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All: Characters who left and never returned


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How about Cricket Montgomery from ATWT? Here was a character related to Craig, Margo and Katie and she is never seen again? Not only that, but once someone asked Craig about his family, and he talked about his TWO sisters!

To a much lesser degree, there was the boy that Tom and Margo planned to raise...Jeremy, whose mother Dawn died of AIDS. Sent off to school, and never seen again.

But I have to agre with the earlier poster who mentioned Steve Andropolous. Here was a character who, as one half of a super couple, carried the show for two straight years, and suddenly sells drugs, is shipped off to a Greek prison, and is never seen again. Ridiculous.

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You're right: the circumstances behind Steve's exit were ridiculous. In fact, I think it's one of the few, real, avoidable mistakes that Doug Marland made during his second stint at ATWT, if not in his entire career.

On the other hand, I think Marland had an unenviable task before him where Steve and Betsy were concerned. IIRC, he remarked in an interview around that time that he saw Steve and Betsy as a "limited" couple, but acknowledged how popular they had been with the audience, and how invested they had become in their romance and wedding. He attempted to break up the two organically, through Steve's pre-established tendency toward being prideful. However, I think that got lost amidst the craziness of the exit itself.

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He also tried to set up an Iva/Steve story too, but that was cut short.

That was quite a stark ending for Steve, although Lindsey Frost's work was incredible in the aftermath (one of the most realistic actresses ever on soaps).

I know Runyeon implied later on that he had a big ego during his ATWT days, so I can imagine how that came across, especially since Marland and the EP at the didn't take fools gladly (and the EP also had some type of issues with Tonya Pinkins, or so she said).

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Here's my theory: Marland, in tandem with then-EP Robert Calhoun, had a game-plan for when he returned to AS THE WORLD TURNS in '85. Yes, he wanted to bring the Hugheses back front-and-center. However, he also wanted to "youth-ify" the show, since stories about younger characters (and young romances, in particular) had become his sort-of calling card; hence, the introduction and integration of the Snyder clan. However, in order to accomplish these two tasks, Marland and Calhoun basically needed to clear the decks of what remained from the previous era, shepherded by previous EP Mary-Ellis Bunim -- something which Calhoun had been trying to do, in fact, since he assumed control of the show the previous year ('84). Unfortunately, I think the two men came to look at characters like Steve, Heather (Tonya Pinkins' characters) and others -- characters who, in several cases, might have had greater prominence under the previous regime -- as not really fitting into their idea of bringing ATWT back-to-basics.

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That's true, and they phased out other fairly prominent younger characters in that group (Stewart, Marcy, Jay, Kevin). I think it was probably the right idea, although I do think characters like Marcy had a very fun quirkiness which Marland's younger heroines consistently lacked on ATWT.

Speaking of characters phased out in that era, we should mention Maggie and Frank. Maggie ceased to exist for the remainder of ATWT. I have never understood why.

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I'd add Maggie Crawford to the list. As much as I look up to Marland, I don't understand what he held against that character (to the point of writing her out and never mentioning her again).

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Ive always found it interesting that days often mentions Sarah Horton and Eric Brady, and create new hortons and bradys all the time, but never bring those two back.

And Princess Greta, who left with a huge mystery never being solved (whos her daddy? john? stefano?) and was never brought back.

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