The flip side to the Characters who had families built around them.

This thread is devoted to characters who were on for fairly lengthy stints but never had any relatives come on, or those that did but ended up alone or near enough to it.

Y&R

Diane.

Ryan

 

DOOL

Maggie never had relatives until she got previously unknown children Daniel and Summer and grandaughter Melanie, all dropped Meanwhile adopted daughter Melissa and bio daughter Sarah vanished for years until Sarah's return.

Julie

Brother Steve MIA.Son David not seen for decades then killed off. Gained a grandson Eli but just lost half sister Hope,

 

B&B

Eric 

His son Thorne and daughters Kristen and Felicia ,brother John and niece Jessica all off canvas.

Liz on GH has been on for 23 straight years and we've never met or seen her mother and her father is never mentioned. 

B&B:

Sally Spectra (the original): Had both biological family (Macy, C.J) and a sort of surrogate family (Saul, Darla), but all of them left the show and at the end of her run Sally was left alone.

 

Brooke: a character that has oddly gone full circle. She started out as part of a family, with her mother, two sisters, a brother, a grandmother and later her father on the show. A few years later they were all gone, and for a number of years she was alone. But then her family started coming back again, and even though some has left again, she now has both her sisters firmly in place on the show.

 

 

Lindsay Rappaport, OLTL. Sam and Jen were killed off and Will left, which was fine by me, as that family helped turned me off the show in the late ‘90s.

Brenda Barrett on GH- first came Julia and Harlan, but by the late 1990’s only Brenda was onscreen.

 

Also GH- did we ever meet any of Robert’s family before Robin or years later, Mac?  Same with Anna- until the Alex retcon I don’t remember any other relatives besides Robin or her husbands until she was on AMC.

 

Jagger on GH too- he had two siblings and by the time Karen came back for PC Jagger was gone, Stone was dead, and the sister (they started to use her for a bit in GH, can’t remember her name right now) were all gone.

 

 

19 minutes ago, Faulkner said:

Lindsay Rappaport, OLTL. Sam and Jen were killed off and Will left, which was fine by me, as that family helped turned me off the show in the late ‘90s.

And Lindsay was the only one I truly liked so...

Liz Matthews on Another World- her niece Alice would leave Bay City in 1985 and her other niece Sally was killed off in 1986.  TPTB also foolishly killed Liz's granddaughter Julia in 1984.   Liz would disappear for about 18 months to return on Thanksgiving 1987.  It would take until 1989 for her nephew Russ and his daughter Olivia to show up.  She would disappear in 1993 again, only to show up for two more guest appearances at Ada's funeral and the show's 30th anniversary in 1994.  AW could have benefited by keeping Sally and Julia on the show, as well as using Aunt Liz more since she was an original character when the show debuted in 1964.

22 minutes ago, watson71 said:

Liz Matthews on Another World- her niece Alice would leave Bay City in 1985 and her other niece Sally was killed off in 1986.  TPTB also foolishly killed Liz's granddaughter Julia in 1984.   Liz would disappear for about 18 months to return on Thanksgiving 1987.  It would take until 1989 for her nephew Russ and his daughter Olivia to show up.  She would disappear in 1993 again, only to show up for two more guest appearances at Ada's funeral and the show's 30th anniversary in 1994.  AW could have benefited by keeping Sally and Julia on the show, as well as using Aunt Liz more since she was an original character when the show debuted in 1964.

I cannot to the life of me fathom why Julia was killed off on AW especially when both actresses who played the adult Julia’s have had hugely

accomplished acting careers. Such a lack of foresight on both the writing and producer at the time. 

 

It’s Christine on Y&R was someone who had gained some family but after her mother & brother died we have never seen her family since nor has her dad ever been mentioned or even come to her weddings lol.

 

1 hour ago, soapfan770 said:

I cannot to the life of me fathom why Julia was killed off on AW especially when both actresses who played the adult Julia’s have had hugely

accomplished acting careers. Such a lack of foresight on both the writing and producer at the time. 

 

It’s Christine on Y&R was someone who had gained some family but after her mother & brother died we have never seen her family since nor has her dad ever been mentioned or even come to her weddings lol.

 

 

I agree that Julia should not have been killed off.  Both actresses that played her Kyra Sedgwick and Faith Ford had successful careers in Hollywood.  Keeping Julia alive, her parents- Dan and Susan- could have always returned to Bay City as well.

Christine Blair owns this thread. She was as traditional a soap heroine you can get and since the mid 90s she never has had any family around and she’s never gotten to have any kids, which as a heroine is something she deserves after all the torment she went through. It’s such a bizarre oversight for such a valuable character. By now Christine should have at least two kids, a cousin, long lost sibling or something. I hate that she’s stuck with Paul and used as a talk to. The classic episodes showed how valuable she is when used properly. 

