt consider that an attempt at the show at establishing a new family

In terms of big unpleasant controversies:

Eastenders - the Ferrieras were hit almost immediately when the man who played the family's patriarch was deported. All their storylines had to be rewritten and they ended up spending months dealing with a kidney transplant and a sudden long-lost half-brother (who had only about a month before this been dating what would turn out to be his half-sister). This all came at a time when the press were savaging Eastenders and a lot of fans were unhappy. The family was given a lot of the blame, and dumped within a year and a half of their arrival.

Emmerdale - the Calder-something or other were a family who were brought in by a reality show, complete with judges. This immediately caused headaches, because the actors' union believed these were just people coming in without any background or union membership. They all turned out to be members of the union, but for whatever reason, there were other backstage difficulties with the new actors and the family pretty much had nothing to do, barely interacted with anyone else, and were off the show in about a year. One longtime Emmerdale actress, Malandra Burrows, criticized the whole thing, and found herself out of a job, although I have a feeling they might have been looking for a reason to dump her anyway...

I guess the Laverys on AMC could be considered a failed family. For some unknown reason, ABC loves Cameron Mathison, so they tried to build a family around Ryan. Nobody cared and they were a flop, yet Ryan continues to float from one unsuccessful storyline to the next.

Edited July 8, 201015 yr by LoyaltoAMC

In 1980, AW unwisely put the focus on the Holloways. We met Kit, followed by father Taylor,sister Amy, brother Rick and Aunt Miranda.They were all gone by early 82.

First Aid "Kit"

She was a nurse and that's what we called her.

I guess the Laverys on AMC could be considered a failed family. For some unknown reason, ABC loves Cameron Mathison, so they tried to build a family around Ryan. Nobody cared and they were a flop, yet Ryan continues to float from one unsuccessful storyline to the next.

I was about to post the same thing. All the Laverys are now dead (Drunk Mom, Punching Dad, Braden, Erin) or have vanished into thin air (Jonathan).

I'd like to add the Ramirez family and the Moore family. The extended Ramirez family (Hector, Samantha, Caitlin, Jimmy, Priscilla & Christian)

B&B hires Mario Lopez for 2 weeks then doesn't use him just like Antonio Sabato.

When Doug Marland created the Snyder Family, he did it the right way...with a character we were interested in (Holden), a strong parental figure (Emma) and GRADUALLY bringing in relations at a slow pace, so we didn't think of them as "taking over". This was the opposite of what was to follow. The Kasnoffs started off with a Holden-type character, Mike (who was in a relationship with a Lily-type character, namely Rosanna). But it was downhill from there. Mark Kasnoff was a hot body, nothing else. Sarah Kasnoff was worse, a complete waste of screen time.

But I guess each writer wants to create "their" family. You just know if ATWT wasn't going off the air this September, we'd have an extension of the already dreadful Ciccone clan. (Come to think of it, maybe that's WHY ATWT is going off the air this September!)

Oh my God, the Walkers epitomize a family that never caught on & ESPECIALLY never gelled with the show's tone. I could shoot Pam Long for bringing on her pet Zimmer & refocusing the show on her. She was awful, her kids were awful, the only member of that family I even kind of liked was husband Reese. I think in the beginning, they were toying with the idea of making him an abusive husband. I would have LOVED that, if only to watch Zimmer get smacked around a couple days a week. Yes, I know that's an awful thing to say considering all of the truly battered women out there, but Zimmer was a show-killer. Seriously, they had to be the most boring family on the planet and they took over the show & pretty much ruined it.

In SB's final episode, we had Jodie & Reese reuniting & Warren marrying BJ, yet not even a mention of Cruz & Eden, if only to let their fans know that they were together again & spending the rest of their lives that way. I mean, I pretty much knew Walker & Martinez weren't coming back (they weren't asked), but the least they could have done was let Sophia get a call from Cruz saying that he'd found Eden & they were back together.

F U C K you Paul Rauch. To this day, I detest that man for what he did to my show.

I liked Reese and Sawyer Walker. It got me to watch Santa Barbara again. Kim Zimmer was so out of place at SB. I had forgotten that hot Eric Close played Sawyer Walker.

I couldn't stand B.J. and Sydney Penny.

Edited July 9, 201015 yr by Ruxton Hills

B&B: The Hamiltons. It was a family that just couldn't be sustained (they were as boring as watching paint dry). The writers tried a Stephanie - Jack Hamilton triangle with Sally Spectra, it fizzled. Zach Hamilton ended up running off with Felicia Forrester. The only remaining Hamilton was Taylor and she was used as a third leg in the Brooke-Ridge relationship.

Days threw together a bunch of characters - Gwen Davies,Esther Kensington(her mom)brothers Woody King and Oliver Martin and dad Orby Jensen and decided they were a family. Very little was done with that and only Gwen stayed around.

I'd count the Andrades and Perkins on SB as failed as both were original families on the show and presented as core families to engage our interest and folllow over the years.

Before long only Santana and Rosa remained. Reuben,Danny and the two sisters never introduced were history.

The Perkins - Joe,Marissa, Jade,Amy and the dad(John?) were all dropped.

There was also Caroline Wilson and her daughter Jane who tied in with Gus Jackson and daughter Alice.

And the Donnellys. Arthur,Michael,Heather.

SB should have revived the Andrades (and Brick,the true Capwell heir)but they were forgotten in favour of a merry go round of new characters.

B&B:

The Logan family. At least in the 80s. The only character that the audience liked was Brooke. The others were a failure and they got written out after 2 years and B&B instead introduced the Spectra group. Recently they´ve tried a whole lot of recasting but I am not really sure they work anyhow. Would anyone miss Katie & Donna if they disappeared? Are people missing Beth & Storm? Nah.

Also, the Cortez family. Anyone remember? Claudia Cortez worked at Forrester and had her mom and brother on for a while, but they were soon gone, no one cared.

And as people have already said, the Marones, the Hamiltons and the Ramirez.

And now the Jonses. They aren´t even like a family. How often do we see Whip, Agnes & Oliver together?

The Chandlers, The Grants, The Merritts, and The Deverauxes on Days.

The Cortez family. Anyone remember? Claudia Cortez worked at Forrester and had her mom and brother on for a while, but they were soon gone, no one cared.

Oh yes. Didn't they live in a small hut in some poor area?

The problem with B&B is that they only focus on the immediate Forrester family, consisting of Eric, Stephanie, Ridge, Nick and their on-and-off wives Brooke and Taylor plus Ridge's and Brooke's children. All the other Forrester branches have never played an important part. There were Kristen, Tony and Zende; Maggie and Jessica; Felicia, Dante and Dino; Thorne, Darla and Alexandria. All of them had a storyline for like one year before they were put on the backburner.

The Spectra clan was important for over a decade but during their later years they were also pretty much non-existant. By 2001, there were only Sally and Clarke left. Both were rarely used once the Marones entered the scene. Darla spent most of her time as a recurring character, even when she was on contract. CJ disappeared without a trace only to return some time later and disappear again. Macy's resurrection was also a big failure.

Even though B&B is an half hour show, it could be possible for them to have three families on the canvas plus two or three other characters without any family ties. The problem is that this cannot work if half of the cast consists of members of the Forrester-Logan clan.

Those damn Rapports on OLTL. Other than Lindsay who I loved, I wanted to shoot them all.

Why? I liked the Rappaports.