Couplings that happened because writers didn’t know what else to do with the characters

[Faulkner]

These weren’t intended to big gripping love stories or even surprising love affairs with characters played by actors with unexpected chemistry. These are more, “yeah, we’ll just stick those two together while we figure things out.”

 

For me, Neil/Ashley’s dalliances on Y&R exemplified that to me. Totally placeholder flings between characters Y&R often struggled to write for.

[soapfan770]

Yeah Neil & Ashley were just a holding pattern twice weren’t they? It was really strange Neil broke up with her not even knowing Ashley had slept with Tucker. 

A few others come to mind:

Wesley & Olivia Y&R

Paul & Nina Y&R

Buzz & Alex GL

Dusty & Bonnie ATWT

Mike & Jennifer ATWT

Lucas & Sophie Days

 

 

 

 

[Darn]

Justin and Kayla on Days. I've literally never watched a full scene with either character but come on...come on. You can tell.

[Faulkner]

Watching them today actually inspired this thread, in part!

[Darn]

 

That's funny! I thought of them mostly because pairing the pairing one part of a supercouple with a part of another supercouple is almost always a disaster (my mind immediately goes to Luke and Felicia but they don't qualify for this topic because I think the show was committed to making them a thing).

[Jonathan]

Stephen Hamill and Galen Henderson from All My Children who ended up together and leaving town.  AMC never knew what to do with Galen.  At least Stephen was featured in Janet's storyline and he also had a crush on Dixie during the time she was married to Craig Lawson.  But after those storylines concluded, Stephen just floated around.

[alwaysAMC]

While I enjoyed both of these characters, what about AMC's Aiden and Di?  Once Dixie returned, it seemed like Di didn't have much purpose left, but they paired her with Aiden, who was also floating around with nothing to do.  We were lucky to get maybe one episode a week of these two on a date for awhile, but I can't honestly remember what happened to the two characters in the end.

[DRW50]

Billy/Holly and Holly/Buzz on GL.

 

Susan and Cal on ATWT until Cal vanished. 

[Soaplovers]

Lyla/cal, Cal/susan (although I liked them together), and Emily/Hal on ATWT

 

Josh/blake (they were fixed up and went out a few times...since Reva clicked with Jeffery and Ross had been killed off) on GL

 

Donna/cass...  amusing but it was more a diversion than an actual coupling or story on AW

 

YR...Neil with anyone but Dru...though him and Karen had potential 

[Soapdiva87]

Katie and Chris Atwt 

JT and Mac Y&R 

Sharon and Jack Y&R 

 

[Faulkner]

Holly was always one of my favorite characters on GL. It’s shameful that they were absolutely clueless on how to deal with this rich character played by an attractive, funny, deeply talented actress, but such was daytime after the mid-‘90s.

 

I know some will disagree, and they eventually drove story, but Laura and Kevin never made sense to me on GH. Felt kinda lazy. And Liz/Franco have always felt kinda... there, as if they needed a reason to keep RH on the show and sorta tossed him at Becky Herbst, whose ongoing popularity with viewers has certainly not been shared by TPTB.

[Cruising Soaps]

Thorne and Katie B&B

[Faulkner]

That’s a good one, and it reminded me of another one:

 

Wyatt and Katie, B&B

[soapfan770]

 

 

Wow, I put both of out of the back of my mind because both were pretty lousy, but that goes along with a lot of B&B couples we've seen. Remember when Liam and Wyatt clashed over Ivy or when Steffy married Wyatt when Liam disappeared and was held captive by Quinn? Or when Nick & Donna were thrown together? Sheesh what a disaster. 

[Paul Raven]

Don and Maggie DOOL

Neil and Maggie DOOL

 

Benny and Donna AMC

 

Edited July 8, 2020 by Paul Raven