Jump to content

All Soaps: Unpopular Actors/Characters that you don't mind


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 47
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Members

I am actually embarrassed to admit this but I actually liked Molly Burnett's Melanie.  Her stories were often stupid, but I thought she was a charming performer lol.  That has to be one of the most unpopular opinions ever.

 

I like SBu as well.  I agree he has good chemistry with his leading ladies and has had quite a few popular pairings.  And I like BA/Spinelli too.  He can be annoying but he never really bothered me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Not an unpopular opinion with me. I thought Molly Burnett was great, and I'd welcome her back to the show at any time. Ingenue characters on soaps are often incredibly bland--see all those interchangeable young women currently on GH and Y&R for examples--and so I appreciated how Molly Burnett imbued Melanie with a very distinctive personality and voice. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I loved Dawn & Decker on GH. I liked the Rappaport family on OLTL. Really liked Denise on ATWT. Loved Nick Fallon on Days. I also liked Melanie's offbeat charm. Even though she was a  Dena Higley creation.  I really wanted her and Dario to get together. Early Katie and Henry were a hoot. Years of bad writing screwed them up. 

Edited by victoria foxton
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

ATWT: I did not mind Grayson McCouch as Dusty Donovan at all and grew to like him as time went on. I really enjoyed the Dusty/Jennifer pairing it’s a shame the show pulled the plug on it as they never recovered. 
 

B&B: Matthew Atkinson as Thomas on B&B. Thomas is a complete and utter disaster at the moment but Atkinson is IMO the best actor in the role since Drew Tyler Bell.

 

Days: @carolinegYes I really enjoyed Melanie as well. Also liked Mia and Dylan Patton’s Will during that era as well. I have enjoyed all the Will actors including Gerse and Wilson despite the naysayers lol.
 

GL: Loved Jesse & Drew in the late 90’s. Also I grew to really enjoy the Doris Wolfe character in the 00’s.

 

Y&R: Ho boy of all the actors we’ve put up with (Morrow, Rikaart, Stafford  etc) I will say I do like Jason Thompson as Billy even though the writing is dreadful. Also CKLily has finally grown on me the last couple of years oddly.

 

 

Edited by soapfan770
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Yay!  There are 5 admitted Melanie fans out there!  I liked Mia on Days too.  And I liked Morgan Hollingsworth as well even though she randomly took over the show for a minute there.

 

GH:  I liked Tava Smiley as Chloe Morgan.  She wasn't the most dynamic, but I thought she had a likability about her.  She didn't spark with Ingo much, but there was definitely opportunity to use her elsewhere on the canvas.  

 

 

Is it unpopular to like Nick Fallon?  Before the writers destroyed him I thought he and his pairing with Chelsea had a decent following.  But I liked him too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Morrow has always been ok, but his screen partners and looks have always propped him up more than his acting ability.
 

I didn’t mind Clementine’s Mac for about 3-4 months until the writing went off the deep end for the character. I didn’t even mind Kelly Kruger’s Mac at the beginning until she was paired with Ryan Brown and I think she was the issue and not him.   I actually wish they kept Ryan Brown’s Billy around longer. He had chemistry with Jess Walton and the other teen characters. 
 

 

I thought Liz Huber’s Gwen was very good and had more chemistry with Eric Martsolf than Lindsey Hartman. 

Edited by Soap-princess
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

THANK YOU!!!! Same. 

 

Joshua Morrow is great with his family ESPECIALLY children once he had some of his own in real life. He has chemistry with SC and MS. And as someone said above, it was great that he used to be written as a male Nikki (with Heather Tom's Victoria more like Victor) and I loved the dichotomy of it. 

 

I don't even mind Melissa Ordway as Abby...especially when she feuds with Victoria.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

When you look at daytime, there are like three types of actors-

 

The real deal.  The ones that did good work, sometimes flashy, sometimes subtle, or both, but undisputed by their peers (even if some of us do not get it).  Lots of them in parts big and small on the New York soaps because of the ease of working soaps and theater at night.


