And in some cases (as with Collier, Luckinbill, Mark Lawson, John Loprieno, Cornelius Smith, Nathaniel Marston, Scott Reeves, Don Diamont) often grow into solid B (sometimes even A) story Leading men.

I'd agree with that (edited) list and raise you a Jon Hensley, who did some fine work in the later years of ATWT.

James DePaiva is another example. After watching the 1987 OLTL episode from the Soapnet marathon earlier this year, it was apparent that he may not have started out strong, but when he learned, he learned VERY quickly.

Yup.

Anna Stuart was probably one of the only ones who still gave it her all, and even she said had the show not been canceled, she would have left anyway.

Anna Stuart just rocked my world on AW. It saddens me that her work has gone generally unnoticed in the daytime community for over 30 years, but at least she's been employed the majority of the time. I'm hoping and guessing that Stuart was saving her nickels in the days where a soap vet could make a handsome living. Plus, she never phoned it in and made acting look so effortless. She's so real at times that it's easy to forget she's acting- even when she's given material that allows for it, Stuart never goes for showy with her performances.

I think that some of them were never quite the same, in part because of bad material and too many production and writing changes, but I think some of the younger cast (Judi Evans, Lisa Peluso, Kim Rhodes) and some revived talents (Stephen Schnetzer, Ellen Wheeler) helped make up for it. Although the Cameron/Josie/Amanda and Matt/Sofia/Nick stuff was a black hole.

I actually liked Amanda/Cameron/Josie/Gary- it helped that Michael Rodrick (Cameron) was well-cast and had tons of charisma and that Sandra Reinhardt was back as Amanda. And though she was no Amy Carlson, Nadine Stenovich was passable (and a total ringer for Carlson).

Frankly, most of the material generated for AW's younger actors were like agonizing pits of despair. For a long time before Chris Goutman's arrival, and the show seemed to make one last push for survival, it was as if AW, for its actors, was more about killing time, collecting paychecks, and waiting to see when (and not if) NBC would drop the old axe.

Actually, I'd say the show turned a corner when Richard Culliton became HW in '98. From there through Goutman's EP stint, the show seemed to get better. The actors were showing up again and the writing was mostly there. I wish he'd stayed HW through the end- I think Goutman/Culliton would have been a dream team for AW if given the chance.

But then my love for ATWT never would have happened so alas, it wasn't meant to be.

I think there was some bad stuff in summer/fall 1998 after Culliton was given a reduced role, but I did enjoy his material in early 1998. The AW stuff from that time is showing up on Youtube in more complete form and I think it holds up well. I also thought that month or so was the closest we got to seeing a more fiery Vicky again, although it didn't last.

I liked Sandra Reinhardt and Cameron was OK, and I really liked the hot Gary recast, I just never got into the story.

I can see the actor's challenge for VW and her Justine. Actually, I think the actress who played Justine in the flashbacks had an easier task. As Carl said, there was the trap there for VW, Justine was essentiallly written as a nuttier version of her earlier Rachel so I'm sure she sought out ways to delineate the two, and she went with an almost moustache twirling, early Carl (Charles Keating, not our Carl) type character. One of my best friends in high school was an AW fan and I remember her saying that she had to catch up with AW because she caught an ep and "Rachel, the sorta Erica character on that show, was actin' weird"... I had happened to catch some AW during that time and informed her that was not in fact Rachel, but Justine...

"Sorta Erica" - had your friend last watched AW in 1973?

I'd agree with that (edited) list and raise you a Jon Hensley, who did some fine work in the later years of ATWT.

Yep. And Michael Park too.

Who would have thought that by the end of ATWT they would be the show's most solid leading men?

I read an article once that said the original Justine storyline was good on paper and that you would have only seen Justine once, then I believe the writing staff changed and NBC kept sending notes to make the story more outrageous. Sometimes this stuff is just out of the actor's hands so I don't blame VW for the way she played it. I do blame her for that weird faux British accent she was using in the final years of the show.

I do blame her for that weird faux British accent she was using in the final years of the show.

