Awkward Returns

[John]

That story was bad. Mimi dating that Mob guy. Im surprised shari agreed to return. The way they wrote mimi a recast probably would have been better

I remember When AMC brought Di Henry back & had Annie set her up as the kidnapper only for Di to be killed. AMC said that Kelli Giddish wanted to return but was too busy. After watching Heather Kenzie's two episode run, I bet KG refused to return & they recast

[titan1978]

During GH’s 50th, so many of those returns worked out because of the performers, even if the story was a hot mess (the vampires should have been forgotten, but Lynn was great).

 

Except Frisco.  I thought Kristina did pretty well considering she was asked to play feelings for an ex-husband that betrayed her (I know they are on great terms, but that is still an ask), but Jack seemed to struggle.

 

I will also add Jacklyn Zeman to this.  After watching a ton of classic GH, I think I know what is missing-her Bobbie was never as mellow as she plays her now.  Even though Bobbie was a nice person she still was quite catty and emotional.  I know part of it is the writing, but you have people like Kristina, Lynn, Tristan, etc, with similar years away, able to bring the essence of their character to the front even if the writing has no character.  She just can’t seem to find much of Bobbie.  I know she is there as supporting, but there is little there.  Even Denise Alexander can still show glimpses of the real Lesley.  I am happy to see her though.

Edited January 2, 2021 by titan1978

[Chris B]

Bryce was great in his return and brought some humanity back to the role. I felt this was similar to David Tom’s return where they punished the original actor for not being more like a recast, which is bizarre. 
 

It was almost as if they showed up to set and the show forgot they were coming and told them to wing it. You couldn’t get any essence of their characters. It was SUCH a waste. They could’ve easily used them to usher on Brooks. Hell, John McCook is right down the hall. They could’ve all three been used to introduce him.  

[Taoboi]

Would Sydney Penny's Julia from AMC count?

 

I liked her and when I saw she returned (with a promo I would kill to find on YT now and yes I've looked lol), I was excited. But once her 'the Dragon' arc finished, it was like the writers could not find anything to do with her and was throwing her around to see what would stick. And when they finally seem to be figuring out how to write her and had story potential they killed her at Jesse and Angie's wedding. I don't even remember if she got a good-bye scene.

 

SP acting wise did good with what they wrote. But what they wrote...

THIS. ALL OF IT.

 

 

[SoapDope]

I agree. I also have never understood why the show ha never brought back Brooks Prentiss. Instead we get all this re-written history to usher in new characters. 

[AbcNbc247]

Angelica, DAYS: The storyline seemed so promising and with Morgan Fairchild coming in to play the role, I was looking forward to it. And then BOOM, she died and the story just became about Hattie and Bonnie being stupid. I don't even remember what Angelica's intentions were. 

 

Diana, DAYS: I will never understand why Ron turned her into such a psycho and a lousy mother.

[soapfan770]

The mess that was stirred up when GL brought back Dylan as played by Brian Gaskill and a bizarrely de-aged, debrained Susan/Daisy who was going by Daisy. Oy. The story for Dylan was gross...he left Bridget and his family to pursue an affair with Harley. Meanwhile Daisy was in love with bad boy named G who looked like a Jonathan wannabe or something.

 

The story flopped on all cylinders and was terrible to watch. The nice redeeming factor was Dylan & Bridget were reunited for the show’s finale; the guy G was thrown off a cliff by Phillip and never heard from again nor was missed. 

[Khan]

 

Agree.  I didn't know how sick he was at that time, but in the few scenes I caught of the PP revival, I could tell something about DC was "off," for lack of a better word.

 

 

I remember Kelley Menighan Hensley saying Ed Fry (ex-Larry) had similar struggles with resuming his character during that awful, awful Hunter storyline.  Goutman always thought he knew ATWT and its' characters better than anyone.  Jackass.

Edited January 2, 2021 by Khan

[ReddFoxx]

Andrea Evans' return to OLTL was not good because of Tina being caught up with Tess and that silly Mendorra storyline.

[Forever8]

Didn't help matters that Erika Slezak was on vacation and she interacted with people she haven't had interaction with before either. 

Edited January 2, 2021 by Forever8

[Chris B]

Another one I’ll mention is Gina Tognoni as Kelly. She absolutely killed it on GL so it makes sense they’d bring her back, but the magic wasn’t there. Especially after Heather Tom left such a huge stamp on the role. 

[Khan]

 

Agree!

 

 

Yes.  I never cared for Julia Santos, and even I thought her return was bad.

 

 

Am I wrong, or didn't AW introduce Eric Scott Woods as an Evan recast with a close-up of just his bicep as he was working out?

 

 

Of course, it didn't help that Phillip was back from the dead (despite dying on-screen) and suddenly gay.

Edited January 2, 2021 by Khan

[titan1978]

We waited so long for Andrea Evans to return as Tina and we got a half assed Mendorra and not nearly enough with her and Viki. 
 

[Khan]

 

Karen Lynn Gorney wanted so much to return full-time, but I felt like that wasn't going to happen as long as Phil Brent remained dead.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

The writing was just so bad!

I mentioned this in the ATWT thread some time ago, but I remember a sequence where Lucinda and Craig were in her office discussing some forgettable topic and the scenes were just so strained. They were clearly trying but the scenes fell flat, which struck me as sad, especially since, back in the day, Lucinda and Craig scenes were always guaranteed

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, but this time--no spark whatsoever. They may as well have talking about the weather.