Which death of a character was totally unnecessary and damaging?

[Paul Raven]

Going way back to possibly the first of these was the killing off of Jo and Arthur's son Duncan on Search for Tomorrow.

Not only was it a cruel blow to a beloved heroine that must have upset the audience it had no long term repercussions.

It just meant that later on Jo had only one child to be involved and more limited story possibilities. And when Patti left she was alone.

Then in the early 70's they had to give  a 'ward' Bruce to fulfill that role when Duncan would have been of an age to play those stories.

Also it was hurtful to Mary Stuart as Duncan was the result of her real life pregnancy and she pictured her child on camera when she mothered Duncan onscreen (when he was supposed to be in his crib etc but couldn't be seen)

[Cruising Soaps]

Both Caroline's, Ally, Phoebe, - B&B

Colleen, Diane, Hope, Brad, John, Dru- Y&R

 

 

[KristinG79]

B&B: Phoebe, Macy, Ally

[MichaelGL]

SFT, AW, and DOCTORS should own this thread.

 

SFT basically isolated Jo. Wasn’t Eunices death one of those that isolated her as character too? Suzys death was also unnecessary.

 

DOCTORS killed off both Billy and Mona towards the end of its run. Penny's death was also unnecessary. Virginia’s death...unnecessary. 
 

AW from Mary Mathews death, John Randolph, to Quinn’s death, to Frankies death. Just ridiculous. 

Edited December 9, 2020 by MichaelGL

[Planet Soap]

Y&R: John, Cassie, Rex, Brad, Diane Jenkins, Dina, Drucilla, Ryan(arguably), Cassaundra

 

GH: Alan (that really hurt

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), AJ, Emily, Rick Webber, Duke

 

OLTL: Jared, Nash, Ben

 

B&B: Macy, Darla

Edited December 9, 2020 by ironlion

[ccroom50]

All My Children(AMC

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 Jenny Gardner Nelson, Laura Cudahy, Natalie Hunter Dillon, Trevor Dillon, Gillian Andrassy Lavery, Edmund Grey, Hector Santos, Vanessa Bennett Cortlandt, Simone Torres, Erin Lavery, Richie Novak, Noah Keefer, Julia Santos Keefer, Josh Madden, Babe Carey Chandler

 

Another World(AW Steven "Steve" Frame, Sally Spencer Frame Hobson Ewing, Julia Matthews Shearer, Quinn Harding, Mary Frances"Frankie" Frame Winthrop, Ryan Harrison, Bridget Connell, Michael Hudson, Shane Roberts

 

As The World Turns(ATWT Jennifer Ryan Hughes, Paul Stewart, Dr. Dan Stewart, Nicholas "Nick" Andropoulos, Earl Mitchell, Lilith McKechnie, Brock Lombard, Casey Perretti, Lt. Dan McClosky, Jennifer Munson Donovan, Jake McKinnon, Victoria "Vicky" Hudson Harrison McKinnon, Brad Snyder

 

The Bold and The Beautiful(B&B Caroline Spencer Forrester(Joanna Johnson), Bill Spencer Sr., Macy Alexander, Grant Chambers, Darla Einstein Forrester, Phoebe Forrester, Storm Logan, Beth Logan, Alexandria "Aly" Forrester, Stephanie Douglas Forrester

 

Days Of Our Lives(Days Renee Dumonde, David Banning, Megan Hathaway, Benji Hawk, Isabella Toscano Black, Bill Horton, Zack Brady, Alexandria "Lexie" Brooks Carver, Andre DiMera, Stefan DiMera, Adrienne Johnson Kiriakis, Angelica Devereaux, Bo Brady, Ciara Brady

 

General Hospital(GH Dr. Alan Quartermaine, Dr. Tony Jones, BJ Jones, Tania Roskov Jones, Dominique Taub Baldwin, Dawn Winthrop, Dr. Emily Bowen Quartermaine, Justus Ward, AJ Quartermaine, Georgie Jones,  Stone Cates, Jesse Beaudry, Cooper Barrett, Logan Hayes, Rick Webber,  Duke Lavery,  Zander Smith,  Stefan Cassadine, Leticia(Michael and Morgan Corinthos Nanny), Bernie Abrams, John Durant, Anthony Zacchara, Claudia Zacchara Corinthos, Alison Barrington Kovitch, Rafe Kovitch Jr., Cole Thornhart, Hope Thornhart(Starr Manning and Cole Thornhart's baby daughter), Detective Nathan West, Kiki Jerome, Dev Cerci Corbin

