Was Vanessa Marcil the Jennifer Lopez of daytime in the 90's?

[JONNYSBRO]

Vanessa Marcil is returning and we all know what kind of buzz. Her last return STUNK BAD with a bad storyline, bad acting and lets forget it. We can't forget I don't think I ever saw any actress get the kind of SUPERSTARDOM Marcil had the 90's. She was a MEGA MEGA SUPERSTAR. She was on like 200 covers of magazines, always on the cover of any magazine, huge promotion/press and IMO people have said she was the JLO of daytime in the 90's. Did u find VM to be extremely overated in the 90's? It also didn't help though ABC paid her tons of money and declared her the GODDESS OF GH. So was she the JLO of daytime in the 90's?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I hope you're talking about Lopez's career from 1999-2004. Because she's a desperate hasbeen these days.

[Angela]

I'm not sure where the J-Lo comparison comes from. In terms of things that stand out with Jennifer Lopez, I mostly think of the behind.

I do think VM became extremely popular within the Sonny and Jax triangle. I do think VM's first return to GH was off the chart in terms of ratings and magazine covers.

[VirginiaHamilton]

Here's the funny thing - as big a fan as I've always been of Brenda, I've never cared enough about her portrayer to follow her outside of that role.

Needless to say, I was surprised to find out that she was considered to be a soap supernova and that S&B (or Jax & Brenda) were considered a supercouple - as I figured that such recognition was reserved for the likes of Susan Lucci, Deidre Hall, Luke & Laura, or Bo & Hope (i.e.: the heroines during the golden age of the 80s). Sure, she crossed over into prime-time work, but I just never got the impression that she garnered that level of stardom.

All of this is to say that while I stan for Brenda Veronica Barrett all day every day, I've never deluded myself into believing that VM was on a JLo-level of stardom - much like I don't buy into the idea that Josh Duhamel (much as I loved him as Leo and adored GreenLeo) is this A+ list star that is on-par with Hugh Jackman or Matt Damon.

[Angela]

Oh, so this is more like was Vanessa Marcil as famous as J-Lo was at one point? No. I'd compare her to possibly Kristian Alfonso in the 1980s.

[VirginiaHamilton]

I'm curious as to why this SUPERSTARDOM (i.e.: booking enough prime-time work enough to come and go from daytime without skipping a beat) didn't extend to her as far onto her on-screen love interests MB & IR. The only one that, IMO, outshined her was ASJ during his CK days.

[Angela]

Good question. I feel that Ingo Radamacher, in particular, should have and could have parlayed that into more. It just never really happened for him. It may be because they suck around too long or they came back too quickly after leaving. I think IR left for a bit sometime in the 1990s, no?

[VirginiaHamilton]

I know that he'd left for about a year or two in the late 90s (or 2000).

I'm trying to think if he'd have had better luck if the TV climate were more accommodating to his type (classic soap hunk) when he'd left GH. From what I remember, grown folk primetime soaps weren't in at the time (teen primetime shows were everywhere) and I can't help but to think that if he'd have tried it five years earlier or later that he'd have had much better luck landing a successful role outside of soaps.

[carolineg]

I am not really sure how to answer this question. VM is certainly not a household name, but I think she probably is the female breakout soap star of the 90's. She was touted as the next big thing and had some success. I think she actually stayed a couple years too long on GH in the 90's. I think she would have had more success if she left right after she did the Rock. She has never lost the ability to create buzz and sell magazines for GH, even now. She is also someone who seems to be willing to drop into GH whenever they ask her and seems to really care about the character of Brenda and GH.

[DRW50]

Some people just don't have the right primetime look or charisma, depending on the era they try in. I think Ingo was one of those. He could have tried a little longer, he mostly seemed to give up after Titans flopped, but I also think he's someone whose charisma was in limited doses much of the time. He had some in his first year on GH and then I never saw it again until his brief story with Alexis.

[Juliajms]

He was on some night time soap with Victoria Principal, but it didn't last long. I think it was called Titans.

[VirginiaHamilton]

I'm not sure how old IR was during the time, but if he was in his late 30s, I can understand how a steady job on a soap opera (no matter how dreadful it was to him/his character after his first few years on the show) would seem more appealing than trying and failing to secure a primetime role/pilot/hit over and over again.

Still, as little as I cared about Jax (then and now), I, at least, give IR credit for showing up onscreen after he returned (in spite of the shitty material that he had to play out) instead of enacting his resentment towards failing to make it big out of soaps.

[KMan101]

I think she simply returns to get a check. She may love the character but she never sticks around and rarely has anything else major going on, but, I don't follow her much outside of the soap circle. I did watch her in Las Vegas because I liked the show. I think she's done some Hallmark movies, LOL.

Her last return really kinda soured me a little bit. I hope this return is better. I remember always seeing her on SID as "COMING HOME" "BRENDA'S BACK!" and it would amount to nothing LOL. It was hilarious. She does sell magazines I guess.

[carolineg]

I think she works steadily enough to pay the bills. She's not super famous, but she does book stuff. I am suprised she doesn't just stay on GH at this point in her career. She is in her forties now and I don't think she is gonna break out and make it huge. She has a decent niche as a soap star, so I don't understand why she doesn't take the oppurtunity to cash in while she still can. She still has a very large and loyal following even though her last return was pretty much universally despised and clearly still sells magazines, as she is on both 50th anniversary covers and every issue of SID ever. I love her and think she really could have been a star if she managed her career better in the mid to late 90's when she had some buzz, but now she will always be known for being Brenda. I assume she will pop in and out of GH until it's cancelled.

[OldGHFan]

I've always liked Brenda and Vanessa. And I like how VM doesn't seem to turn her nose down on GH or daytime. That said, her last return (and all the promotion that went with it) really turned me off. ABC was acting like she was the second coming of Jesus Christ. I didn't watch. I hope they don't hype her up too much this time. She's just one of over 1,800 other actors that have appeared on this show. Some were bigger than her on GH and some were bigger than her after GH. Please do not overhype her ABC!!