Ditto. When you're playing an abused housewife and can't gain the Carly-haters sympathy, something about you isn't clicking. She was completely miscast in the role, and as it turned out had the same type of problems as S/Aggie.

Oh, please. Julia was never intended to be a sympathetic character. Maybe the first month, you know, before they had her find out about Jack's family and had her desperately trying to keep him from them. Yeah, that just screams sympathy to me. [/sarcasm] It also didn't help that they confused a lot of viewers with the names Julia and J.J. just to make it completely coincidental. If anything, she was just your run of the mill foil for not one but two "super couples." I remember when Sarah was on, EVERYONE was talking about Julia non-stop. People tore that character apart, but I also recall many people marveling at how well Sarah did to make everyone hate her character so much. And its true, if everyone's talking about your character, good or bad, you must be doing something right. I'm really interested though, since you seem to believe Sarah was so miscast, exactly who you would cast in the role of the tragic Julia Larrabee?

I don't know why Bell doesn't do something with Felicia either. Instead he brings in green teenagers, builds months and months of story around them, and then ends up drop kicking it when it doesn't work. Which leads to yet another round of Brooke's a whore/Ridge/Taylor story to try and bolster the ratings.

She did make the story work. The first few months of Sandy were actually good and I felt for her as a character as she searched for her rapist. It all fell apart once that story wrapped up as Bell didnt have a clear vision for her beyond the initial story arc. After she overcame being fragile following her trauma, there was nothing about the character that stood out. She was very generic and boring. She had no storyline for months, just showing up for work at Jackie M and having Bridget bitch at her, all while pining for Nick on the side. Once they put her with Nick, they had little story aside for Amber spending a week trying to seduce him. The character was a vacant shell of uselessness and thats not SJB's fault. She had meaty material in the beginning but by this point, they gave her nothing to work with. I think the show could have made her interesting had they turned her into a psycho. She'd probably still leave anyway as she was written into a corner, but at least she'd go out with a bang as opposed to barely a whimper as she actually did.

Thank you! I couldn't agree more!

They really should have just written the character of Aggie out once she lost the baby since Bradley Bell obviously didn't care enough to even attempt to make the character work after that. They never even attempted trying to put Sarah with anyone but Jack Wagner and that there was her death sentence. Once I realized this, I so desperately wanted her to snap and go all sorts of Kimberly Shaw on the cast but alas, nothing. Sigh. Although, I will say, when they pitted her against Amber for that one week I did see some fire and spark to her character. But by that point the writing was on the wall. Aggie had to go. And thank the lord, Sarah deserved so much better. Hell, anyone would.

I am the biggest Sarah Brown fan out there and I won't cheer every role she played. BUt I think its hard when you make such a mark with a character on a soap in this day and age to recapture that and I think whenever she takes on a new role people keep expecting her to create the excitement she did as Carly. Its just not possible the way shows write today, She has a chance at Days to do well because this writing team seems to understand how to introduce new characters. As long as they don't shove her on screen 4-5 days as week shell be fine but she will never be Carly and will never make the same impact.

I watched her on ATWT and she wasn't dreadful she just didn't work. But its hard to position a new character in between 2 super couples. I don't agree she was given terrible writing and I don't think some aspects of playng the poor me aspect works for her.I think it was a mistake for her to take that role but a paycheck is a paycheck.

B&B wrote that character I thought for her. Maybe I am wrong. But I did watch her on there and I think she did an ok job but she just didn't fit with the show to me at all. Thats not her fault.

As for Claudia, I don't care how many people praise her performance, I thought the character was dreadful and the writing awful. I actually didnt care at all for how she played the character and there were rumors she and Bob Guza didn't agree on the characterization over time. I don't go by online buzz, I never have seen that translate to improvements in a show, all I can look at are GH's ratings during her tenure which went down to record lows. I don't blame SArah for the ratings,I think there is and has for years been a power struggle at GH and why the show overall lacks strong actresses because the show really doesnt want strong actresses. SHe outacted Steve Burton and Maurice Bernard for years on that show and GH can't have actresses outshine their pets. Look what happens when they get them like Megan Ward they get shown the door and not invited back. I think Sarah should have left after her first year as Claudia because the show wrote her character into a corner for the most part from the beginning.

Edited October 13, 201114 yr by JaneAusten

Oh, please. Julia was never intended to be a sympathetic character. Maybe the first month, you know, before they had her find out about Jack's family and had her desperately trying to keep him from them. Yeah, that just screams sympathy to me. [/sarcasm] It also didn't help that they confused a lot of viewers with the names Julia and J.J. just to make it completely coincidental. If anything, she was just your run of the mill foil for not one but two "super couples." I remember when Sarah was on, EVERYONE was talking about Julia non-stop. People tore that character apart, but I also recall many people marveling at how well Sarah did to make everyone hate her character so much. And its true, if everyone's talking about your character, good or bad, you must be doing something right. I'm really interested though, since you seem to believe Sarah was so miscast, exactly who you would cast in the role of the tragic Julia Larrabee?

The Carjack story was always the most discussed plot...unless you think that Annie Parisse, Teri Columbino and Julie Pinson (and Hunt Block, Paul Leyden, Mark Collier and Jon Lindstrom) are "marvels" of the acting world too, I'd hardly credit Brown with elevating everyone's interest.

I would have put someone like Gina Tognoni, Ashley Jones or Heather Tom in the role.

I am the biggest Sarah Brown fan out there and I won't cheer every role she played. BUt I think its hard when you make such a mark with a character on a soap in this day and age to recapture that and I think whenever she takes on a new role people keep expecting her to create the excitement she did as Carly. Its just not possible the way shows write today, She has a chance at Days to do well because this writing team seems to understand how to introduce new characters. As long as they don't shove her on screen 4-5 days as week shell be fine but she will never be Carly and will never make the same impact.

