Characters Whose Families Were Created Around Them

[Winchester91]

How many of these were actually good ideas in the long run, though? There was always something special about the the Lords (OLTL), the Brookses (Y&R), the Hortons (DAYS), the Hugheses (ATWT),  and the Bauers (GL), and it was sad that later regimes have spat on their respective legacies like it was nothing and erased such heritage. What happened was frankly criminal. I would always hold All My Children at high regard for not forgetting the Martin/Kane families.

Edited October 20, 2020 by Winchester91

[Wendy]

Days had a few of these:

 

As mentioned, Roman Brady had the rest of his family show up and become major in their own right. (Bo, Kayla, Kim)

 

Steve Johnson was just a thug known as Patch, but he smoldered with MBE's Kayla, so Jo, Adrienne, and Jack/Billy popped up.

 

Shane Donovan was just a spy for the ISA, but he clicked with Kim, so Eve soon appeared as did her mother and Shane's former partner, Gabrielle. And twin brother, Drew (though only Eve really stuck around).

 

Marina, Steve's retcon ex, was just the usual villain, but we also were introduced to her good half-sister, Isabella, whom Marina was also victimizing. And who obviously fell for "Roman"/John. Then Ernesto, Marina's evil dad and Isabella's presumed (but not) dad, appeared..

 

Victor was a bad guy for a few years before Justin popped up (and it was discovered that he, not Shawn Sr., fathered Bo, and fathered Isabella with another ex-lover, instead of Ernesto.)

 

Carly Manning went from doctor to princess on the run and we learned adopted Brady Frankie was actually HER brother, Francois Von Leuschner.

 

All just off the top of my head.

Edited October 20, 2020 by Wendy

[carolineg]

Days:

Austin Reed.  He got Kate, Billie, Lucas, Curtis in like a year.  

 

Nicole Walker got a whole family built around her as well.  Taylor, Brandon, Faye, Paul.

 

Lawrence Alamain:  Leopold, Vivian, Nicky, John (for awhile)

[titan1978]

Which was one of my favorite families and stories ever on the show.

 

Sometimes these families work out- usually with great casting and good writing.  I know many people still hate that The Brady’s became the most important family on DAYS, but I also loved all of them- Roman, Kim, Bo and Kayla.  Doesn’t mean I disliked Alice and Tom, Doug and Julie or Mickey and Maggie any less.  There was always room for them in my opinion.

 

Same on GH- I still loved Steve Hardy and Lee and Gail Baldwin, Rick and Lesley.  Thanks to YouTube I also really liked Peter and Diana (I’ve only seen the Brooke Bundy version), and Jeff.  But the popularity of the Quartermaine family was earned, as was the Spencers.

 

To this day, I will always be shocked at how soap fans adjusted to Bill Bell revamping Y&R and within what, two or three years the only original characters left that had story were Jill and Katherine.  I wonder if that is why Katherine got such a focus again- they knew the audience needed something to hang on to as they fleshed out the Abbott family.

[DramatistDreamer]

Was Lyla Crawford Montgomery the first on the Oakdale canvas? It seems like her sister Maggie and her children Margo, Craig and Cricket all arrived on the scene very close together.

[Paul Raven]

Of course Steve Frame (AW) must be mentioned as the flag bearer for this thread.

Created by Agnes Nixon as an only child, after 5 years Harding Lemay changed all that and Steve got a visit from sister Emma, then Janice arrived, Willis,Emma again and daughter Molly, Vince and so on.

The Frames continued way beyond Steve's death.

[SFK]

Ryan Lavery, AMC

[Paul Raven]

More AW examples (from AW homepage)

Clarice Hobson Feb 75 - Aug 86

Charlie her father Nov 77 - Dec 80

Leigh her brother Dec 80 - September 81

Denny her brother May 81 - July 82

 

Blaine Ewing July 78 - March 85

Larry her brother July 78 - Aug 86

Fred her father April - Sept 79

Catlin her half brother Jan 84 - Jan 87

Jeanne her mother March - Aug 83

 

Kit Halloway Nov 79 - Nov 81

Miranda her aunt March 80 - Jan 81

Taylor her father April 80 - Sept 80

Rick her brother May 80 - Feb 82

Amy her sister May - Dec 80

 

[j swift]

@Paul Raven I was thinking of exactly the same examples when I saw the title of the thread.  The Frames became a core family and were represented through Frankie and Sharlene until the end of the show.  Clarice is such an interesting case because she came on the scene as a supporting character, but wound up having not only her family (the Hobsons) but also her husband's family (the Ewings) built around her.  It could be argued that at one period in the late 1970's to the early 1980's from her involvement in plots with Ada, Iris, Cecile, and Sally, she was the central hub of the show.

 

Also, I appreciate the distinction you made between characters who were introduced as the first member of an already planned family, versus those whose family were created as after thoughts.  The after thought families usually had more complex family trees to explain all of the long lost siblings, wives, and children who just happened to move to the same small town (e.g. Michael Hudson's clan).

Edited October 25, 2020 by j swift

[Pine Charles]

And all of them were dreadful, horribly-written characters (Ryan, too, post Gillian’s untimely demise).

[amybrickwallace]

GH's Taggert had a mother and a sister come on the show for awhile - after he had been on the show for YEARS.

[Paul Raven]

Search for Tomorrow

Jo was the lead heroine with just a daughter throughout the 50's .

But in the late 50's she got  a father. sister and cousin.Only her sister stayed around until she was murdered in the mid 70's.

 

Y&R

Michael Baldwin

For years a lone figure - then Kevin,Gloria, Eden, River and Tom were all added.

Cricket

She had her cousin Joe but added mom Jessica, dad Jim and half brother Scott.

[j swift]

GH is chock-a-block with instafamilies.  Jagger Cates begat Stone and Gina.  Marcus Taggart's sister Gia followed her dreams of becoming an international supermodel while living above Ruby's diner.  And even one time dayplayer Zander Smith got a father, Cameron.

 

However, the classic example are The Quartermaines of Port Charles.  When Alan became a resident at General Hospital, his very rich family moved from The Hamptons to Port Charles.  I don't recall why the CEO of an international corporation, his wife, and adult daughter moved from the beach to upstate New York.  Perhaps it was due to their shipping interests?   Amusingly, subsequent writers forgot that the Quartermaines were transplants and not only was ELQ headquartered in their new town but they would always participate in the annual Founder's Day celebration in Port Charles Park. 

Edited November 27, 2020 by j swift

[vetsoapfan]

 

While ATWT stupidly got rid of, or failed to use in later years, most of the Lowell/Stewart family, at least the show kept major Hughes family members right up until the end (although TPTB eliminated forever some Hugheses who should never have been off the canvas up to the show's cancellation, like Andy Dixon).

 

I am grateful AMC kept the Martins and the Kanes, but the show decimated the Tyler clan. OLTL kept Viki until the bitter end, but eliminated all the Woleks, Siegals, and Grays. And even most of Viki's original family. Even TEON put enough emphasis on family and history by having Mike and Nancy Karr remain until the finale of the series' run, and be reunited with Mike's daughter, Laurie Ann.

 

But what TGL did to the Bauers and several other long-term, core characters, was EGREGIOUS. 1983 and '84 saw a complete destruction of the original, true TGL.