Yeah, what was that? Since when does a girl from the wrong side of the tracks in this country sound like Dame Edith Evans?

James Scott

I was disappointed when he didn't leave. EJ Dimera is the most pointless and useless character I've ever seen in daytime. I even have a death list for the character. I just don't understand why they overuse him so much. An accent doesn't make you a good actor. And his blinking drives me insane.

Totally agree about ATWT having the best acting ensemble. Can you imagine Drake Hogestyn or Ronn Moss doing scenes with Maura West or Larry Bryggmann or Kathleen Widdoes or Michael Park, etc. ? In fairness, though, I have to say that the show did have the all-time worst daytime actor ever (excluding PASSIONS, of course). Remember the Paul Ryan from the '90s, John Howard? I don't think he ever had an acting lesson in his life.

But getting back to the topic at hand, the worst actors/actresses in daytime:

1) Drake Hogestyn

2) Charity Rahmer

3) Ronn Moss

4) Clayton Norcross (the first Thorne Forrester)

5) Roger Howarth

I couldn't (respectfully) disagree more on Roger Howarth. Wasn't Charity on DAYS for like 2 weeks about 8 years ago? And at least Ronn is hilariously bad. I love his scarves!

Steve Burton, Maurice Bernard, Kelli Sullivan, the "actress" who plays Kristina on GH, Drake Hogestyn, Galen Gering, McKenzie Westmore, Andrew Trischitta, TSJ, JPL, Farah Fath, David Gregory, Bree Williamson (but she's entertainingly bad as Wes), Tracey Ross, Amelia Marshall, Danica Stewart, Michael Easton, Laura Wright, Nafessa Williams, Lenny Platt, Nic Robuck, Josh Taylor, Patrick Muldoon, Chandler Massey, the actress that used to play Celeste on DAYS

Edited June 10, 201213 yr by Mathewson

EJ Dimera is the most pointless and useless character I've ever seen in daytime.

Well, I wouldn't go that far -- I've actually seen characters even less important to their shows than E.J. -- but he is pretty [!@#$%^&*] useless.

Edited June 10, 201213 yr by Khan

Wasn't Charity on DAYS for like 2 weeks about 8 years ago?

About. Which is the most supreme testament to her awfulness, if you ask me.

I'm dying for Rahmer to receive her own VH1 reality series, SWEET CHARITY, about her quest to reclaim the role of Belle.

The whole Justine topic made me realize that sometimes a dual role can reveal just how limited (or talented) an actor or actress really is. I enjoyed David Canary and Martha Byrne as Adam and Lily, but their turns as Stuart and Rose really made me stand up and take notice. They created two characters totally different than what they had played for years. And they didn't go for the easy "evil twin", they played characters that were just different. But VW's Justine and Adrienne Frantz' April showed just how limited those actress' could be when they went beyond their range. I haven't made my mind up about Jennifer Landon's Gwen/Cleo. I KNOW Cleo was terrible, but JL seemed to be having such a good time with the role, I just can't hate it.

I haven't made my mind up about Jennifer Landon's Gwen/Cleo. I KNOW Cleo was terrible, but JL seemed to be having such a good time with the role, I just can't hate it.

That's alright. I can hate it enough for the both of us.

The whole Justine topic made me realize that sometimes a dual role can reveal just how limited (or talented) an actor or actress really is. I enjoyed David Canary and Martha Byrne as Adam and Lily, but their turns as Stuart and Rose really made me stand up and take notice. They created two characters totally different than what they had played for years. And they didn't go for the easy "evil twin", they played characters that were just different. But VW's Justine and Adrienne Frantz' April showed just how limited those actress' could be when they went beyond their range. I haven't made my mind up about Jennifer Landon's Gwen/Cleo. I KNOW Cleo was terrible, but JL seemed to be having such a good time with the role, I just can't hate it.

I thought JL was hilarious as Cleo. I know how hated that storyline was amongst most viewers but I loved it, train tracks and all lol. It was so outrageously tacky.