Front burner to forgotten

[titan1978]

When you watch soaps for a decade or more, you will experience this phenomenon.  A character that is the constant driver of stories, and then gone.  And never or seldomly mentioned again.  Some were forced down viewers throats, others were beloved.  But once they were gone, within weeks (sometimes days) it was like they were completely forgotten.

 

Y&R- If you didn’t watch during Cassandra Rawlings time on the show you would have no idea who she was, how many characters she interacted with (which was unusual on Bill Bell’s Y&R), or the impact she had going forward for people like Paul and Brad.  They barely mentioned her again, and Brad and Paul didn’t ever fight over her money really.

 

AMC- Kevin went from out and proud to never heard from again.

 

I know there are many other examples but these two were the first I thought of that fans still talked about even if the show didn’t.

[Khan]

 

A fan theory suggests he was killed in the Holidays explosion.

[titan1978]

Which may have been the intention of TPTB too.  But nobody on the show said anything, and he wasn’t mentioned again as far as I can recall.  AMC really took a chance with that storyline back then though.

[vetsoapfan]

Nurse Jessie Brewer (the late, great Emily McLaughlin), on GH

 

Dr Larry Wolek (Michael Storm), OLTL

 

Susan Hunter Martin (Denise Alexander, Bennye Gatteys), DAYS

 

Stuart Brooks (Robert Colbert), Y&R. We don't even know if he's dead.

 

There are so many!

[Faulkner]

Does Willow Stark ever get mentioned on DAYS?

[reallyhateskateonlost]

OLTL: Karen Wolek, Marco Dane, Larry Wolek

DOOL: Dr. Neil Curtis , Liz Chandler Are they still in Salem but never seen....lol

GH:  Blackie 

[Khan]

 

In my mind, Neil retired and moved to Nashville (to be closer to Sarah, of course); and Liz left Salem (with Noelle) to tour with a cruise line.

[titan1978]

Who was the character everyone seemed to hate from DAYS but Ed Scott was bound to make the center of the show?  I barely watched then and I’ve blocked her out.

 

 

All valid.  My initial post was supposed to be more about those characters that burn hot for a contract cycle then dry up.  But it’s interesting to think about the long term ones that are gone too.  Susan Martin being a prime example.  I mean she drove story for a long time, had a family and ties on the show and was mostly forgotten for decades until they started talking about the Martin House.

[soapfan770]

 

I think that was Ava, who has resurfaced a couple more times since then. Not sure what the fascination with the actress was she was horrible as Ava and later horrible as Nicole yet somehow managed to win Days' first acting Emmy since Hunley and Warlock in the late 80s. I do remember them shoving Ava and her family down viewers throats the first half of 2008, they were supposedly a replacement family for the DiMeras. 

 

Tanner & Molly on Days hogged up a lot of airtime in 1992 and practically caused the show to tank. They were shipped off never to be mentioned again. I still can't believe SOW and SOD made the predictions they were going to become Days' ultimate couple. 

 

Jesse Blue & Drew Jacobs, a pairing who I liked took up a lot of airtime on GL in the late '90s but after their 2000 exit they were never mentioned again. 

 

Kirk and Sam literally disappeared on ATWT with no resolution of what really happened to them. 

 

In addition to Cassandra on Y&R, I think another good example would be Cole Howard who drove major stories for much of '93-'99 yet I can't even remember the last time he was even referenced. 

[Soaplovers]

As the World Turns....   

 

Annie and Dee Stewart (both drove story in the late 70s until the mid 80s... and apart from a couple of visits.. neither were mentioned ever again after 1991.).

 

Carol Stallings... the original ingenue that wasn't sickly sweet.. she was the good girl/ingenue from the 70s until the early 80s.. not being seen or real mentioned since 1982/1983 yet was a very active character for over a decade.

 

[amybrickwallace]

GH's Tony Jones, one of the show's stalwart leading men for over a decade until he went nuts and was then rarely seen until they finally killed him off.

[Melroser]

AW's Lisa Grady! Couldn't stand her! She was in the (too long) triangle with Jamie and Vicky and then often the center of the Sin Stalker story. She later just simply left town. 

[edgeofnik]

TEON did this a lot. Some of it was the nature of the stories. I started watching when it was on late-night in 1981, if not for YouTube/DVDs, etc. I would've never known Elliot, Draper, April, anyone from Mansion of the Damned, even Logan, etc. and they were all over that show from 1979-80. I didn't even know who Logan really was until he came back near the end. 

[Vee]

 

Morgan Hollingsworth. Stephanie and Chelsea's sorority sister(?). I think someone was dating her IRL.

[soapfan770]

 

Didn't the actress who played her win the "I Wanna Be a Soap Star: Days of Our Lives" reality show on SoapNet?