Soaps Blandest Marginally Acceptable Leading Men

[Fevuh]

Not going to be popular but damn Tony Geary was not great.  Neither was Roger Howarth.  My sisters gasped at how hot they were.  This was the 80’s and 90’s when all magazines covered ABC And NBC.  I’d say you better look at Newman on Guiding Light.  Cause those 2 guys are not handsome 

[soapfan770]

A lot of great names mentioned on here already, with definitely Holden, Frank, Liam,  Nick Newman and Days’s Daniel  all leading the way!

 

I’d have to also nominate both Nick Spaulding and Coop as bland leading men on GL. Noah on ATWT was downright DREADFUL. Then there was just about all the Chris Hugheses on ATWT. So was Rick Forrester on B&B at least from 2000-2011 or whenever Jacob Young assumed the role again. 

 

Surprised that no one has mentioned Danny yet for Y&R. 

Please register in order to view this content

 Just awful all the way around I never liked him, not even in his early 90’s heyday. 
 

 

Edited July 25, 2020 by soapfan770

[amybrickwallace]

 

No offense taken. Richard Eden did the best he could after Kerry Sherman left, but the magic, fire and solid writing for Brick were no longer there. It's a shame, because Brick had so many ties to so many other characters - and so many more stories they could have done with him.

[Paul Raven]

B&B

Thorne Forrester no 1 (Clayton Northcross)

[FrenchBug82]

I feel some of the names mentioned are too defined to qualify if I am honest.
Of course, despite darn generously co-sharing credit for the idea with me, I am not the arbiter but I was thinking of soaps casting moderately good-looking embodiments of the shrug emoji.
So I don't think folks like John McBain qualify because, as much as I disliked him, I can describe his character. I don't *get* why he was a leading man but he was too polarizing for what I was thinking of. 
 

Meanwhile, good luck trying to explain what DOOL's Eric or YR's Paul or GL's Frank (all good choices) are about to someone who has never watched the show other than "decent guy, I guess". Neither has ever been on so much as to be grating, has ever done anything objectionable or memorable or interesting. They're there. They get stories, generally involving romance. I don't hate that they're there but there is no there, there.
I'd also add a side category: the marginally acceptable bland leading man character who is so bland that they can't nail down a performer for him because the character has nothing. The parades of OLTL Kevins, ATWT Chrises, AW's Jamie. It takes hell of an empty shell of a character for several actors to play the same role without anyone making a mark.

I am on the fence whether I would list B&B's Liam in the same category. Hear me out, the character itself doesn't have much meat BUT he does serve a purpose as a plot device. Generally bad repetitive plot devices, mind you, and inexplicable indeed, but can't deny the character has made a mark on the show (too much of a mark).
I can't tell you much about his personality, which brings me close to what we are talking about here, but I can tell you plenty of tales of things he did that annoyed or pissed me off. He has the bland part down but he is somewhat objectionable.
Zende would be more what I have in mind or even Pierson Fode's Thomas before they switched the writing after the recast.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[prefab1]

However, some of these characters are needed to counterbalance the other male leads on a show. Yes, Y&R's Paul might be vanilla, but he's a refreshing change from the other men in his age range (Jack, Victor, Michael), who are all posturing d***heads. And Doug Davidson is very good in scenes where he has to be emotionally vulnerable. Now that TPTB at Y&R have demoted him to recurring status, they seem to be giving more of those scenes to Peter Bergman, who I find laughably bad and unsympathetic, even when he's blubbering away.

 

Now, Paul's insta-son, Steve Burton's character Dylan: that dude had the personality of a piece of aluminum siding. He'd be a good contender for this list. 

[crc]

No mention of Scott Holmes' Tom Hughes on ATWT?

Edited July 25, 2020 by crc

[P.J.]

 

Well, in Paul's defense, I'm old enough to remember the young, slightly shady, disappointment to his father Paul.  The one who was Victor's paid henchman, keeping an eye on his prisoner in the basement (Victor's first wife Julia'a lover---Nick the photographer, IIRC) and going undercover to clear his father of allegations of being a dirty cop (I think, it was a long time ago).  I'd never claim that DD was in the echelon of the likes of Michael Zaslow et al....but he's better than the vacant hair models stereotypes.  

 

 

As for Scott Holmes, crc.....is he bland....or just bad? *shrug*

Edited July 25, 2020 by P.J.

[SamandWillowFan]

I know people loved Jack and Carly, but I would also put Jack on this list. 

[amybrickwallace]

 

My mom said that she never understood the hype over him in the late 1970s/early 1980s. She said she could never understand why women swooned over him.

[Graham]

AMC's Aidan

 

Just 7 years of doing nothing but look sexy and be part of failed romances. *7* years!

[Jonathan]

 

Poor Aidan / Aiden.  But Aiden landed on a Tyler Perry show!

[Paul Raven]

Gotta mention Devon Y&R

He's grown up on the show and had a lot of story opportunities but of course the writing hasn't always  been there but I don't get a sense of wasted opportunity the way you do with Sean Dominic.

 

[FrenchBug82]

100% agree on Scott Holmes and 1000% on Aidan.

I have a lot of loathing towards SB so I find him instinctly objectionable because he is such a bad actor.
The other names are not bad actors per se. They're just serviceable.
As PJ said for instance, Doug Davidson can act. He can be quite good at times. He is just a nothing of a character (in the past 35 years at least)

As for ATWT's Jack, I agree that on paper, he could have been one of those. But aided by the fact MP is a good actor and very charming and by the undeniable chemistry between him and Carly, he managed to elevate himself a cut above the rest, all the while the character's personality is indeed a bit bland.

It is a bit the same for me with YR's Brad. On paper there was not much to the character other than what happened to him and the women in his life. But DD is very charismatic and charming and gave him enough substance that you almost forgot that he didn't really have a defined personality.

It is all very subjective though of course.

I think most of the names we can totally agree on. I mean Aidan is *exactly* what I had in mind so much so that I actually ... had forgotten about him even though he is exactly what I had in mind.
That kinda says it all, doesn't it? 
 

 

[P.J.]

 

If Diamont was still playing Brad, I'd have put him on my list.