 

Charisma- This is where a lot of soap actors from the 80’s on to today land for me (although some came before that time). People with tons of charisma and charm, which made up for them not being as talented as the real deal types.  Lots of soap hunks and popular super couple people fall in this category- Morrow being one.  They carry a lot of romance storylines.  Thai might be controversial, but I would put Susan Lucci in this column.  Works best when supported by the real deal types.

 

 

Models- really took over by the late 1980’s, made worse by network execs trying to skew the shows sexier and younger, which meant they drove too much story.  Some of these folks ended up with some talent and weren’t just blocks of wood, but a lot of them did not.  IMO DAYS really suffered from this several times over the years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

IMO the difference is Susan never got stories, however bad, that permanently damaged the show or her standing with the audience in the same way the mono-focus on stuff Morrow can't successfully pull off has on Y&R. (Even the unabortion came and went.) Granted, Erica Kane was fundamentally the center of AMC in a way Nick Newman was not. But they largely understood what Erica could do and what she couldn't. But it's also a sexism issue, because Nick, as a man, has gotten the Ryan Lavery treatment. In some stories all roads lead back to the man, and the man can do anything and should dominate story even if the performer can't handle it because they're mediocre talent. I like Cameron Mathison IRL a lot, but he should never have gotten half of the crap frontburner story he got in the last decade of the show.

 

I don't think they ever will or should recast Morrow. But they need to stop pretending he is remotely the heir to Braeden or Bergman, because he never has been and never will be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Y&R really can’t figure out what to do with Nick. I think they realize he can’t play business mogul, and he’s been eclipsed by Adam and Billy, both played by more skilled actors. He’s basically become a sex object/tut-tut scold for Phyllis, who is now Genoa City’s Lucy Coe.


They’re also in a holding pattern with Victoria. She exists only to swat away Adam and to tangle with Phyllis every now and then. Yet the rivalry really being played isn’t Adam vs. the Newmans, aside from Adam’s daddy issues with Victor; it’s Adam vs. Billy they’ve focused on, who would seem to be assuming the Victor/Jack roles (which leaves Nick as who?). The more I think about it, the more of a mess Y&R seems.

Edited by Faulkner
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • There was a huge outcry when we learned that JFP intended to off Donna.
    • Especially children who much more likable characters and are played by better actors 

