I was surprised that Lillian Raines lasted so long on GL, especially since she rarely had a story, she became a hate figure with fans in 1993 and this took years to get past, not to mention she had no family whatsoever on the show for fairly lengthy periods of time (1986-1989, 1991-1997). Supposedly Tina Sloan (Lillian) took a very minimal salary, as she was wealthy in real life and wasn't working for the money. If so I guess that would explain it.

Edited October 20, 201213 yr by CarlD2

Jan Spears DOOL should have lasted longer. The second actress who played her brought such fun to the role, that there had to be some way to keep her going just to let Jan stay insane and do crazy things.

Amen to that one!

ATWT's Molly -- I'm surprised she lasted past 2001.... her original stories had played out and it would've been no big loss for her to go then. Sheffer transitioned her to date & eventually marry Jake, and then when he died I'm surprised she survived again. When Lesli Kay left to go to GH the character had become completely tiresome and I'm shocked the recast the role. She survived over and over again when she could've easily been cut. That said, I thought Lesli Kay was a breath of fresh air when she returned in the last year. She's like that annoying little sister that you can't help but love I guess.

ATWT's Elena Goode as Jade I thought should've lasted longer. I loved how she was a trainwreck who stirred [!@#$%^&*] wherever she went and I thought the actress was stunning and very good for the role. The recast was awful and useless.

Y&R's Davetta Sherwood as Lily... the firing honestly shocked me. I should have seen it coming.

Fans wanted Molly's blood in 1999, and had never been fond of her in the first place. At the time I was a little surprised Goutman kept her. I guess it worked out though, as she was a very solid part of the show until they killed off Jake.

Edited October 21, 201213 yr by CarlD2

I'm surprised Donna Logan (as played by Jennifer Gareis) is still around at B&B. She's been completely useless ever since her marriage to Eric ended.

B&B has different rules though. They are perfectly content to have characters stick around for years and years doing nothing. If anything, a sudden spike in airtime after years of nothing can be a bad thing. Ask Darla. I'm honestly more surprised when B&B cuts someone after years of nothing, though the last 5 years they have been a little more willing to do so.

Totally agree with Elena Goode's Jade not lasting long enough. I really enjoyed her part, especially when they developed her more. It was never the same after Goode left and like a year later they brought on the horrid recast.

I'm surprised Gina (Patty Weaver) on Y&R stuck around. She rarely had a story of her own, sang every once in a while and her lines mostly consisted of asking if someone would like a table. They then went and burned down Gina's and she has since disappeared.

Kurt Costner (Leigh J. McCloskey) on Y&R. His character had potential and they were going to pair him with Ashley (played by awful Shari Shattuck). They then put him with Hope out of the blue and wrote him out quickly. By that time the show was already obsessed with Nick and Sharon as they still are today. Kurt could have been paired with other female characters.

I will go ahead and say it and get it out of my system. I hate Nick and Sharon guts with a passion. I have hated them since the start. Their storylines are like watching someone get murdered on a daily basis.

Y&R's Cane Ashby and Kevin Fisher. How on earth are these two epic fails still on the show?

Primetime soaps examples:

Stuck around too long:

Claudia Blaisdell, Dynasty -- The show re-tooled itself to great success in season 2. Shockingly Claudia stuck around and she never ever fit in on the new Dynasty. I'm truly baffled as to why they kept her of all the characters that were dumped after season 1. She eventually died in a fire and was never mentioned again after 5 seasons of being lobotomized and awkward.

Didn't stick around long enough:

Linda, Knots Landing. Some fans consider the second half of Knots Landing to be better than the first; I am not among them. To me anything after season 7 is sub-par and anything after season 10 is really really sub-par. But Linda was a bright spot. Terrific actress, complex character, the heir apparent to Abby that they had been searching for since season 8. And this was the next Abby, bitchy but upwardly mobile and so rootable, so of course they randomly killed her for a plot that resolved itself in 2 episodes. That made *perfect* sense.

