Most Polarizing Characters?

[Becki]

I think Phyllis on Y&R is the one that immediately comes to my mind. But Adam definitely fits the bill too. My question would be, is that because of the actors (Stafford and Muhney) or because the character is actually polarizing?

[Vee]

I think characters like Evangeline, Blair and Téa on OLTL were largely only really polarizing in relation to their romances - they orbited around John or Todd/Victor, and that was the source of the polarization, the couples wars and how those characters behaved or were portrayed throughout those stories. Outside of that furor, nobody's gonna want to burn them at the stake. (I thought Evangeline was saccharine and uninteresting on her own and would have rather seen other characters of color in her place, but so much of her story and persona was tied to triangles that it's hard for me to have ever gotten a read on who she was without it.)

There's other characters who have more bone-deep, systemic reasons for fan polarization because of deeper issues or choices. Todd on OLTL, obviously. Carly and Robin on GH, who are polar opposites of morality and nuanced morality but have their reasons. Babe is one because of how the show handled what she did to people. I think Maggie Stone became one because they could never commit to who the character was re: Bianca. I think Liz on GH became one of those regardless of the whole Jason thing, just based on how some people perceived her personality years before she and Jason made it official. And I think on OLTL, Natalie was polarizing for a reason other than just the McBain wars - it all started with her introductory storyline. She was initially presented as the usurper to Jessica, erasing a mother-daughter bond and while the story developed and changed and things sorted themselves out (and IMO Natalie ultimately became the new heir to Viki's heroine throne, after Jessica's character had been totally compromised by the DID stories) there are still people, to this day, who don't like Natalie simply because of that whole beginning, who see her as having taken Jessica's life. And that's their prerogative.

[allmc2008]

Erica on AMC

[AllMyDaysatGH]

dragonflies I would say you became somewhat repulsed by Kendall when she started to move on from Zach!

Cheap sometimes you outright hated her too!

Now that's polarizing!

[Cheap21]

LOL...and I OWN it! I hated her with Zach, but she was always one of my faves. Was definitely on the love side when got with Griff

[dragonflies]

I agree about Sharon on Y&R

Her action's made me mad, just like Liz on GH with the Nikolas crap, but they're still my girls

[heffer]

This could have been way more polarizing if it was Krista Tesreau's sweeter than saccrahine instead of KS's more mature version of Mindy. The audience haf less time emotionly invested in Krista, who got involved with Roger only being on the show after a year or so. As it was, the Alex/Mindy feud could have fueled th show for years if it wasn't for the ill advised recasts.

Speaking of Roger, I wonder if long time viewers felt polarized with the character's more subtle villian in his first run compared to his irredeemable rapist in the early 1980s.

[Faulkner]

Brenda sparked a lot of contentiousness even at the height of her GH popularity.

Mackenzie on Y&R seemed to anger quite a few people, even as she had staunch defenders.

[Nate4]

Sharon Newman

Phyllis Newman

Sam McCall

Liz Webber

Tea Delgado

Kendall Hart

Jason Morgan

Adam Newman

EJ Dimera

[Gray Bunny]

[YRBB]

Brooke Hogan hasn't been mentioned?

To this day, people either love her shenanigans or absolutely loathe her.

[edgeofnik]

Clear #1: Emily - throughout run, the character was written in so many bizarre ways. KMH was such a trooper during the 20+ years - one minute she's asked to play a high class hooker (hands down the worst storyline she was given - close second kidnapping Dusty) and then she has an all-too-short reunion with IVF son Hunter, which played to a lot of KMH's strengths, only to be dropped.

#2 - Meg - during the last five years of the show, probably #1,

Carly I'd rank below even Lily and, definitely below Paul, Barbara and Craig.

The biggest challenge was that ATWT had a lot of these characters on for years and then new writers would do strange personality shifts or a recast would change everything - Paul and Craig being the best examples.

[dragonflies]

Meg and Paul on ATWT the RH Paul of course

[P.J.]

B&B---Brooke and Stephanie. I'd add Taylor to the list, but honestly, if it wasn't about her saintliness vs. Brooke's whoredom, I'm not sure anyone cared about her.

GL---Reva, Dinah and Harley. OMG, towards the end, Harley especially seemed to generate such love/hate it boggled my mind.

ATWT---Carly, Katie (especially after she cheated on Mike and then persecuted Simon out of town), and Lily. I'd disqualify both Emily and Meg. Outside of a RH fan war, I'm not sure either drove talk on the boards.

Oh, and Craig, as portrayed by Hunt Block.

Y&R---Christine and Phyllis. Sharon, I suppose.

[YRBB]

I don't know if Phyllis was ever polarizing until they forced that insipid Nick/Phyllis affair on us, turned Phyllis into a giggling housewife saintly woe-is-me stay-away-from-me-huzbind bitch and started writing Sharon as a slore to build Phyllis up.