Soap Characters who were always "written to win".

[ellabelle]

Theresa was SO awful that I automatically hated Cara the moment she showed up in Pine Valley because she was played by the same actress... and so far on nuAMC, I haven't been given any reason to actually like the character. I was Team Gwen because no wealthy man in real life leaves the beautiful, intelligent, classy woman he loves to be with the maid's psychotic daughter who is obsessed with him.

[Cheap21]

I just saw this scene and thought it was so appropriate for this thread

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"You win. Congratulations, but then again, you always do" Truer words have never been spoken

[frequentsoapfan]

I don't like LH's acting period. She always falls back on her one trick which is crying her eyes out. I hated Arianna on DAYS too who pretty much came on so they could write Theresa and Ethan: The Honeymoon Years. I was Team Nicole. From what I saw of Cara on AMC I didnt like.

[katie_9918]

GH's Sabrina is approaching this point. This passive-aggressive bitch is loved by all except the Designated Villain to her Designated Heroine and she hasn't had to answer for or be ostracized for any of her passive-aggressive bullshyt. She treats her best friend (another passive-aggressive bitch, so maybe like likes like there?) like a personal servant and he still loves her. I can't stand that bitch and her crazy fans on other boards make me like her even less.

Also that piece of garbage EJ DiMera. He wins almost every time and even when he loses he gets some kind of consolation prize.

[JtSmarts]

Agree wholeheartedly about EJ, that is one of the reasons I can't tolerate Dool now. I also echo the sentiments about Victor Newman, Brooke, Stephanie Forrester, Greenlee, Ryan, Sabrina etc. I have to admit I did love Theresa though . .

[VirginiaHamilton]

I actually like Cara (mainly because LH was finally given the chance to play a grown woman who I didn't watch to dropkick off a cliff), which is why I blame the loathsomeness of Terrorsita on the fool that tried to sell her as the lead soap heroine of that show.

Normally, I have no problem with the whole girl-from-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks-getting-the-rich-guy-away-from-the-snobby-rich-girl, but that damn show made it seem as if that cow-eyed heifer was in the right for going after the fiance of the young woman who was kind enough to take her under her wing because of "fate" while making said young woman out to be the villainess because she had the nerve to hate the cow-eyed heifer for plotting (and succeeding) in stealing her man.

Yeah, I'm getting myself pissed off all over again even though it's been about a decade since I stopped watching that sh!t...

[ajsp35801]

Taylor Hayes (B&B)in the 90's. I hated her with a passion. She always came out on top.

Brooke Logan (B& B)in the last 10 years or so. I haven't seen it but I have rad a few recaps. It seems that the woman has taken Bill Spencer from Katie now. The ONLY reason I liked Bill was because he was a man that had not been with Brooke and saw her for the tramp that she is. Now he wants her. Stop wasting my time B&B!

Gwen Norbeck (B& B)on OLTL. No offense but the actress wasn't even cute. I didn't buy for one second that all the teen boys wanted her over Jade. Will made sense. But when they brought Casey in on that. No!

Phyllis Summers (Y&R) over the last 7 years. I don't know what MAB was thinking. One of the few things I praise JFP for was correcting this writing. Starting with the Nina slap that was not allowed any retaliation. I was shocked, because Phyllis usually gets the last word regardless of whether it made sense. Her taunting of Christine about not being married or having kids was THE LAST STRAW for me.

Natalie Balsom (OLTL) is a younger version of Phyllis. And none of it made sense.

Billy Abbot (Y&R). He never loses in the end. No matter what he does, he always come out smelling like roses. Even when he contributes to the problem and it only comes about due to his stupid decisions, somehow, it is Victor's fault. When I see people blaming Victor for Billy's gambling, I then realize that people are right about soap fans.

Most of my list are women because they are the characters I usually identify with the most...sad to say, I don't truly care one way or another about male soap characters...except for maybe Neil and Devon. But that is about it.

[marceline]

I've always thought of Natalie as Greenlee's OLTL counterpart. They jackhammered her onto the canvas by giving her Kevin, Joey and Jessica's family the same way Reggie, Lily, Kendall and Bianca were forced to share their family with Greenlee. Natalie's relationship with Jessica is just as hot and cold as Greenlee's with Kendall. Natalie is eternally forgiven by her guilt-stricken "parents" the same way Greenlee is eternally forgiven by Jackson.

[vote4llama]

Except I think Melissa Archer is a better actress than Rebecca Budig and that makes Natalie more tolerable than Greenlee to me. I actually kind of like Natalie while I think of Greenlee as more of an over-hyped dud.

[marceline]

I was speaking strictly about the characters. Greenlee sucked whether she was portrayed by Budig or Sabine Singh. Although I thought Singh added a nice dimension to the character. That said, IMO, Budig and Archer possess a similar level of acting ability.

[ajsp35801]

Melissa Archer is a horrible actress. I hated Natalie from word go. In the character's defense, I usually despise any character that is clearly a writer's favorite. I think Dru might have been the only one that I didn't hate (I think Bill Bell loved that character). Only VR made her tolerable. Well actually, I also loved teen Mac too. Again, it had to have been the actress. Because lawd knows I hated her after AB left the role. I will never forget her telling Chloe that she had won while Chloe had lost (re: Billy) and I loved to hate Chloe at the time. That last Mac was intolerable.

So, when they gave her Jessica's life, there was no coming back from that. Even Natalie fans admit that she never loses. So you know it is bad.

[Skin]

The writing for Natalie was a lot better than it was for Greenlee post 2003. In that light I think Natalie had the upper hand. Greenlee wasn't even really herself after Leo died for the most part and her relationships with Juan Pablo, Carlos and Ryan did more and more damage to the characters legacy through out the years to the point where she was nearly unrecognizable. Rebecca is the better actress of the two as she had more highlights and was a strong scene stealer. She would continuously mop the floor with Minshew, Mathison, Lucci and even Kaye when she had the material to back her and she was capable of going toe to toe with Irizarry who was one of the stronger actors on AMC in it's finale years. Archer had a good debut, but once she was paired with McBain I think that's when it all went downhill. The last time I felt Archer gave a quality performance was sometime during the Two Lords One Heart story with Mitch Lawrence. From then on she was consistently getting pawned by Bree Williamson, who was not a strong thespian, whatsoever and whose hysterics brought on more laughs than heartbreak.

Singh is worse than both of them. I would say Budig circa 97-02' was on an entirely different ballpark acting wise than both Archer and Singh though.

Rebecca > Melissa > Sabine

[MTSRocks]

I liked Theresa from Passions. The first go-around as Mrs. Julian Crane was awesome.