11 minutes ago, Chris B said:

Christine Blair owns this thread. She was as traditional a soap heroine you can get and since the mid 90s she never has had any family around and she’s never gotten to have any kids, which as a heroine is something she deserves after all the torment she went through. It’s such a bizarre oversight for such a valuable character. By now Christine should have at least two kids, a cousin, long lost sibling or something. I hate that she’s stuck with Paul and used as a talk to. The classic episodes showed how valuable she is when used properly. 

It is strange, especially by the mid 1990’s when Bill Bell was still HW.  She is the only one of her contemporaries that didn’t have children as far as I can remember.  I also don’t recall her saying she didn’t want kids.

EON - Logan Swift. I only saw the last 5 years or so but I don't recall him having any blood relatives except his young son.

RH - Seneca Beaulac. His mother popped up a bit. Bucky was his nephew by marriage in the early years but then Bucky was gone. My memory is vague on the later years since it's been so long since I've seen them but I can't recall him having other adult family members around.

AMC - Myrtle Fargate, Langley Wallingford (I know there was Hillary and Verla but neither stayed long).

4 hours ago, WebberFan said:

Liz on GH has been on for 23 straight years and we've never met or seen her mother and her father is never mentioned. 

 

Meanwhile, she started out with a grandmother (a legacy character!) and sister - who haven't been seen and/or mentioned in years.

4 hours ago, titan1978 said:

.Also GH- did we ever meet any of Robert’s family before Robin or years later, Mac?

 

Jagger on GH too- he had two siblings and by the time Karen came back for PC Jagger was gone, Stone was dead, and the sister (they started to use her for a bit in GH, can’t remember her name right now) were all gone.

Robert's cousin Prunella was on in 1988. She was a jewel thief and her storyline reads like filler during the writers strike. I seem to recall Tristan Rogers and the actress who played Pru, Chantal Contouri, didn't get along.

 

The Cates sister was Gina, who was adopted and initially not interested in reconnecting with her brothers.

24 minutes ago, Franko said:

Robert's cousin Prunella was on in 1988. She was a jewel thief and her storyline reads like filler during the writers strike. I seem to recall Tristan Rogers and the actress who played Pru, Chantal Contouri, didn't get along.

 

The Cates sister was Gina, who was adopted and initially not interested in reconnecting with her brothers.

 

Did they ever explain why Gina was adopted and not the other kids?  Because I would have adopted those hottie Cates brothers instead of that nitwit Gina.  I only remember her as a blonde coming back AFTER Stone died and feeling really sad about it.  And her hanging out with Jason a lot. 

 

4 hours ago, titan1978 said:

Brenda Barrett on GH- first came Julia and Harlan, but by the late 1990’s only Brenda was onscreen.

 

Also GH- did we ever meet any of Robert’s family before Robin or years later, Mac?  Same with Anna- until the Alex retcon I don’t remember any other relatives besides Robin or her husbands until she was on AMC.

 

Jagger on GH too- he had two siblings and by the time Karen came back for PC Jagger was gone, Stone was dead, and the sister (they started to use her for a bit in GH, can’t remember her name right now) were all gone.

 

 

And Lindsay was the only one I truly liked so...

 

They gave Brenda a crazy mom in the 90's but I think we all feel better forgetting that nonsense.  But she had the crazy!mom genetic disease with no name for awhile.   It is weird they never hired CC back as Julia or just recast her in Brenda's 90's heyday though.  Does Julia even know Brenda is alive?  I am going to assume yes because Brenda Barrett is the 2nd coming of Angelina Jolie and super famous, but they seriously never even mention her existence. 

1 hour ago, titan1978 said:

It is strange, especially by the mid 1990’s when Bill Bell was still HW.  She is the only one of her contemporaries that didn’t have children as far as I can remember.  I also don’t recall her saying she didn’t want kids.

A few years back she got an Emmy nomination for a story where she had a miscarriage. To actually show she wanted a baby and go through that and STILL not get one was crazy to me. Literally she’s been raped and almost killed multiple times and you can’t reward her with some happiness?

Y&R

Paul started out solo then got parents, a sister, a brother and a daughter.

Within a year brother #1 (Steve) was gone,as was daughter(Heather)

Then sister (Patty)  and dad (Carl) went both to return years later,

Then he got another child(Ricky)

Then brother #2 (Todd) appeared as did Heather and Ricky

Then he got another son (Dylan)

They all died, disappeared or were written out, leaving Paul bereft of family.