None of these characters left in 1997. Dylan, Jessica, Sly and Jasmine were written off in the fall of 1996 after their stories had ended. Maggie lasted until March 1998, and James left in February 1999.

The biggest exodus happened in 2002 when they got rid of Taylor, Whip, Ziggy, Sheila, CJ, Antonio, Kristen, Zende, Erica and Sofia within the span of several weeks.

Some secondary characters who did disappear in 1997 was Michael Lai (female), Claudia Cortez (Lilly Melgar, recently killed off GH and wasted on B&B ), and Enrique (?), played by George Alvarez. I remember the latter 2 were introduced around November 1996 right before they switched Thornes. Enrique flirted with Michael but it went nowhere. Claudia crushed on Thorne and Macy gave her a bitchy "stay away from my husband" warning.

I think all 3 were last seen at a Forrester pool party in summer '97.

Edited June 23, 201213 yr by Gray Bunny

The Cortez story was one of Brad Bell's many dubious social issue stories, which were quickly dropped. Claudia was working at Forrester illegally (I believe they had no idea of this, or something), supporting her family - most of whom vanished in about a week or so. Macy was jealous and she called INS and Claudia was almost deported. This led to Winsor Harmon's Thorne divorcing Macy by fax.

B&B really lost its way in about 1994, IMO.

Michael first appeared in the summer of 1995 and had a fling with Dylan, who was also her roommate. Then she had a short-lived romance with Grant Chambers but he married Brooke instead. Both Michael and Enrique were also suspects in the "Who shot Grant?" storyline. When that was cleared up, the two characters vanished without a trace in May 1997.

Claudia and Enrique also had a mutual backstory. I think his father was responsible for her family having to flee the fictional country of San Carlos or whatever its name was. It was a poor attempt at some "Romeo & Juliet" story.

Claudia's brother was Lucien. They and her mother lived in some shack in the outskirts of L.A. But as Carl pointed out, they vanished as soon as Claudia was taken in by the Forresters. I think Claudia lived in the poolhouse for a while.

There was huge wasted potential with Lindsay Price, who had a real charisma and sex appeal, Dylan Neal, who was a charismatic and appealing junior leading man, and Maitland Ward, who had a directness and vulnerability which cut through some of the crap she was given. At the time SOD said, rightfully, that they had no idea why B&B turned a summer love story into a misery plot about statutory rape. And that was what Jessica was forever stuck in - depressing and unpleasant social issue stories. Sadly that was the best younger group they had, and they were wasted.

DAYS question: When EJ first came to Salem SORAS'd as racecar driver EJ Wells, how was it revealed why he was using the surname Wells? He knew he was a DiMera the whole time he was at boarding school (correct?), so was he simply hiding his DiMera heritage or why did he go by that surname? I can't remember the reveal but I remember the weird racecar driving Days and him moving into Sami's apartment building. Obviously it was to temporarily hide his identity from the audience but I'm trying to remember how it played out onscreen and when Stefano returned in the scheme of that story.

I'm convinced something happened behind the scenes to make EJ well EJ. It was such a rapid change and such a complete game changer that I am almost certain it didn't happen as it was planned. I think someone just decided they needed an antagonist for the rest of Salem and they whipped this up real quick. It was simply such a complete change to go from one extreme to the next.

Hogan Sheffer.

There was huge wasted potential with Lindsay Price, who had a real charisma and sex appeal, Dylan Neal, who was a charismatic and appealing junior leading man, and Maitland Ward, who had a directness and vulnerability which cut through some of the crap she was given. At the time SOD said, rightfully, that they had no idea why B&B turned a summer love story into a misery plot about statutory rape. And that was what Jessica was forever stuck in - depressing and unpleasant social issue stories. Sadly that was the best younger group they had, and they were wasted.

Agreed.

And to add to that group of characters was Jasmine Malone, played by Lark Voorhies. She disappeared without a mention after Sly's bar burned down after the rape reveal. How do you waste a talent like Lisa Turtle? Though DAYS wasted her too.

Where did Greenlee go during her two year hiatus from Pine Valley? Did she ever say?

Some Y&R questions:

- When were "Newman Enterprises" created? I know Victor first worked for Kay, I know he bought Jabot in 1989 but I don't know how he dealt with business in between.

- I always wondered about the contract/recurring status of a few actors on the show: Carolyn Conwell, Anthony Pena, Patty Weaver, even Brett Halsey or Nathan Purdee (who seemed to have been off the show in 1988-1989). When you look at the closing credits, they are sometimes credites on contract and sometimes on recurring. Would love to know the exact dates.

How did a husband stealing sociopath become the saint of Genoa City?

Who exactly was Gina Roma (Patty Weaver) other than being related to Danny Romalotti? And when was the last time we saw her? Was she the forever peripheral restaurant owner who would bring people their menu and eavesdrop on conversations?

Gina was a con artist who'd been in prison for a while and then reformed. Her biggest stories were when she dated Lauren's father Neil (they broke up after he found out about her past, through Lauren's schemes), and then when she married Clint Madison, not knowing that he'd kidnapped Esther and Katherine and replaced Katherine with a double.

She was last seen on a news broadcast in 2009, ranting about what a terrible person Kevin is.

Where did Greenlee go during her two year hiatus from Pine Valley? Did she ever say?

Anyone know?

I've asked this before, but does anyone remember if Eric Braeden was written off Y&R to accomodate his role in Titanic? I don't recall him missing alot of episodes in 1996 and 1997.