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

[Vee]

I didn't mind Molly Burnett on DAYS either, btw. It always seemed insane to me that people were so enraged by her. She was a fun, idiosyncratic actress, it was the show and stories that were bad. She should be Maxie on GH again right now tbh, unless they choose to finally rest that character. She was a good temp.

Edited November 15, 2020 by Vee

[Khan]

 

Although Maddie's kidnapping came very, very close.  (But, you're right, @Vee.)

 

Meanwhile, it's no secret how I feel about Joshua Morrow, but I've resigned to the fact that he, like Amelia Heinle, is there to stay.

Edited November 15, 2020 by Khan

[teplin]

 

I totally agree. Here's a perhaps even more unpopular opinion: I liked Shawn Christian as Melanie's dad.

 

 

[carolineg]

 

Are you talking about Daniel Jonas in general or Daniel/Melanie as father/daughter?  I pretty much hated Daniel as a character, but I think SC and MB played off one another well.  That whole mess with Daniel's paternity then Melanie's was awful and I think saddling Melanie to Daniel made her less popular lol.  But, if we are specifically talking about SC/MB's chemistry and relationship as family, I think they were decent together and fairly sweet.

 

But if you are talking about liking Daniel himself that is an unpopular opinion.  I do remember hearing he was popular online on facebook or something lol

[prefab1]

 

 

Honestly, I thought Shawn Christian was alright too. Daniel Jonas was certainly no worse than Rafe or Eric while playing the same "sanctimonious male lead" role. And he even had chemistry with some of his leading ladies (though not Melissa Reeves). I think if he'd been cast as an existing character, like Mike Horton, he wouldn't have gotten nearly so much flack from fans. 

[soapfan770]

I was fine with Daniel as a character until I think it was 2012ish when he really started to eat the show up alive. The Parker paternity retcon it was simply too much. 

[titan1978]

You lost me there

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As far as Lucci- I’m not saying she wasn’t great on AMC.  I just think she was a performer that was so charismatic that part burned a little brighter than her talent as an actor.  I always saw her working harder in drama to sell it (though not in lighter material).  She’s undoubtably more talented than Marrow, I just consider them in the same class of daytime actor.  I also consider Diedra Hall the epitome of this type of performer.

 

But yes, the failure of the (mostly network) execs to push bad material and constant front burner status on these folks over their talented peers is pretty awful and doesn’t help them or in most cases their shows or us as viewers.

 

Look at a show like GL- I love Dylan Lewis, I think Morgan was very attractive and talented enough in that soap hunk kind of way.  But without the other stories featuring people like Billy, Nadine, Roger, Holly, Alexandra, Gilly, etc...  not so fun to watch.  And that sums up a lot of soaps after 1998 or so.

[carolineg]

 

Casting him as Mike Horton would have been a great idea.  He even had that same surfer vibe that MTW's Mike had.

I found Daniel more offensive than Rafe or Eric.  SC played Daniel almost smarmy and above everyone else.  Plus he looked dirty like he didn't bathe a lot.  

I just think he was destined to fail when he started wooing his completely age inappropriate patient Chelsea and then his other patient, her grandma Kate.   And then he got that annoying writing treatment where everyone said how awesome and amazing he was.   Daniel was just always a no for me.

 

I would consider most of the popular Days cast this type of performer: Deidre, Drake, Kristian, Peter, and so forth.  I don't think it's a bad thing.  I would say Vanessa Marcil is probably the epitome of this though.  Charismatic as all hell, but never a master thespian.

[Taoboi]

While I agree with the latter paragraph, the top paragraph would disagree a little bit. There are some times they have great directions on where Nick should go...like his strong drive to be independent from Victor, a trait started when he started Crimson Lights back in the day and started to make it into a franchise...that some writers noticed, but the writers that would come after that writer would totally mess up. More in the vein of a male Nikki if you will...not that I mind him as a sex object. 

 

 

[Markjeh]

 

Definitely agree with this. I started watching for Katie and Simon, but I think she also had great chemistry with the actors that played Henry, Brad and Mike (as boring and plain as Mike's character was in hindsight).

 

I don't know if she was particularly unpopular - but I was a huuuuuuge fan of Jade (Elena Goode). The actress wasn't the best but I loved Jade's scheming ways. Maybe it helped that I never really cared for Will and Gwen as a couple.

 

And one that was wildly unpopular - Julia Larrabee as portrayed by Sarah Brown. I must admit it was 100% Sarah Brown's acting that sold me on the character - as Julia was admittedly not very likeable - but Brown just hit all the right notes with me.

[applcin]

"Unpopular" to me has two connotations: one being generally disliked and the other being just not a high level of popularity compared to others. The latter makes me think of someone like John Bolger. The first time I experienced him was when he was playing Philip on GL and I was new to the show at the time. I thought he was handsome and a decent actor. I came to learn later that he was a replacement and his portrayal was not considered to be what the character had been or what people expected. Then I saw him on AW, where I really liked Gabe's relationship with Lorna and thought he and Robin Christopher had great chemistry. Then they killed him off in a rather brutal manner; I still haven't forgotten Gabe being shot down and laid out on a table with his guts splayed open like it was CSI or something. Then he was on OLTL as John Sykes, where he was basically a mid-level character. He always came across to me as one of those nice, dependable actors (and probably nice, dependable guy), not to mention quite handsome, that maybe wasn't exciting or dynamic enough to inspire the higher heights of popularity.
 

Edited November 15, 2020 by applcin

[Soaplovers]

I liked Mia on Days..very low key and deadpan in her delivery.  She was a good contrast to Melanie..when both lived with Maggie.  Maggie did tough love with Melanie, and was nurturing with Mia.

 

And Deirdre Hall was under rated as an actress.  She had a lot more meaty material to play in her early years...and when she isn't saddled with Drake..she's pretty strong as an actress.

 

I liked Jade #1 on ATWT..and rooted for her to break up Will and Gwen.

[te.]

Deidre is just like a lot of actors who've played a role for decades - they can do it in their sleep so they can end up being a bit lazy.

[pdm1974]

I actually enjoyed MB/Melanie, too. I really liked her pairing with Nathan, who I also thought was quite good, and was very disappointed when they ended that relationship suddenly.

 

I think saddling Melanie as being Daniel's daughter killed a lot of the joy the character bought just by her connection to him.

 

But, the initial relationship between Melanie and Maggie, before they magically made them related, was such as sweet one. I thought that Maggie was especially utilized well during this time by making her a surrogate mother to characters that had no family ties in Salem.  It was great to see a strong, loving inter-generational friendship between two characters.

[Khan]

 

Nah.  If I were to bring back Mike, I would hire either Michael E. Knight (ex-Tad, AMC; Martin, GH) or Kin Shriner (Scott, GH/PC; et al).  Just as I would hire Erika Slezak (ex-Viki, OLTL) to play Laura, and (yes, I'm saying it again) Cady McClain to play Sarah.