      Please register in order to view this content

      It’s a worse idea than her wanting to become a doctor Well, some of us Italians do prefer trumpets and saxophones over strings  
    • As requested by @P.J. the 1976 summary from Daytime Serial Newsletter. This was the Dobsons. I will be posting it in parts, as it quite lengthy. The Guiding Light premiered forty years ago on radio and now, after successfully having moved to television in the mid-fifties, it continues to chronicle the lives of the Bauer family of Springfield. Bertha (Bert) Bauer, the matriarch and guiding. force behind the family,has proved to be a source of strength and good counsel to all her friends and acquaintances as well as her own sons.  Michael, her older son, an attorney, recently married Leslie, who was formerly married to his brother,Ed, with whom she has a son, Freddie. Michael’s daughter Hope has always felt close to Leslie, but a recent conflict with Mike over her relationship with an older college professor has strained Hope’s relations with her father. Ed married Holly Norris last year but has just learned from her that their infant —daughter, Christina, is not his child but Roger Thorpe’s. Roger, who is deeply in love with nurse Peggy Fletcher, hopes the truth about Christina can be concealed, as he fears he could lose Peggy for good. Holly’s mother, Barbara, has recently married Roger’s father Adam and has no idea of the truth about Christina. Drs. Sara McIntyre and Joe Werner find their marriage is better than ever since orphaned T.J. became their foster child, and they are relieved that he is not the missing son of Cedars patient Ann Jeffers, who is searching for the child her estranged husband took out of town when she ran off with another man. Nurse Rita Stapleton, newly arrived in Springfield, aware of Ed’s personal upheaval, is solicitously offering him friendship and a shoulder to lean on. Dr. Ed Bauer has stunned the Bauer family by separating from his wife, Holly, soon after the recovery of their infant daughter, Christina, from pneumonia. Holly, exhausted by the baby’s illness and her own growing guilt feelings, has confessed to Ed that Christina is Roger Thorpe’s child, not his. Ed, learning that Peggy Fletcher has accepted Roger’s proposal,tells Roger to tell Peggy the truth before he does. Rita Stapleton, R.N., is taken aback when she meets Peggy’s fiancé, as she knew Roger when he worked in the oil fields in Texas. At the time, Rita was private nurse to wealthy oilman Mr. Granger. Roger, under pressure from Ed, realizes he can’t marry Peggy without telling her the whole truth. Somehow finding the courage, he tells her everything and begs for her forgiveness. As he feared, Peggy, stunned, breaks their engagement. Despite Ed’s later assurances that his own marriage was shaky before Roger, Peggy can’t forgive him; there’s no trust left. Holly, who has filed for divorce, goes to Peggy, explaining that she cared for Roger more than he ever cared for her, that she knew Roger loved Peggy from the moment he met her and became a better person for just knowing her. She assures Peggy that there has been nothing between them for a long time now. Leslie Bauer has returned to college to add personal fulfillment to her life as a housewife and mother. Her husband, attorney Mike Bauer, has undertaken a search for Ann Jeffers’s son Jimmy, whom she abandoned when she ran off with another man years ago. Jimmy’s father, Spence Jeffers, was a quick tempered drunk who cheated on Ann repeatedly. Mike offers Ann a job in his office, to help her meet the costs of the investigation. Spence and Jimmy’s trail seems to end in Alaska. Mike seems to resent Leslie’s involvement with school, and she is upset by his long hours and absences on the Jeffers case. Ann, realizing Leslie’s feelings, apologizes to her for causing Mike’s absences and tells Leslie how lucky she is to be married to a man like Mike.  Ed, unable to do neurosurgery after being wounded in the arm last year, decides to go ahead with highrisk nerve-root-resection surgery, despite the fifty-percent chance of total paralysis. In the operating room, Dr. Steve Jackson finds an excessive amount of scar tissue and refuses to continue the surgery, fearing that healthy nerve roots could be severed accidentally. Dr. Jackson closes, over young Dr. Tim Ryan’s objections, and later tells Tim his arrogance is becoming a detriment to his medical career at Cedars Hospital. Ed’s friends and family are upset at his reaction to this disappointment. His assignment as Chief of Staff wasn’t as fulfilling as surgery, and he now realizes that will no longer be part of his life. Rita Stapleton tries to cheer Ed by bringing groceries and consolation, but Ed’s depression isn’t lifting. His mother, Bert. Bauer,fears that Ed, a former alcoholic, may start drinking again. |  When Roger tells Peggy he’s leaving Springfield —for the sake of everyone he has hurt, Peggy, realizing also the suffering of her son Billy, who had grown to love Roger, tells Roger that even though it hurts to know about Christina, it hurts more to be without him. They agree to try again and plan to marry immediately. Barbara