Your acceptance of recasts

[DRW50]

The show never made an effort.

This is what I would get when I would ask anyone why Craig was suddenly a monster.

"He blew up a truck! This isn't new! This is the *real* Craig!"

That's it. And nothing ever happened after that to try to explain it. In the end, 5-10 years of failure and disastrous writing choices were condensed to, "He blew up a truck."

[Khan]

So, who was the Craig those years after the truck explosion, when he worked hard to make amends for past misdeeds, and eventually redeemed himself to build a family with Sierra? Was that dude an impostor? Did Ron Carlivati briefly head-write AS THE WORLD TURNS and explain to the audience how Bart Montgomery replaced RealCraig with FakeCraig in order to mess with Lyla for sleeping with John Dixon and having his baby?

Oh, Carl. I am so sorry you had to deal with those who knew nothing just to get one, simple answer. You should've been hanging with us at the GL Buzz board. We might have explained all to you -- or at least, we might've commiserated with you.

[DRW50]

I think at one time the show or fans also claimed it was because Sierra left him (during Bryce's 93-94 return) or cheated on him, but that was never fleshed out and not enough justification for Craig to, among other things, emotionally cripple his children and murder several people in cold blood.

If people enjoyed Block's Craig, I got that. We all enjoy different things. It was the, "This is the true him, this is all he was supposed to be," stuff that annoyed me. It was a big slap in the face to Bryce and Doug Marland, among others.

[Khan]

I recall that "explanation," too. Sierra left him; ergo, Craig reverted to his former ways. I could believe Sierra leaving him, but I couldn't believe Craig would have regressed so far. He'd been devastated, and might have "acted out" some. However, when you consider how much his family loved him once upon a time, and how devoted he was to his and Sierra's kids...I'm sorry, I just can't see it. But, then again, I have a hard time with characters de-volving in general.

[Gray Bunny]

ITA with basically everything on JtSmarts's list, including not taking to Patrick Muldoon's return stint (I also started watching DAYS with Peck in the role, but was definitely familiar with Muldoon's previous work thru old episodes, Melrose Place, etc.)

I also preferred Mark Valley in the role of DAYS' Jack since I started with him, so it was an adjustment to see Matt Ashford play the role so squirrelly and comical.

It was easy to warm up to Martha Madison's Belle after that disastrous 1-month run with Charity Rahmer. When you think of what you *could've* been watching, any alternative was a welcome change.

I warmed up to a lot of actors eventually, but it was like a pale imitation of the original, instead of becoming the role on their own. Such people that come to mind are: Julie Pinson as Billie, Martha Madison as Belle, Brandon Beemer as Shawn (he was just too pretty to be Bo's son), Stephanie Cameron as Jennifer, Nancy St. Alban as GL's Michelle Bauer, Justin Torkildsen as B&B's Rick.

I like Eric Martsolf, I just think he's miscast as DAYS' Brady. Too old to be Eric and Sami's younger step-brother.

Never took a liking to the following:

Stephen Martinez as GL's Tony Santos

Nicole Forrester as GL's Cassie Layne

Bonnie Dennison as GL's Daisy LeMay

John Ingle as DAYS' Mickey Horton

Steve Wilder as DAYS' Jack Deveraux

Signy Coleman as GL's Annie Dutton

Recasts that I instantly look a liking to:

Winsor Harmon as B&B's Thorne

Laura Bell Bundy as GL's Marah

Heather Lindell as DAYS' Jan (when you consider the original, there was nowhere to go but up!)

Gina Tognoni as GL's Dinah (had she instantly been recast when Wendy Moniz left in 1999, I would not have felt the same)

Jason Cook as DAYS' Shawn-D

I think it's interesting to think back of the progression of some younger characters as they were aged throughout the years, and you had your good replacements and your bad replacements. For instance, we saw GL's Marah go from Kimberly J. Brown (good!) to Lauren Mayhew (bad!) to Laura Bell Bundy (good!) to Lindsay McKeon (eh, had to warm up to that one). Then there was Lizzie Spaulding, plus so many others.

[Khan]

And thus, DAYS' sinister strategy worked brilliantly. [/conspiracy theory]

[cct]

Instantly (and surprisingly accepted):

Robin Mattson as Janet (AMC)

hated they brought back Kate Collins, but then was OK with it, when I saw all they wanted to do was make her into a cartoon to begin with.

Alicia Minshew as Kendall (AMC)

her Kendall was vastly different than SMG; both worked for me for what we needed at the time, despite the fact Minshew was green when she first arrived

(Might've Been) Accepted:

Kelly Giddish as almost-Dixie (AMC)

As much as I was pleased Dixie was alive and well in the form of Cady McClain (which of course, they botched), I truly enjoyed the is-she-or-isn't-she game they played with Giddish and Di.

Accepted (with time):

Christina Bennet Lind as Bianca (AMC)

Every Bianca prior to Riegel had been bloody awful. Thought Riegel may have been irreplaceable. Then comes Lind. With more time, I think she could've overcome Riegel's legacy.

Do These Count Acceptance?:

Jacob Young as JR and Justin Bruenig as Jamie (AMC)

They were children before. I suppose the same could be said for Riegel.

