I don't know her - Characters who've rarely met

[j swift]

I was thinking about characters who have lived in the same soap town, at the same time, but rarely shared a scene.  Did you ever notice that it is usually lead females who never intersect between plots?  They may have attended each other's weddings, funerals, or town fires, but they almost never shared dialogue. Here's my list:

 

Erica Kane & Nina Cortlandt - this is my classic example, Erica went to Nina's first wedding but I cannot recall a single scene of them together (maybe later during the Matt Connolly period they talked?)

 

Hope Brady & Liz Chandler - they were stranded on an island together and never spoke

 

Nikki Newman & Cricket Blair - they were both Jabot models at the same time and never talked about the experience with each other - also Paul Williams and John Abbot worked in the same building for years and never shared an elevator?

 

Laura Spencer & Monica Quartermaine - share a ton of history with each other, Monica slept with Laura's stepfather, but I don't think Laura has ever even been treated medically by Dr. Quartermaine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DeeeDee]

Nikki & Cricket shared plenty of scenes together.

[Pine Charles]

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[carolineg]

GH in the 90's did this a lot.  Their cast was more clustered into groups that crossed paths at a concert at Luke's or the Nurses Ball.

The most obvious examples I can think of is Jason and Sonny had almost 0 scenes before his accident (which I guess sorta makes sense) and Carly (SB) and Brenda shared one tiny exchange (not even a scene) and then one scene with Jax, Carly, and Jason where Brenda was being annoying about Robin/Jason or something and that's it...I don't recall Alexis sharing any scenes with Sonny pre-1998.  And then the awkward one Nik/Brenda scene that clearly only happened because they were a couple in real life.  Those are all I can remember off the top of my head, but I am sure there are more.

I feel like Monica and Laura have shared plenty of scenes.

[titan1978]

Well, Monica is a cardiologist.  The show used to be more consistent with who they treated in a non emergency setting.  They did share a lot of scenes though, from teenage Laura on.

 

Tangent-  what was Lesley’s speciality?  I don’t remember.  I know Alan was a surgeon until his accident, Then he became general practice.  Tom Hardy JR was a psychiatrist, as is Kevin.  I can’t remember what type of doctor Ryan was though.  Pediatrician maybe?  Or Tony Jones.  Robin was some kind of research doctor.  Patrick was a surgeon.  Anyone else?

[titan1978]

Young and the Restless has got to have had the most characters that never crossed paths.  At least until the Bill Bell era ended (which includes part of solo Alden IMO).  Later regimes tied people together more often.  

 

I mean people had three and five year contracts and came and went during the time Nikki seemed to never leave the ranch.

[Soaplovers]

Erica/Nina share a lot of scenes in the mid 80s to late 80s.  Nina was her bridesmaid when Erica was going to stage the jail break to Jeremy.. and there are scenes in late 1987 where Nina is visiting a pregnant Erica during Travis' campaign.   I think Erica/Angie hardly shared any scenes that I can recall.

 

Y & R was big on characters never crossing paths/interacting.. it was more realistic in a way.  Nowadays, almost every character knows one another on the show and it's kind of boring.  The funniest scene was when Nina was visiting once.. and Ashley hugged her and asked her to join her to catch up..and I was like 'they hardly interacted whatsoever when Nina was a main character in the 80s/90s'.

 

I would say Emma Snyder and the Hughes family (Bob/Kim/Nancy).  I know she went to pay her respects after Chris Hughes passed.. and that she dated Andy's dad John for awhile... but once Sabrina/Seth broke up... I don't recall Emma interacting with that family.. nor with many of the townspeople not connected to the farm.  I think there was one lone scene where Andy visited the farm before his wedding to Courtney to get her to sign a copy of her book.. but Emma was pretty much isolated on the farm (and no stories ever done to address this).  It was jarring seeing her on the 50th anniversary special featuring the veteran women.. since she didn't interact with any of them outside of Lucinda (and even by than.. it wasn't as much as it was back in the 80s/early 90s).

[j swift]

E.g., Cassandra Rawlins - George Rawlins was Victor's friend, Cassandra was Paul's lover who was Nikki's ex, they both lived in the ranch district of Genoa City, but I don't think that they interacted. 

 

I was trying to think of guys to add to the list:

 

Greg Nelson & Cliff Warner (AMC) - perhaps it would have been too bland, but I don't think they ever interacted in a story.

 

Quint Chamberlain & Josh Lewis (GL) - I know they went to the same parties and hung out at the same country club but did these guys ever talk?  Maybe over business stuff but I mostly recall Billy handling Lewis Oil at that time

 

Shane Donovan & Mike Horton (DAYS) - both had amazing hair but did they ever share tips with each other, I think they may also have been trapped together on an adventure but rarely shared scene time before or after

 

Bonus - Raven Alexander & Jody Travis - the both knew Gavin and Sky, Jody was at Raven's wedding, but they were rarely 1:1 in a room in a scene.

[victorlord75]

My memory is fading, but I could swear that in 1978, Monica prescribed birth control pills to Laura and Lesley was none too happy about that.

[Scrapple]

Lucinda Walsh and Lily Snyder

Kim Hughes and Carly Tenney

Luke Snyder and Emily Stewart

[robbwolff]

Lucinda and Lily???

[SoapDope]

On Y&R in the 70's, Katherine mainly interacted with the Foster family, but rarely any of the Brooks or Prentiss family. 

[Cruising Soaps]

I remember Emma did some interaction with Kim around the time all of John's ex-wives went on a bus trip and the bus broke down and they shared the memories of John. So that would put Kim with Carly too.

 

[P.J.]

I think there's a difference between never really being in story together, and not knowing someone. Re Emma, Emma knew and interacted with Kim, Barbara, etc, over the years. No, there weren't really big plot points about it, it was probably mostly in the course of their children interacting. Especially under Marland, characters interacted. No, Kim probably wasn't at the farm too often, but back in the day, Emma was always going to the hospital for checkups or visiting Iva (or various family for medical emergencies). And she did occasionally make it out to the Mona Lisa for dinner.

 

But yeah, unless you were a rival, women didn't necessarily intersect except at events. Lucinda and Kim never palsy-walsyed around either.

 

Carly, for instance, rarely interacted with Susan. And I swear to God Maura didn't have a scene with Helen Wagner until 2004.

[j swift]

Exactly, my original intent was a list of characters who may have interacted during a group scene but never shared storyline, or even a memorable 1:1 scene.  Reva and Beth in the 90's are another example of two women who were probably in the same room a couple of times a year, but it wasn't until after Beth came back that they really had any interactions.  I don't recall Reva ever helping Beth cope with Mindy, or even commenting on the Beth/Phillip/Lujack triangle.

 

It does bring up another interesting question about how much people in soap towns know about each other; especially those that were SORASed?  For example, does Theresa (DAYS) know that her father had an evil twin?  Does Kyle Abbott know that Lauren Fenmore was once buried alive? Does Rick Forrester know that Thorne once shot Ridge?  I remember when Lucky found out about Luke raping Laura, but it would be interesting for the new generation to respond to their family's scandals.  I think many of today's soap teens would be shocked by how often their parents have been wrongly accused of murder.