Soaps Blandest Marginally Acceptable Leading Men

[titan1978]

I do agree that you need a balance between character types like Victor/Jack and Sonny in GH.  I just don’t agree they have to be bland.  I never found Y&R’s Neil to be bland, because the actor was great.  Same with someone like Jonathan Jackson- Lucky has been played by bland actors, but he didn’t play him that way.  Tom on ATWT played by Deas and Marx.

 

The good guy doesn’t have to be boring.

 

As much as I love Dylan/Morgan Englund on GL, he is also a good example of a bland lead.  He is not the strongest actor, but he did have chemistry with people and was at his best in love stories with more dynamic women to play off of.

[crc]

LOL! I always wondered how he was cast in the first place and lasted through so many regimes. He was just so ... whiney.

 

Brody Hutzler on both GL and Y&R. Though, I guess he was never a leading man on either show, but someone at CBS liked him.

Edited July 27, 2020 by crc

[Skin]

 

 

The recent redefinition of the term makes me wonder if there is overlap in poor writing conditions and a poor actor. I completely would have thought Y&R's Paul fit, but mostly because I just can't remember a time when he had an interesting story. Same for Devon and Neil. Contrast to other characters be damned. 

 

 

There's a bit of a difference with AMC's Aidan though. Aidan was given the works when he first started by being connected to Anna Devan's character. He started out as an interesting PI and he had a sort of romance with Kendell until he basically fell off the face of the earth and just played as a day player for 7+ years. He had a brief storyline with Sabine's Greenlee but he wound up going crazy . 

[DaytimeFan]

Cameron Mathison. I still can't fathom how he lasted 14 years on AMC. 

[Jonathan]

 

I'm pretty sure he was Frons's golf buddy.

[All My Shadows]

Don't forget when he spent months pouting because Maria regained her memory and was no longer his Moyreen.

[DaytimeFan]

 

Mathison and Josh Taylor owe that game an awful lot.

[SoapDope]

Patrick Duffy on Dallas....J.R. got all the fun stuff to do, but Bobby was stuck with Mr. Nice Guy and became bland.  

Leigh J. McCloskey as Mitch = Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. 

[titan1978]

Josh Taylor as Roman is so bad and devoid of character that I completely forgot he even existed.  

[carolineg]

 

Josh Taylor is just a horrible recast.  Roman is so much more than JT ever could be.  WN was funny, charming, and had a definitive personality as Roman even if that personality was a jerk a lot of times.  Drake's Roman had different and unique characteristics, but what are JT's Roman's characteristics?  He runs a pub well?  He had decent chemistry with Kate?  He used to love Marlena a lot?  It's a shame because the Roman Wayne created was anything but bland and now Roman is practically a non-entity.  You could completely replace him with John in every aspect in every story and no one would notice.  

[Dion]

Austin Reed, Days.

 

Particularly once Austin Peck took over from Patrick Muldoon. The character was merely the plot device for Sami and Carrie to fight over and his personality, hobbies and occupations (Piano playing, boxing, TV career on Jennifer's show) were all pushed aside.

[pdm1974]

Austin was an excellent example of a male character being an "airhead." He was fun to look at but not much going on upstairs.

[Skin]

That's very true about Austin. I don't know what that means though because he was still able to be apart of a flagship super couple. 

[carolineg]

 

I think it was more about Carrie/Sami than Austin in general.  Anyone with moderate chemistry with CC and AS could have played Austin.  He had a variety of hobbies and jobs, but did he really have much of a personality?  It is a clear case of all the characters around him (Carrie, Sami, Kate, Lucas, etc.) doing the heavy lifting while Austin was...there.  Being dumb.  I really never got a sense of Austin's personality with either PM or AP in the role.  Hell, I am not even sure if Austin is older or younger than Billie lol.  And while Carrie/Austin were super popular they haven't really stood the test of time.  By the time they got married the writing was already geared toward Carrie/Mike.  Another bland leading man under Roark Critchlow.

[OzFrog]

 

Billie is the elder Reed sibling.