I watched her on ATWT and she wasn't dreadful she just didn't work. But its hard to position a new character in between 2 super couples. I don't agree she was given terrible writing and I don't think some aspects of playng the poor me aspect works for her.I think it was a mistake for her to take that role but a paycheck is a paycheck.

B&B wrote that character I thought for her. Maybe I am wrong. But I did watch her on there and I think she did an ok job but she just didn't fit with the show to me at all. Thats not her fault.

As for Claudia, I don't care how many people praise her performance, I thought the character was dreadful and the writing awful. I actually didnt care at all for how she played the character and there were rumors she and Bob Guza didn't agree on the characterization over time. I don't go by online buzz, I never have seen that translate to improvements in a show, all I can look at are GH's ratings during her tenure which went down to record lows. I don't blame SArah for the ratings,I think there is and has for years been a power struggle at GH and why the show overall lacks strong actresses because the show really doesnt want strong actresses. SHe outacted Steve Burton and Maurice Bernard for years on that show and GH can't have actresses outshine their pets. Look what happens when they get them like Megan Ward they get shown the door and not invited back. I think Sarah should have left after her first year as Claudia because the show wrote her character into a corner for the most part from the beginning.

See, I think Claudia was only meant to be a 1-2 year stint anyway (no matter what Guza says) -- same with Brenda. Sarah knew she was coming on to play a baddie, a twisted, conflicted baddie of course, and she played it to the hilt. Claudia being whacked by an axe-wielding Michael was in the cards from the very beginning.

Well a character like Claudia has a very short shelf life IMO anyway. I know Sarah was not happy when they let her go. There were some tweets she posted that I think were meant to be DM's to someone else in the cast that she quickly deleted where she blasted TPTB at GH. SHe might have left anyway at the end of her contract, but I think she was unhappy it wasn't her choice and probably never thought they would fire her. I felt bad for her when that happened because of the BS at GH, but then she landed the role on B&B so that was soon forgotten.

I'm a big fan of Sarah's.

Carly

I know many loved her as Carly because they viewed her as a villain. But, she was a lot more than that. She managed to evoke a lot of compassion and sympathy from viewers. She was the best Carly by a landslide. Of course, the writing was good back then. Truthfully, I didn't like Carly during her tenure [or any other]. Carly was never likable but she was compelling and entertaining when Sarah portrayed her.

Claudia

I felt like it was a bad idea to bring her back as an ultra-vixen. I didn't like Claudia anymore than Carly but most of the time, she was really written poorly, obsessed with Sonny which didn't do her any favors. I wholeheartedly disagree that Claudia was hard. Her scenes with Nikolas were wonderful albeit short-lived. The writers really missed the boat with those two. When she went to Wyndemere, they had some wonderful conversations, she showed vulnerability plus the chemistry. I did feel some sympathy for her especially when Sonny humiliated her and said he was happy their baby died.

Aggie

Poorly written but it didn't start out too bad. Aggie was isolated, traumatized. Sarah really sold it. But, after the first few months, it was like a bad afterschool special where you could predict every damn thing that happened plus I'm not a fan of JW so that didn't help.

Julia

I didn't care for Julia but I think that was the point. She was written as the interloper. I remember the vitriol spewed about her on the 'net, it was hilarious.

Madison

Madison is the most likable of all the characters Sarah has portrayed on soaps. I love her, loved her from the first episode. She's savvy, smart, sassy as Sarah described her and she's got tons of potential. I was surprised by her chemistry with Brady. Eric and Sarah are really selling it!

I would have put someone like Gina Tognoni, Ashley Jones or Heather Tom in the role.

Blah to the first two. I could see Heather Tom knock it out of the park though. Then again, when doesn't she?

I think Sarah should have left after her first year as Claudia because the show wrote her character into a corner for the most part from the beginning.

Your right she was put in a corner pretty much from the beginning, thanks to her being an accessory to Michael getting shot at the wearhouse. That haunted her ALL throughout her time on the show! And it was the reason she ended up getting killed and booted of the show. LOL

I think the biggest mistake was tying her to much to Sonny! That is never good! Sonny & Claudia should've never gotten married

Your right she was put in a corner pretty much from the beginning, thanks to her being an accessory to Michael getting shot at the wearhouse. That haunted her ALL throughout her time on the show! And it was the reason she ended up getting killed and booted of the show. LOL

I think the biggest mistake was tying her to much to Sonny! That is never good! Sonny & Claudia should've never gotten married

Claudia should have never happened. I am sorry Sonny or not I hated the character with a passion. At that point I had my fill of edgy leather clad slutty mob women on that show. The idea of bringing actors or actresses back to play other characters rarely works. They should have booted LW and had her return as Carly plain and simple. She originated the character, Sarah is who built and made that character popular. With the originator of the role returning like when JJ was rehired and Greg Vaughan was fired(as much as I hated that move) the audience would not have cared or pushed back.

Edited October 14, 201114 yr by JaneAusten

Well, it's not as if Lorenzo Lamas was ever highly regarded in the acting department. Bell's had a number of successes as well---he revitalized Lesli Kay for me. By the end of her ATWT stint, I'd completely written her off. Yet she stepped into Felicia's shoes with ease. He kept Ashley viable, Don Diamont shines with an unsuspected depth as compared to Y&R's Brad. I won't say Tom has better writing, but she's no longer the annoying child she was on Y&R either, and it would be easy to fall into the constant victim trap for her.

It's not to say he doesn't shoulder some blame...but I think once it became clear Aggie was more of a victim than SB cared to play, she no longer cared.

Yeah Lesli Kay is a really good example. After years of her crying about Jake and "my dotter" and being psycho and desperate I was so over her, then she went on B&B and she was fabulous.