(Begrudgingly) accepted:

Lee Meriwether as Ruth (AMC)

I was OK, but she was always "Fake Ruth" to me

Jamie Luner as Liza (AMC)

Completely not Marcy's Liza, but I was OK

Chrishell Stause as Amanda (AMC)

See above with child-to-adult transition. What took time with Amanda was that she had been played as a "smart tomboy" as a child, and Stause was first given "sultry vixen" when she showed up as an adult. Eventually I came to really like Stause's Amanda, once she was toned down.

Amanda Baker as Babe (AMC)

She didn't really work as Babe, but I didn't mind her so much. I was distracted by...

NEVER accepted:

Sabine Singh as Greenlee (AMC)

shrill and grating; grateful to see "Real Greenlee" return despite the awful way they treated Singh and the lackluster return of Budig

Brianna Moncrief as Colby (AMC)

First Colby couldn't really act, and third Colby will be far better remembered for her luscious locks; this Colby was atrocious. And wasn't it said she played a Bada-Bing girl in The Sopranos? WTF?!!

Whoever-the-Hell-That-Was as Taylor Roxbury-Cannon (AMC)

Ingrid Rodgers all the way

2nd Pierce (Greg-something-or-other) as Pierce (AMC)

Loved 1st Pierce; we know why he was gone, came to accept Max Caufield as 3rd Pierce, but by then he was played out

Anthony Addabo as Dmitri (AMC)

Uh....no

[Melroser]

I forgot about Taylor Miller as Sally on AW. Hated her!

Paige on OLTL was another issue. I don't even remember the name of who took over after Kimberlin Brown but it was just awful. Could not stand her anytime she was on. I did love Alex Neil tho instantly as Paige and did until the end even while the character was so poorly written. I think mainly because the actress before her was so bad and I still have an affection for Alex because of Ruby on Texas.

[marceline]

LOL! So true. I liked the actor from GL but casting him as Dimitri was so much WTF? This is another case where I think a lot of us just go along with a recast because we know that the original actor is never coming back.

It's a UO on this board but I loved Eden Riegel. For a long time after I'd kind of given up on AMC, I used to return to and leave the show with ER. (Then came the Zarf story which made me regret doing even that.) But in spite of my deep and abiding love for Riegel, I did grow to love CBL. I think she was a perfect recast even though I missed ER. I can honestly say that the Bianca recast caused me a lot of conflict as a soap fangurl. LOL! But I agree with you that with time, she could've become the definitive Bianca for a lot of the audience.

Cady Huffman and she was actually my favorite Paige. (Different strokes, right?) The fact that all three actresses interpreted the character so differently is a good indication to me of just how poorly conceived Paige was.

[Becki]

One that took me a while, but I did finally accept was Heather Tom as Kelly Cramer on OLTL. I kept watching and saying to myself, "Why is Victoria Newman on OLTL?" But eventually I grew to enjoy her in the role.

[darraholic]

Accepted:

Martha Madison (Belle)

Heather Lindell (Jan)

Krista Allen (Billie)

Matthew Ashford (Jack)

Mark Valley (Jack)

John Martin (Bill)

Lauren Koslow (Kate) It took me a long time. I adore Adair's Kate as well. It was just in the last year or so when I've started to accept Lauren.

Mary Beth Evans (Kayla)

Renee Jones (Lexie)

Sandra Nelson (Phyllis)

Never Accepted:

Josh Taylor (Roman)

Charity Rahmer (Belle)

Stephanie Cameron (Jennifer)

Steve Wilder (Jack)

Sarah Aldrich (Victoria)

Amelia Heine (Victoria)

[Quent]

I loved Margaret Colin as Margo Hughes, and was horrified when they replaced her with Hillary B Smith ... so much so that I vowed to stop watching the show. Of course I didn't, which was good because not only did I eventually learn to accept HBS, but she became my favorite Margo of the four actresses who played her. She had such chemistry with Gregg Marx (Tom) and Ben Hendrickson (Hal). She never really had much rapport with Scott Holmes, though.

As for recasts I never accepted... this would be any actor who followed the great Scott Bryce in the role of Craig Montgomery. Hunt Block was entertaining, but he was a one-note cartoon, and had none of the "inner conflict" that SB brought to the role. Jeff Meek was actually pretty good in the short stint he had, but his dark looks made him a better candiate to play a Stenbeck. Worst of them all was Jon Lindstrom, who made the character non-threatening, inconsequential, and (worst of all) boring.

[Soapsuds]

Hunt Block. I started warming up to him during the whole Bryant death storyline but after that I started hating the recast because they made him one note and so cartoonish. Scott Bryce will always be Craig to me.

HBS was a great recast and the best Margo.

Ellen Dolan- Started warming up to her during the whole rape storyline but after that she became such a boring stale Margo.

[P.J.]

A better actor could have made the sketchy motivation (as poor a device as it was) for Craig work. Block rarely made an emotional connection to anything other than whatever muchie he was stuffing into his mouth. Cady McClain managed to make me believe it was possible Rosanna went stone-cold bitch in her time away from Oakdale. (And I was laughing my ass off when I read about that recast in SOW. AMC's goodytwoshoes is going to do what? Maura will eat her alive!! I told myself.)

If you wanna talk whiplash....I'll submit Paul Ryan going insane over RohsefromJoisey, faking his death and coming back as NotTodd from OLTL.

[Soapsuds]

Ewww...the only Paul for me was Andrew Kavovit.