 

Guiding Light(GL Hilary Bauer, Leslie Jackson Bauer, Jackie Marler, Brandon Spaulding, Penelope Winthrop Spaulding, Lujack Luvonaczek, Kurt Corday, Maeve Stoddard Reade, Maureen Reardon Bauer, Ben Reade, Nadine Cooper, Hart Jessup, Detective Patrick Cutter, Jenna Bradshaw Thorpe Cooper, Prince Richard Winslow, Henry "Coop" Cooper Bradshaw, Ross Marler, Gus Aitoro, Tammy Layne Winslow, Alan Spaulding

 

Loving(Lov): Cabot Alden, Isabelle Alden, Curtis Alden, Stacey Donovan Forbes, Jeremy Hunter, Gwyneth Alden

 

One Life To Live(OLTL Joe Riley, Olympia Buchanan, Megan Gordon Harrison, Sarah Gordon, Ben Davidson, Mel Hayes, Sam Rappaport, Jennifer Rappaport, Suede Pruitt, Luna Moody Holden, Drew Buchanan, Demerest Buchanan, Megan Buchanan, Keri Reynolds, Melinda Cramer, Duke Buchanan, Gabrielle Medina, Al Holden, Kevin Buchanan Jr, Jared Banks, Nash Brennan, Talia Sahid Hesser, Evangaline Williamson

 

Passions(PASS): Foxworthy "Fox" Crane, Grace Bennett

 

Ryan's Hope(RH): Mary Ryan Fennelli

 

Search For Tomorrow(SFT Stephanie Wilkins Wyatt, Rusty "Travis" Tourneur Sentell Jr., Suzi Martin Wyatt Carter McCleary

 

The Young and the Restless(Y&R George Rawlins, Cassandra Hall Rawlins, Ryan McNeil, Tony Viscardi, Nathan Hastings, Rex Sterling, Jessica Blair Abbott Grainger, Dr. Scott Grainger, Blade Bladeson, Drucilla Barber Winters, Brad Carlton, Colleen Carlton, Bobby Marsino, Hope Adams, Elizabeth "Liz" Foster, Cassie Johnson Newman, Luan Volien Abbott, Diane Jenkins, Sage Warner Bingham Newman, Cordelia "Delia/Dee Dee" Katherine Valentine Abbott, Hilary Curtis Hamilton, Madame Dina Abbott Mergeron

 

 

Edited December 23, 2020 by ccroom50

[titan1978]

A lot of those GH people- yes.   But Stone?  That death was important for all the right reasons.  I think it should stand.  Same with BJ.

 

Now Gillian on AMC?  I adored her.  She is the only thing that made Ryan palatable, and it was a travesty to kill her off.  Not just because of Ryan, but she had that upper society background and demeanor that really tied into a core tenet of AMC, as set up by Agnes.

Edited December 11, 2020 by titan1978

[bboy875]

The Edge Of Night- Nicole Cavanaugh 

Guiding Light- Jackie Marler. I will never understand why Jackie was killed off and Elizabeth left Springfield BEFORE Philip found out Jackie and Justin were his biological parents. Some of us waited for what seemed like an eternity, and they both ended up mostly forgotten by TPTB 

[StevieM]

 

Morgan Winthrop didn't die, he left town.  And Shane Roberts' death doesn't belong in this category IMO.  The character was unpopular from day one.  The obvious thing to do was bring RKK back as Sam Fowler, but JFP had her own ideas for what she wanted.

 

Speaking of JFP, she really destroyed that show.  Killing Ryan in a way that left no possibility of a return was a terrible decision.  They should have tried to hold onto PMV, and if they couldn't then they should have left the possibility of a return open.  But Jill didn't value his character, or the Vicky/Ryan romance.  That was a terrible decision.  No matter what the writers tried to tell us, Jake and Vicky couldn't hold a candle to Ryan and Vicky.

 

I was much more partial to Kathleen than Frankie, but it was a mistake to kill her off, especially in the brutal way that they did.  And when the big showdown against Fax Newman finally happened, they gave the scene to Morgan, rather than to Cass.  She was another one that the new team just didn't value.  