I thought Claudia was needed, mostly because Pamela Bellwood pulled off that tragic, little girl lost demeanor in a way no other actresses on the show could, but they probably did keep her a season too long.

I totally agree about Linda. I think Lar was going to leave anyway but she might have stayed around a little longer and there was no excuse for that death scene, which destroyed everything Knots was supposed to represent.

Edited October 22, 201213 yr by CarlD2

No one epitomizes this subject to me more than Miss Vienna Hyatt of As the World Turns. I was CONSTANTLY wondering why in the heck the dayplayer Simon was boning on a cruise ship was still on the show.

should have stuck around longer....

Brandy, ATWT---around 2002, Virginia Williams knocked it out of the park as a scheming little bitch---a literal breath of fresh air after years of the pure Lucy Montgomery and the ditzified Alison McDermott. Especially considering the only other woman between 18 and 25 was Katie, who was being whitewashed & perkified, and the 30ish troublemakers like Carly and Molly were making the same mistakes over and over. She started out bedding Adam, then somehow ended up tangled up in one of Craig's schemes---which seemed like a build up to being integrated into some more adult story. Instead she got killed off by Stenbeck in a ludicrous plot to frame Paul.

should have left sooner....

well, mostly anyone hired in the last five years on ATWT...but honestly, after Mike left, Katie became completely superflous.

GL's Ava. Ugh.

B&B

Should have stuck around much longer:

Morgan deWitt. She was the villain the show needed after Sheila was gone. Morgan was the perfect loon from the fashion world who could have stirred up the Forresters for ages to come.

Felicia/Kristen: Either one of them should have become the next true Mrs. Forrester instead of Brooke or Taylor. I'd prefer Felicia, since Kristen has always been a bit bland. But maybe a good recast would have worked.

C.J./Kimberly/Becky. Instead of introducing the Marones, they could have built a new Spectra generation around these three. That would have been a thousand times more interesting than all the things the Marones ever did. The Marones were on the show for more than 7 years, but they have not made a lasting impression other than screwing up the show's history by making Ridge Massimo's son.

William deVry's Storm. He was sexy, he had chemistry with almost everyone (yet he was never even given the chance to develop a serious relationship because Ridge and Nick were much more important), and there were tons of storylines waiting to be explored. But of course he was thrown under the bus.

Stuck around too long:

The Marones. All of them.

Ashley Jones's Bridget and Kyle Lowder's Rick. They were both miscast and all of their pairings sucked.

B&B

Should have stuck around much longer:

Morgan deWitt. She was the villain the show needed after Sheila was gone. Morgan was the perfect loon from the fashion world who could have stirred up the Forresters for ages to come.

Felicia/Kristen: Either one of them should have become the next true Mrs. Forrester instead of Brooke or Taylor. I'd prefer Felicia, since Kristen has always been a bit bland. But maybe a good recast would have worked.

C.J./Kimberly/Becky. Instead of introducing the Marones, they could have built a new Spectra generation around these three. That would have been a thousand times more interesting than all the things the Marones ever did. The Marones were on the show for more than 7 years, but they have not made a lasting impression other than screwing up the show's history by making Ridge Massimo's son.

William deVry's Storm. He was sexy, he had chemistry with almost everyone (yet he was never even given the chance to develop a serious relationship because Ridge and Nick were much more important), and there were tons of storylines waiting to be explored. But of course he was thrown under the bus.

Stuck around too long:

The Marones. All of them.

Ashley Jones's Bridget and Kyle Lowder's Rick. They were both miscast and all of their pairings sucked.

THIS -- especially the bolded -- SO much. Killing off Storm was one of the worst SL decisions Brad Bell ever made. I thought he was compelling to watch. And Morgan was wonderful, played by the always-committed and vixeny Sarah Buxton.

For NuKristen I submit Maura West or (and this was juniorz idea) Brenda Epperson.

Edited October 22, 201213 yr by Cat

Maura West as Kristen!!!! YES Gawd!!!!