Thorpe, Holly’s mother, stumbles upon a manuscript written by her son Andy and, putting the pieces together, realizes that the story of a young woman whose child is not her husband’s is about Holly. Holly makes her mother promise not to tell anyone, which puts a tremendous strain upon her, as Barbara is married to Roger’s father, Adam Thorpe. Barbara is unable to tell Adam why she’s suddenly suffering migraine headaches and constant depression. | Despite Rita’s increasing attempts to reach him, Ed continues to sink further into his depression, until finally she tells him he isn’t half the man she thought —he was. Stunned into taking a good look at what he’s become, Ed admits he’s destroying himself and shows up the next morning at his office ready for work. Dr. Tim Ryan has become annoyed at the number of dates Rita has broken to be with Ed, and upon learning he’s up for chief resident, he rushes to share the news with her, only to find she’s entertaining Ed for dinner. Tim leaves angrily but later returns to apologize and propose marriage to Rita. She politely turns him down and suggests they no longer see each other, for his sake. Tim bitterly accuses her of using him. Under pressure from Adam to explain her strange depression, Barbara finally tells Adam the whole story.She informs him that Roger and Peggy are not welcome in her home. Home from his honeymoon, Roger learns from his father that Barbara knows the truth and has told him. Roger can tell his father only that he regrets what happened and he is a changed man now. He hopes his father can one day forgive him. Adam later tells Barbara she’s put the entire blame on Roger and hasn’t considered Holly’s guilt in the matter, adding, “I can accept the truth, why can’t you?” Feeling that it’s best for everyone involved, Roger prepares to resign as manager at the Metro Restaurant and take Billy and Peggy out of town. Peggy bolsters his confidence by telling him they’ll stay and fight this out together. Tim, upset by Rita’s attitude and rejection, is letting his emotions affect his work. When Ed, unaware that Rita is the reason, warns Tim that his recent lack of efficiency may lose him the senior resident appointment, Tim smarts at his rival’s being his superior. Tim takes stock of the situation and resolves to put personal problems aside and concentrate on his career. More to come...
    • @Tisy-Lish Seems like the bulk of 76 was the Schneiders who I don't believe ever headwrote another soap. I think the Labine/Mayer structured the show well in the time they were there and succeding headwriters used that to their advantage but then began chipping away with their own characters/story. @Franko glad you're enjoying delving into unfamiliar territory And now Part 2.... When a missing person’s report on Ben goes out, the Connecticut state police respond with their unconscious John Doe. When Ben awakens after brain surgery he calls for Betsy, angering Arlene, who gets drunk and goes to tell Meg the truth. Meg’s housekeeper, Carrie Lovett, who is Arlene’s mother (she had no idea of ‘Arlene’s involvement with Ben when she took this job), manages to prevent Arlene from seeing Meg. Ben, still hazy from anesthesia, tells Betsy how sorry he is for the way he’s treated her. Betsy, misunderstanding, assumes he means the gambling. Diana is still feeling sorry for herself, despite Jamie’s efforts to convince her that they can have a full life with children by adoption. When he informs her that his divorce is almost final and they can plan their wedding, Diana refuses to acknowledge that she has any future at all. Arlene, drunk and despondent, starts a letter to Ben in which she refers to herself as his “real wife.” Ray finds it and takes it to Jamie, threatening to give it to Betsy unless Jamie gets his client, Meg, off Ray’s back. Jamie has already warned Meg that Slater is no small-time hood; he has big money and power behind him. Arlene, confronted by Jamie, insists she meant “first wife,” but Jamie gives her seven days to produce a divorce decree or he’ll prove her and Ben guilty of attempting to defraud Meg. Ben, learning this, orders her to get a quickie Haiti decree, but she refuses, reminding Ben that he has told her sometimes he feels happy being married to Betsy and expecting a child. Arlene refuses to be dumped. Ray comes to Ben’s aid with a phony divorce decree. Ben takes it to Jamie for verification while Ray tells Meg that Ben needed false divorce papers from Arlene. Meg confronts her son and agrees to help him out of this mess. She plans to expedite his divorce from Arlene and convince Betsy to renew her marriage vows on their anniversary. Learning that Rick has known about Arlene and Ben’s marriage since the beginning, Meg withdraws her support from their planned ski resort. Rick realizes his dreams have just gone down the drain but can’t fault Meg’s motive. Arlene decides she needs money now to get Ben out of town and sets out to blackmail Meg. Ben, realizing that the only thing left to do is to run away with Arlene, leaves a letter for Betsy explaining why he married her but that he later fell in love with her. At the edge of town, however, he realizes he can’t go