 

Killing Bridget was totally pointless, almost like killing Alan Quartermaine on GH.  It was classic JFP. 

 

In her brief tenure at Another World JFP did an unbelievable amount of damage.  She and Guza really butchered General Hospital as well, although admittedly not quite as badly.  By the time JFP was done at AW the show had little to no possibility of recovering, even if it could hang on for a little while longer.  Ironically, that makes its death somewhat similar to that of Frankie Frame, who was still alive when Fax left her, but was destined to expire very soon thereafter. 

 

Michael Hudson was a long-time core character who still had plenty of story left in him.  The new writing team seemed to feel that it was more important to create conflict for Vicky/Jake and advance their story.  

 

As for Passions, it amazed me that they not only killed Grace off, but they didn't even bring her back for the finale.  They actually thought it was worth bringing back Antonio, and pairing him with Sheridan no less, but not worth bringing back Grace.  And pairing Sam with Ivy was absolutely preposterous.   

Edited December 13, 2020 by StevieM

[Paul Raven]

So basically every character that has been killed off since the 90's? Except Cassie?

Edited December 13, 2020 by Paul Raven

[All My Shadows]

After falling in love with late 70s GL this summer, I have very little interest in watching much of the 80s because of how important these two characters were and then they just...were gone. It sucks when you think of the contenders they could have been by the 90s.

I'm just gonna throw in all of the characters Alexander Cambias killed on AMC. I find most serial killer storylines unnecessary on soaps, but this one was clearly written bc they were completely out of ideas and did not know where to go next.

[soapfan770]

 

There is an early episode of Murder She Wrote from 1985 called "Murder in the Afternoon" on which Jessica's niece was acting on a "dying" soap opera that was eerily plagued with the same producer & writer issues both AW and SFT were having at the time, I almost think the episode was written by an angry/bitter SFT or AW fan. 

 

In addition to the numerous deaths of characters I'd wager that there has been a number of miscarriages that shouldn't have happened, for example: 

 

Dan & Susan's son ATWT

Mike & Charlotte's son GL

Bob & Julie's son Days

Ed & Rita's son GL

Ed & Maureen's miscarriage GL

Tom & Margo's 1986 miscarriage ATWT(Eileen Fulton borne the blame right?)

Nina & Ryan's 1994 miscarriage Y&R

 

 

 

 

[KMan101]

Everyone's more or less summed them all up

 

AW - Frankie (and I'm gonna say Sally too)

DAYS - Renee (and Bill and David - both off-screen)

GL - Maureen (and Nadine)

Y&R - DRUCILLA and COLLEEN and HILLARY (and Brad and John and Liz) ... and Dina was wasted and shouldn't have died

 

GH definitely owns this thread though (although, damn, Y&R is fighting for equal status). Alan. Emily. Georgie. Tony. AJ. Duke. All still infuriate me. Although I thought Brad Maule wanted Tony to die he seemed to imply that wasn't the case so I'm confused on Tony. Still a mistake. 

 

DAYS would have a longer list if they didn't give zero [!@#$%^&*] and bring people back. Tony, Jack and Will. I don't count Bo. He's still alive in my mind, LOL. But yeah, a mistake indeed.

 

Gillian's death was such a mistake. I was so pissed at the time. I'm still salty about it. LOL. I remember being bitter we were stuck with that awful Laura recast (who seemed like she should have been Bianca's love interest instead) and we lost Gillian in that dumbass Alex/Anna plot. Sigh. 

Edited December 14, 2020 by KMan101

[Paul Raven]

ATWT

Just remembered Lisa's son Chuck who was for some reason killed off in a car crash in 77? 

There was zilch fall out and it meant that in the 80's when he could have sorased into a new young lead he was gone.

Less for Lisa to do.

Edited December 14, 2020 by Paul Raven

[Mitch]

I still agree with Marland's first idea..he wanted to bring the kid back instead of Scott. I would have brought Dr. Shea back with him...(i.e. Shea faked his death and then to punish Lisa faked the kid's death..how I don't know but stranger things have happened.) I would have had him be the one to be the one to go after Betsy..sent by Shea to get back at Ellen and her family. Lots of interesting stories in that if a good writer could figure out the how of it all.