Characters who lost their families or never got one

[Paul Raven]

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.

 

[titan1978]

I had indeed blocked that out.  I also remember thinking at the time she was horribly miscast as Brenda’s mother.  What a terrible exit storyline that was.

 

There was a small period of time when they were thinking about doing something with Gina. But then she just disappears again.

[carolineg]

 

Brenda's entire last year of her first run was pretty awful.  She was so isolated with Jax and I am not sure if any Brenda fan really liked the nervous breakdown story.   And yes, that actress that played Brenda's mom was horribly miscast.  She is nothing like the way I pictured Brenda's mom.  I know we are supposed to ignore that Vanessa Marcil is Hispanic, but they could have found a more exotic looking woman to play her mother.  The whole story was so rushed, which seems odd since the show knew she was leaving for a full year but the entire mom story plays out over what seemed like only a month or so.

 

You could tell someone had plans for Gina.  She was in a lot of scenes with Jason/Sonny, but the actress and character was such a non-starter.  Are we supposed to like someone that feels bad a year later that her brother died?  She couldn't have been bothered to show up when he was dying, but, no worries, she has remorse now lol.  And only Brenda was allowed to be slightly bitchy to her.  Everyone else thought she was awesome and the best Jake's waitress ever and then one day she is gone literally never to be mentioned again.

 

Gh really had a hard time finding young female leads in the 90's.  After Vanessa and KIm left there was only Carly and they tried with so many different actresses : Miranda, Gina, V, Hannah, Chloe, Angel and so on.  I have always thought Vanessa and KMc leaving so close to one another really led to Carly's prominence now.  They really had no other female lead in that age range for awhile but that's another thread lol.

[j swift]

I have a vague recollection that Cricket was introduced as the cousin (or niece) of Joe Blair the Jabot photographer, and that is who she would visit when she came to Genoa City for the summer to be a teen model.

 

Also Another World had many "lost" family examples.  Jake McKinnon had a gaggle of cousins, and a long lost half-brother, that came and went.  Cass had a sister Stacy and a brother Morgan who never made it to his latter weddings.  And, Rachel Cory had a father and a sister that never even sent a postcard when she had post-menopausal miracle twins.

 

Finally, an example that immediately came to mind was Bill Eckhart of Gloria Monty's failed second stint at GH.  Yes, his sister Jenny became a central figure, but he was introduced with a father, mother, a cousin, and a family bakery that all disappeared (by a sudden miracle earthquake) within three months.  There was a week of shows when Monty and Co were trying hard to make the Eckhart Bakery become the new get together in town to replace Ruby's Diner.  And, of course, they were all the maternal cousins of Bobbi Spencer who no longer has her aunt or brother as a fixtures on the Port Charles scene.

Edited October 31, 2020 by j swift

[carolineg]

I always thought it was a missed opportunity not to bring Sly Eckert back into the Nik/Liz/Lucky/Emily teen scene.  Every other Eckert I am fine with doing without.

[Taoboi]

I remember when I was young that it really bugged me that Brenda was always with Jax and not really interacting at all with anyone.

 

Not sure how I felt about the breakdown. Well, not true...I didn't know what a breakdown was. Curious how I would feel about it now.

[Faulkner]

Oof, Brenda’s breakdown at the photo shoot...

 

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[carolineg]

 

Seriously, Brenda spent MONTHS wooing Jax who was always going to go back to her anyways lol.  Jax legit still would probably still go back to Brenda at this point.  It was clear the show had no concrete plans for her when she decided to re-sign.

 

The breakdown was bad.  It was out of VM's wheelhouse as an actress for sure.  And she can do a lot.  It was also annoying she broke down over Sonny but I guess when you think about it Brenda was literally only like 23 when all this stuff went down so understandable.  It was definitely one of my least fave stories for her.  But I loved how much she hated/tormented Jason.  There is a Deception camera tripod that will never be the same after Brenda's breakdown though lol.

Lol!  I just brought up the poor tripods.  This is so BAD...It's like all of Vanessa's worst acting tics rolled into 1 scene.

Edited October 31, 2020 by carolineg

[Faulkner]

This was probably my favorite scene of that story: Brenda lacing into Robin about Jason, especially at 9:39.

 

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[carolineg]

I like when she made out with Jason and said isn't this what you always wanted?  Lol Loved Brazen.  I can't find the you tube clip

[titan1978]

Oof that breakdown was even worse than I remembered.  The show was so good again and that story really stood out as bad, and the two Macs.  Two real misses.

Edited October 31, 2020 by titan1978

[Franko]

She's holding that tripod like a harpoon ...

 

Speaking of GH, Lucy had and lost her non-nuclear family in 3.5 years. Aunt Charlene and her sons, Colton and Decker. I'm not well-versed in PC. Did we ever see Lucy's parents or anything like that?

[Faulkner]

One character that came to mind: Keith Timmons on Santa Barbara. I don’t think he had any (living) family on the show. His sister had died before he came on.

[NothinButAttitude]

Wouldn't most Black characters on daytime own this thread? 

 

Jessica Griffin

Ben Harris

Abe Carver (for the longest) 

Amy Lewis 

Carter Walton

Nathan Hastings

Quinn Harding

Zak Edwards

Brian and Claudia Phillips

 

We'd only be so lucky if a show expanded on a Black family and it'd only be for a few seconds before TPTB cease doing so. 

[Paul Raven]

Phyliss Y&R flew solo for many years . Her parents have only been guest shots (played by different actors) until she got a half sister and a Sorased son (both now gone). Now its just her daughter.

 

Jill of course was part of the original family on Y&R but they were all dropped. Phillip was aged but killed off in 89. For about 10 years until Billy was aged she was alone.

 

Those long running support players like Carol, Esther, Douglas,Miguel and Lynne never got relatives even when they had some sort of story