through with it. He tells Arlene he loves Betsy and wants to be there with her when their child is born, and he gets out of the car and calls a cab. Arlene, furious, races back to Meg’s house, where she tells Betsy the whole story. Betsy, disbelieving her, rushes to her bedroom, where she finds Ben’s letter confirming everything Arlene just told her. In shock, Betsy calls her brother, Dr. Tom Crawford, to come right away. Ben arrives and is truthful with Betsy, who no longer wants anything to do with him. Realizing that Meg stands in the way of his being a man, Ben moves out. Betsy is unmoved when Ben and Arlene’s divorce comes through; she won’t expose herself to that kind of hurt again. When Meg cajoles her to live with her until her grandchild is born, Betsy tells Meg that in the eyes of the court this isn’t her grandchild and she’ll never allow her child to be corrupted by Meg’s money, as Ben was. Meg, full of self-pity gets drunk and manages to get Rick drunk when she tells him Skyler Mountain is out. She then reminds him of how their relationship used to be and renews his passions, now affected by liquor. After they spend the night together, Meg decides to go ahead with the Skyler Mountain project after all. Rick makes it clear, however, that he still loves Cal and his relationship with Meg will be strictly business. Betsy continues to refuse to see Ben and is determined to be self-supporting. When she inadvertently mentions Ben’s letter to Bruce Sterling, the mayor of Rosehill, he has to turn it over to the district attorney. Meg is furious upon discovering that her own brother in law is the one who found the evidence against Ben. Dr. Joe Cusack is quite concerned about a teenaged alcoholic patient at the clinic, Lynn Henderson, who is determined not to be helped. She tries a sob story on Vanessa Sterling, but Cal, Van’s niece, overhears and warns Lynn not to put the bite on her friends and relatives. So Lynn, who refuses to heed Joe’s warning that alcohol has so destroyed her stomach lining that she could die from another binge, steals money from Van’s fund-raising folder and takes off. She later turns up at Van’s to apologize for stealing charity money and explains she was the ugly daughter of a beautiful mother and grew up feeling unloved. Van persuades Joe to let Lynn stay with her instead of returning to the halfway house she hates. Bruce, Van’s husband, sees Lynn as another of Van’s strays and asks Lynn not to take advantage of Van. Cal. is concerned to learn Rick will again be involve in business with Meg. He assures her it will be okay and that Meg is his last chance to fulfill his dream of making it big. When Meg overhears Cal telling Ben that she and Rick are engaged, Meg tries to tell Cal that Rick’s not the marrying kind and she’s wrong for him. Seeing that Cal is serious and Rick apparently is too, Meg threatens to tell Cal everything, including their most recent intimacy, if Rick doesn’t call it off immediately; she gives him twenty-four hours. Rick, for Cal’s own good, he feels, tells her he’s not the monogamous kind and she’d be better off without him. Cal, knowing she really loves him, refuses to let  go easily. So. he uses Cal’s knowledge of the fact that his son Hank dearly wants his parents to reconcile and tells Cal he and Barbara are planning to try again, for the boy’s sake. But Cal later runs into Hank and mentions that he must be glad his mother’s coming home. Hank has no knowledge of this and is confused. Rick, therefore, has to tell the child he used this as an excuse to get out of marrying Cal. But Hank, miserable at having his hopes raised and dashed, spills this to Cal when she tries to cheer him up. He tells her it was all a lie. Jamie warns Rick that his Skylar Mountain contract with Meg has so many contingencies that if anything happens, he’ll be holding the financial bag. But Rick, wanting this success badly, signs the papers, and Meg releases the money.
    • I genuinely in my 20 year history of watching Days can’t recall a single Bo and Phillip scene though I’m assuming there had to be one or two? Phillip was always much more presented as Lucas’ brother due to Kate’s involvement in their love lives and closer age post SORAS. I will say my favorite thing about PR though is he made Bo the only Kiriakis to actually pronounce it like Victor/John Aniston despite Papa Brady obviously being the dad he was associated with.
    • OK 1976 GL coming up   As none of those shows aired in 1976...
    • Thank you, @Paul Raven! I chose Love of Life because it's a show I don't have a lot of familiarity with, so I thought it would be interesting to look at this period with a more or less unspoiled view.
    • 40 years ago this summer.  To me this is the GOAT CBS daytime promo and the yardstick to which all CBS daytime promos are measured.

      Please register in order to view this content

       
    • That would be a good plot point to add more tension to the situation.
    • Some hot sports guys from tennis and football.

      Please register in order to view this content

       

      Please register in order to view this content

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy